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 CHAPTER II

The Outbreak

When Lord Dalhousie gave up his post in the early part of 1856, he publicly warned the English in India that 'cruel violence might be suddenly committed by men who up to the last moment had been regarded as harmless, even by those who knew them best.' Lord Canning, at a farewell banquet given to him by the Court of Directors, when he was leaving for Calcutta as the new Governor-General, also said: 'I wish for a peaceful term of office. But I cannot forget that in the sky of India, serene as it is, a small cloud may arise no larger than a man's hand, but which growing larger and larger may at last threaten to burst and overwhelm us with ruin.' Warnings to Government had not been wanting, moreover, from experienced observers who had watched for some time the growth of discontent in the Bengal Sepoy Army. At length the storm burst. And if the fearful disasters, the touching incidents, and the memorable exploits which belong to the first few months of the outbreak are too briefly summed up in this chapter, it is because the object of the volume admits only of such passing reference to them as may carry on the reader intelli-