round the bells of arms[1] in which their muskets were lodged instead of in the huts which formed their lines. Mitchell meanwhile reported the matter to his superior authorities. A Court of Inquiry was ordered, and after an investigation which, under the circumstances, may be styled prolonged, the Government, missing the point, choosing to shut their eyes to the fact that the conduct of the 19th was a premature movement of a plot which had its roots all over the country, determined to treat it as a local incident, which had attained undue proportions owing to the violent measures taken by Colonel Mitchell.[2] The Governor-General in Council, therefore, resolved to disband the 19th, and to make a scapegoat of Colonel Mitchell. Meanwhile events were occurring under the very eyes of the members of the Government which should have convinced them that the Mutiny they were about to punish was not confined to the 19th.
- ↑ The brick buildings in which the muskets of the sipáhís were stored after parade were called "bells of arms," they being built in the form of a bell.
- ↑ Mitchell had committed no violence, nor had he used violent language. But his words were misquoted in order to support the then fashionable theory that there was no general feeling of mistrust among the sipáhís.
