CHAPTER II.
REMINISCENCES OF THE INVESTMENT OF
THE RESIDENCY.
1. In January 1852, when I was twelve years of age, I joined La Martiniere College as a student, and, at the time of the outbreak in 1857, I was one of the senior boys of the College, to the staff of which institution my parents belonged: hence I became pretty well conversant with passing events. The doubts that began to arise in the minds of the people at this station (Lucknow) respecting the allegiance of the native troops in Oudh and elsewhere, were confirmed by the newspapers, from which we learnt of the general resistance made by the sepoys (native soldiers), to the use of the greased cartridge.
“This was the precursor of a storm which had loomed in the horizon ever since the beginning of the year 1857—a storm which was so soon to desolate the fair fields of upper India. This mighty tempest, raised by the millions of India, was to sweep irresistibly the handful of European intruders who lay supinely in full confidence of the conquered nation. They needed a living agency. This was essential and one, too, Where constant movement would occasion no Surprise: but just such emissaries as they required were ready at hand in the persons of the Fukirs, or wandering saints of Hindustan. No account of India, or of the Sepoy Rebellion, would be complete which did not include a proper description of these Fakirs. They are the saints of the Mohammedan and Hindoo systems. These holy men, with their dishevelled hair, naked bodies and painted breasts and foreheads, are constantly roving over the country, Visiting shrines, making pilgrimages, and performing religious services for their disciples. The sepoys greatly honored and liberally patronized these spiritual guides."[1]
"Then emissaries of evil, on the stage appear,
In garb of Goshaem, Mendicant, or Fakir;
“These wolves in sheep’s clothing. wander far and near,
In sepoy lines they find a willing ear,
- ↑ In 1856 the Russian war was over, and the Enfield (muzzle-loading) Rifle, which had been used with such success in the Crimea, was introduced into the Indian Army, of which the cartridges had to be greased before they were put into the rifle to load it; and the Sepoys were falsely told by these wicked men that the cartridges had been greased with the fat of pigs and cows, so as to defile both the Musalmans and Hindus.
