THE INDIAN MUTINY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13484, 10 May 1907, Page 4

THE INDIAN MUTINY.

Fifty years ago to-day, on May 10, 1857, the Indian Mutiny broke out at Meerut. : The day before an attempt? had been made to,quell the mutinous spirit evinced by the native troops by stripping off the uniforms of ringleaders and fettering them as a prelude to imprisonment. This had been done on the parade ground in the presence of their comrades, overawed by British troops. On May 10 the mutiny began, and while the British regiments were held in extraordinary inactivity men, women, and children of British origin were butchered. From Meerut the rising spread far and wide. Delhi, the ancient capital, became , the centre of the revolt; in a hundred cities and a thousand villages, over a range of country far greater than the United Kingdom, every European was slaughtered amid circumstances of infamous barbarity. The history of the Great Mutiny, of the imbecile incapacity of some .of the officials whom it found in high command, of the. magnificent ability displayed by those whom the occasion lifted to authority, of the unprecedented heroism that was shown here and there until it animated every soldier and civilian of the out-numbered British garrison, is all part of the history of the British peoples and familiar to us as our own. The successful assault of Delhi is one of the greatest feats in the annals of war, and the relief of Lucknow,by the men who reached Cawnpore too late to save, is one of the great marches of the world. But the brilliant victories and wonderful valour with which our countrymen crushed the Mutiny and regained the mastery of India are overshadowed by the black horror of mutinous outrage whose maddening influence made those victories possible. That is fifty years ago, fifty years to-day, and India again seems to be simmering for another outbreak. In every quarter there are signs of unrest, and wherever AngloIndians foregather they mutually agree that the power of the British rulers is again to be put to the test. Just how the attack will come nobody knows, for India keeps its own secret and waits with inscrutable patience for the moment to strike. There has never been arfy definite knowledge obtained as to the profound conspiracy which underlay the Mutiny of 1857, though there- is every reason to surmise that it was taken more or less active part in by many hundreds of thousands of men. A similar conspiracy may be afoot today, taking advantage of the political concessions which have been accorded by the Simla Government. Another peculiar coincidence is the disinclination of the Imperial authorities to believe that the people of India are in a dangerous mood. Against the advice of experienced Anglo-Indians the British Government of the day weakened the AngloIndian Army : in "order to obtain troops for the Crimean War, and today, we have Mr. John Morley de-

crying " alarmist" reports. It is to be hoped that he is correct, but it is to be feared that : he, is unduly optimistic. But in any case there is an element of strength in the Empire which was lacking in 1857. Whatever Ihey may think of the value ot India as a possession, and whatever they may think of Indian policy, Australasian and South African colonists would not look idly on while British garrisons were overpowered and white women and children put to shameful death. In the Veterans' Home there are ten old Mutiny veterans, and in the colony some 140—all of whom took part in the great fighting of fifty years ago. And from New Zealand, as from Natal and Victoria and West Australia, contingents would swarm as fast as shipping could carry them to bring relief to another Lucknow of to avenge another Cawnpore. For in time of need all the English are as brothers, which is the greatest guarantee we have against such another Mutiny as that which shocked the, whole civilised world when it began at Meerut, fifty years ago today.'-..