Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/103

Rh treaties to those of his master. Douglas contented himself, then, with entering the verandah and ordering the troopers to depart, as their presence was an annoyance to the King. The men scornfully defied him. It happened that the sipáhís on duty at the palace belonged to the 38th N. I., the regiment which had successfully defied Lord Dalhousie's order to proceed to Burma but five years before. They were disloyal to the core. When, therefore, the troopers of the 3d Cavalry, maddened by the sight of Douglas, attempted to force an entrance into the palace, they admitted them as comrades.

The troopers, once admitted, made short work of every Englishman they found there. They cut down to the death Mr Fraser, Captain Douglas, the chaplain, Mr Jennings, his daughter, and a young lady staying with them, Miss Clifford. The collector, Mr Hutchinson, fell a victim also to their barbarity. They were not alone in their thirst for blood. Not only had the guards of the 38th N. I. fraternised with them, but the orderlies of the King and the rabble vied with them in their savage fury. There is no reason to believe that the King gave any sanction to their proceedings. For the moment the old man was absolutely without authority. The soldiery had forced their way into his splendid Diwání Ám, and had turned it into a barrack. At that crisis they were the masters.

Outside the palace, especially in the quarter inhabited by the European residents engaged in mercantile pursuits, the carnage was even greater. The Dehlí Bank, supposed to contain treasure, was one of the buildings first attacked. Defended with gallantry by the manager, Mr Beresford, and his family, it was stormed and gutted, and the defenders were slain. The Dehlí Gazette press and its inmates met the same fate. The English church was