er the
sepoys chose to grumble, which was very often indeed, their grievances
were listened to, and they were generally given what they wanted--and
next time, of course, they wanted more. To crown all, our arsenals
containing military stores were mostly left unprotected, as well as our
treasuries, and from the Indus to the Ganges the native army was waiting
for a pretext to shake off the British rule.

* * * * *

This they found in an order given by the commander-in-chief that a new
sort of rifle, called the Enfield rifle, should be used throughout
India, and it was necessary that the cartridges with which it was loaded
should be greased. As early as the month of January an English workman
employed in the factory of Dumdum, near Calcutta, where the cartridges
were made, happened one day to ask a sepoy soldier belonging to the 2nd
Grenadiers to give him some water from his brass pot. This the sepoy
refused, saying that he did not know what caste the man was of, and his
pot might be defiled if he drank from it. 'That is all very fine,'
answered the workman, 'but you will soon have no caste left yourself, as
you will be made to bite off the ends of cartridges smeared with the fat
of pigs and cows'--animals which the Hindoos held to be unclean.

[Illustration: 'You will soon have no caste left yourself.']

This story speedily reached the ears of the officer in charge at Dumdum,
and on inquiry he found that the report had been spread through the
native army that their caste was to be destroyed by causing them to
touch what would defile them.

General Hearsey, the commander of the Bengal division, instantly took
what steps he could to prove to the sepoys that the government had no
intention of making them break their caste, but it was too late.
Chupatties, little cakes which are the common food of the people, were
sent from town to town as a signal of revolt, and on February 19, 1857,
the first troops mutinied.

This was only the beginning; the message of the chupatties spread
further and further, but even now the government failed to understand
the temper of the people. The regiment which had been the earliest to
rebel were merely disarmed and disbanded, and even this sentence was not
carried out for five weeks, while they were allowed to claim their pay
as usual. It is needless to say that in a few weeks the whole of
Northern India was in a flame; the king of Delhi was proclaimed emperor