On Sunday, May 10th, 1857, the native soldiers in Meerut openly mutinied. It was not the fat used in the making of cartridges which caused the outbreak; that was merely the ostensible reason, for there can be little doubt that a section of the natives, failing to understand European institutions and principles, were easily led by political agitators to take the desperate step of rebellion. The Kings of Oude and Delhi had been practically deposed by the Indian Government, and it was the effort to restore the Mogul dynasty, engineered by those who for political reasons wished to see the English expelled from India, that had much to do with the mutiny--for mutiny it certainly was, bred among men who had gathered extravagant notions of their own importance and their ruler's weaknesses. The common people were hardly affected--indeed, the princes were also, with the exception of the Ranee of Jhansi and the Náná Sáhib, loyal to the British. The arch-fiend of the mutiny was the Náná Sáhib, who had been quietly waiting his opportunity for revenge upon the British for refusing to continue the pension granted to his foster-father. The cartridge incident merely helped him in his nefarious designs, and forwarded the efforts of our external enemies. It was not, however, expected that the mass of the people of India, with their princes, would remain loyal as they did. At the time the mutiny broke out, in a population of 18,000,000, 200,000 of whom were sepoys, there were only 38,000 British soldiers, so that it is quite evident that the outbreak was not national, but military, otherwise they would have been swallowed up in the tempest. Disaffection had occurred at two or three stations, and the 19th and 34th Native Infantry had to be disbanded, the latter after Mangul Pandy had shot two officers at Barrackpore. Then the more determined outbreak occurred at Oude and Meerut; the English officers were murdered, and the European civilians slaughtered before the two regiments of mutineers marched off to join others in Delhi, which became the centre of mutinous activity. They proclaimed as king a descendant of the great Mogul, and attempted to capture the magazine, but, as we shall see hereafter, ten Britishers gallantly defended it, and ultimately blew it up. At this time the 8th were at Jallundur, the 32nd at Lucknow, the 60th and 6th Carabineers, with a troop of horse artillery and details of other regiments, at Meerut. The 61st at Ferozepore, the 75th at Umballah, the 81st at Meeau Meer, the 37th were called up from Ceylon, and the Madras Fusiliers from Madras. The 64th and 78th hurried from Persia, and the 84th were recalled from Burmah. The troops, which included the 93rd Highlanders, _en route_ for China were ordered to India, and Sir Colin Campbell hurried off from England to take command of the operations. Meanwhile the insurrection spread, until the whole region between the Punjab and Lower Bengal was in