were selected from each regiment to be taught the
use of the Enfield rifle, and for this purpose a new cartridge was
required, which required to be bitten with the teeth. The report spread
like wild-fire, and was firmly believed, that the cartridge was smeared
with bullock's fat to destroy the caste of the Hindus, and with pig's
fat to destroy the caste of the Muhammadans. The Adjutant-General of the
army declared there was not the slightest ground for the statement; but
the more strongly our innocence of design on their religion was
asserted, the more firmly did the Sepoys believe our guilt. Paper was
offered to them, and they were told to prepare cartridges for
themselves; but they said the paper was dangerously glazed, and they
would not accept it. Among other things causing disquietude was an order
that in future all enlisting must engage to go wherever they might be
sent in India or beyond. Hitherto some regiments had been enlisted only
for service in India, and could not be sent out of it except by their
own consent. On every side there were signs of a new era setting in,
which forbode no good to the ancient customs and institutions of the
land. The more aspiring spirits among the Sepoys had evidently formed
the project of uniting the whole army in the attempt to drive the
English into the sea, and secure power and emolument for themselves.

[Sidenote: CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO REVOLT.]

Various things favoured the project. It was well known that many
throughout India hated the English, and were ready to join in their
expulsion. Forts and arsenals were left in their keeping, unchecked by
the presence of European soldiers. The mass of the European force was in
the far North-West, in the Punjab, and towards the border of
Afghanistan, as if there the danger lay. The Sepoys saw that if they
could combine and act in concert they could with ease strike us to the
ground. Then the prophecy was widely spread that our rule was speedily
to come to an end. It had commenced with our victory at Plassey on June
23, 1757; and when the sun of June 23, 1857, should set, not one English
face would be seen in India. Mysterious cakes, resembling our bannocks,
were sent on from village to village, like the fiery cross in Scotland
in former days, to prepare the people for great and startling events.
Early in 1857 the ferment among the soldiers was spreading among large
classes of the people.

During the cold weather of 1856-57 I sp