The story of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 is, perhaps, the most signal illustration of our great national character ever yet recorded in the annals of our country. It was the vehement self-assertion of the Englishman that produced this conflagration ; it was the same vehement self-assertion that enabled him, by God’s blessing, to trample it out. It was a noble egotism, mighty alike in doing and in suffering, and it showed itself grandly capable of steadfastly confronting the dangers which it had brought down upon itself. If I have any predominant theory it is this: Because we were too English the great crisis arose; but it was only because we were English that, when it arose, it did not utterly overwhelm us (Kaye xii).
Kaye, John William. “Preface.“ A History of the Sepoy War in India, 1857-1858. vol 1, W.H. Allen, 1870, pp. xii-xiv.