ncing. The conduct
of Minghal was just what might have been expected of him, and the three
Guides who abetted him clearly had no other course than to take flight.
And the explanation spread through the whole corps next day, and was
accepted with equal belief.

When Ahmed had gone, the officers sat up far into the night discussing
the incident. It indicated the possibility of grave disorders arising.
They were all aware of an undercurrent of disaffection in many regiments
of the native army. Apart from the fears aroused by the threatened
introduction of the new cartridge, there were other causes of discontent
and suspicion, both among the sepoys and the native population
generally. The native officers did not take kindly to the system of
promotion by seniority instead of by merit. Slight instances of
insubordination had been too leniently dealt with by the officers, and
the men had begun to regard themselves as of vast importance. Tales had
been spread of the difficulties of the British army in the Crimea; many
of the sepoys believed that it had been almost entirely destroyed, and
the British prestige had fallen in consequence. They had a grievance,
too, in the matter of foreign service. When they were enlisted they were
expressly guaranteed against service over sea. But the Government, with
reprehensible disregard of this engagement, ordered some native
regiments to sail across the dreaded kala pani, and when they refused,
neither enforced the order nor punished the refusal as mutiny. Since
then a law had been passed withdrawing the reservation in the case of
new recruits, and the older men believed that the guarantee was to be no
longer observed in their case.

Attempts to graft Western ideas and customs on an Oriental people had
embittered the populace generally. Changes in the land system which had
prevailed from time immemorial had exasperated the zamindars.
Interference with the native customs in regard to succession had enraged
the princes, and the recent annexation of the province of Oudh had
alienated an immense population from which the native regiments were
largely recruited.

These and other matters bred a spirit of unrest and distrust, and made
the minds of the sepoys fit soil for the seeds of disaffection which
religious fanatics were beginning to sow among them.

The possibility of a general rising caused grave disquiet to a few of
the more thoughtful of the British authorities--those who knew the
nat