quantity of bone dust to mix with the flour and confectionery sold in the bazar, with the intention of destroying the castes of the populace. This, of course, caused great excitement, notwithstanding that every effort was made by the Government to prove the falsity of such a report. Though all accounts which were received from native sources described the inhabitants of Lucknow as, in the main, well affected towards us, yet there was another class in Oudh who were undoubtedly hostile to the British rule, and who were much to be feared, viz., the discharged soldiery of the Native Government. Of these there could not have been less than about 60,000 when Oudh was an- nexed, as already stated.
31. The majority of the Princes and Chiefs of India displayed throughout this perilous time, a noble spirit of fidelity to the British Government, in many cases arming their retainers and giving every assistance to the authorities in resisting the outrages of the mutineers; the most prominent amongst these loyal Chiefs were the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior, the Maharaja of Jaipur, those of Kapurthala, Patiala, and many other great Sikh Rajas and Sardars: The chief leaders of the mutinous soldiers, who instigated them to commit so many atrocities, were those who hoped to gain by the anarchy and disorder which would follow the subversion of the British Power; amongst these the most active were the miscreant Dhundu Punt (called the Nana Saheb), the adopted son of Bajee Rao, the last Peishwa of Poona, afterwards infamous as the author of the Cawnpore Massacre, who hoped to regain the former power of the Mahrattas; whilst the old King of Delhi and his sons entertained a foolish hope of being able to restore the glories of the Moghul dynasty.
32. At the beginning of 1857 the number of European troops in Bengal and the North-Western Provinces, scattered amongst a population of about fifty millions, is stated not to have exceeded 5,000, and nearly all the treasuries and arsenals were without the protection of Europeans. The European force was very unequally distributed, a pre-ponderating number being employed in garrisoning newly acquired territories. When the mutiny broke out Lord Canning[1] found that, for the 750 miles between Barrackpur and Agra, there was only a single European regiment, stationed about half-way, at Dinapur.
33. This numerical disproportion had occasioned anxiety and the subject was brought before the Home Government, and only to the extent of three regiments was granted
- ↑ Lord Canning succeeded Lord Dalhousie in 1856.
