have done some good, and that our lives will not be sacrificed in vain;
for I believe direct government under the English parliament will be
more just than was that of the Company, and that there is yet a future
before my oppressed and downtrodden countrymen, although I shall not
live to see it.

"I do not speak, _sahib_, to flatter you or to gain your favour. I have
already gained that, and I know that you cannot help me any farther than
you are doing, and that if you could, your sense of duty would not let
you. I know I must die; but the unexpected kindness which you have shown
to me has caused me to speak my mind. I came to this tent with hatred in
my heart, and curses on my lips; but your kindness to me, unfortunate,
has made me, for the second time since I left Lucknow, ashamed of the
atrocities committed during this rebellion. The first time was at
Cawnpore a few days ago, when Colonel Napier of the Engineers was
directing the blowing up of the Hindoo temples on the Cawnpore _ghat_,
and a deputation of Hindoo priests came to him to beg that the temples
might not be destroyed. 'Now, listen to me,' said Colonel Napier in
reply to them; 'you were all here when our women and children were
murdered, and you also well know that we are not destroying these
temples for vengeance, but for military considerations connected with
the safety of the bridge of boats. But if any man among you can prove to
me that he did a single act of kindness to any Christian man, woman, or
child, nay, if he can even prove that he uttered one word of
intercession for the life of any one of them, I pledge myself to spare
the temple where he worships.' I was standing in the crowd close to
Colonel Napier at the time, and I thought it was bravely spoken. There
was no reply, and the cowardly Brahmins slunk away. Napier gave the
signal and the temples leaped into the air; and I was so impressed with
the justness of Napier's remarks that I too turned away, ashamed."

On this I asked him, "Were you in Cawnpore when the Mutiny broke out?"
To which he replied: "No, thank God! I was in my home in Rohilcund; and
my hands are unstained by the blood of any one, excepting those who have
fallen in the field of battle. I knew that the storm was about to burst,
and had gone to place my wife and children in safety, and I was in my
village when I heard the news of the mutinies at Meerut and Bareilly. I
immediately hastened to join the Bareilly brigade, and marched