i^ " D S 478 a; «s^. i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. #' J -^ # |. UNITED STATE8 OF AMERICA. ^ ^REYOLT OF THE WOYS. REPEINTED FROM THE PRINCETON REVIEW, JANUAEY, 1858. y t 1^ With Additional Notes. NEW YORK: PRINTED BY EDWARD O.JENKINS, No. 26 Feankpoet Street. 1858. THE REYOLT OF THE SEPOYS. Art. II. — The Friend of India: Serampore, 1857. The Mofussilite : Agra, 1857. The year 1857 will be henceforth known as the year of the Sepoy Revolt. It was the most striking event of the year iu the eastern world, and no event of the year in any part of the world has been of deeper interest in the eyes of thoughtful men. This revolt, therefore, with its kindred topics, may well receive our consideration in this Review. A detailed narrative of this remarkable mutiny will not be expected in our pages. The distressing particulars have filled our newspapers, and though presented in a fragmentary form, have doubtless conveyed a correct general idea of what has taken place. The journals whose titles are given above, may be consulted by those who wish to see how these events ap- peared to intelligent observers on the ground. The Friend of India A\dll be found to contain a weekly record of these events, the more satisfactory, because this journal has the highest reputation for its spirited summaries of news, and its able dis- cussions of all Indian questions. ■ The British have held their possessions in India by the power of four separate armies : the European, numbering some 30,000 soldiers, who are stationed in detachments in all parts of the country ; the Madras army, and the Bombay army, composed of native soldiers under European officers from the ensign upwards, and occupying posts in the south and west of India, in the Presidencies or civil divisions of the country bearing the names respectively of these cities ; and the Bengal army that Avas, having now almost melted away, not before the face of an enemy, but in revolt from its too confiding friends. This army was composed of native soldiers and Eng- lish officers, like the armies of Madras and Bombay, but en- 4 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. I'olled as many men as both the others ; all three numbering some 250,000. The Bengal army, though chiefly recruited from two districts, and from but a few classes, was stationed in regiments at many places, from Burmah to the borders of xlfghanistan, thus occupying the immense country known as north and north-west India. A large portion of this army has risen in open revolt against their of&cers and the govern- ment ; nearly as large a portion has been disarmed, through fear of their following the bad example of their comrades ; leaving but a few regiments still on duty, and most of these were looked upon with distrust. So vast a revolt of well or- ganized troops has not before occurred in any part of the world. On the terrible deeds of the Sepoys — their treachery, their murder of their officers, their savage cruelty to helpless women and children, their brutal licentiousness, their setting free the inmates of the prisons — criminals of the deepest, dye, their plundering of private property, both of Europeans and their own countrymen — on all this we have no heart to dwell. It makes one of the darkest pages in the history of our race. The mere reading of the details in the newspapers has made men sick at heart and chilled their blood. Alas ! the agony of those who had to face this demon-like outbreak, and who fell before its wrath ! The awful horrors of this revolt show ns the real character of heathenism and Mohammedanism, when the restraints of Providence are taken off. These are the le- gitimate fi'uits of a religion, which ranks an unmentionable emblem of lust and a patroness of murder among the deities to be daily worshipped, and of a still fiercer religion which accounts the sword as the best argument. Before proceeding to consider some of the causes of this revolt, we may advert to the conflicting opinions expressed by different writers concerning its origin and its extent. These opinions are often quite irreconcilable, and they are not seldom set forth with a positive tone that admits of but one reply. Writers, supposed from their position to be competent judges, are to be found on both sides of every question. Undoubted- ly this is owing in many cases to simple ignorance, and its pre- sumption is astounding. In cases not a few, it is owing to a ^ THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS, 5 reliance being placed on a vague general idea, rather than on thorough study and knowledge of the subject. Let us cite two or three examples, taken from respectable publications. One of our leading daily journals of commerce, in an elabor- ate argument to prove that the British would have great dif- ficulty in subduing the revolted soldiers, alleged that these soldiers were under the leadership of a commanding mind, and gave as a proof, their having taken possession of some places on the Jumna, in order to have the best advantages for the transmission of troops and military stores ; which is about the same thing as to argue that Greneral Jackson would have seized some towns on the Susquehanna for similar purposes, while a navigable river like the Hudson or the Ohio was equally or more within his reach. And a weekly "journal of civilization," published by one of our best known houses) gravely tells its readers of missionaries having bought up na- tive children at two or three rupees apiece, as one of the cau- ses of the insurrection ; as if the benevolent labours of tract distributors in the Five Points, in providing homes for a few orphans, could stir up the soldiers on Governor's Island to murder their officers, and then march to Washington to de- molish the government. The same journal contains a strik- ing map of India, which places Cawnpore at the junction of the Ganges and Jumna, and Calcutta on a grand Island! Still graver mistakes might be pointed out in some of our re- ligious journals, some of which will be corrected in the sequel of this article. It is really a difficult matter to acquire a thorough know- ledge of the internal state of any country, and especially of a country far distant and Asiatic. Patient and continued study is indispensable. Foreigners seldom learn to appreciate the real state of the case until alter many years' observation. These truisms need to be remembered. How justly do we complain of the erroneous representations of many foreign writers concerning our own country, even when we cannot bring against them the charge of prejudice or misrepresenta- tion. Concerning matters in India, as in our own country, there are unhappily too many writers who have published 6 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. their opinions to the world after a most superficial acquaint- ance with the subject. Others, especially in England, have expressed their opinions in the heat of party conflicts, or under the bias of personal prejudice. There have been Euro- peans in India who were wedded to some theory — very often to the idea, which these Sepoy outrages have for ever explo- ded, that the Hindus are a mild and nearly perfect people, whose gentle manners ought not to be disturbed by fanatical Christians, and whose venerable institutions ought not to be touched by the profane hand of European rulers. These " Old Indians" are often indignant at the oppression of the Hindus by the British; one of them, a judge of high grade, resign, ed the service and went home in disgust, because he was not allowed officially to patronize idolatrous processions and kin- dred abominations. Widely differing from this class is found a host of agitators, who declaim with equal warmth against the oppression of the poor Hindus, because they are not per- mitted to enjoy all the privileges of their fellow subjects in England, including, we suppose, the right of suffrage and of voting by ballot. Thus extremes ever meet. Some of the foreigners in India personally would in any community be called bad men, and their opinions are after their own image- Others still are weak men, incapable of forming a just or dis- criminating opinion on any subject; and yet because they have lived in the countrj^, they feel called upon to express oracular opinions, like an old Bombay correspondent of The Tiraes^ who saw the missionaries at the bottom of all the Sepoy troubles. Letters have been written by others, which Averc penned under a degree of excitement little short of panic, and the worst side of every incident would naturally be seized by them as true. "We can well sympathize with the glpomy feel- ings of men writing under the shadow of such colossal disas- ters. Leaving India and landing in England, we find party strife as violent and unscrupulous as in our own country ; the misrule of India is a topic as much dwelt upon, and as little understood by many, as our own question of slavery. The Outs hope to succeed the Ins^ by pathetic declamation about the wrongs of the Hindus. An Ellcnborough can misuse his THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 7 seat in Parliament, to do injury to tlie party in power, with as little scruple as lie used his high office in India to show re- spect to Hinduism, and to degrade his own religion. Eeligi- ous newspapers, so called, are sometimes marked by the vio- lence that characterizes political discussions; it is easy to prove from their columns that the government of India by the British has been all wrong and bad from the beginning, and that it never was worse than at the present time. Have we not the same thing nearer home ? Who could speak with confidence, a year ago, of the state of things in Kansas? Taking some even of the religious newspapers as authorities, what must foreigners have thought of the character of our government, our people, or our Christianity ? It would be an easy but thankless task to quote long columns of apparent facts and forcible arguments, to show that there never was such a misgoverned, oppression-inflicting and oppression-en- during people as ourselves — though we knew it not ! All this notwithstanding, there is ample testimon}'' that is trustworthy concerning India and its vexed questions. Some of the questions in the relations between the Hindus and the British are of a profound nature, and deserve long and earnest study. The expediency of changing the tenure of real estate, so as to vest it in personal ownership, among a people who have from time beyond memory or history looked upon the government as the great proprietor; the collection of govern- ment revenue among a people skillful in all the arts of conceal- ment and fraud ; the administration of justice among a j^eople j-adically corrupt, in a country where oaths are without virtue, and human life is of little value — these are subjects not to be disposed of in a few flippant paragraphs of a newspaper leader ; and we shall certainly not venture to express an opin- ion concerning them in this place, though they require to be understood by those who would rightly appreciate the charac- ter of the British rule in India. There are other and numer- ous topics, however, which are directly connected with the Sepoy revolt, concerning which it is quite practicable to form a correct opinion ; to some of these we shall now invite the attention of our readers. 8 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. We meet at tlie outset the theory of the Sepoy mutiny which regards its proportions as national and not military. It is a revolution, we have been told, or at the very least an insur- rection which embraces large numbers of the people as well as of the soldiers. This opinion has been expressed by per- sons to whose judgment, if formed in the view of all the facts, much weight should be given. Some of the missionaries in that country, and among them one of the most eminent, have spoken in this way. The merits of this " national" theory of the revolt may be summarily tested. Suppose it to be true, how long could the few thousands of Europeans stand before all the millions of India? One of the missionaries has well remarked, that the people of India have but to throw their shoes on the foreign" ers, in order to bury them out of sight! But as this view of the revolt has been earnestly advocated by respectable men, it is entitled to receive a more extended examination. The common proofs of this opinion, indeed the only proofs of much weight, are two — first, that the people of India have no affection for the British ; and next, certain instances of hos- tile treatment of fugitive Europeans by the natives within the last few months. The latter we esteem as of but little import- ance. There are villagers enough in India, as in any heathen country, who would plunder defenceless travellers if they dared, and would kill them too, to prevent their telling tales. There are many bad men in most Hindu towns, as in our own large cities, who are ready to hail a time of disturbance as a harvest season to themselves. In the absence of the strong arm of government, the wonder is not that some out- rages have been perpetrated by the common people; rather, we have been surprised that the essentially depraved nature of the Hindus has not been displayed in acts of violence more numerous and appalling. We account for the disorder and crime which have been committed by classes distinct from the Sepoys and their rabble followers, on the simple but broad ground of their heathenism. The main question here concerns the general state of feeling among the natives of India towards their foreign rulers. It THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 9 must be conceded, we believe, that there is little affection for the British among their eastern subjects. It seems to be im- possible that there should be, until Christianity prevails. The difference of race, of social customs, and of religion, is nowhere more strongly marked than between the white and the coloured inhabitants of this country. The two peoples never meet as families, the tender sympathies of woman in. social or pure domestic ties do not bind them together. Not that any repugnance between them exists, as between the white and the coloured inhabitants of our own land; but the causes of separation are general, and such as are not likely to give way until the spirit of the Gospel fuses their hearts in a common mould. Then, we see no reason to suppose that the most intimate relations may not subsist between the native and the European, without loss of social position on either side: There has been, moreover, in far too many instances, an ill-considered, overbearing, and sometimes un- manly treatment of the natives, which has borne its legitimate fruit. There are, besides, certain families and their adherents, connected with former reigning houses, who cherish their "grievance," though they find little sympathy from the mas- ses. And there is the Mohammedan element of th« popula- tion, sighing for the restoration of Islamism. There are also many whose interests have been injured by serious errors in. the legislative or the administrative measures of the govern- ment. And there are the poor villagers, who are at times wasted by the march of an army, or the progress of the Gov- ernor-General's camp, of whose sufferings Sir Charles Napier takes such just notice ; though the cause of their sufferings is not the one which he leaves his correspondent to infer — the oppression of the English powers that be, but the iniquity of the native officials. These native agents refuse to pay over to the villager the price of his grass and barley without large reduction, and at the same time contrive to make it impossi- ble for the poor man to carry his complaint to the "Sahib." This enumeration will nearly exhibit the strength of anti- British feeling in India. And it is worthy of note that in some of these cases, the natives themselves would not expect 10 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. to gain anything by a change of rulers. The poor villager would fare worse than he does under the " Company Sahib," as to receiving a just compensation for his services. On the other side, there are commanding reasons and facts to be considered. The Hindus are a shrewd, sagacious people in all things affecting their personal and pecuniary interests. They can very well appreciate the advantage of living under law, as compared with living under lawless despotism. They are keenly alive to the chances of accumulating property and of its safe possession. It is said the Jews cannot compete witb the bazar dealers of Calcutta, though here in Yankee-land they take possession of Chatham street. No people, moreover, are more sensitive than the Hindus to the honour of their families, keeping their females in the strictest seclusion. How could it be otherwise than that such a people would prefer a settled, and in the main equitable government like that of the British, to the state of things which always exists under native or Musalman rulers? The last old king of the Punjab had in his harem hundreds of the most beautiful women in his country, and their number was increased by the forcible addi- tion of every young woman of superior beauty within his reach. If one of his subjects, by industry, skill, or enterprise, acquired some property, he soon learned that his gains must be shared by his rulers, petty and great, until all that remain- ed was not worth contending for. The illustrations are num- berless. Now, law reigns in the Punjab, as elsewhere, to the infinite advantage of nine-tenths of the people. The law is imperfectly administered, indeed, and thereby many cases of oppression occur, and many criminals escape deserved punish- ment. Of this, the people bitterly complain, oftentimes ;- but they see, what English and American declaimers against the oppressions of the present government do not seem to be aware of, that these cases of abuse of power are nearly always to be laid to the charge of the native officials, or of the state of society where any number of witnesses can be hired in the next bazar for sixpence each, to swear the most solemn oaths. But law imperfectly administered is nevertheless to be prefer- red to no law, and this the Hindus well understand. We / THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 11 might easily infer, therefore, that if the Hindus do not like the British, they are at least far enough from hating them to such a degree as to wish for their expulsion from the country. Signal examples can be given to show the true state of na- tive feeling, one of which ^\e will here relate. At one of the missionary stations of our Church in Upper India, a native chief was in power when the missionary first visited his city, which then contained a population of sixteen thousand souls. Soon afterwards the old chief died, and left no heirs. His principalit}^, according to native usage, escheated to the Brit- ish ; if his town had been on the other side of the Sutlej, it would have fallen in like manner to the miserable old king referred to above. British rule was set up, the reign of law commenced, people from neighbouring districts still under na- tive rulers removed to this town, and in a few years its popu- lation was numbered at nearly eighty thousand souls. Facts like this confute whole pages of declamation. We shall not pursue the argument as to this matter, but may simply state our conviction, formed after carefully examining the accounts of the recent disturbances, that the Hindus generally have taken but little part in them. The farmers, mechanics, shop- keepers, the industrial classes generally, with Mohammedan exceptions, are not found in the train of the Sepoys. On the contrary, these classes have been plundered in man^^ instances by the revolted troops; and in still more, their daily occupa- tions, and especially the labours of the field, have been so much interrupted, that extreme suff'ering is to be apprehend- ed as one of the results of the mutiny. It is sad to think that this will be a matter of indifference to these heathen and Mohammedan soldiers ; they will care nothing at all for the distress which impending famine will bring on scores of thou- sands of their countiymen. We trust their Christian rulers may be able to devise some measures for their relief. Adopting the theory which the foregoing remarks refute, some of the newspapers, both in Ireland and this country, have set the atrocities and brutalities of the revolted soldiers to the account of national hatred, repaying in kind the wrongs inflicted on the Hindus by their present rulers. The theory 12 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. on wliicli tliis atrocious charge is made having no triitTi to rest "upon, the charge itself might be summarily dismissed from court. But it has been made too boldly, to be ignored- It will soon appear that we do not blindly approve of every- thing in the policy of the British government in the East ; nor do we doubt that examples of personal iniquity and wrong- doing in the intercourse of Europeans with the Hindus can be brought forward. But if there is anything in the history of British proceedings in India that gives even a pretext for the allegation in question, it has altogether escaped our read- ing. Whatever individual cases of license or of violence may be cited — and it would be strange indeed if nona should occur among so many thousand Europeans, living in a country where moral restraints are few and weak ; (have we not reason to blush for many such in our own land?) it is nevertheless true beyond question, that for nearly a generation past, the policy of the British government in India has been liberal and humane ; while the character and conduct of its official agents, in the civil and military services, will bear a very fa- vourable comparison with that of our own countrymen in the same walks of life. We have no sympathy with the tone of disparagement which some have chosen to employ towards a noble people in the time of their reverses ; and we repudiate as groundless, nay, as violating one of the holy commandments, the allegation that the Hindus have, been merely paying oft' their debts to the British in their own coin. This charge is in the first place false ; and in the next, it is Avithout reason. It assumes that the Sepoj^s have acted from a sense of nation- al grievance, whereas the^j were never oppressed, never ilk treated, but on the contrary, always dealt with as a favoured and even a petted class ; and it is further Avithout reason, be- cause it ignores the real cause of these dreadful atrocities. These have their reason in the unfathomable depths of human depravity, Avhen unrestrained by Divine Providence, and un- enlightened by the gospel. It is pure heathenism and pure Islamism that we behold Avith horror in these Sepoy outrages.* * Most of our respectable newspapers, while not hesitating to censure some tilings in the British rule in India, have yet expressed a genei'ona THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 13 We leave tliis painful topic, after adding, tliat raan}^ of the mistakes wliich. are made by those who treat of the causes of the Indian revolt, are made in this same way — ^by forgetting the real character of the Hindus. They are an ignorant, de- praved, and heathen people ; and yet both English and Ameri- can writers speak of them as if they could be governed on the same principles and in the same way as British subjects or American citizens. A greater mistake it would be difficult to make ; and our meaning will be clearer to most of our readers, when we say that the coloured people of this countr)", free and bond, are a hundred-fold better prepared for self- government than are the great mass of the Hindus. We have dwelt somewhat long on this subject, because of prevalent mistakes concerning it, and chiefly because the mea- sures to be pursued hereafter in India depend on a riglit view of this point. The statesmen of Great Britain, and the Chris- tian people of every land, must seek to know with reasonable certainty what is the disposition of the natives of India to- wards their present rulers. The British could not long remain in that country, neither could the work of Christian missions be carried on there much longer, if the masses of the people shared in the spirit which has actuated the revolted Sepoys.* sympathy with the men of our own race in this unprecedented conflict. What is known as the religious press has been generally marked by candour and truth, in its comments on India affairs. Out of some thirty weekly and monthly religious publications that we have seen regularly, of the Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and other denominations, including nearly all of the Old and New School churches, we have observed but two that have taken strong anti-English ground on the Sepoy mutiny. One of these, a monthly Abolitionist journal, is severe in its censures of the British in India ; but the justice of its views may be easily tested by its further remarks concerning an oppressed race nearer home, of whom it predicts a similar up-rising. The flags on the City Hall, the shipping in the harbour, &c., in New York were hoisted at half-mast on the 27th of January, to honor the memory of the illustrious Havelock — a tribute of respect never before paid to a foreign general. It was a striking proof of the deep feeling Vv^ith which our people have witnessed the conflict in India. Havelock stood in the popular view for the men, women, and children of our race in their unequalled sufierings, and in their triumph over the fiend-like Nana-Sahibs of the Sepoys. * The mutiny has been ascribed to misgovernraent, as its sole cause, — to 14 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. In tlie earlier days of the mutiny, it was a frequent charge, that the labours of the missionaries were its immediate, if not its main cause. By their proselyting efforts, and their expo- sure of the native religious systems, we Avere told, they had awakened a vindictive feeling among the people, which noAv sought to quench its rage in blood. Facts and proofis abund- ant have exploded this theory of the outbreak; and have shown besides, that the missionaries enjoy more of the confi- dence of the Hindu part of the population, the seven eighths of the whole, than any other class of foreigners. The natives give them the credit of being sincere and good men. As in the days of Schwartz, so it has occurred again, within a few months, that a missionary was able to render essential service to his countrymen in procuring needful supplies, when the officers of government were unable to obtain them. Few of the missionary stations were molested as raissioiiary ; a native ordained missionary of our Church, and the native teacher, with their church and school, all well known to the dwellers at Jalandar, were allowed to remain in peace, when three regi- misgovernment as involving the oppression of the natives, and causing wide- spread distress amongst them. And the example of the ryots, or field- labourers of Bengal, as referred to by the Calcutta missionaries in their Memorial to the government, is brought forward as the proof. There can be no doubt as to the sufferings of the ryots, but it is owing chiefly to their being so largely at the mercy of the zemindars or landholders ; and this again is owing to a well-intended but mistaken measure adopted by the government more than half a century ago, the object of which was to create a body of native lauded proprietors, who might be expected to feel some interest in the prosperity of the country. But the intense selfishness of the heathen was not taken into the account, and the practical result has been the creation and protection by law of a body of unmitigated despots on a small scale. This great mistake was perceived long ago, and it must be corrected ; l)ut it is no easy matter to retrieve such an error in a heathen country, unless indeed the British authorities would act with as little regard to personal rights as v/ould be done by purely Asiatic rulers. The tenure of land in the territories subjected to the East India Company within the lust twenly-fivc years is arranged in a better way ; but the subject is one (if difficulty. We think there is some reason for the charge that misgovernmeut produced the revolt, so far as the Sepoys were concerned ; not in their being oppressed, l>nt just the opposite, in their being " spoiled by kindness," and too blindly THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 15 ments at that place broke into miitinj. Similar examples oc- curred at otlier places. A serious loss of property lias befallen the missions of our own and other Churches, and a lamenta- ble loss of missionary lives, _^as our readers know ; but it was m foreign^ not as missionary, that these calamities overtook them ; with some exceptions, particularly as to native Chris- tians who fell into the hands of rebels, among their Moliam, medan countrymen. In the parts of the country where mis, sionaries have been longest at work, and most successful, there have been no disturbances ; while the Sepoys, of all the Hindus, knew least about missionary instruction. In the ranks, or in cantonments, they were no more accessible to itinerant missionaries, than are the soldiers of our own army to the labours of a street preacher. But no one, Ave believe, now ascribes this revolt to the missionaries. The evidence of a Mohammedan conspiracy is supposed by some to be beyond question ; and the fears of Hindu high caste people, lest they should violate their peculiar institution by the touch or taste of certain cartridges, are the cause assigned by others. We believe that both of these have been at work. There are large numbers of Mohammedans, who possess suffi- cient abilit}^, and are swayed by a spirit sufficiently malignant, to devise all that has taken place. But as this sect forms but a fraction of the population, it was only b}^ securing the cooperation of non-Musalman people that anything could be effected. This was to be done in but one way, by exciting trusted. The oppression endured by other classes of the people had as miiel! to do with the revolt of the Sepoys, as the sufferings of the unemployed in our cities with the Mormon rebellion. In sad truth, we have evils in our own land that are legal, such as the compulsory separation of husbands and wives, parents and children, at the sole will of their fellow-man, too often witnessed in some of our States, notwithstanding the deep grief thereby given to the Christianity of the country,— -legalized evils, which it would be hard to surpass by any thing oppressive in the government of India. Com- pared with these the cases of torture, practised by native officials in the Ma- dras presidency without the knowledge of the European officials, may be re- garded as lesser matters ; our own shortcomings may teach us lessons of charity towards our neighbors. These torture cases were very justly de- nounced by the public in India and England, on being brought to light. 16 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. their fears of losing caste. The serving out of cartridges for the Minnie rifle, which were made of a new Icind of paper, or sized with some suspicious looking substance, became the oc- casion of the outbreak ; so far as the Hindus were concerned, it was to a large extent the cause of their revolt. Trifling as such a cause must seem to us, and therefore by many ridicul- ed as incredible, to the devout Hindu, especially to a man of high caste, it was a serious cause of alarm; nothing more se- rious, indeed, could have been presented to his mind. These are the now commonly received theories of the revolt. They both turn on the native army as their hinge of movement. But for this army, embodying large numbers of Mohammedans and high caste Hindus, thoroughly armed, well disciplined, stationed at commanding points, ready, inflammable, and needing but the right torch, no such outburst of fury and ruin could have been produced. Accessory causes were not wanting. The Bengal army ^vas largely composed of men from classes priding themselves on their high caste and personal dignity ; its Ghoorkha and Sikh regiments mostly stood firm in their allegiance to the government, as did the Madras and Bombay armies, which enrolled men of all castes. Not only was the Bengal army chiefly formed from the classes most difficult to be governed, it was also recruited mainly from one part of the country, the provinces of Kohilcund and Oude. This army seems to have been without sufficient discipline, in part owing to the custom which has grown up, of taking the officers of greatest ability and Ivuowledge of the native language for extra- regi- mental service, leaving the men imder the charge of less com- petent officers. The blunder of strongly fortifying Delhi, and then leaving it in the charge of native troops, and allowing the titular Moghul emperor still to remain in the palace, must be enumerated, and can be accounted for only by calling to renicmbrancc the profound feeling of security which prevail- ed among all classes of Europeans. Of all places in India, tliis city is preeminently the seat of royalty; it ought proba' bly to be the political capital of the Bi'itish ; its possession is tlie visible emblem of sovereignty in the eyes of the people- THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 17 For many centuries^ under successive dynasties, the country was governed at Delhi. Hence the conspirators at once set j up the titular emperor as the ostensible head of their move- | ment, and the Sepoys flocked to that city as by some peculiar instinct. Nor can we pass by the grave fault of keeping this native army out of the reach of Christian influences. "We refer not as proof of this to the recent censure inflicted on an officer for his missionary zeal. While no one can doubt the excellence of this gentleman, his peculiar religious views may perhaps have prompted to his engaging in methods of evangelization which few among ourselves would deem pro- per in an officer of our army. It is certain that other officers, among them the noble Havelock, have been equally zealous and not less publicly known as missionary Christian men, without having met with official rebuke. Our censure falls on the policy that has kept native Christians out of the army, and which even dismissed from active service a respectable man, whose only fault was his becoming a sincere convert to the Christian religion. This occurred forty years ago, but the policy of the government has not yet become more liberal. The dismissal of the Sepoy was a wretched truekling to the prej udices of caste among the soldiers, and it was equally de- grading to Europeans, as a practical acknowledgment that their religion was unworthy of respect. This irreligious, or not Christianly religious, policy has resulted in placing the chief defence of all British interests in the hands of those classes of natives who are the most prejudiced, the most proud, the most scornful, alike of their ov/n countrymen and their foreign rulers; and it now seems wonderful that the evil could have been so long tolerated. No considerations of fine stature and bearing in the men, no hope of conciliating such a class of influential people, no mistaken ideas of non-inter- ference with the religions of the country, should have been allowed to have a feather's weight against the sin and the risks of this line of policy. All Christian people will feel thankful that this system has received its death blow in this mutiny. This native army was the magazine, filled with combustible 18 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. materials, and ready for explosion either by a Mohammedan or a Brahman torch ; why then keep up this magazine ? Thus reasons a correspondent of The Times] and the question is often asked, on both sides of the Atlantic, how and why is India held in subjection by its own sons? Is it not better to dispense with the Sepoys? Is it practicable to recruit another native army? These questions may all be answered by simply considering the facts of the case. The Hindus have no feeling, nor any principle, that would prevent their taking service as soldiers for anybody, provided certain per- sonal and caste matters are respected ; no idea of patriotism is violated thereby ; indeed the idea has little or no existence among them. The reasons for enlisting as soldiers are obvi ous. It has been customary, under all dynasties, foreign as well as native, for certain classes to be emploj^ed in this kind of life, and custom is all-powerful with Hindus. The land, moreover, is full of people, so that it is extremely dif&cult for vast multitudes to obtain the slenderest means of subsistence. A hard-working boatman or a field-hand can rarely earn two dollars a month, and must find his food and clothing out of that pittance ; a house-servant seldom receives more than two or three dollars a month, and "finds himself;" and these la- bouring classes are hired by the month or day, with no ex- pectation of support from their employers beyond their time of actual work. The Sepoys, besides their military dress and quarters in cantonments, have their four dollars a month, or twice as much as the same men could earn in any other em- ployment ; and at the end of a certain term of service they are sure of a pension, which enables them to spend the rest of life like "private gentlemen" amongst their friends. As -a class, they are the best conditioned people in India ; of all others, they have fared best under the present government- having ample and sure pay and pensions, which were often scanty and ill-paid under native or Moghul rulers. Almost equally strong are the reasons which induce the British to employ these mercenaries. The climate of the country is extremely injurious to most persons who have been brought up in northern latitudes, and particularly to the THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS, 19 common European soldiers, who are too little governed by laws of reason or temperance. Hence a large pecuniary out- lay is necessary to provide suitable quarters for the men, besides the great expense of their conveyance to India — making every English soldier cost as much as would support a dozen of Sepoys ; and, after all, he is incapable of much service during a large part of the year. This mutiny com- menced at the beginning of the hot season, the time being well chosen, and for three months it was at the risk of health and life for English troops to be moved in order to suppress it. A European regiment cannot be expected to serve long; broken health, numerous casualities, and more than all, the weariness and disgust of a foreigner's life, whose only reason for staying in the country is a pecuniary one, combine to shorten the time of service of English troops, and make it almost a matter of necessity to employ native soldiers, pro- vided they can be taken into service with safety. On this point little doubt need be felt. With the lessons of the last few months in view, it will be easy to guard against the real danger of a Sepoy force. Soldiers will here- after be enlisted from several classes, and fewer from the ranks of the Brahmans and Mohammedans. Native Chris- tians will be welcomed. Discipline will be rigidly maintained. A stronger European force will occupy the commanding positions. And thenceforth we may anticipate little trouble from the native army. Eventually the native troops, like their countrymen of all classes, will be a Christian people, and their relations to their ofi&cers, as well as those of India to England, will at some future day be adjusted on the prin- ciples and the spirit of Christianity. May the day be not far distant ! This mutiny has turned public attention to India, and the relations between that country and Great Britain are now the general study of the western world. It is perceived that the army must be reconstructed, and many beheve that the gov- ernment itself should undergo the same process. There are obviously points of the deepest moment to be considered, if any general change is to be made ; and the danger of need- 20 THE REVOLT OF .THE SEPOYS. less or injurious innovation is very serious. It is quite com- mon for English writers to complain of the present govern- ment, because the natives of the country are not admitted to a larger share in its administration ; some theorizers and some partizans would go so far as to resign the government alto- gether into native hands, and would have the British to with- draw from the country. To any one acquainted with the state of things, the latter measure will appear as simply a proposal to hand the Hindus over to the evils of anarchy. There is neither virtue nor intelligence among them for self- government, in any proper sense of that word. The govern- ment must remain in British hands, and must for a long time be based on the idea of conquest 'and not of a colony. As to admitting Europeans to reside in India, they could freely do so at any time in the last five and twenty years ; but the fierce sun and the drenching rains, the intense tropical climate, added to the already overcrowded condition of every avenue and lane of business in a land teeming with inhabitants, will always stand in the way of European colonization. The idea of colonial government for India will never be practi- cable. As a conquest, the British must continue to govern the countrj^, if they govern it at all, until, under the trans- forming power and genial influence of Christianity, the Hindus are prepared to govern themselves. In the mean time, their being subject to an enlightened Protestant power is of the greatest advantage to them. The interests of humanity and of civilization in India, and the door open for the spread of the gospel, alike depend on the connection which has been so strangely ordained by Providence between the British and the Hindus. The continuance of this relationship we regard as of the highest moment to the people of India ; but whether the East India Company should continue to be the organ of British power, is a question not settled. The Board of Control makes this Companj^ in some sense a part of the English home government ; but we believe that most matters of administration are left to the Company. Through the Board of Control, the public sentiment of the British people has THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 21 been brought to bear on important subjects in the East. The Company itself, being composed of Englishmen, feels the impulse of the national life ; and its general course of policy bears witness to the same influences for good, which have governed the councils of its Directors. The abolition of the rite of the Suttee, and of the sacrifice of infant children to the Ganges, the relinquishment to so great an extent of the pat- ronage of heathen temples — a matter sometimes of difficulty because involving questions of vested and personal rights, the impulse given to education, the construction of railroads now in j)rogress, and of telegraph lines now complete, may be cited as examples of progress in the right direction, and of pro- gress under the guidance of public opinion at home. But if we do not misjudge, the original sin of the Company remains. It is no longer a trading Compan}^, but it is still a stock- holder's Company; the mercantile spirit still pervades its councils ; and its directors would be more than men, if thev did not often look rather to the value of their vested property than to the questions of statesmanship involved in the govern- ment of such a vast country. We intend to imply no injurious reflections on the directors or stockholders of the Company ; they are undoubtedly a body of most respectable persons — probably none are better worthy of confi^dence ; but their Company relationship itself embodies the principle of our objection to them as a governing power. In such hands, the government is likely to be influenced b}^ an English home- class policy, rather than by an Anglo-Indian national one ; and a narrow view of public events is likely to be taken. The welfare of the Hindu millions is in danger of being overlooked, if a broad consideration of their interests should involve great pecuniary expenditure. How else can we account for the limited force of European soldiers at the beginning of this revolt? The number was but little greater, we believe, than it was when the rule of the Company did not extend beyond the Sutlej, and did not include the king- dom of Oude. To the same category must be reduced, at least in some degree, the half-and-half measure of employing the officers of the army on non-military service. The vast 22 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. cultivation of opium, fostered and extended by a peculiar government monopoly, is a still more signal example of the mercantile spirit of the Company, This great evil could hardly have grown up, if the country had been governed directly by the British people. The crown of England would not in that case have been stained with the fumes of opium smoking in the land of Sinim,* Apart from these things, the Company seems to us a * complicated piece of the machinery of government, one in which evils or errors of * It is but fair to admit that wise and good men are not all agreed as to the opium question. lu a note to an able series of letters reprinted from The Times on Indian topics, from a gentleman of high social and political position, who is at the same time a warm friend of Christian missions, it is said : " The tax levied upon opium in India, by means of the monopoly, and the tax upon spirituous liquors in this country [England] are based upon the same principle — that of placing the greatest possible check ao-ainst consumption, by carrying the tax to the highest point at which it can be maintained without encouraging smuggling." On this view of the subject, the government connection with the opium traffic tends to restrict its sale as compared with its extent if the monopoly were overthrown ; in other words, free trade in opium would increase its cultivation. The rules of political economy, however, are not mathematical axioms, equally true in all nations ; what is expedient in England or America may be pernicious in China or India. But we prefer to look at the opium trafiSc as necessarily productive of great moral evils. It is greatly worse in its effects upon its victims than the African slave trade. The poor slaves are often, through the merciful providence of God, in bringing good out of evil, placed in better circumstances than they were in before their captivity ; but the victims of opium smoking are debased in mind, body, and estate, — made wretched in this life and miserable in eternity. We can conceive of no good result from this traffic, except in a small degree through the apotheca- ry's scales ; while its evils are gigantic. If ever a case existed in which a Christian government should interpose its power to put down traffic of any kind, this we believe is such a case. We honor the British government for its humane efforts to suppress the slave trade, and we hope soon to honor it for suppressing the cultivation and export of opium. Contrary to the opinion of our friend, quoted at the beginning of this note, we have the conviction that but for the influence and means of gov- ernment, in aid of the native cultivators, the growth of the poppy would be very limited in India. It is said with much confidence by well-informed persons, that the opium districts are admirably adapted to the growth of cotton. This should be well considered. THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 28 administration can easily be committed', while they cannot be readily corrected, and one that promises no advantage over a simpler form of government, amenable directly to the British crown, like that of the island- of Ceylon. The great question remains to be considered — What place shall be given to Christianity in the policy of government ? One thing that all must hope to see is, that the attitude of the government shall hereafter be friendly, and not hostile, to our holy religion. For long years the East India Company threw its vast influence against the Christian religion. A striking example of this has been given already in the removal of the Christian Sepoy from his regiment. The obstacles interposed in the way of missionary efforts were most serious, so that the first English missionaries had to seek refuge in the Danish possessions at Serampore, and the first American missionaries were expelled from the country. The countenance given to some of the idolatrous festivals, the support of certain heathen temples, the presents bestowed on the hideous idol of Jugger- nath, the enforced attendance of Christian officers and troops to salute pagan gods on some occasions, were all positive offences against the God of heaven, which no consideration of worldly policy can justify. The exclusion of the Word of God from government schools rests on a somewhat different footing, not unlike that which tends to the same result in too many of our own public schools. Yet Christian men must contend, that both here and everywhere the first and best of all books should occupy a chief place in the instruction of youth ; and at the least, that it should not be excluded by the authority of Christian governors, while the Koran and the Shaster are freely admitted. The practical result of edu- cation without Christian influence is shown in lurid colors in the progress of the Sepoy revolt. In this country there can hardly be such education,- religion may be formally excluded from the school-room, but, like the atmosphere, its influence is felt in all places, and direct religious instruction is given in other ways to supply the great defect of our pub- lic school teaching. It is otherwise in a heathen country, and Nana Sahib and the Nawab of Furrukhabad are the 24 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. monsters born of a false religion and nurtured in scliools where everything is taught but that which it most concerns the scholar to learn. We have thus stated this matter as it must be viewed by those who are advocates of our' own common school system. On the higher and true theory of education we do not here enter. The intervention of government in the education of a heathen people is a difficult subject I neither is the difficulty materially lessened on the "Church and State " theory of education. It has given us no pleasure to enumerate these errors and grave offences of the government ; and we are happy to be- lieve that the worst is over ; a more liberal and Christian course would have been followed, even if the great argument of this mutiny had not been thrown into the scale. Hereafter Christian views of duty will not be ignored as to these things. Indeed, for years past, the friends of missions have had little cause of complaint, and many reasons for gratitude in the general course of conduct adopted by the government. But the question remains — What shall be done with Christianity itself? To read the discussions of not a few among our- selves, one might suppose that we had become advocates of enforcing the claims of religion by the authority of the State. The government should be a Christian government, we are told ; it should break down caste ; it should destroy the Mohammedan mosques. As well might we require our government to destroy the Romanist churches, or break up the religious fooleries of the Shakers. The most we can ask the British government to do as a government, is, not to encour- age Heathenism or Mohammedanism, much less to discourage Christianity ; to afford equal protection to all ; to tolerate no offences against property or life in any ; and then, with a fair field before the Church, we have no misgiving as to her success — The Hindus shall become Christians. This doctrine is not strong enough for our Covenanter friends here at home, nor will it satisfy our Church and State l:>rethren in Great Britain. This is not the time to discuss its truth ; but, adverting to the tone of a large part of the public press, it is timely and important for us to lift up a THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS, 25 friendly voice of warning against any attempt to make Ciiristianity a part of the government in India, in any sucli sense as to lead to the employment or the support by the authorities of agencies for the Christian instruction and conversion of the natives. The sure result of doing so would be to promote a mercenaiy profession of our holy faith by multitudes who would still be heathen at heart. Let the example of the State support of Christianity in Ceylon by the Dutch be well weighed : the Christian profession of almost all the numerous converts disappeared as soon as the Dutch government was withdrawn, and the large churches were entirely deserted by their former crowds of worshipers. It will be a sad event for the cause of Christ in India, when the government shall take our religion into union with the State, for the native population. On the British theory of this subject, no objection ought to be made to the support of bishops and chaplains for British born people living in India; but it is by no means obvious that the ecclesiastical establish- ment ought to be much enlarged. There are already three bishops for a population of some fifty thousand, very many of whom are not Episcopalians. It is simply fallacious to speak of the diocese of the Bishop of Calcutta as including all the inhabitants of the Bengal Presidency. The venerable Bishop Wilson has in fact the spiritual oversight of a much smaller number of souls, ministers, and congregations, than are under the supervision of Bishop Potter, of New York. This, however, is ground that we do not \vish to travel over.* * We trust that our En, ^ S? -A" ^■^' ^/-^i A.J, ^5*- ^^^^;$?^ s5*'' ^-t *^