The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-02
REVOLTIS SPREADING
BRITAIN CONFRONTED WITH A DAN
GEROUS INSURRECTIoN.
From Fifteen to Twenty Thousand
FanaticaI Natives of Northern In
dia Now Under Arms.
HEAVY FIGHTING EXPECTED
INDIAN GOVERNMENT HURRYINC
TROOPS TO THE FRONT.
Cause of the Uprising-BattIes in
South Africa-2,OOO Jaaiins Killed
by Dervishes in the soudan.

LONDON, Aug. News from the Swat
valley to-day is more reassuring, and it is
now believed the beseged British force will
be able to withstand the attacks of the
fenatical tribesmen. Dispatches received at
Simla by the Indian government say that
reinforcements, with abundant supplies of
| ammunition, arrived at Dargai at noon to-
day The march was forced and very rapid
and nineteen SIkhs died from sunstroke on
the way. Colonel Reed with large rein
| forcements, has reached Camp Malakand
1t is probable the troops will soon take the
| aggressive and punish the mutinous tribes
men.
| Later advices from Simla say that in
| consequence of the rapid spread of the
| revolt, from twelve to fifteen thousand ma
tives now being under arms, the govern
ment has ordered the reserve brigade to
assemble under the command of Colonel
Wodenhouse. The British regiments will
await events at Rawal Pindi and the ma
tive regiments at Mardan. The staff will
remain for the time at Nowsheera. Fort
| Chakdara is strong enough to resist any
| attack, and it has a good supply of am
munition The only fear is that the gar
| rison may become exhausted by constant
| fighting. The tribeSmen are sending for
ward fresh relays continually. recon-
noitering column yesterday found the
enemy in great force blocking the road to
Chakdara. During the fighting a hundred
| of the enemy were killed and the British
had fourteen wounded, among them Cap
tain Baldwin, who was severely wounded,
and Lieutenant Keyes, who received a
slight wound. The enemy followed UP the
retiring column, and attacked the camp
in a half-hearted manner, being easily re-
pulsed by the garrison. General Blood,
with every available man, will start to-
| morrow for Fort Chakdara, and the gar
rison has been notified of his intention by
heliograph Heavy fighting is expected at
Amandara.
The present uprising among the fanatical
tribesmen on the northwestern frontier of
India began last June. when a Bombay
mounted battery, belonging to the First
Regiment of Sikhs, was treacherously at
tackled in the Tochi valley. That affair in
which three English officers and a number
of native soldiers lost rfIr1r lives, was iIp-
| cited, as in the Chitral uprising by the
mullah of PoWindah, notorious fanatical
| priest, who has always been hostile to Brit
! ish influence The mullah was expelled
| from India some years ago for attempting
| to stir up rebellion, and of late years he
| has lived in Afghanistan, where he has
continued to plot against the British gov
ernment. In 1894 he took active part in the
attack on the English camp at Wano, when
more than forty of the British force were
killed Punitive expeditions innumerable
| have been sent by England against the
half-sayage Waziri hllmen, but to little
| effect Periodically they break out again
now in the Tochi valley, now in the Chitral.
/ ,x,1, ,1.e IL
| of defiance.
The action of the Indian government in
| adopting coercive measures against such
| notorious sedtion mongers as Ganguhadar
| Tilak and the brothers Natu is not taken
a moment too soon. The former has long
been the leader of the disoyal Mussul-
mans at Poona, and the latter WELD an i'm
mense influence with the Hindu community.
| Before the jubilee Tiak printed articles
| calling upon the people to throw off the
| English yoke by a united effort, and he
| spared no chance to quicken their courage
! to the point of revolt. He was recently
elected member of the Bombay Legisla-
| tive Council, and, to the astonishment of
| the officials in London, the election was
confirmed by Lord Sandhurst, Governor of
| Bombay. Lord Sandhurst could not have
looked far for a cause for postponing or
Withdrawing his sanction. Not long ago
| Iilak underwent a double dose of impris-
| onment for being concerned in a conspiracy
| TO defame a distinguished native states
| man. His punishment seems to have Whet-
! ted his appetite for libel. 1t was a great
| blunder on the part of Lord Sandhurst to
| accept MIN as member of the council A
| worse blunder was the long delay in taking
| action against him for his Seditious news
| paper articles and speeches. The natural
| inference at Poona from the government S
attitude was that the Bombay government
| was too much afraid OF him either to can
Gel his appointment or to prosecute him
| for sedition. The Natus have for a long
| time been doing all they could to bring the
| Brltlsh government into contempt To them
| is attributed the insult of Jubilee day when
! an efiigy OF the Queen was found in the
Brahman quarter decorated with a necklace
| of old shoes.
| The natives of Poona Hindus and Mussul-
| mans alike, presented a petition TO the gov
| ernment last spring in which they com
planned of the treatment of their women
| by British officials in the plague camps
| The facts Of the case were carefully In
Quired into and the petition was found to
| have little or no foundation. But it's lying
assertions did a great deal of mischief.
| Meantime Lord Sandhurst took no steps to
check the roaring tide of sedition. He ig-
| nored all signs of the coming storm and the
feeling in London is now that a much
| stronger hand than his is required in the
Bombay presidency to deal with the ele-
| ments of disarection.
| The worst feature of the case is that the
| Bombay trouble should occur contempora-
neOuSly WITH the outbreak unQGf the mad
| mullah in the Swat valley which in turn
| comedies with the outbreak in the Tochi
| valley. Disorders cropping up in points so
| widely apart in India seem TO indicate an
| organized movement. The British garrison
| OF $1,000 troops and the civil population of
! 600 would be but a mOuthful for the
masses of Hindu and Mussulman inhabi-
tants if a collision should come.
The strength of E,nglands position in In
dia has hitherto depended largely upon the
fact that her statesmen have been able To
keep the Mussulmans and Hindus from
coming together in a common policy But
the spread of education and recent events
! have tended to bring about an understand
! ing between them, and this bodes i'll for the
British rule. 1t has never been safe in In
dia to treat the signs Of disaffection with
indifference. Already the officials at the
| indian Office feel that they have been in
| a measure taken unprepared The result
will undoubtedly be the quelling of the re-
| bellion and the deportation of sedition mon
gers. But it will be long time before the
| country Will calm down again in any event.
Maulvie Sidayat Razcul who was recent
ly arrested at lucknow on the charge of
insulting Queen Victoria and the British
government at a meeting of MOhammedans
called 10 congratulate the Sultan on his
victories over Greece. on which occasion
| Maulvi told the assembly that but for the
Sultan's forebearance the old woman's ribs
would have been broken years ago" has
! been sentenced TO a years imDriSODnent