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102
EARL CANNING

Ságar the troops rose, and the Europeans had to defend themselves for months in a fort to which they had fled for safety. The Jabalpur district, across the Narbadá, was soon teeming with rebel Chiefs in arms. Nágpur was saved by a determined official and the staunch loyalty of the Madras troops. At Indore the British Residency had been attacked, and, despite the proximity of the cantonment at Mhow, the British Resident had been forced to beat a hasty retreat.

At Haidarábád, the Nizám's stormy capital, the shock of the Delhi news was felt; and, before June was over, there were outbreaks of Musalmán fanaticism, and cries to the Moolvie in the Great Mosque to proclaim a holy war. An attack on the Residency was repelled by the Madras Horse Artillery. Still, as the weeks went by, and Delhi remained a rebel capital, and Rohillás, Afgháns and Punjabis flocked into Haidarábád, bringing ever fresh news of English disaster, and urging participation in the struggle, the position became critical. Had the Nizám's great Minister, Sir Salar Jang, been weak, or had the loyalty of the Madras forces wavered, Southern India might presently have been in a blaze.

Westward, across the Deccan, the towns of the South Maráthá Country were dangerously sympathetic with the movement in the north. In more than one regiment, correspondence with the mutinous Sepoys was seized, and the germs of conspiracy were discovered and suppressed. At Kolhápur, before July had passed,