They had always taken to
themselves the sole credit of having conquered India for the company;
and they now imagined that the English wanted them to conquer Persia and
China. Accordingly, they suspected that Lord Canning was going to make
them as strong as Europeans by destroying caste, forcing them to become
Christians, and making them eat beef and drink beer.
The story of the greased cartridges, with all its absurd embellishments,
ran up the Ganges and Jumna to Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, and the
great cantonment at Meerut; while another current of lies ran back again
from Meerut to Barrackpur. It was noised abroad that the bones of cows
and pigs had been ground into powder, and thrown into wells and mingled
with flour and butter, in order to destroy the caste of the masses and
convert them to Christianity.
For a brief interval it was hoped that the disaffection was suppressed.
Excitement manifested itself in various ways at different stations
throughout the length of Hindustan and the Punjab--at Benares, Lucknow,
Agra, Ambala, and Sealkote.
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