duct of the men of the 34th N. I. generally, and after much hesitation, moved also by events at Lakhnao, to be presently referred to, Lord Canning came to the determination to disband that regiment also (May 4). Two days later the seven companies of that regiment which were at Barrackpur[1] were paraded in the presence of the 84th Foot, a wing of the 53d, and two batteries of European artillery, and were disbanded. They were not allowed to keep their uniforms, but were marched out of the station with every show of disgrace. Thus five hundred conspirators, embittered against the Government, were turned loose on the country at a very critical period.
The Government had, towards the end of April, been so satisfied that the disturbances were purely local, and that the disaffection displayed in Bengal had not penetrated to the North-west, that they had resolved, as soon as the 34th N. I. should have been dealt with, to send back the 84th Foot to Rangoon, and they had actually engaged transports for that purpose. Nor did the advices they received from Oudh and the upper provinces, just before the disbandment of the 34th, induce them to reconsider the position and to change their plans. It required the outbreak of the 10th of May at Mírath to impress upon them the reality of the danger.
The disbandment of the 19th N. I., on the 31st of March, had sent back to Oudh nearly a thousand men to preach disaffection and treason. The seeds of distrust had already been sown there by the chief conspirators. It wanted, then, but practical proof of the determination of the Government to carry out their designs at all costs to apply the spark to the material collected. The presence of the disbanded men of the 19th supplied that spark. No overt action had taken place in Oudh before their arrival
- ↑ The remaining three companies were on duty in Eastern Bengal.
