FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 181

65. THE ENGLISH IN INDIA (2)

For a long time after the death of Clive the
English went on fighting m India, and at last
they took nearly all the country and ruled over
it. They had large armies in which the common
soldiers were natives, while the officers were
mostly English.

About forty years ago the native soldiers
began to think that they were badly treated by
the English. This feeling spread among them,
and at last they rose up against their officers.

A dreadful time then began, for the soldiers
were fierce and cruel, and there were but very
few officers to stand against them. And so for a
time these wicked men had things all their own
way. They killed men, women, and children, and
did so many cruel deeds that it makes us shudder
to read of them.

Wherever they could, the English officers
shut themselves, with their wives and children,
into some strong fort, and held out as long as
they could against the natives. :

At a town called Lucknow the English got
into a strong building called the Residency.
The weather was very hot and the building was
small, As many as eight or nine ladies and
about a dozen children were crowded into a
single room. ‘There was plenty of food in the
place, and these brave men made up their minds