Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/80

HIS CAREER AS A JOURNALIST DWRING THE MUTINY OF 1857. 71 the gun-smiths have been deluged with custom, and their fortunes have been as effectually made as if the dreaded loot of Calcutta had been poured into their laps. Indeed guns, pistols, and rifles have turned up to famine prices, and many a portly citizen who never before in all his life was guilty of the least, insight into the mechanism of these murderous weapons, may now be daily observed to look as fierce as a hussar, screw up his mouth, twinge his eyes, and pull away at the trigger till he grew red in the face, and the smart crack upon the cap 'warranted not to miss fire, nor fly" told the flattering tale . of his invincibility," (vide Hindoo Patriot, May 20th., 1857.) They therefore urged upon the Government the advisability of adopting the policy of an indiscriminate massacre of every native, be he innocent or guilty. And, moreover, they wanted to take the law into their own hands, and to deal summarily with the malcon- tents. In the pages of the Friend of India, it was des- cribed at the time that European ladies of Calcutta fled from their houses and took refuge in the ships lying on the Ganges. The entire European and Eurasian communities were armed to the teeth, and not a man was found to go out without a pistol in his pocket. At the approach of the Mohurrum festival, the Anglo-Indians seriously suggested the disarma- ment of the entire native population of Calcutta as will be apparent from the following letter addressed by the foreman of the Grand Jury to the Judges of the Su- preme Court of Calcutta : — "At the sessions of the peace of our Lady, The Queen, holden at Calcutta on the 18th day of July, in the year 1857, the Grand jury present as follows : — That as a measure to allay apprehensions of danger on the part of the public, and for the preservation of peace and the prevention of crime, (spe-