they blew it up, though it seemed certain death to themselves to do so; yet four of them, wounded and stunned, marvellously escaped to tell the tale.

It was clear now that the flame of mutiny was spreading far and wide, that our empire in India was at stake, and that the handful of Englishmen there were committed to a life and death struggle with millions of natives. In the history of that time there is no sadder, nobler tale than that of Cawnpore. It was an important military station on the Ganges, containing about 3,000 sepoys and a few hundred European soldiers, under the command of Sir Hugh Wheeler. He saw that a revolt was imminent, and ordered that the white women and children and all who were helpless should be removed to a spot containing barracks and other buildings, round which a few earthworks had been thrown up and some guns placed for defence, and where provisions were stored. He thought that, at the worst, it would only be needful to stay there a little while until the sepoys went to Delhi, which, in his opinion, they were sure to do.

They mutinied on the night of the 4th of June, and were on their march to Delhi, when they were persuaded to return and attack Cawnpore by Nana Sahib, one of those adopted sons whom the English had refused to recognise, but to whom General Wheeler had confidently looked for assistance, so friendly had he always appeared. In the ghastly tragedy that followed, Nana Sahib seems to have been the chief actor.

For three weeks that little band of our country-people endured a siege of which the misery and horror have rarely been surpassed. Above them was the furnace heat of a tropical sun, and before them thousands of savage foes. Their hospital stores were consumed by an accidental fire; provisions failed, and they ate food that in happier days would have seemed disgusting; and their only supply of water was so exposed to the fire of the enemy that it was obtained at the risk of life. But it

was often fetched, for men and women who could bear the agonies of thirst for themselves, could not bear the wailing of the children.

Sickness and wounds soon thinned that little company. In those three weeks 250 of their number were consigned to an old well, which served as their common grave. Never were courage and self-devotion more nobly shown than by these heroic sufferers, some of whom were tenderly nurtured women from peaceful English homes.

At last the Nana offered to provide boats to take them to Allahabad. For the sake of the sick and weak among them, they agreed to his terms; and on the 29th of June they came forth from their entrenchments, looking as if years of anguish, rather than three short weeks, had passed over them. When all were in the boats, which were aground, the diabolical treachery of the Nana became plain, for from the banks a deadly fire was opened by the sepoys. No bravery could avail against it, though the Englishmen struggled to the last and made superhuman efforts to push off the boats.

One of these, manned by as resolute a crew as ever breathed, drifted down the Ganges without oar or rudder, pursued by the savages. Four of those on board, after feats of gallantry never exceeded, by dint of fighting multitudes of assailants and by swimming, did at last, with life yet in them, reach the abode of a friendly native. About eighty others who got a little way down the river were brought back. The men were put to death; though leave was given to an officer who had a Prayer-Book, to comfort himself and his fellow-sufferers with some of its blessed words,—the last earthly sounds to which they listened.

Meantime the Nana gave orders to spare those who survived of the women and children; and these, rather over 200 in all, were shut up together. Some died in their foul imprisonment; but when it was known that General Havelock was marching to the rescue, the Nana commanded the slaughter of his helpless captives. Some

of his sepoys refused the loathsome task, but men were found to undertake it; and this "great company of Christian people" were murdered wholesale in their prison on the 15th of July, On the 16th their bodies were flung into the well, and the next day Havelock retook Cawnpore from a force five times as numerous as his own. But for those he came to save the agony was past. There were none to be delivered.

We have not space to tell one tithe of the events of that time, but a few words must be given to Sir Henry Lawrence's defence of Lucknow with its happier ending. The mutiny there began on the 30th of May, but was checked for the time, and advantage taken of the precious interval to bring all the Europeans in the city to the Residency, which was prepared for defence. Long and fearful was the siege that ensued, and it was sustained by the English with a skill, a patience, and a bravery never exceeded in that year of marvels. Their food soon ran short, persons were often killed in their beds by the fire of the besiegers, and a woful day came when one of the noblest of them all, their chief, Sir Henry Lawrence, was mortally wounded.

In terrible suspense England waited for news of the besieged whom the gallant Generals Havelock and Outram were marching to relieve. Through overpowering heat, through the floods of the rainy season, exhausted by disease and fatigue, their troops pressed on, winning battles by the way, to the aid of their beleaguered countrymen who were surrounded by a host of foes. At last their efforts were so far crowned with success that they reached the Residency on the 25th of September, but it was felt impossible to remove so many sick and wounded, women and children, without a larger force. The needed succour came with Sir Colin Campbell, in November, who most skilfully led the sufferers out. Sir Henry Havelock just lived to see this deliverance, and died a few days after.

Delhi was re-taken by the English troops in Sep

tember, and their triumph was soon made sure throughout the country, though at a costly price, when every mail brought tidings to England that her best and bravest were dying at their post. Truth requires the confession that the victory was, in some instances, stained with cruel vengeance; that the power of decreeing life and death, necessarily placed in many hands, was occasionally terribly abused; that the innocent were sometimes punished with the guilty, and that too often Christian Englishmen emulated the deeds of heathen Hindoos. To his immortal honour, however, it must be stated that the Governor-General-"Clemency Canning," as he was called-set his face against reckless and indiscriminate revenge; thereby winning for himself much present obloquy, but the respect and esteem of future generations. In 1858, the East India Company was dissolved, and all its powers handed over to the Queen's Government.

QUESTIONS.-Describe the outbreak at Meerut. Give a sketch of the progress of the mutiny. Give in detail an account of what happened at Cawnpore. Who was Nana Sahib, and for what was he notorious? Describe the relief of Lucknow.

THE REFORM BILL.

We have seen that the modern House of Commons dates from the famous parliament of Simon de Montfort, in the time of Henry III., and in the reign of Edward I. it was established on a permanent basis. It then consisted of seventy-four knights representing the counties, while the number of borough members sometimes amounted to between two and three hundred; but the latter were occasionally much fewer, when the sheriffs from wilfulness or negligence omitted certain places that had the right of election.

By the time of Henry VIII., members were returned by most towns of importance, and also by some that were very inconsiderable. After the struggle with Charles I., the House of Commons was too strong to yield much to fear, but there was often disgraceful corruption. For a very long period before the passing of the Reform Bill, no changes had been made in the representation; and besides other evils that called for remedy, was the fact that the House of Commons could no longer be said to represent the country, the population and importance of many boroughs being much altered.

In some instances members were chosen by two or three individuals; in others, perhaps, by a score. There were cases in which a large landowner sent to parliament the representatives of half a dozen boroughs; and at the same time there were places where almost universal suffrage existed. Then there were wealthy populous towns of recent growth which returned no members, such as Manchester, with 300,000 inhabitants, Leeds, with 100,000, Birmingham, etc.; while there were villages with less than two hundred inhabitants that sent two members to Parliament, and one or two places that had ceased to be even villages. The grossest corruption existed in some of these pocket boroughs, which were sold at every election.