Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/286

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256
Events in Bundelkhand.

overlord. He sought, indeed, every opportunity of displaying his gratitude to Ternan, who had been censured by the Agra Government for his persistent advocacy of his claims.[1]

The Rájá of Dilhérí was the type of many landowners in the Ságar and Narbadá territories, in fact, throughout the territories subject to the Government of the North-west, who had been ruined by the Thomasonian system. Space does not allow me to give other instances, but in Juánpur, in Ázamgarh, in the delta of the Ganges, in Oudh, in Rohilkhand, they abounded. It was they who roused the country, which offered so stout a resistance to Sir Hugh Rose, between Indúr and Kalpí.

I must pass lightly over the events which happened in the territories of which I am writing. It must suffice to state that three companies of the Gwáliár contingent garrisoning Lalitpur mutinied and expelled their European officers on the 13th of June; that a detachment of native infantry sent out from Ságar, under Major Gaussen, rose on the 23d; that the 3d Irregulars and the 42d N. I., stationed at Ságar, broke out on the ist of July. The last-mentioned mutineers were, however, expelled the day following by the loyal 31st N. I., a regiment loyal to the last. From that moment, and until they were relieved by Sir Hugh Rose, the English men and women, and the

  1. When the Narsinhpur district was in a state of rebellion, the house of Ternan, who had refused to quit it, was surrounded early one morning by a considerable body of matchlockmen. Ternan saw at a glance that they belonged to the Dilhérí clan. He at once summoned the chief, and asked him the reason for such a display. The chief replied: 'You behaved kindly to us, and fought our battle when the title and the estate were confiscated, and you were abused for so doing. Now we hear disturbances are rife, and we come to offer you our services. We will stick by you, as you stuck by us. What do you wish us to do?' Ternan accepted their offer, and the members of the large clan remained loyal, and rendered good service to the British Government throughout the trying events of 1857-8.