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Rh in Lakhnao; the Rání of Jhánsí; and Kunwar Singh. The action of the land system introduced into the North-west Provinces by Mr Thomason, had predisposed the population of those provinces to revolt. There remained only to the conspirators to find a grievance which should so touch the strong religious susceptibilities of the sipáhís as to incite them to overt action. Such a grievance they found in the greased cartridge. By the circulation of chapátís they then intimated to the rural population that the time for action was approaching. This version of the immediate causes of the Mutiny is known to be true by some at least who will read these pages; it is known to be true by all who have taken the trouble to dive below the surface. I have accordingly given it a prominent place in this volume.

The task of compressing within about four hundred pages the story of a Mutiny which abounded in scenes of action, so many, so varied, so distinct from each other; of a Mutiny in which every station occupied by English men and English women was either a camp or a battle-ground; in the outset of which our countrymen, in the several sub-divisions of India, were in the position of detached parties of a garrison, unable to communicate with headquarters or with one another, suddenly surprised and set upon by men whom they had implicitly trusted; has been one