Memorandum from Colonel K. Young to Colonel C. Chester, 24 February 1857

MEMORANDUM from Colonel K. Young, Judge Advocate-General of the Army, to Colonel C. Chester,  Adjutant-General of the Army,--No. 182, dated Meerut, 24th February 1857. [Report upon papers relating to disaffection among the Native troops at Barrackpore.]

        A spirit of disaffection has been found to exist amongst the Native troops at Barrackpore, arising apparently from an idea that has got abroad amongst them that the fat of cows and pigs enters into the composition of the paper with which the cartridges for the new rifles are made up; and it is also supposed that the sepoys are under the impression, misled by some designing enemies of the British Government, that it is intended to force them to embrace the Christian religion. A Court of Inquiry was held to investigate the subject of the objection to the cartridge paper, and the proceedings clearly show that the men have got the absurd idea into their heads, on account of the glazed appearance of the paper, that grease of some kind is used in preparing it. In the first instance it seems that the objection was understood to apply merely to the composition used in greasing the cartridges, but the enquiry has shown that the objection goes also to the paper.

        2. On the evening of the day on which the Court of Inquiry sat (the 6th February), a sepoy of the 34th Regiment, Native Infantry, came to the officer of his company, Lieutenant Allen, and told him of a plot amongst the sepoys, who were apprehensive of being forced to give up their caste and be made Christians, to plunder Barrackpore and attempt to seize Fort William or the Treasury. A meeting of delegates, from different regiments was, Lieutenant Allen's informant said, to take place the same night; and, at his suggestion, Lieutenant Allen, having reported the matter to the senior authorities, proceeded with their sanction in the direction indicated, but saw no appearance of any meeting, and the roll having been called in every regiment at the same time all the men were reported to be present in their lines. The sepoy who gave the information to Lieutenant Allen, when subsequently questioned on the subject, stated that he knew that a meeting had taken place on the 5th February, though he was not present at it himself, and he understood that it was then arranged that another meeting should be held on the following night (the 6th); and he adds that after he returned to the lines from Lieutenant Allen's he actually saw the men leaving their lines and proceeding to the place of assembly, but he supposes that suspicion must have got abroad that their intentions were discovered, inducing them consequently to abandon the projected meeting. The sepoy informant (Ramsahai Lalla) appears to bear a very good character, and there seems no reason to doubt his story, except that he has probably very much exaggerated matters. He has not named any individuals who were present at the meeting of the 5th. But on the 10th February, a Native officer of the 34th Regiment, Native Infantry, Jemadar Burriow, came forward of his own accord and stated that he was involuntarily present at the meeting on the 5th February, two or three men (sepoys) having come to him after the eight o'clock roll-call and made him accompany them to the parade ground where he found a great crowd, composed to the best of his belief of the men of the different regiments at the station, to the number of about three hundred, who had their heads tied up with cloths, leaving only a small part of the face exposed. The jemadar says that the question of killing the Europeans and plundering the station was discussed, but he reasoned with the mutineers, and at length on his going away they dispersed. The jemadar mentions the names of two sepoys who took him away, and he thinks he recognised the voice of the drill-havildar of the 34th Regiment, Native Infantry. The above is apparently all the principal information that has been hitherto obtainable regarding these mutinous proceedings at Barrackpore, and I am requested to state what course I consider best to be pursued towards the parties implicated in the night meetings, and to report as to the possibility or otherwise of substantiating charges against any of them.

        3. The only individuals against whom charges could be framed are the two sehoys who took away the jemadar to the meeting on the 5th, and their conviction would be dependent upon his evidence, corraborated as it would be in some measure by the testimony of the sepoy who gave Lieutenant Allen notice of the intended meeting on the 6th. I do not think that the trial of these men would be desirable. The best course, it appears to me, would be to take no active steps at present in the matter, but for Major-General J. P. Hearsey to quietly proceed in his enquiries, when, if further information is eventually procurable, fixing the guilt of assisting at these mutinous meetings on, the mere named or on others, to place them on their trial or to summarily discharge them, as circumstances may render most expedient.

From: Selections from the Letters Despatches and other State Papers preserved in the Military Department of the Government of India, 1857-58.  Edited by George W. Forrest.  Calcutta: Military Department Press 1893, 33-35.