Terrorism, Insurgency and Indian-English Literature, 1830-1947

2    The Bibighar

Mourning the 1857 Rebellion

The news of the terrible tragedy of Cawnpore reached us on Saturday [. . .] Nana Saheb is a name that will live in Indian story [sic] and we trust in God, not only for his crimes but for the character of the punishments that await him [. . .] It will be a disgrace to our name if the accursed ruffian be allowed the form even of a trial; and when he falls into our hands [. . .] he should be turned loose into a regiment of European soldiers, who know better how to deal with [him . . .] than the English law understands. (Lahore Chronicle 5 August 1857)

Never, since England had a standing army, have such provocations assailed our fighting men as those which hardened the hearts of Havelock's battalions ...