| John Tulloch Nash

“ But, what with vacillation, hesitation, red-tapeism, and the infatuated cry of the commanding officers against disarming their “loyal men,” the contagious rumour of successful rebellion flew over Upper India with the rapidity of electricity, until the culminating point in the Mutiny having at length been reached, the consequences may easily be conceived. ”

“ From that moment the darkened clouds of the impending storm began to close in and gather to a head, till they burst with all the fury of an irresistible tempest, and deluged the land with torrents of blood. ”

“ On the contrary, before the crack of doom was heard in Upper India, confidence and trust in the natives was felt to such an extent that all Europeans — men, women, and even children — travelled over the country without the slightest hesitation or fear ”

“ By way, too, of giving plausibility to the “prophecy,” and for purposes as obvious as they were mischievous, unleavened cakes (chupaties) , alleged to have been made by Christians, were sedulously circulated among the Hindu villages throughout Upper India. Naturally, therefore, this infamous treachery, preying as it did in a direct manner upon the caste bigotry or fanaticism of a superstitious people, also created a profound impression in their minds. ”

“ Thus this incident, so sudden and appalling, drove them with horror and terror into a sort of bewildering panic. And panic is one of the most cruel of all manias; it is, moreover, infectious, and men under its influence are to all intents and purposes madmen. For instance, in the early days of the Mutiny even Englishmen exhibited aberration of mind to such an absurd extent that hundreds, actually in Calcutta itself, and at many other stations, “performed” a general and discreditable stampede to places of refuge, when there was really no cause for alarm. ”

“ Moreover, it must ever be remembered to the credit of these very same Sepoys that, only a few months before they rose in mutiny, they were actually hunting down to the death, or bringing to the scaffold so-called “rebels,” or by whatever name one may designate men whose patriotism forced them to resist an unwarrantable confiscation of their homes in Oudh. ”

“ But, as already stated, there being no defined, or preconcerted organisation in the movement, all the regiments, fearing to initiate the “move,” waited for each other to rise, and immediately the first successfully rose in open rebellion, the rest, “in Indian file,” like imitative sheep followed as a matter of course. ”