trying a nature,—­that upon this point the sensitiveness of the Sepoy is always extreme, and his suspicions are easily aroused.  Their superstitions and religious customs “interfere in many strange ways with their military duties.”  “The brave men of the 35th Native Infantry,” says Sir Charles Napier, “lost caste because they did their duty at Jelalabad; that is, they fought like soldiers, and ate what could be had to sustain their strength for battle.”  But they are under a double rule, of religious and of military discipline,—­and if the two come into conflict, the latter is likely to give way.

The discontent at Barrackpore soon manifested itself in ways not to be mistaken.  There were incendiary fires within the lines.  It was discovered that messengers had been sent to regiments at other stations, with incitements to insubordination.  The officer in command at Barrackpore, General Hearsay, addressed the troops on parade, explained to them that the cartridges were not prepared with the obnoxious materials supposed, and set forth the groundlessness of their suspicions.  The address was well received at first, but had no permanent effect.  The ill-feeling spread to other troops and other stations.  The government seems to have taken no measure of precaution in view of the impending trouble, and contented itself with despatching telegraphic messages to the more distant stations, where the new rifle-practice was being introduced, ordering that the native troops were “to have no practice ammunition served out to them, but only to watch the firing of the Europeans.”  On the 26th of February, the 19th regiment, then stationed at Berhampore, refused to receive the cartridges that were served out, and were prevented from open violence only by the presence of a superior English force.  After great delay, it was determined that this regiment should be disbanded.  The authorities were not even yet alarmed; they were uneasy, but even their uneasiness does not seem to have been shared by the majority of the English residents in India.  It was not until the 3d of April that the sentence passed upon the 19th regiment was executed.  The affair was dallied with, and inefficiency and dilatoriness prevailed everywhere.

But meanwhile the disaffection was spreading.  The order for confining the use of the new cartridges to the Europeans seems to have been looked upon by the native regiments as a confirmation of their suspicions with regard to them.  The more daring and evil-disposed of the soldiers stimulated the alarm, and roused the prejudices of their more timid and unreasoning companions.  No general plan of revolt seems to have been formed, but the materials of discontent were gradually being concentrated; the inflammable spirits of the Sepoys were ready to burst into a blaze.  Strong and judicious measures, promptly put into action, might even now have allayed the excitement and dissipated the danger.  But the imbecile commander-in-chief was enjoying himself