Though the interest in India, which a short time since was so deep and absorbing, has lost its thrilling excitement for some, and its bitter suspense for others, and, though it may be thought presumptuous to add another book to the many already written, there may still be those who will be interested in learning further details of life in India during the Mutinies: first, how our peaceful calm was threatened; then how, in one short hour, many were bereft of all that made life dear, and the struggle that followed to hold and sustain that life when stript of all earthly joy and hope. India may yet hold a place in the thoughts of some, as the last home and resting-place of many near and dear to them.
In this simple narrative I have, of course, confined myself strictly to scenes and occurrences that have fallen under my own eye; many of which, as far as I am aware, have not hitherto found a narrator. It seems to amount almost to a duty, in the present unformed state of public opinion, that those who have been so unfortunate as to bear a part in the
painful scenes in India should faithfully describe what they have themselves seen, leaving it to the public to draw their own conclusions.
By some my judgment of the natives of India may be deemed harsh; but I had little time to know them favourably, and have suffered too deeply from them, perhaps, to be a lenient and impartial judge. To me their character is a sealed book, beyond the sanguinary page which was the only one opened to me.
The Indian Mutiny we must all regard as one of God’s heaviest and most awful judgments. Its cause, as yet, remains a mystery; but we will trust that out of such a fearful calamity, good will arise, but years must elapse ere we can look for it. The next generation of India may be redeemed: the present is too far gone.
May the coming year of 1859 bring success to our arms in India; may peace be established there, and under the rule of our gracious Sovereign, may our Empire there be founded on a surer basis, and Christianity be spread throughout the land.
R. M. C.
Thorp Arch Vicarage
December 20, 1858.
This collection transcribed by Chris Gage