Plus Ca Change, Old Boy
Miss Wheeler Defends Herself Against the Sepoys at Lucknow
The downfall of John Company and the beginning of the Raj began innocently enough. Some pious Evangelical East India Company commanders took it upon themselves to save the immortal souls of their Hindu and Muslim Sepoy flock. That Abu and Ali were perfectly content to go to Hell by their own devices didn’t deter these righteous churchmen; they would bring their Brown Sheep to the True Path or die trying, what-what.
The Sepoys, needless to say, were not unaware of their pious masters’ intent.
It came to light in the House of Commons in 1856 that the military courts had bent over backwards to excuse British officers who had been accused of brutality or torture.
This disclosure, too, did not go unobserved by the Sepoys.
The last straw came when a rumor spread among the Sepoy ranks that the Enfield rifle cartridges the men were to be issued were greased with cow and pig fat, abominations to both Hindus and Muslims. (The rumor was untrue.) Company reassurances that the cartridges were not in fact greased with animal fats of any kind — they even acquired ungreased cartridges and encouraged the men to make their own lubricant out of vegetable oil and beeswax — were ineffectual.
After the hamhanded rule of the East India Company, and the not incorrect belief that their overlords intended to convert them to Christianity, by force if necessary, the Sepoys were itching for a fight, and the cartridge incident gave them the outlet they needed.
Countless thousands died in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
The Scott McClellans of the day, one might suppose, would have denounced a newspaper that had the effrontery to report the greased-cartridges incident, perhaps even demanding that the newspaper apologize for having reported it, thereby fanning the flames of sedition.
The McClellans of 1857 might have demanded of themselves a bit more in the intellectual-honesty department. One exercise they might have profited from: What is the difference between the cause of an insurrection, and the reason for it?
(The Washington Post reports this morning regular and ongoing Koran abuse has been widely accused by former Guantanamo prisoners. In case you didn’t, like, get the historical parallels or something.)
May 18th, 2005 at 10:49 am
Wonderful post! So good to have you aboard. And the picture is great.
May 18th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
Interesting post. I tend to look for historical parallels myself. Actually,I see some between America’s past involvement in Vietnam and the current situation in Iraq,but I’m just an old liberal defeatist living in the past without any sense of historical perspective. I should sit at the feet of great minds like Jonah Goldberg and Rush Limbaugh and maybe I could learn wisdom.