1 30 FROM THE DEATH OF NOO NEBAL SINGH
2 instigated by large promises from the Queen’s
3 partisans, commenced a course of anarchy and
4 disorder which for several months threatened the
5 utter dissolution of the empire, and the unavoid-
6 able interference of the British power.
7 The demands of the soldiery were, increase of
8 pay and the dismissal of all officers obnoxious to
9 them. These claims not being admitted, the
10 most frightful outrages followed, the government
11 having no control whatever over the soldiery.
12 The soldiers having elected a council of five of
13 their comrades from each company in every regi-
14 ment at Lahore, to represent their demands to
15 the government, commenced by entirely annul-
16 ling the authority of their officers, many of whom
17 they at once murdered. The plunder of the city
18 then followed, in which it is supposed that not
19 less than two thousand persons were assassinated
20 or perished, including all those government
21 writers and servants who had in any way ever
22 rendered themselves obnoxious to the army. The
23 house of General Court (who, it should be
24 stated, in common with the rest of the European
25 officers, had declined identifying himself with the
26 politics of the country), was stripped of every-
27 thing to the bare walls, and the General himself
28 very narrowly escaped assassination before he
29 reached a place of safety. General Ventura, who
30 upon the news of the outbreak had returned to