were evinced, but disregarded. On the 10th, the troops broke out into open mutiny, killed many of the officers, and other Europeans (men, women, and children,) at the station, and finally went off to Delhi. This course was dictated by the fact that there was in the neighbourhood, at the time, ample means for cutting the mutineers off, but for the culpable inactivity of general Hewitt, commander of the station. 7. On the 11th of May, the mutineers from Meerut entered Delhi, and were instantly joined by the native troops there, who proclaimed the titular king of Delhi to be emperor of Tuolia, massacred all the European residents they could find, and even plundered the stores and dwellings of wealthy natives. A handful of determined men, however, under the command of lieutenant Willoughby, succeeded in blowing up the arsenal, and thus prevented an immense amount of ammunition from falling into the hands of the mutineers. It has been observed by the author of an article in the Edinburgh Review, referring to the mutinous occupation of the Monghol capital on the morning of the 11th of May, that, "if all the movements of the revolt had been pre-arranged, there could have been no better stroke of tactics than this: Delhi is the chief city of Mohammedan India; the 'imperial city,' the 'city of the Mogul:' it had been the home of those mighty. emperors who had ruled so long in Hindostan of Shir Shah, of Akbar, and of Aurungzebe; and was still the residence of their fallen successors, the titular kings of Delhi, whom, fifty years ago, our armies had rescued from the grasp of the Mahrattas. Beyond the palace walls these remnants of royalty had no power; they had no territory, no revenue, no authority. In our eyes they were simply pensioners and puppets. Virtually, indeed, the Mogul was extinct. But not so in the minds of the people of India. Empty as was the sovereignty of the Mogul, it was still a living fact in the minds of the Hindoos and Mohammedans, especially in Upper India." 8. The rebellion now spread rapidly through the presidency of Bengal, as well as in other parts of India. At Umballah, the rebels, between the 26th of March and the 1st of May, kindled fifteen incendiary fires, by which an immense amount of ammunition, government stores, and private property, were destroyed, but the garrison was saved from destruction by the timely arrival of a re-inforcement of European troops from Kussowlee. The whole kingdom of Oude, with the exception of Lucknow, its capital, was soon in the hands of the insurgents. Benares and Allahabad witnessed the revolt of many regiments, and were saved from capture only by a frightful expense of bloodshed and havoc. Similar outbreaks took place at Juanpore, Sultanpore, Agra, Bareilly, and other stations. 9. The mutiny had now become very widely extended, and the situation of the British posts, still holding to their fidelity, was becoming daily more perilous. 10. At Lucknow, sir Henry Lawrence attacked and defeated a numerous body of insurgents, but was soon afterward himself besieged in the residency. Here he bravely held out against overwhelming numbers until the beginning of July, when he was mortally wounded in a sally, and the heroic little band compelled to retire into a smaller fort. 11. At Cawnpore a terrible disaster befell the British arms. Sir Hugh Wheeler, a veteran officer of approved bravery, had entrenched himself in the barracks with a force of less than 300 fighting men, and upward of 500 women and children, the wives and families of officers and civilians, and of the queen's 32d regiment then besieged at Lucknow. The insurgents were commanded by Nena Sahib, or, rather, Dhandoo Pant, Rajah of Bhitoor, the adopted son of the late Peishwah Bajee Rao. This man, under the mask of kindly feeling toward the English, nurtured a deadly hatred against the government which had refused to acknowledge his claims as the Peishwah's successor. He had long been addicted to the most revolting sensuality, and had lost all control over his passions. Wearied and enraged by the desperate resistance of this handful of brave men, he offered them a safe passage to Allahabad if they would give up their guns and treasure. The place, indeed, was no longer tenable; and the survivors, diminished in number, were exhausted by constant vigils and want of food. In an evil moment, then, they accepted the terms of their perfidious enemy, marched down to the river, and embarked on board the boats which had been prepared for them. Suddenly a masked battery opened fire upon them, and crowds of horse and foot soldiers lined either bank. Many were shot dead, still more were drowned, and about 150 taken prisoners; four only escaped by swimming. The men were instantly put to death in cold blood; the women and children were spared for a few days longer. 12. All this time the main body of the rebels, frequently strengthened by fresh arrivals, had their head-quarters at Delhi. On the lower plateau that commands that city was encamped a British force burning for revenge, but too weak to venture upon an assault. On every occasion, however, they repulsed the repeated sorties of the enemy, and drove them, with great slaughter, within the walls. A strange mortality deprived them of their commanders at brief intervals. Gen. Ansor died of cholera at Kurnaul, on his way down from the hills. His successor, sir Henry Barnard, was carried off by the same disease before the walls of Delhi. The third was general Reid, whose health likewise failed him, and compelled him to resign the command to brigadier Wilson. 13. No sooner had the sad tidings of the massacre at Delhi reached Calcutta, than the governor-general instantly dispatched a vessel to Ceylon to intercept the troops proceeding to China, in support of lord Elgin's mission. At the same time he telegraphed to Madras and Bombay for all the European troops that could be spared; and, on the death of general Anson, appointed sir Patrick Grant commander-in-chief of the forces in India, pending the confirmation of the appointment by the home government. Large re-inforcements were also drawn from Mauritius and the Cape; and, as the mutiny assumed still more formidable dimensions, the European residents in Madras and Calcutta were enrolled into voluntary corps of horse and foot militia. 14. Never, perhaps, did greater excitement prevail in England than when the first intelligence arrived of the revolt of the Bengal army, and of the fiendish atrocities perpetrated by soldiers whose loyalty had become proverbial. As each successive mail brought the narratives of additional horrors, indignation at such unparalleled treachery and brutality almost surpassed the natural feelings of sympathy for those who had suffered such cruel wrongs. The government was urged on all sides to send out immense armies of retribution, and to pause at no. amount of expenditure necessary to recover the lost position. Volunteers from all ranks and classes of society spontaneously came forward to tender their services, and, through the initiation of the lord mayor of London, whose brother, colonel Finnis, was one of the first victims of the mutiny, a relief fund was instituted for the aid of the many hundreds so suddenly reduced to destitution. 15. By the middle of October, upward of £150,000 were subscribed for this purpose, and the fountain of charity still gave no signs of drying up. It was in the latter end of June that the news of the Meerut revolt and massacre was first received by the ministry, and, within three months, more than 30,000 excellent troops had left the British shores, and regi |