CHAPTER IV
THE CONFLAGRATION
On the second day after the rising at Meerut,
Calcutta had been electrified by a telegram from
Agra. The central government seemed at first
hardly to realize the gravity of the crisis. But
when further bad news came in, Lord Canning
recognized that our Indian Empire was at stake,
and began to act with an energy, in which his
character and his inexperience of Indian affairs
had made him hitherto wanting; and if to some
he seemed still deficient in grasp of such perilous
affairs, it may be said of him that he never lost
his head, as did others whose counsels were more
vehement. He looked around for every European
soldier within reach; he called for aid on Madras
and Ceylon; he ordered the troops returning
from the war happily ended in Persia, to be sent
at once to Calcutta; he took upon himself the
responsibility of arresting an expedition on its
way from England to make war in China, but
