own cartridges. The Government had caught at the idea, and on the 27th January the official sanction had been given to the suggestion. It was ascertained at the same time that, although many cartridges had been greased at Dam-Dam, not one had been issued. The Government then, whilst according their sanction to General Hearsey's suggestion, transmitted orders by telegraph to the Adjutant-General to issue to the several musketry-depôts only cartridges free from grease, and to permit the sipáhís to do the greasing themselves. But the concession of the Government of India had the effect of bringing into prominence the ignorance of the executive branch of the army. The Adjutant-General, a man who had served the greater part of his career with the sipáhís, wired back that the concessions of the Government would rouse the very suspicion they were intended to allay; that for years past the sipáhís had been using greased cartridges, the grease being mutton fat and wax; and that he begged that the system might be continued. The Government, the Military Secretary of which was likewise an officer who had served with sipáhís, raised no objection to this proposal, but replied that the greased cartridges might be issued, provided the materials were only those mentioned by the Adjutant-General.
How the Adjutant-General managed to mislead the Government, and how the Government permitted themselves to be misled on this occasion, seems extraordinary. The Government had the fact before them that up to that moment no greased cartridges had ever been issued to the native army. That army still used the old 'Brown Bess' musket, and for that weapon unsmeared paper cartridges were invariably employed. It is true that a few regiments had rifle companies, or one company armed with rifles, and that, for facilitating the driving home of the bullet
