which Lord Canning's temperament demanded, and which the importance of the matter justified. It was not till the end of April that the sentence of disbandment was announced. It was, confessedly, a mild sentence. Lord Canning's assailants are never weary of denouncing its inadequacy as one of the causes of subsequent military insubordination. But there is no ground for supposing that the careful moderation exhibited by the Government at the outburst of the Mutiny encouraged its spread. On the contrary, the first great act of rebellion was the immediate result of a severe sentence carried out, with every degrading accessory, at Meerut. Lord Canning himself, reviewing the case in the light of a subsequent outbreak at Lucknow, thus summed up the argument for a policy of leniency: — 'I wish to say that it is my conviction that the measures which have been taken in dealing with mutineers have not been too mild. I have no doubt that many rank offenders have not had their deserts, but I know of no instance in which the punishment of any individual could, with unquestioned justice, have been made more severe: and I am not disposed to doubt the efficacy of the measures because the present ferment, in running its course over the land, after being checked in Bengal, has shown itself in Oudh and the North-West. I would meet it everywhere with the same deliberately measured punishments; picking out the leaders, wherever this is possible, for the severest penalties of military law; visiting the common herd with disbandment, but carefully exempt-
