Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/494

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470
OUR ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY.

price; and when application was made for assistance from the Commissariat, the men were curtly told that they must provide the required accommodation for themselves.

The great inconvenience and hardship occasioned by this circumstance on the march rankled in the minds of the men, and made them brood so bitterly upon other real or supposed grievances that by the time they arrived at Barrackpore they were, unfortunately, too well prepared for the unhappy scenes that occurred soon after their arrival. On the 30th of October, at a heavy marching order parade, the greater part appeared without their knapsacks; and the cause of the neglect being demanded, they replied that their knapsacks were unfit to produce. They were informed that new ones were on their way, and that till their arrival they must use the old ones. They refused, however, to produce them; and part of the regiment, moreover, declared that they would not proceed to Rangoon or elsewhere by sea, as it involved the forfeiture of caste; nor would they move at all unless they were allowed double batta, the claim for which was rested on two grounds: first, that increased pay had been given to bullock-drivers, and persons engaged in similar services; secondly, that, according to report, everything was very dear in the country to which they were going. After some vain attempts to subdue the prevailing discontent by reasoning, Colonel Cartwright, the commanding officer, being unable, from the number of the mutineers, to take any more vigorous measures, dismissed the regiment, and sought the advice of General Dalzell. The latter officer proceeded to Calcutta to consult the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Edward Paget; and on his return ordered a parade to take place at daybreak on the morning of the 1st of November.

At this parade all semblance of duty was cast aside, and the regiment, with the exception of the officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, burst into acts of open violence. During the night, the mutineers had slept on their arms, maintaining regular guards and pickets, and