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 CHAPTER III

The Situation

We have endeavoured in the previous pages to indicate the progress of affairs in the North-West of India from the first outbreak of the Mutiny up to the date of Sir Colin Campbell's arrival at Calcutta (August 13th, 1857). So unforeseen was the storm, that for a time few realised its import and extent. In fact, as late as June 23rd, 1857 (the centenary of Plassey), the perfect serenity of the Indian sky formed the subject of general comment in London, both in leading journals and at political meetings; although at that very moment, unknown to the British public, Delhi was in the hands of rebels, Oudh was in mutiny, and British power in the North-West was only represented within the range of the guns and rifles of scattered detachments of troops. But when England at last awoke to the facts, the nation made one of those characteristic efforts which have so often marked her progress. Within a few weeks, 30,000 men of all arms were on the high-road to India.

In that country itself anarchy and confusion pre-