to hold his grasp, but was dragged off and beaten.  He returned the blows; the sipahees drew their swords:  he seized one of the swords and ran off towards his master’s tent, waiving it over his head, to defend himself, followed by some of the sipahees.  The others ran back to the grove in which their regiment and the Futteh Aesh were bivouaced; both regiments seized their arms and ran towards the Nazim’s tents; and when they got within two hundred yards, commenced firing upon them.

The Nazim had with him only a few of his own armed servants.  They seized their arms, and begged permission to return the fire, but were restrained till the regiment came near, and two tomandars, or officers, who stood by the Nazim, were shot down, one dead; and the other disabled.  His men could be restrained no longer, and they shot down two of the foremost of the assailants.  The Nazim then sent off to Lieutenant Orr, who was exercising his corps with blank cartridge on the parade; and, supposing that one of these regiments was doing the same thing near the Nazim’s tents, he paid no attention to them.  He and his brother, the Adjutant, ran forward, and entreated the two regiments to cease firing; and the Nazim sent out Syud Seoraj-od Deen (the commandant of the Bhurmar regiment, stationed in the adjoining district of Ramnugger Dhumeree, who had just come to him on a visit), with the Koran in his hand, to do the same.  The remonstrances of both were in vain.  They continued to fire upon the Nazim, and Lieutenant Orr went off to bring up his regiment, which stood ready to move on the parade.  Alarmed at this, the two regiments ran off to their grove, and the firing ceased.

During all this time, the other two regiments, the Zuffer Mobaruk and Futteh Jung, stood looking on as indifferent spectators; and afterwards took great credit to themselves for not joining in this attempt to blow up the viceroy, who was obliged, the next day, to go to their camp and apologize humbly for his men having presumed to return their fire, which he declared that they had done without his orders!  On his doing this, they consented to forego their claim to have the unhappy messenger sent to their camp to be executed; and to remain with him during the siege.  As to taking any part in the siege and assault on the fort, that was altogether out of their line.  Ruza Kolee Khan, the commandant of the Futteh Jung, was at Lucknow during this mutiny, but he joined a few days after.  Lieutenant Orr gave me the same narrative of the affair at the dinner-table last night; and said, that he and his brother had a very narrow escape—­ that his regiment would have destroyed all the mutineers had they been present; and he left them on the parade lest he might not be able to restrain them in such a scene.  Even this mutiny of the two regiments could not tempt their commandants to leave Court, where they are still enjoying the favour of their patrons, the minister and the singers, and a large share of the pay and perquisites of their officers and sipahees, though the regiments have been sent off to the two disturbed districts of Sundela and Salone.