A STORY OF CAWNPORE.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 647, 12 March 1870, Page 4

A STORY OF CAWNPORE.

[GLASGOW MAIL.] • ; A sad story; fraught with ghastly reminiscences, "comes to us from India. The Sepoy mutiny "is o"ne of those pages of history which no one likes to dwell on,; and the tragedy of Cawnpore is one of its most hideous episodes. A consecrated shrine and smiling garden surround that dreadful well, the charnel house of British ladies- and children who perished in the. massacre. But.it would appear now that a survivor of the massacre, the daughter of General Sir Hugh Wheeler,; who was with him when the place capitulated to Nana Sahib, yet exists, and the ; fact, painful though its incidents are,cannot be without interest both in Indiai and' -in "this- couhtry. The' author oij " Cawnpore," in describing the scenes ofj the capitulation, mentioned that foin? English wariienj and, three others of mixed parentage, were appropriated and carried off by the soldiers of ; the' rebel cavalry i Six of these were restored, and placed with the other, victims, sharing their subj sequent' butchery. "■ The captorj- however^ of Miss' Wheeler, 1 a girl-about "eighteen; Or nineteen, evade!d : -the 'surrender of hii booty, spreading a tale that his victim-had ■filings herself down a well, after killing her master, his wife, and his three children.. The . story was repeated in various shapes; and Miss Wheeler was credited with having stabbed the whole family in the dead of. night, in revenge for the slaughter of' her father and 1 sister], and in the hope- of escaping from hep dreadful fate. But . it was ,aoon . ascerj- ' taixed that the story "Was " falsa|, that the poor girl was h living ■'■• ip family of her master-under a Mahoni^dan na\ne, : and subsequent enquiries, seem to establish the fact that she lad died a^ last in Napaul among fchefugitive rebeU.. , There was no reason to doubt that. thy poor young lady had at last found resHh 'the igrave. . Altjftow seems; how.eyer," she did not perish, but. has survived i!o the present day. The circumstances <j>f her itisooveryyias detailed : by-an- Indiain : , journal, show that "Mr,C., an Indi^ . civil 1 Ser'vantj" enoampßd o ti6&y ia village, on ,6rie of his Official 'tourßDf:fiflrspection, was informed privately. that, tlie missing daughter of Sir "Hugh Wheeler was' in theKareni of ii petty Rajah' of 'the neighburhood,: who r came in under tie amnesty r and. thereby escaped .hanging. Mr. C. contrived to- senda : message : to iMiss 1 Wlieeler,' offering to rescue >her from her slavery, and restore, her to. her.relatives and homes. But the unfortunate I young lady ia reported to havo returned an ahswer'to the ; effect that, haying- been forced to live for twelve years with a native as an inmate of his harem, and haviug bor.n children to her master, she

felt so degraded' that she could not face any one of her own raco, much less her own relatives. She wished to be entirely forgotten, or, if thought of at all, "to be remembered as one in her grave." We are not informed in what part of India this village was situated, or of the full name of the official, neither of which particulars should have been suppressed in such an important matter. If the main facts are true, it, j may, be presumed that they have beeifi! laid before the Government, and in that' case the latter is bound to investigate the whole affair without loss of time. There is no antecedent improbability that the unfortunate lady may have clung to. life, and, hopeless of restoration of her countrymen, have endeavored to reconcile her- J self to the miserable existence before her. Nor is her dislike to re-enter the society in which she was born and educated, after so many painful years of degradation, altogether improbable. However involuntary her life may nave been, to a person of her birth and training and family associations such an existence must have been one dreadful prolonged misery, of which twelve years may have dulled though they cannot have obliterated the impression. Her downfall was an innocent one, yet the thought of her position may make her shrink from encountering the gaze of her countrywomen and friends. But in such an exceptional case as hers, we consider that Government would be justified in disregarding Her scruples, and using a gentle amount of force to reclaim , her from such a miserable existence. It is to be observed that she does not by any means express herself reconciled to her | unhappy lot, nor does she even allude to any affection for her children, which she might have felt as a motive for wishing to remain as she is. Her language is that of j hopeless melancholy despair, coupled with a lack of moral fortitude to believe that her countrymen will look ripoir her as anything but polluted and degraded. It is her terrible fate, innocent though Bhe was in meeting it, which has terrified her, and makes her shrink from the old life which she feels too degraded to enter. But we believe that were she taken from her present home, and restored to civilised life, Bhe would soon learn to = bless her rescuers. Because in her timidity, and the scorn of that degradation which she unjustly fixes on herself, she, lacks the courage to return to the society iiir.which she was educated, must this poor May be left amidst heathens to drag out the remainder of her days, uricheered "by an English voice, urisoothed by the tender solicitude of friends, and pass away, a wretched victim without any hope save in death ? We say decidedly that itiatheduty of the Indian Government to refuse her the alternative, and at any- rate to enable her to choose between her present and ancient mode of life. "She cannot be permitted to remain as dead, until it is certain that a return to civilisation is directly opposed to her inclinations. For other survivors of those ; dreadful -times- we have done what we could as a nation to compensate them in their misery and sufferings. It would be a national disgrace were we to be remiss in the present instance, and by too ready deference to the supposed wishes of Miss Wheeler, amid mental and physical circumstances which hardly allow the exercise of a vigorous judgment, forget our duly to her and to the memory of her gallant and unfortunate father. The old familiar language, the affectionate care of friends who would welcome her as one risen from the dead, might, in all probability, induce her to take ; a less morbid view of her position, and persuade her that she has done well to face the inevitable trial for the sake of future peace and happiness. We have been assuming that the facts as related are substantially correct, as there is no doubt Miss Wheeler was traced by spies to have . been in the camp : of the Nana when he fled northwards to Nepanl ; and the rescue of this poor young lady, and her restoration to freedom, if not to home, would not only be a melancholy: satisfaction to those whose affections; centre on the dreadful spot, but a vindication, of our riatiorial'hbriour, which could not fail to be degraded in the -eyes of -our 'lndian subjects, should it become known] -that the daughter of adistinguished : ofEcer'--is tamely permitted tp be held as the slave of a petty uative prince.