New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-02-28

8 Mr.. Fltchett REMINDS US, the great IiSiiiS u
1857 against the English rule in India has not
wet found its final historian although the mate
rails are more thar abundant. and nothing in
the nineteenth century has exceeded ii In dra-
l,natic interest His own absorbing little book
he modestly puts forward as merely a series OF
sketches OF picturesque incident-a tale OF
cruel suffering Ightened, we may add, by the
display of the most splendid qualities of man
kind No more pathetic episodes OF human
courage fortitude and self-sacrifice can be found
IN history and England may we'll be proud of
the heroes of that drama Few of her officers
failed in soldierly virtues in that place and time,
,,,,+ some few there were; and Mr.. Fitchett be-
lieves that one of them might have averted the
tragedy If he had possessed the right energy
and daring This Hewitt. the elderly fat
lazy general in command at Meerut, where the
first irrepressed outbreak of the Sepoys began
He was a man of routine. who had risen by mere
seniority. and he met the emergency with haooy
dulness and tinlidity. The mutineers ran
f.brouph the streets butchering every man,
woman and child of European blood they could
7,dt English women were horribly mutilated,
infants in1paled on the bayonets Of the Sepoys-
end General Hewitt sat peacefully in his arm
1nhair the while. And all these tragedies hap
ipened within rife shot of lines where might
have been gathered. with single bugle blast
some twenty-five hundred British troops! Before
fauvthing at all was done by Hewitt, the Sepoys
had finished their bloody work and had rushed
of on the road TO Delhi-and the great Mutiny
had gained its fearful impetus. strong hand
Knight have crushed the thing. as hundreds OF
sepisodes of the struggle went to show.
Wherever British officer Of a Sepoy regiment
met revolt with reckless bravery and unwaver-
Ding will the weaker nature bent and drew back
witness the-story of Lieutenant Brasyer, a man
who had won his commission by mis- GOODNESS
land daring. His Sikhs were on the very point
of rnutiny when, Archibald Forbes tells U.S.
<'Standing over the magazine with red-hot
Iron in his hand he swore by Mana, Ram Das,
sGovind and all other Gooroos Of the Sikhs, that
81 his men did not promptly fall in and obey his
ORDERS he would blow the regiment TO the Sikh
equivalent of Hades" The fiery, imperious will
conquered. the sullen fellows fell into rank;
iBrasyer marched them down to the gate with
loaded nuskets and helped by the artillerymen
with their portires drove out the Sepoys that
held il and saved the fort. ITO master Sepoys
In open revolt" says Mr. Fitchett. by Sikhs on
The edge Of revolt great feat and shows
for how much at such crisis one clear, heroic
will counts" Another extraordinary instance
of stamping mutiny was that of Major
sChamberlain at Multan- At this place there
was a garrison Of 5000 Sepoys, with only fifty
English artilIerymen, who were in charge of the
cavalry by the sheer strength of his own au-
Gdacious personaIity-they remained faithful as
If under a SPELL and he made up his mind to
.disarrn the other native regiments. Called out
as If for an ordinary parade. the latter were
suddenly halted; the troops that could be trust
ed in some degree were marched in between
them and their lines, and the English gunners
took their places beside the guns Then Cham
berlain gave the order to the suspected regi-
raents to pile arms One Sepoy shouted, Don't
give I'D your arms! Fight for them" but his
English adjutant instantly grasped him by the
threat, shook him terrier would shake
rat and flung him the ground. The muffin
Gus Sepoys hesitated: their courage sank; they
neekly piled arms, were marched back weap-
onless TO their barracks. and the station
saved" Chamberlain's own regular cavalry
remained loyal to their leader throughout the
Mutiny period and. are still the LIST Regiment Of
Bengal Cavalry.
Many Of the British officers in India who were
longest in service had become deeply attached
TO their troops and proud OF them, and refused
to credit the signs OF the coming outbreak.
,when-the hour of murder struck and the Sepoys
were shouting and firing like fends the
parade ground, cit point OF honor among
the officers hurry to the scene and make one
last appeal to them, dying too often under the
bullets OF their own soldiers" The Englshman
who had wife and children with him
counted the happy man in those days. Escape
was almost as bad instant death by the
sword for it meant to the fugitives days Of
agonized wandering under the burning sum- with
fostering wounds, with hunger. thirst. fever
and fear. Many a fragile woman and delicate
child went through that experience. OF the fate
of the beleaguered English in the cities, Mr..
Fitchett writes with dramatic force and SIM
rlicity. No one has told better than he the
heart wrenching end Of the story of Cawnpore:
A little before o'clock a woman from the
Nana's household stepped inside the door Of the
Bebeeghur and looked over the crowd of weary
mothers and Wan-faced children. curious
Stiffness fell on the little company, while in care
less accents, the woman gave the dreadful order
rhey were "au TO be killed! One English lady
with quiet courage, stepped up TO the native
officer who commanded the guard, and asked
IL II were true they were all 10 be murdered"
Even the Sepoys shrank from crime so strange
and wanton. The officer bade the English
woman not TO be afraid, and the woman from
soldiers that her orders would not be obeyed.
II seemed monstroEs indeed that an order
which was 10 send two hundred helpless human
beings 10 death should be brought, like a mes
sage about some domestic trife, on a servant
won1an's lips. The messenger vanished The
Sepoys guard consulted together and agreed
that with their own hands. at least, they would
not slay the prisoners. According to one ac-
count they were ordered by a new messenger to
IRE through the windows upon the company of
women and children, many now praying within
They obeyed the order fire. and the sudden
wave Of flame and smoke, with the crash of
twenty discharged muskets, swept over the
heads OF the captive crowd within But the
sepoys, or design, fired high. and no one was
wounded.
When Havelocks men afterveard entered
those rooms, one little detail bore witness 10
the use to which some OF the ladies had turned
me few minutes which followed the voIley Of
The Sepoys. They evidently tore strins from
their dresses and with them tried N lie The 49,