The Irish standard., 1900-03-03
THE sEpoY MUTINY.
Bloody Rule Of Queen Victoria in India.

Bloody Rule Of Queen Victoria in India.
The assuming, in 1876, OF the title of
Empress of India, by Queen Victoria,
was celebrated with pomp and pageant
ny, and made to appear as an occasion
tor national rejoicing, as though some
great victory had been won or new
territory added to the empire under cir
cumstances which reflected honor on
British craftsmanship and valor, and
advanced the interests of civilization.
And yet it was but the elimination of
one OF the most appalling tragedies in
the worlds history-the mutiny of the
East India regiments in the service of
England in 1857, says the New York
Freeman's Journal
The conditions which led to the revolt
and its fearful and bloody consequences
had lain as an almost insupportable bur-
den OF grievances upon the people Of
East India for generations. British
domination meant there the most fla
grant injustice and deliberate plumber
OF the unfortunate people, just as Brit
ish domination represented the like in
justice and plumber in every other land
it controlled. The people of India had
long prayed and hoped for relief. The
Hndoo astrologers had long predicted
that the power of the avaricious and
hated East India Company would be
broken in India in 1857, the centenary
OF the battle of Plassy, where the rule
Of the British in India was accom-
plished by Lord Give, less by his dar-
ing generalship on the field than by one
OF the most infamous plots of cunning
perfidy ever heard of in history.
In the early part of 1857 it became
apparent that a mutinous spirit had
crcpt into the Bengal army. The mill
tary authorities had resolved to arm the
Sepoys will, Enfield rifles, and a new
kind of cartridge, creased in order to
adapt it to the rifle bore, was introduced
into many of the schools of musketry
instruction. A report spread among the
native troops that, as the cartridges in
loading had to be torn with the teeth
the government was about to compel
them to bite the fat Of pigs and cows
the former of which would be defle-
ment to a Mussulman and the latter
would be sacrilege in the eyes OF a
Hindoo The widest excitement pre-
vailed for time, but the substitution
of the old for the new cartridges tempo
rarily prevented an outbreak. Mean
while, though the creased cartridges
had not been used elsewhere, the cry OF
danger to caste and creed was raised
in many other stations.
To those people, with their deepest
religious convictions, the thought OF
submitting to what they regarded as the
grossest sacrilege was simply unbear-
able. The excitement grew till past all
control, and disturbances broke out at
different points, with the result that sew
eral of the British were killed. The Sc
poys, or native Indian soldiers, took
prominent part in the mutiny, and so
incurred the fearful and barbarous retri-
button which was visited upon them by
the British afterward. In the province
of Dude, from which a large portion OF
the Scpoys in the Bengal army had been
recruited, the rising which elsewhere
was purely military, partook Of char
acter OF popular instruction, the peo-
pie generally favoring and assisting the
rebels. The native troops at Lucknow,
the capital, mutinied May 80 and 81, and
nearly every Sepoy regiment in Dude
soon followed their example.
The troops proclaimed allegiance to
the cx-king of Dude, and gradually
closed around Lucknow, where they be-
gan to besiege the Europeans about
July 1. In May, 1857, the Bengal army
comprised 22,6o8 Europeans Gncluding
the officers of the native regiments),
and 1868 natives. The native force
was disposed in 167 regiments, and ir-
regular corps, of which by the end of
December 76 had mutinied and 81 had
been disarmed or disbanded. AS soon
as the revolt broke out the British
made strong efforts to. suppress it; but
the resources of treachery, the paucity
Of European troops, and the absence OF
means of transport gave the rebels an
immense advantage. In number OF
instances mutineers detected or cap
tured by the British garrisons were
executed by being blown away from the
mouths of cannon. The whole popula-
ton was finally disarmcd in the course
OF the following spring and summer
and the vengeance wreaked upon the
people prominent in the mutiny has
been regarded everywhere as mos,
shocking in its cruelty. In one sense
the prophecies of the Hindoo astrolo
gers were fulfilled. The government o.
India was taken by parliament out o.
the hands of the East India Compan,
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