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Commander-in-Chief in India, General George Anson, though he had had but a slight experience of the Bengal sipáhí, possessed in an eminent degree the gift of common sense. If he did not penetrate the mysteries which baffled men who had been trained in India, and who had spent their lives with the sipáhís, no blame can on that account attach to him. He was conscientious, painstaking, self-sacrificing, and gave to the work which had been entrusted to him all his time and all his capacity. In intellectual ability he towered above the men who surrounded him.

The summer headquarters of the army were at the pleasant hill-station of Simla. Thither General Anson was progressing in the third month of 1857, inspecting troops and stations as he marched. Early in that month he had reached Ambálah, fifty-five miles north of Karnál, and thirty-seven from Kálka, immediately at the foot of the Himaláyan range. At Ambálah was one of the depôts of instruction in the use of the new rifle. Now, although no greased cartridges had been served out to the men, the instructors in the new drill had noticed a general feeling of alarm and suspicion pervading their minds, not only as to the nature of the grease, but as to the materials of which the ungreased paper wrapped round the cartridges was composed. The matter came to the knowledge of General Anson. A circumstance,