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tlfied their lances and tulwars in probing into the straw . Of coarse it was not long before I was discovered . I was dragged out by the hair of the head and . exhibited to the view of the natives , who had congregated round , when all kinds of abusive epithets were applied to me . Bully Singh then commenced a march , leading me from village to village , exhibiting me , and the rabble at my heels hooting at and abusing me . : After passing through each , lis men used to stop and tell me to kneel , and then to ask Bully Singh if they were to decapitate me . His usual reply was , ' Not yet ; take him on to the next village . ' I in this manner passed through three villages , and was then
taken to his own house . I was led into the court-yard and put into the stocks ; this was about nightfall Daring the night , I heard angry words pass between Bully Singh and his brother . I could not exactly make out the particulars , but I remember his brother telling him to beware of what he was doing , and that his acts of this day-would perhaps recoil upon himself . However , the result of the quarrel proved in every way beneficial to me , for , about three in the morning , Bully Singh came to me himself , directed my release from the stocks , asked me if I should not like to have something to eat and drink , and his bearing towards me was entirely changed and different from what it had been . 11
The following morning , a party made their appearance , beaded by a villain named Jaffir Ali , whom I recognized as the person who shot poor Lieutenant Kitcbie the previous day , and also fired at me . Of this he made a boast to Bully Singh when he saw me , and asked Bnlly Singh to make me over to him , and that he would burn me alive . He was told , in reply , that I would be delivered over to no person , and to quit the place . This Tascal said my kisnruth ( fate ) > vas very ood
g . __ . " I remained at Bully Singh's ten days , during which time I had no reason to complain of the treatment received ; but this I mainly attributed to the interference of his brother on my behalf . On the tenth day , a Mr . Pippy sent a dawgah , with an elephant and an escort , to take me to him . I was glad of the opportunity , and willingly accompanied the party ; !> ut it was not without some trouble and a good deal of persuasion that the dawgah induced Bully Singh to let me go . "
Sergeant Busher ultimately arrived in safety at Ghazeepore . The mutiny at Indore is vividly described by a lady , the daughter and wife of soldiers , who writes from Mhow * on August 5 th : — "As we retreated over the plain , we saw the smoke of the burning bungalows , and for some time heard heavy firing , the shot from the enemy ' s guns passing close among us ; mercifully , not a soul was hit . I kept continually looking back to see that was safe . Of course , I could but be truly thankful that our lives were spared ; but 1 confess 1 felt keenly with the mortification of being compelled to leave without our troops having made a good stand . As to fear , that was far less present with me than vexation and disgust at the conduct of the wretched cowards who were our sole Teliance .
With one hundred European soldiers we should have held the place . Often had I felt and said , when the circle of insurrection was closing around us , and when some were discussing the dangers of our position and the propriety of the ladies being sent away , that would never yield while there was the slightest hope of holding our ground , and that as far as my feelings -went , I wonld rather my husband should remain at his post , at whatever risk of life , than desert , run away ( or whatever you may call it ) , unless we were unsupported or overpowered by numbers ;—whatever alarm I might feel , I should neither submit to the ignomin } - of flight ( unless under those circumstances ) , nor leave my husband without knowing what might happen I gave M the account of our three days and three nights of wandering , with little rest and not TT 1 UCfl In on n a ^ lrtf li ao * -j ~\ nlinn a . a w .. ¦** ,: _ % ,-. n .. « __ . 1 _ much foodno clothes to changeburning de
, , sun , or - luges of rain ; but and I , perhaps , could hear these things better than others , and suffered less . When wo heard the poor famishing children screnming for food , wo could but thank God that ours were not witli us , but safe in England . We found kind friends here , and I am in Mrs . - ' a clothes , everything we Imd bein ™ gone . M 10 destructive wretches , nfter we left Indore , commenced doing all the damage they could—cutting up carpets with tlielr tulwars , smashing chandeliers , marble tables , Blubs , chaira , &c . ; they even cut out the cloth ' » na lining of our enrringes , hacking up the woodwork . , " Residency is uninhabitable , and almost all have lost everything . I might have saved a few tilings in mo Hour and a half that elapsed between the outbreak ana our retreat , but I had so relied on some of our deje uners , and felt so secure of holding on , that flight never lor a moment occurred to mo .
I * . - — — — ^» "p ™ *^» t «« , "" lore they arc now in some anxiety , as the emper of Holkar ' a troops is very uncertain , and he n ? HK T- t 0 contro 1 thoin- On «» morning of tho M «« I ? 'V . M " ima K inctl » because Ilolkar sent no mestwVi ? ° his troo P 8 wero flrin K "l'on tho Residency ) W « « might haro bcen connivance on hia part : but bU \ ZW says . thot « 11 hi « droops mutinied , and that nar ^ Waa m afl S *™* danecr as ours- His Vakeel narrowl y escaped being nhot by some of tho infantry
as they were rushing past Holkar'a palace towards the Residency . ^ Tie " Vakeel attempted a remonstrance upon' their going without orders from the Maharajah , when instantly several muskets were levelled at him , and he was asked what he was saying . He readily replied , *' I was only saying that you should take plenty of ammunition ! ' Upon hearing this , they lowered their arms and , passed on . " The progress of " affairs at Azimghur is thus described by Mr . Edward Frederick Tenables , Deputy Magistrate at that place : —
" Since I last wrote , I have held Azimghur in spite of all the rebels . We have had three fights . The last was thebest . It carhe riff on" the 18 th of July . The rebels had been collecting for fifteen days , and for the last three or four days had been coming nearer and nearer , with the avowed object of plundering Azimghur . On the morning of the 18 th , they were not a mile off , so at noon we marched through the city to meet them . Our force consisted of a hundred and sixty Sepoys and a hundred irregular cavalry or Sowars , one eix-pounder , and eight men to work it . This gun was an old one that had been put up to fire every day at noon . I rigged it out with a new carriage , made shot and grape , and got it all in order . With , my gun I kept the fellows in front
in check , but there were too many of them . There were from 2500 to 3000 fighting men , armed with matchlocks and swords , and many thousands who had come to plunder . They unflanked us on both sides , and the balls came in pretty fast . Men and horses were killed by my side , but , thank God 1 I escaped unhurt . We retired through the city to our entrenchments , followed by the enemy . They made several attacks , coming up every time within a hundred yards , but they could not stand the grape . At five p . m . they made their last attempt , but a lucky shot I made with the gun sent them to the rightabout . They lost heart , and were seen no more . We killed from a hundred and fifty to two
hundred of them , our own loss being eighteen killed and wounded , and eight horses . All their wounded and a lot of others were cut up during their retreat by the rascally villagers , who would have done the same to us had the day gone against us . Our victory was complete . Not a house in Azimghur was plundered , and the whole of the rebels have since dispersed . Please God , as soon as I hear of Lucknow being relieved , I'll be after them again . They have paid me the compliment of offering five hundred rupees for my head . People give me more credit than I deserve . To hold Azimghur , it only required nerve and common sense . However , I have letters from all quarters congratulating me . "
He has al so been specially commended by the Governor-General . Since the date of this letter , Mr . Venables has been compelled to retire upon Ghazeepore , owing to the mutiny of the 12 th Irregulars . A singular anecdote showing the faithfulness of the 73 rd Bengal Native Artillery , one of the very few regiments in that Presidency which have not revolted , is contained in a letter from an officer belonging to the body , who writes from Jelpieoree , on July 30 th : — " Information was brought us by a faithful Sepoy tliat two men had been to him , regretting that they could not get up a party to attack the officers at mess ; they expressed themselves as ready to do so if they could induce three more to join them . Our informant promised to join them . The next day , they got their party augmented to six , and made their arrangements for that
very evening ; they were to have a boat -waiting on the river , which runs close under the messhouse , to make a dash at the officers while at dinner , jump into the boat , and escape into Bhotan . They dared not trust themselves on this side , as the regiment would not join them . We heard all this just as we were going to a grand entertainment given by our regiment to tho Irregular Cavalry . We thought it better to go , and we therefore went . We remained three hours in the midst of them all , knowing that some few were contemplating our murder in the evening . Up to this time we had had no opportunity of consulting as to what was to be done ; in fact , nothing was settled till I mounted iny horse , and went down to the lines in a tremendous storm of ruin . I had the whole party arrested . They were taken up by Sepoys , guarded by them all night , and packed off by them in a boat next morning for Calcutta . "
Some ominous anticipations with respect to the Hindoo labourers at the Mauritius are put forth ity the Paris Spectateur ( formerly the Assembled Rationale ) , which bases its opinions on accounts which it has received from the island , dated to the 20 th of August . According to the Paris correspondent of the Times , the Spectateur states : — " Tho neiva of tho Indian insurrection bad caused great excitement in the island , and somo of the letters
express uneasiness as to the disposition of the large body of Hindoos employed on tho sugar plantation . The 33 rd Regiment , whicli garrisoned the island when intelligence of tho Bengal mutiny arrived , was embarked immediately , and its departure was followed by a certain agitation among the Coolies . According to tho Spectateur , proclamations -were seized , and souie priests wore arrested for preaching massacre and pillngc . A strong feeling of alarm was growing up , when it whs relieved by tho arrival of tho 4 th Regiment from tlie
Cape , But this corps , we are told , has just been snairmoned m its turn to India , and the situation of the twenty thousand Europeans , chiefly French or of French extraction , who are thus left , with only two companies of infantry to protect them , among two hundred thousand Hindoos and emancipated negroes , excites the vary serious apprehensions of the Spectateur , which considers the peril immense , and perhaps imminent , and suggests , as an effectual precaution against it , a French garrison at Port Louis as long as the war in India lasts . The Spectateur foresees no objection to this plan that might not easily be refuted , but abstains from insisting on . pjt , merely reminding England that if , from the neglect of a precaution easily taken , disasters occurred to the European population of the Mauritius similar to those lately witnessed in India , there are thousands of French families who would never forget it . " , ; .
Further subscriptions for the Indian sufferers ha * e been collected , and meetings held , at Dublin ( where Lord Gough was one of the speakers ) , Leeds , Derby , Doncaster , Blandford , Worcester , Cheltenham , Dorchester , Newport ( Monmouthshire ) , Aberdeen , York , Leamington , Soutbport , Kingston , Nottingham , Ludlow , Hungerford , Gloucester , Lewes , Queenborough , Stonehouse , Liverpool , Sheffield , Exeter , Seafowl ( Sussex ) , Taunton , Cambridge , Wrexham , Totnes , Wells , Dudley , Newcastle-upon-Tyne , and several of the metropolitan districts . A few of the inhabitants of Regent-street , in order to show their sympathy with the movement , have made a collection from house to house in that street , and have handed to the Lord Mayor the sum of 616 ? . lls . as the result . At the Kingston meeting , Sir George Cornew , all Lewis made a long speech , in the course of which be said : — ;
" I do not suppose that from one end of the country to the other a single voice has been raised in favour of our submitting to the resistance which has been made toour legitimate authority , yet let us put an hypothetical case , and ask what would be the condition of India if we were to withdraw from the country and leave it in the power of the Sepoys . " The Chancellor of the Exchequer here read extracts from a letter of a native which was publish ed in the papers a few weeks ago , showing that , since Delhi had been in the hands of the mutineers , every species of oppression had been practised ; that the shopkeepers and citizens curse the mutineers from morning to evening ; that workmen starve , and widows cry in their huts , &c . He then continued : —
" Now I can hardly conceive a more striking picture of anarchy , of confusion , of injustice , and of rapacity than is penned in these few lines ; and we may hence judge to what we should leave India if the protecting power of the English Government were withdrawn ; for be it observed that India has for centuries past been governed by foreigners . It is long siuce the people have been ruled by native princes , and it is merely a question with them whether the Government should be transferred from the English to the Mussulman invaders , who preceded our rule . The struggle which is going on in India is not , in my opinion , to be regarded simply as a
struggle of the English against the Mali o me dans and the Hindoos , nor is it the struggle of Christianity against Mnhornedanism and Ilindooism ; but it is tho contest of civilization against barbarism . { Hear . ") It is an attempt of the European Government to introduce just and equitable rule among a great Oriental population .. ( Applause . ) If the account could be made up between , England and India , and tho balance struck of the benefits which England lias derived from India , and tho benefits which India has derived from England , I cannot doubt it would be found that the preponderance would lie in favour of India and against England . " Other speeches having been delivered ,
" Tho Chancellor of tho Exchequer expressed the satisfaction with which he heard so eminent an authority as Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings [ one of tho speakers ] state his opinion that no advantage would be derived from a precipitate assault upon Delhi , and that the ultimate reduction of tho town might be considered a matter of certainty , with the appliances and resources of civilized nations . lie would not say one word which would seem in any way to deprecate criticism , cither in public meetings or in Parliament , upon tho conduct of the present Government of India . They would bo prepared at tho proper season to defend their conduct , and to uhow that they had used ali proper means for maintaining the legitimate authority of the Crown in India , and for defending the lives and properties of its subjects . "
A meeting of the London Committee was Iicld last Saturday at the Mansion House , at which the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : — 41 1 . The object of this committee ia to relieve , ns far an inaj r be practicable and necessary , tho distress caused b 3 ' the mutinies in India . —2 . In ho doing , euro should be taken not to supersede tho assistance which ought to bo given , by tho Government , by the established widows * and orphans' funds , or hy the relations of the sufferers , but to supplement it to the extent to which it fulls short of a just measure of relief . —< J . Compensation for losses , as such , will in no cose bo given . —4 . Subject to the
Untitled Article
- . •¦ •>• • ¦ ¦ ' T rWrnCf ::: ¦ :. " . . o ' / T ' ' . /! >! / . M >« > H T . 3 SfO ; 393 , October 3 ,-1857 . ] "TO ^^ MD EjR , 941
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 3, 1857, page 941, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2212/page/5/
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