Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/379

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OUR ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY.
355

another died of fatigue and anxiety after reaching the fort; while more than two hundred Sepoys and followers were said to hare been killed and wounded.

The imminent danger of exhibiting such an example as this to the native army and inhabitants seems to have brought the revolted officers suddenly to their senses, for no further hostilities ensued. The dissatisfied could not but perceive that, while they were placing the interests of their country in peril, they were, in all human probability, involving themselves in ruin. The first manifestation of a returning sense of duty was at Hyderabad; the example was speedily followed at other places, and thus ended a movement which in its commencement and progress seemed to threaten the very existence of the British government in the part of India where it occurred.

Few punishments took place, and those amongst the higher ranks of the revolters; for it was wisely considered that many of those concerned were young men, seduced by the criminal advice and example of those to whom, as their senior and superior officers, they looked with respect and deference. "The gallant and meritorious services," says Auber,[1] "subsequently rendered by those officers, in arduous and trying campaigns, afford the most convincing proofs that it was the error of the head and not of the heart, instigated by a misguided chief, that led them into a momentary departure from a right course of action."

  1. "Rise and Progress of British Power in India."