dismissal, and on their laying down their arms.' This also seems to have been the spirit of the policy which commended itself to Sir John Lawrence; 'to act at once, to recall the disloyal to a sense of duty, to assure the wavering, and to strike with effect against those in revolt[1].' On May 24 the Lieutenant-Governor wired to Lord Canning that he had received from him a message for transmission to the Commander-in-Chief and to Sir John Lawrence. The contents of the message are not given in the Blue Book, but it referred evidently to the treatment of mutineers. Mr. Colvin, in acknowledging the message to the Governor-General, replied: —
'On the mode of dealing with the mutineers I would strenuously oppose general severity towards all. Such a course would, as we are unanimously convinced by a knowledge of the feeling of the people, acquired amongst them from a variety of sources, estrange the remainder of the army. Hope, I am firmly convinced, should be held out to all those who were not ringleaders or actively concerned in murder and violence. Many are in the rebels' ranks because they could not get away: many certainly thought we were tricking them out of their caste. A tone of general menace would, I am persuaded, be wrong. The Commander-in-Chief should, in my view, be authorized to act upon the above line of policy. I have ventured to detain the portion of your message to the Commander-in-Chief after the words "speedily at Delhi".'
Lord Canning replied on May 25 that Mr. Colvin had done right to stop the latter part of his message
- ↑ Life of Lord Lawrence, by Bosworth Smith, vol. ii. p. 22.
