reafter to be hanged, by the order of General Neill. And,
oh Prophet! in due time inspire my infant son Mazar Ali of
Rohtuck, that he may revenge this desecration on the General
and his descendants.
_Take notice!_--Mazar Ali, Sowar, 2nd Regiment, Central
India Horse, who under divine mission, shot Major A. H. S.
Neill, Commanding the Corps, at Augur, Central India, on the
14th March 1887, was sentenced to death by Sir Lepel
Griffin, Governor-General's Agent.
The Oordoo in the circular is printed in the Persian character without
the vowel-points, and as I have not read much Oordoo since I passed my
Hindoostanee examination thirty-three years ago, I have had some
difficulty in translating the leaflet, especially as it is without the
vowel-points. The man who gave it to me asked if I knew anything about
the family of General Neill, and I replied that I did not, which was the
truth. When I asked why he wanted to know, he said that if any more of
his sons were still in India, their lives would soon be taken by the
descendants of men who were defiled and hanged at Cawnpore under the
brigade-order of General Neill, dated Cawnpore, 25th of July, 1857. This
is the order to which I have alluded in the second chapter of my
reminiscences, and which remained in force till the arrival of Sir Colin
Campbell at Cawnpore in the following November. As I had never seen a
copy of it, having only heard of it, I asked my informant how he knew
about it. He told me that thousands of copies, in English, Oordoo, and
Hindee, were in circulation in the bazaars of Upper India. I told my
friend that I should very much like to see a copy, and he promised to
bring me one. Shortly after he left me in the _dak_ bungalow,
undertaking to return with a copy of the order, as also numerous
proclamations from the English Government, and the counter-proclamations
on the part of the leaders of the rebellion. I thought that here I had
struck a rich historical mine; but my friend did not turn up again! I
sat up waiting for him till long after midnight, and as he did not
return I went into the city again the following day to the place where I
had met him; but all the people around pretended to know nothing
whatever about the man, and I saw no more of him. However, I was glad to
have got the leaflet _re_ the assassination of Major Neill, because
several gentlemen have remarked, since I commenced my reminiscences,
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