when, only about one year before the Mutiny, a scandalised army, armed with the disgraceful proclamation quoted above, crossed the Ganges into Oudh, to the exhilarating tune of bands playing “See the conquering hero comes!” Flags and banners fluttered in the breeze; generals looked exultant, ensigns big; the people groaned, the troops applauded; the guns saluted; and the trick was done. The coveted crown was torn off the regal owner's head, and placed on that of the usurping “John Company” — the kingdom proclaimed part and parcel of his territories, without a shot being fired, or the loss of a single life; while the unfortunate king, overwhelmed with grief and tears, was trotted down to Calcutta, and lingered there in sorrowful exile, to all intents and purposes as a “State Prisoner.” Think of that, reader, as a State Prisoner, poor fellow, until (in banishment for thirty years) he died.
Hence, without an atom of doubt, the Mutiny. And hence, alas I the sacrifice of innumerable innocent lives, whose precious blood will continue to stain the East India Company's historic records for all time.
It must not, however, be imagined that the king was powerless against this iniquitous usurpation of his kingdom. Far from that; for an estimation of the power at his disposal may be formed when it is explained that, although his trained army was comparatively small, it was backed literally by hundreds of thousands of armed high-caste auxiliaries, from among whom the Company's Sepoys themselves were largely
