Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c16.28

c16.28

It is very remarkable that the sepoy war did not produce one man who showed any capacity for command. Every native regiment was in a state of mutiny and a large proportion of the civil population was ripe for revolt. If only one honest man had been found who could have secured the confidence and support of his fellow-countrymen, the fertile province of Gujarát would have been at his mercy; but amongst natives conflicting interests and mutual distrust make combination most difficult. In India a conspirator's first impulse is to betray his associates lest they should anticipate him. The failure of every mutinous outbreak in Gujarát was due to this moral defect. This trait may be traced throughout the history of the war and should be studied by those who advocate the independence of India, and the capacity of the native for self-government. It is an apt illustration of native inability to organize combined operations that the most formidable conspiracy for the subversion of our power should have been delayed till October 1857. By this time the arrival of Her Majesty's 89th Regiment and a battery of European artillery at Ahmedábád had rendered a successful revolt impossible. The mutinies of the Gujarát Horse and Grenadiers had been promptly suppressed and severely punished. The termination of the monsoon had opened the ports and reinforcements were daily expected. Had the outbreak occurred simultaneously with the mutiny of the Gujarát Horse, the Artillery, and the Second Grenadiers, Gujarát must have been lost for a time and every European would have been murdered.