report was, that there was a plan for transporting to India the numerous widows of the Englishmen slain in the Crimea. The principal zemindars (landholders) of the country were to be compelled to marry them, and their children, who would not of course be Hindoos, were to be declared the heirs of the estates; and thus the territorial rights of the people of India, as well as their religion, were to be annihilated! With much more of the same sort.
Prophecies were invented, and arrangements made to fulfill them. The leading one was, that “the power which rose on the battle-field of Plassey should fall on the centennial anniversary of that great day.” Another form of it, that better suited the Mohammedan mind, was, that “on the hundredth anniversary of Plassey the power that rose should fall, and the power that fell should rise.” The meaning of all this is clear enough.
Allegorical expressions in letters and remarks were much used, such as “Pearls (that is, white-faces) are quoted as low in the market; Red Wheat (that is, colored-faces) is looking up.” Then in February came that singular movement, the circulation of the “Chupatties,” (small unleavened cakes,) the full significance of which has never been explained. Each recipient of two cakes was to make ten others, and transmit them in couples to the Chokeydars (constables) of the nearest village, and they to others, so that in a few days the little cakes were distributed all over the country, causing amazing excitement. It was known that sugar had been used as a signal for the Vellore mutiny, (July, 1806.) And the idea of thus conveying a warning to be in readiness for a preconcerted rising, had precedent enough in the “Feast of the Moon Loaves,” still held in commemoration of a similar device, in the conspiracy by which the Mogul dynasty was overthrown five hundred years ago in China, as the reader will find narrated in Gabel and Huq's “Travels in Tartary,” chapter iii. No other explanation has ever been given of this singular transaction.
Every supernatural means to which they looked for aid and direction were invoked and propitiated to lend their help in the coming struggle. Hunooman's assistance was confidently expected
