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52 periment once, and General Hearsey believed, as was quite natural he should believe, that his arguments had produced some effect. He was anxious to try once again the powers of his oratory. He therefore persuaded Lord Canning to authorise him to address the men of the four regiments in language and in terms which he had talked over with the Governor-General.

The parade took place on the Barrackpur plain, on the 17th of March, three days before the actual arrival of the 84th from Rangoon. General Hearsey spoke eloquently and well. He pointed out to the men the childishness of their fears; he entered into full details regarding the necessity to use lubricated cartridges with the new muskets; he told them that the Government were resolved to maintain discipline, and that they would mete out stern justice to the 19th by disbanding that regiment. He concluded by assuring the sipáhís of the brigade that they had nothing to fear, that their caste and religious convictions were safe, and that their officers would listen patiently to any complaint they might make. In the abstract, nothing could be more to the point or more satisfactory than the General's speech.

But it failed to touch the inner minds of the sipáhís. These were inspired by men who had a great object in view — a political object of vast importance — the detaching of the sipáhí army from the foreign Government. But for these men the question of the greased cartridge would never have arisen. The waxed patches had been used without complaint for years, why should the very rumour regarding greased cartridges, which, be it always remembered, had not been issued, so excite the sipáhí? There could be but one reason. The emissaries of the Maulaví and his comrades had done their work thoroughly. The midnight conferences in the huts of the sipáhís, not