Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/159

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THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR
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the avenues to it, and we then thought ourselves safe from the attack we fully expected from the mutineers. Their numbers had increased during the night: 200 of the 47th had declared their loyalty and determination to be staunch to their duty, but they traitorously joined their companions, as did about 200 of the 62nd Regiment Native Infantry and about thirty men of the 26th Regiment.

'All the non-commissioned as well as commissioned native officers to a man went to their Colonel and declared they would stand by him. The sequel will show their sincerity. By daybreak on November 1, Sir E. Paget, who had with his staff bivouacked in the Green House, put himself at the head of the troops. About 2,000 men proceeded to the cantonment.'

Barrackpur, it may be as well to explain, is a pleasant place on the Húglí, about sixteen miles above Calcutta. Ever since the days of Job Charnock it has been a favourite resort of Europeans. Here was a great mansion in a stately park, to which Governors-General retired from the dust or steam of the capital, and at this 'summer palace' Lord Amherst, with his family, was staying when the story begins.

'The cannon from Dum-Dum was stationed in the park to fire over the pales on the insurgents if necessary. Captain Macan and two other officers were sent to them, he addressed the mutineers in their own language in a very conciliatory manner, endeavouring to persuade them of the folly and danger of persisting in their mutiny, and refusal to deliver up their arms. No argument availed. He then told them the dire consequences that must ensue, and that at his return without their laying down their arms, the signal