Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/286

276 “A traveler just arrived at Cawnpore from Allahabad states that just before the cartridges were distributed, a Council (of the Governor-General at Calcutta) was held for the purpose of taking away the religion and rights of the people of Hindustan. The Members of Council came to the conclusion that, as the matter was one affecting religion, seven or eight thousand Europeans would be required, and it would cost the lives of fifty thousand Hindoos, but at this price the natives of Hindustan would become Christians. The matter was therefore represented in a dispatch to Queen Victoria, who gave her consent. A second Council was then held, at which the English merchants were present. It was then resolved to ask for the assistance of a body of European troops, equal in number to the native army, so as to insure success. When the dispatch containing this application was read in England, thirty-five thousand Europeans were very rapidly embarked on ships, and started for Hindustan. Then the English in Calcutta issued the order for the distribution of the cartridges, the object of which was to make Hindustan Christian. The cartridges were smeared with hog and cow's fat. One man who let out the secret was hung, and one imprisoned.

“Meantime the embassador of the Sultan of Roum (Turkey) in London sent word to his sovereign that thirty-five thousand Europeans had been dispatched to Hindustan to make all the natives Christians. The Sultan (may Allah perpetuate his kingdom!) issued a firman to the Pasha of Egypt, the contents of which are as follows: ‘You are conspiring with Queen Victoria. If you are guilty of neglect in this matter, what kind of face will you be able to show to God?’

“When this firman of the Sultan of Roum reached the Pasha of Egypt, the Lord of Egypt assembled his army in the city of Alexandria, which is on the road to India, before the Europeans arrived. As soon as the European troops arrived the troops of the Pasha of Egypt began to fire into them with guns on all sides, and sunk all