The English and India: New Sketches

This is a detailed history of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 which is now considered the first Indian struggle for independence against the British rule. The Munity which marked the end of the East India Company’s rule is rightly called a turning point in the history of modern India. As the Indian question has always been of utmost importance both to the Government and the people of Great Britain, there had been many works on the Mutiny by British authors. The uniqueness of the present work lies in the fact that it was written by a Frenchman who cannot be suspected of partiality to England, the competition between the British and French powers for the supremacy in India, having been fresh in his memory. The work throws sufficient light on many happenings during the Mutiny, which are not known from any other source. The author who lived in India for a pretty long time and has acquaintance with a few army officers of the Company, who faught in the recapture of Delhi, has dealt with the origin and background of the rebellion, in one chapter. The author has narrated the stories of the advances and retreats of both the armies in great details. Several chapters devoted to the causes of the Mutiny furnish important information about the socio-economic and political conditions in India in the first half of the nineteenth century. The work contains valuable research material for the reconstruction of the history of British India.