despotism, he should be the greater loser in the end.
That many aggrieved Hindus, and some of them, too, of exalted rank and great wealth, had just cause to deplore the cruel wrongs they had suffered through the “policy” of the East India Company, and in consequence took advantage of the Sepoy revolt by joining the mutineers, nobody denies — no more than that the local peasantry who so eagerly plunged into the rebellion, were those associated in some capacity or other with these wronged Hindu families.
As a mark of gratitude due, therefore, to the great bulk of the Hindu peasantry of Upper India — in which are included those of the Punjab — I am glad to bear tribute to their faithful conduct, and have accordingly recorded their sincere loyalty in these pages. For, considering that the Mutiny developed the most formidable military revolt on record, and produced such a catastrophe as history has never known, had they cast in their lot with their Sepoy brethren, and made common cause with them in the revolt — even if only to the extent of cutting off all food supplies — what would have been the fate of India? I will leave those who were in the Empire during those disastrous days to answer so momentous a question, without venturing to proffer my own opinion on the subject.
* * * * *
Resuming the course of the narrative from the above digression, the approach of the “fiery dragon, the scorching ordeal,” has to be recorded.
