290

THE MOHAMMEDAN CONSPIRACY.

They are thus summarised by the Judge Advocate General" A Mohammedan priest with pretended visions and assumed miraculous powers-a Mohammedan king, his dupe and accomplice-a Mohammedan clandestine embassy to the Mohammedan powers of Persia and Turkey-Mohammedan prophecies as to the downfall of our power-Mohammedan rule as the successor of our own-the most cold-blooded murders by Mohammedan assassins-a religious war for Mohammedan ascendancy-a Mohammedan press unscrupulously abetting, and Mohammedan sepoys initiating the mutiny." *

That the Mohammedan should conspire against the Christian, is not to be wondered at-his creed teaches

it ; the Koran demands it of him: and it would seem that during the last few years this obligation has pressed on his mind with more than wonted force: the mental thermometer of the Mohammedan has been rising to fever-heat of fanaticism. Not only in India, in Borneo too, in Arabia, in Syria-wherever the Mohammedan has come in contact with the Christian -this religious frenzy has burst forth. But in India, more than in other parts, it found its opportunities and its tools; hence the struggle there was more vigor

* Indeed, the existence of such a conspiracy is assumed by Government itself, for it was one of the most weighty imputations against the chiefs of Jhujjur and Bullubghur, that, knowing what was about to take place, they, though in friendly intercourse with the civil authorities, and professing firm allegiance to Government, had never given any intimation or warning of the coming catastrophe, by which the Government might have been put on its guard.

HINDOSTANEE DUPES AND TOOLS.

291

ous, more desperate in its character and in its issue, and more nearly successful, than elsewhere. Its tools were the Hindostanee army, and it found its opportunity in a spirit of disaffection which was pervading the ranks, and which had become so widespread as already to amount to a combination. To give consistency, to consolidate, to organise, and then to make this spirit subservient to their own more ambitious ulterior ends, was comparatively easy. To men fretting under the imagined loss of privileges and brooding over imagined grievances, and at the same time petted and pampered in order to keep them quiet, each concession made to them being regarded as an additional acknowledgment of their value and their power

-to men in such a frame of mind, the offer of redress of all grievances, the promise of privileges hitherto unknown, service under princes of their own instead of under foreign invaders and conquerors-above all, the guaranteed sanctity of their caste and the preservation of their creed,-all this was an irresistible bait.

This disaffected combination soon ripened into conspiracy; and in this conspiracy, though probably more recent in formation and subordinate in character, yet more rapid and prominent in its development, the former one, deeper, wider, and more subtle, was for the time merged and lost sight of.

In the sepoy revolt, the Mohammedan conspiracy was thrown into the background; and even when its true character was disclosed, the more crafty treason of the Mohammedan thrust forward and screened itself

292

THE CONSPIRACY WIDESPREAD,

behind the more impassioned religious alarm of his Hindoo dupe.

The assertion that such a conspiracy did exist, by no means implies that every soldier in the army was a conspirator; nor is it to be inferred that every one was more or less disaffected. There were in the ranks of that army true men-nobly, heroically true *—and these were contented men; then there was a sprinkling of Sikhs and Punjabees; and there were native Christians in the regimental bands. How is it possible to suppose that in so mixed a body, with different, often conflicting feelings and prejudices, with mutual suspicions and jealousies, a secret of so momentous a character could have been preserved ?

Yet there was probably no regiment without its traitors, and they of the most weight and influence, so that the faithful few were too weak in position, as well as in numbers and moral courage, and, still worse, too conscious of a lack of encouragement from their superiors, either to stem the tide of treason, which was daily gaining strength, or to disclose the impending danger. So matters progressed; the grand train of sedition had its branches in every corps. Clever, popular, high-caste, designing men,† of various grades,

*For instance, those of the 13th and 48th regiments N. I., who so devotedly held their posts at the Lucknow Residency during the entire siege.

+ How far were the regimental ukkharrahs made the nurseries of sedition? Each calipha (master), with his sworn band of chheilas (pupils) at his back, might easily have been such a centre of treason. That this is no idle conjecture, two out of many instances may be given. When the 14th N. I. were suspected at Jhelum, an old com

BUT FEW ONLY IN THE SECRET.

293

formed so many centres of seditious influence, and thus swayed the whole mass. These were the leaven leavening the whole lump, quietly, gradually disturbing the minds of their comrades; now by an inuendo of the greased cartridge, and the crushed bones in the otta; now by an appeal to their national pride and their superstition, that the hundred years of English rule were fast running out, and the defeat of Plassey about to be avenged. Thus, by religious fears and by national hopes, the minds of the mass became more or less shaken in their allegiance; they all more or less became familiarised with the idea that the Badshah was their real Malik (master), and were all pledged, in the person of their respective leaders-though probably, beyond a very few in the regiment, ignorant of the nature and real extent of that pledge-to rise at his call, and obey his behest, whatever it might be.*

All, it would seem, were drawn within the vortex of sedition-but not all in one common plot: from the very extent of ground over which they were scattered, this was impossible. There would seem to have been many centres of action-the action of all to be simultaneous, but the character of each to be regulated by circumstances. For instance, at Lahore, Ferozepore,

mandant, who knew the corps well, wrote and warned the officers to watch certain men whom he named, all caliphas. When the mutiny broke out there, these very men were proved to be the ringleaders. Again, in the 45th N. I., a naik, who was the most popular of the caliphas, was the most active of the mutineers.

*The Sealkote troops admitted that their names had been down in the King of Delhi's books since the preceding January, yet they did not break out till the 9th July.

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UNIFORMITY OF REVOLTS.

Umritsur, and Philour, the grand object was to seize the forts and arsenals; in the Peshawur Valley, to insure the co-operation of their Mohammedan neighbours.*

But it is also clear that, the special object being achieved in each case, a uniform system was to be then adopted. In every successful outbreak it was adopted the officers were shot down, the treasury was seized, the jail forced, and then the whole body-not dividing the spoil, and rushing off to their homes— marched off in perfect order, under officers of their own choosing, carried the treasure with them to their appointed rendezvous, and there gave it up intact, and placed themselves under the command of the rebel leaders. All this, then-the widespread disaffection, the general expectation of a revolt, and the uniform character of the several outbreaks-clearly point to the existence of a preconcerted plan. A conspiracy there was throughout the whole army, though the details, and the ulterior object of it, were probably known only to a chosen few. And this conspiracy was moulded in the hands of the crafty Mohammedan out of the previously existing Hindostanee disaffection.

But whence, it will be asked, arose this spirit of dis

*The 55th N. I. and 10th Irregular Cavalry, at Nowshera, intrigued with the Swatees; the 51st and 64th N. I., at Peshawur, with the Mohmunds.

+ An exception establishes the rule. It was a subject of grievous complaint against the Bareilly Brigade, that when they marched to Delhi, under their wily leader Mohammed Bukht Khan, they refused, despite the taunts and reproaches of the whole rebel army, to give up the treasure and plunder they had brought in.