Hazewell Indian Revolt
Hazewell Indian Revolt
For the first time in the history of the English dominion in India,
its power has been shaken from within its own possessions,
and by its own subjects. Whatever attacks have been made
upon it heretofore have been from without, and its career of
conquest has been the result to which they have led. But now
no external enemy threatens it, and the English in India have
found themselves suddenly and unexpectedly engaged in a
hand-to-hand struggle with a portion of their subjects, not so
much for dominion as for life. There had been signs and
warnings, indeed, of the coming storm; but the feeling of
security in possession and the confidence of moral strength
were so strong, that the signs had been neglected and the
warnings disregarded.
No one in our time has played the part of Cassandra with more
foresight and vehemence than the late Sir Charles Napier. He
saw the quarter in which the storm was gathering, and he
affirmed that it was at hand. In 1850, after a short period of
service as commander-in-chief of the forces in India, he
resigned his place, owing to a difference between himself and
the government, and immediately afterwards prepared a
memoir in justification of his course, accompanied with remarks
upon the general administration of affairs in that country. It was
written with all his accustomed clearness of mind, vigor of
expression, and intensity of personal feeling, -- but it was not
published until after his death, which took place in 1853, when
it appeared under the editorship of his brother, LieutenantGeneral Sir W. F. P. Napier, with the title of "Defects, Civil
and Military, of the Indian Government." Its interest is greatly
enhanced when read by the light of recent events. It is in great
part occupied with a narrative of the exhibition of a mutinous
spirit which appeared in 1849 in some thirty Sepoy battalions,
in regard to a reduction of their pay, and of the means taken to
check and subdue it. On the third page is a sentence which
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The anticipated mutiny has now come, its first symptoms were
treated with utter want of judgment, and its power is shaking
the whole fabric of the English rule in India.
One day toward the end of January last, a workman employed
in the magazine at Barrackpore, an important station about
seventeen miles from Calcutta, stopped to ask a Sepoy for
some water from his drinking-vessel. Being refused, because
he was of low caste, and his touch would defile the vessel, he
said, with a sneer, "What caste are you of, who bite pig's
grease and cow's fat on your cartridges?" Practice with the
new Enfield rifle had just been introduced, and the cartridges
were greased for use in order not to foul the gun. The rumor
spread among the Sepoys that there was a trick played upon
them, -- that this was but a device to pollute them and destroy
their caste, and the first step toward a general and forcible
conversion of the soldiers to Christianity. The groundlessness
of the idea upon which this alarm was founded afforded no
hindrance to its ready reception, nor was the absurdity of the
design attributed to the ruling powers apparent to the obscured
and timid intellect of the Sepoys. The consequences of loss of
caste are so feared, -- and are in reality of so trying a nature, -that upon this point the sensitiveness of the Sepoy is always
extreme, and his suspicions are easily aroused. Their
superstitious and religious customs "interfere in many strange
ways with their military duties." "The brave men of the 35th
Native Infantry,'' says Sir Charles Napier, "lost caste because
they did their duty at Jelalabad; that is, they fought like soldiers,
and ate what could be had to sustain their strength for battle."
But they are under a double rule, of religious and of military
discipline, -- and if the two come into conflict, the latter is likely
to give way.
The discontent at Barrackpore soon manifested itself in ways
not to be mistaken. There were incendiary fires within the lines.
It was discovered that messengers had been sent to regiments
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English power will but have served to confirm it. The revolt
overcome, the last great danger menacing English security in
India will have disappeared. England will have learnt much
from the trials she has had to pass through, and that essential
changes will take place within a few years in the constitution of
the Indian government there can be no doubt. But it is to be
remembered that for the past thirty years, English rule in lndia
has been, with all its defects, an enlightened and beneficient
rule. The crimes with which it has been charged, the crimes of
which it has been guilty, are small in amount, compared with
the good it has effected. Moreover, they are not the result of
inherent vices in the system of government, so much as of the
character of exceptional individuals employed to carry out that
system, and of the native character itself. -- But on these points
we do not propose now to enter.
If the close of this revolt be not stained with retaliating cruelties,
if English soldiers remember mercy, then the whole history of
this time will be a proud addition to the annals of England. For
though it will display the incompetency and the folly of her
governments, it will show how these were remedied by the
energy and spirit of individuals; it will tell of the daring and
gallantry of her men, of their patient endurance, of their
undaunted courage, -- and it will tell, too, with a voice full of
tears, of the sorrows, and of the brave and tender hearts, and
of the unshaken religious faith supporting them to the end, of
the women who died in the hands of their enemies. The names
of Havelock and Lawrence will be reckoned in the list of
England's worthies, and the story of the garrison of Cawnpore
will be treasured up forever among England's saddest and most
touching memories.
The Atlantic Monthly; December, 1857; The Indian Revolt; Volume 1, No. 2; pages 217-222
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