Punch: Punch (33.1857)

170

[October 24. 1857.

Party (who, of course, doesn't tldnk himself good-looking). " Really, Clara, 1 can't think how vol can make a Pet of such an

Ugly Brute as an Isle of Skye Terrier !"

THE SEPOY GOVERNOR-GENERAL.

Mr. Punch has to acknowledge the receipt, from Mr. Vernon
Smyjthe, of the following copy of Lord Canning's Proclamation in
favour of the Indian Mutineers :—

" The Governor-General in Council has been much shocked and
grieved at the angry language which he regrets to have seen employed
by British officers and privates in reference to the unfortunate natives
who have been misled into acts which may be deplored, but which
must not be punished too severely. It is unworthy of Englishmen to
use harsh terms towards those who have not had the same advantages
of education as themselves. He desires, therefore, that in any future
letters mentioning the objectionable conduct alleged to have been
pursued by some natives towards females and young persons at
Delhi, Cawnpore, and elsewhere, the writers will avoid irritating and
condemnatory language.

"The Governor-General has learned with great concern that when
English officers and soldiers have captured any of the natives who
have been misled into the acts referred to, these unfortunate persons
have been tried by a court-martial, and the G.-G. in council shudders
to add, have been removed from this life. Such inhuman severity is
most displeasing to the G.-G. in council, and he orders that in future
any such native, if taken with arms in his hand, may be imprisoned
till he can be tried by a jury of his countrymen, and if without arms,
that bail be accepted (his own will suffice) for his going to Calcutta and
rendering himself up to the authorities.

" The Governor-General has perused with a loathing to which he
finds it impossible to give adequate utterance, the accounts of some
of the means by which misguided natives have been compelled to
depart this life. He expressly orders that no native shall in future be
hanged, shot, or blown from a gun, but that in the very few cases in
which it can be necessary, for the sake of example, to inflict the last
penalty, the native's head shall be removed while he is under the
influence of chloroform, or of opiates, to be administered as kindly as
possible by the regimental surgeon.

" The Governor-General, in permitting this exceptional exercise of

a doubtful right, expressly orders that distinction shall be made, and
that any native who offers affidavit upon his Shaster that he did not
actually destroy Engbsh women or children, but merely pointed them
out, prevented their escape, or witnessed their execution, shall be
treated with the clemency the G.-G. is eager to show, and shall be
dismissed on his undertaking to explain his conduct hereafter.

" The Governor-General also impresses upon the mind of officers,
privates, and civilians, that it is very likely that there has been much
exaggeration in the accounts of the sufferings endured by ladies
and children who have unfortunately fallen victims to the Datives' mis-
taken sense of nationality and religion. There can really be nothing so
very dreadful in death by the sword or bayonet; and the imperfectly
developed organisation of youth prevents its enduring so much as adults
do. Other details are probably incorrect; and, at all events, until they
can be verified by affidavits duly filed in the offices of the Courts of
Law, they cannot be regarded as a basis of revengeful operations. The
G.-G. in Council, therefore, enjoins upon the Army and civilians to
dismiss from its consideration any alleged maltreatment of females
and juveniles, and to confine itself to a humane endeavour to restore
order in India.

"The Governor-General will punish with the utmost severity any
infraction of the rules laid down in this proclamation, and should any
Englishman be found to have put to death, or permitted to be put to
death, or not exercised his utmost endeavour to save, any unfortunate
native, armed or not, such Englishman shall be hanged immediately on
the close of the campaign.

" Calcutta, Sept. 1." " (Signed) Canning."

Exit Stultus.

An extremely foolish contributor, whom we have sometimes employed
when his betters were gone bathing, lecturing, pheasant-shooting, and
the like, says that the lying messages brought by the electric wire
make it perfectly proper to call the dispatch a Tell-a-cram. He is
discharged.