The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS, and a third tied to a cart wheel, which in a few successive revolutions crushed him to death. Our ca mp and stores they burned, and that same even iv, a dvancing close to our intrenchment, they took possession of and burned the whole of the cold weather clothing for our men, which had been stored up at Cawnpore : On the following day the rebels attacked the intrench ment, commencing with a very heavy cannonade from the right and left of their line. Windham attempted a sortie, afte tin s, hard fighting, ike Rifles managed to ich, capture two g but our right were driven back with much loss. It was the sound of . the fi ring on this day wh i c h reached the ears of S ir Cohn Campbell : a mes senger at the s ame time arrived with aocounta of the critical state of Windham's party. Had the rebels at this t i me cut the bridge of b oats, whic h affords the only means of communication with Oude, Sir Colin would have found it a difficult matter to cross the Ganges, but the rebels not capecting his return, and making sure of Windham's force, were probably anxious to avail themselves of the bridge of boats to crush Sir Cohn Campbell. At all events they let it remain, and by so doing were lost. The movements of the favourite lieutenant of Sir Charles Napier were too prompt for them. With his artillery and cavalry he marched thirty-eight miles in fifteen hours, crossed the Ganges by the bridge of boats on the night of the 28th ; on the next day fell upon the rebels, drove them back in a way which made the troops feel that they once m reore had a general at their head, into the town, and then turned to escort the ladies and wounded across the river. Although harassed iu this operation by the rebels, who poured in a desultory fire from the town, and threatened on the left bank by the Oude insurgents, he in the space of two days successfully effected this very delicate operation. He did not at once attack the enemy. Commanding from the intrenchment the head of the road to Allahabad, he made arrangements for a safe escort for the ladies, sick, and wounded, as far as that station, remaining meanwhile on the defensive.—D. News cur. On the morning of the oth, the last wounded man having left the intrenchment, Sir Cohn Campbell turned his attention to the rebels, and at eleven o'clock moved out to attack them. The enemy was first shelled out of the native town, and then attacked with the rifle. The loss of the muti neers was fearful, and the whole army, 14,000 strong, are reported to have fled in utter confusion. They were pursued for fourteen miles along the Calpee road, and lost all their guns except eight, all their battery carts, waggons, ammunition, stores, grain, bullocks, and baggage. Bat one officer was killed, Lieutenant Salmond, aide-de-camp to General Grant, and the loss in men was not great. We captured one 18-pounder gun with limber, eight 9-pounder guns with limber, nine 9-pounder waggons, one 9-pounder carriage, two 21-pounder howitzers with limber, one 21-pounder, one 21-pounder waggon, one 2-1 pounder spare carriage, one transport cart with gin, three 18- pounder limbers, eleven store carts, throe 8-inch mortars, two sa-inch mortars ;—total, 10 pieces of ordnance and 20 carriages of different sorts. - - -------- The following are the official telegrams received re lating to these operations : FROM GENERAL WINDHAM TO THE GOVERNOR - GENERAL,, Cawnpore, Nov. 26, 1.50 p.m. I this morning attacked the First Division of the Gwalior Contingent, amounting to upwards of 3,000 with two eight-inch iron howitzers, and two light field guns, upon the Pundoo river, eight miles from Cawnpore. After a sharp fight of one hour and a half, we completely routed them, and captured all but ote light gun. I will write particulars on my return to Cawnpore this afternoon. FROM GENERAL WINDHAM TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. Cawnpore, Nov. 27, 10 a m. All going on well at Alumbagh. General Havelock died two days ago. FROM CAPTAIN BRUCE, BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE COMMANDER - IN-CHIEF, TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. Cawnpore, Nov. 27, 10 a.m. I am desired by the commander-in-chief to transmit the following to your lordship, dated Alumbagh, 24th Novem ber. I have arrived here with all the long convoy attended upon the rescued garrison. I propose to march the day alter to-morrow fir Bunnee, leaving Sir James Outram with a division. The following is an extract of a letter from Mr. Muir, dated Agra, 18th Nov., to Mr. Sherer, Cawn• pore : H. S. Reed has been to Delhi. He says, " T saw the ex-King yesterday. He is looking very ill, and certainly not residing in that state which the newspaper writers would make out." FROM C. CHESTER TO MR. C. SHADOW, CALCUTTA. Allahabad, Ist. Dec., 8.20 a.m. The Gwalior Contingent attacked Nawabgunge near Cawnpore on the 27th ult. The British troops retired into the intrenchments, and on the night of the 27th the rebels burnt down the camp of the 34th, 82nd, and 88th Regi ments. On the 28th they attacked the intrenchments ftom the Canal and the Soubitdar's Tank. A sortie made against the assailants from the Canal was most successful; the ititles beat back the rebels, and brought in two of their 18-pounder guns. The fire of the rebels from the Snubs ital.'s Tank was also quite silenced, but our extreme right and ihe 64th Regiment suffered very severely. Brigadier Wilson is killed, and Major Sterling badly wounded. Sir Cohn Campbell arrived at Cawnpore at five p.m. of the 28th. Thu ladies and children of the Lucknow garrison are encamped four wiles from Cuwir pure. JANUARY 16, 1858. FROM THE LIEUT:GOVERNOR, CENTRAL PROVINCES, TO MR. C. BEADON, CALCUTTA. Benares, December 1, 0 p.m. The following message from Futtehpore at 7.15 p.m. is forwarded for your information :—" I have just received one line from Captain Bruce. He says the chief has reached, and we are all right now, November :10, 4 p.m. The bearer, who seems to Be speaking the truth, says that we have driven the enemy out of Cawnpore, and we have taken sixteen guns, and are still following them up to the west. The ladies and children arrived on the morning of Nov. 20. Baboo Rambuksh and Rugonauth Singh, Oude zemindars, are, I expect, up to mischief; they have closed the ghauts." " The commander-in-chief," adds the Times cor respondent, " holds the lives of his soldiers dear, and never expends a man where a bullet will serve his turn": — The victory is the most decisive of the war. Ten thou sand men must have escaped, but without guns they are paralysed, and the loss of the baggage will irritate the armed, half-disciplined scoundrels, who form the bulk of the force, against each other. It completely clears the road up to Cawnpore, and leaves Sir Colin Campbell time and means to reorganise his force. But what is the force Sir Colin Campbell will have to reorganise? " I fear, " observes the Times cor respondent on this head, " I fenr there is some delusion at home as to the actual strength of the European army" :- We have, no doubt, a splendid force on paper-no less than thirty-six regiments of infantry, four of cavalry, and most of the Royal Artillery-but the entire force, rely ou it, does not represent more than 25,00() effective men. Thus, we have the 82nd, 34th, 88th, 93rd, 10th, 37th, 35th, 97th, 53rd, 29th, 38th, 42nd, 54th, 72nd, 19th, 20th, 27rh, 70th, 87th, 24th, 52nd, Bth, 75th, 6lst, 84th, 64th, 78th, sth, 00th, 23rd, Ist Company's Bengal Euro peans, 2nd Company's Bengal Europeans, 3rd Company's Bengal Europeans, Ist Madras Fusiliers, and the 2nd, 6th, Bth, and 9th Cavalry; but the 27th, 70th, and 87th at Peshawur have been reduced by sickness to about 900 effectives; the 24th, at Umritsur, is not 350 strong ; the Bth, 52nd, 75th, 61st, 60th, and two Bengal Europeans passed through the siege of Pelhi, and do not average 300 men a regiment; the 3rd Bengal Enropeana, at Agra, are reduced onelalf. The 32nd, 84th, 6 fth, 78th, and Madras Fusiliers were in Lucknow, and cannot average 300 men ; the Fusiliers at one time had not an unwounded man. The sth and 00th, which advanced with Sir H. Havelock, suffered awfully, the sth in particular. The 23rd, B . 2nd, 34th, 88th, 64th, 93rd, 37th, and 61th have suffered more or less, three of them very severely indeed. There are only about 5,000 more to arrive, so that if we can collect 28,000 men in Bengal it will be as much as we can do. " This force," he adds, with peculiar emphasis, "supposing even that Sir John Lawrence holds his own kingdom with the forces at Kurrachee, has to do work which I may thus summarise :- It has to conquer Oude, defended by 60,000 soldiers, aided by the armed " buds:lashes " or bravoes, numbering 200,000 more. ;t has to reconquer the north-west, now overrun by armed ruffians animated by the bitterest hate. It has to garrison a country as large as Austria, filled with armed men. It has to protect Bengal, a country 10,000 square miles larger than Great Britain. It has to gar rison Calcutta. It has to watch 20,000 disarmed but un punished sepoys. It has to restore our authority in Eas tern Bengal, lost by events lam about to narrate. And all this time it is losing numbers at the rate of 150 per battle, or about 300 a week, exclusive of the losses caused by sickness and drinking, which in Calcutta at least are fearful. " Supposing even that Sir John Lawrence holds his own kingdom with the forces at Kurrachee." Is there any doubt, then, about the tranquillity of the Punjaub We are still engaged in a " tremendous struggle," writes another correspondent from Calcutta, for which we require " a most powerful force " :- For some time after my arrival here the daily and cheer ful occupation of a morning was to see the troops landing from the shipping in the Hooghly. At one time they seemed inexhaustible; but now they are well-nigh ex hausted. There is a succession of blank days, and we are not clear that we have got enough soldiers. In fact, the force which has landed is not so overwhelming when we consider the work before them, and the fact that the regi. menta previously in India may almost without exception he considered to be nearly used up. There have landed in Calcutta just ten infantry battalions (I except another battalion of the 60th Rifles which is sent back to Madras) sent from England since the news of the mutinies was received. Then, the five regiments destined for China have all come here, and one from Ceylon, making sixteen in all added to the Indian establishment, which, with the two Bombay regiments from Persia and two from Bunnell, make a total of twenty battalions landed from the first. Of these, the Madras Fusiliers, 84th, 78th, 64th, 37th, Mb, and 90th have been nearly used up, and Sir Colin Camp bell may be considered to have commenced the campaign with the command of about thirteen fresh regiments, the greater part of which have been rapidly pushed np ccuntry. Of these, again, the 93rd and 23rd accompanied Sir Colin to Lucknow, and the 88th, 82nd, and Rifle Brigade appear to have been engaged with General Windham ; so that there ere five more regiments in which we may fear that a hole has alvaely been made. We trust and believe that the work . will be done effectually, but still it is just as well to bear in mind the possibility that desperate men, hard pressed, may fight better than they have hitherto fought, and to acknowledge that possibly further reinforcements may yet be necessary. 57 In the present state of onr information respecting our forces at Cawnpore every scrap of news is valu able. The following extracts—written, as will be seen, on the eve of going into action—though brief, says the Daily News, have this recommenda tion, that they are written by one of the best officers in the Indian army, and by one whose position affords him access to the best intelligence. The letter is . dated Camp, Cawnpore, Dec. 2 : We have got back in time to save Cawnpore from falling into the hands of the rebels. The Gwalior force, with the Baiza Bhaie (widow of the late Maharajah) at their head, and that scoundrel Nana Sahib, with all his forces, united and attacked the cantonments five days ago, and are at the present moment in possession of one-half. They have just opened a cannonade, and we are under orders to move ; and ere long, in all probability, something deciaive will happen. We are strong in the hands of Him whom we serve, and who is able V 3 give the victory to the many or the few. It is a solemn moment. - Of the previous operations of his force under Sir Cohn, the writersmerely says : We have accomplished the relief of the garrison of Lucknow, and brought off all the ladies, women, and chil dren to this place, leaving a strong force in position mar that city. We had some very hard fighting ; and Sir Colin allows that even Crimean heroes will acknowledge it some of the very heaviest fire they have ever been ucder. He is warm in his praise of the Bengal Artillery. Recollecting that Sir Colin effected the relief of Lucknow with less than 5,000 men, and that, with the garrison at the Residency and the forces collected at Cawnpore, he can barely muster 8,000 men—fot 1 we must not estimate his forces according to the 1 number of his regiments—his position with so 1 numerous an enemy on his flank cannot be rega rded without apprehension. It is quite possible that cir cumstances may compel him to fall back upon Allahabad. A report has reached ns (writes the Daily News) —we regret to add, from a reliable source—that as soon as Mann Singh's adhesion to the insurgent cause in Oude became known, all the small Talook dars, who had hitherto stood aloof, hastened to make the best terms they could for themselves with the rebels. It is stated that, with a view to make their accession the more acceptable, such of them as had previously concealed and protected European fugi tives, delivered them up to the enemy, and that all our unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen thus surrendered have been butchered. To pass on to the rest of Bengal. The news from the Benares district is scarcely so favourable as that from Cawnpore. It will be remembered tl at our frontier posts immediately in advance of Jsunpore and Azimghur were held by Ghoorkas sent to our aid by Jung Bahedoor. Against these a strong force of Oude rebels-20,000 with forty guns, it is said — have advanced, and the Ghoorkas have been com pelled to fall back towards Benares, which is in a state of great excitement. At Allahabad it was reported that from 8,000 to 10,000 rebels were ad vancing in between that city and Cawnpore. "The force ahead of us here," says a writer, Dec. 2nd (Allahabad), "is about 8,000 to 10,000. The Futteb pore Brigade has been engaged, as firing was heard in that direction, but no information has yet been received." What will be the result of this advance of the rebels we shall learn probably by the next mail. Meanwhile Jung Bahadoor has descended from his mountains with 9,000 picked men. He has passed Segowlee, and is marching straight for Goruckpore. His men are much more than a match for sepoys, and it is hoped that after clearing that district he will probably turn southward and attack the rebels who have flooded Azimghur. In Bengal Proper the mutiny on the 18th Nov. of the three companies of the 31th at Chittagong, and who escaped northward to Tipperab, has been followed by an emeute at Dacca, at which place two companies of the 73rd Native Infantry were stationed. An attempt to disarm a detachment of the 73rd was followed by an outbreak, and now we hoar (writes a correspondent from Calcutta, Dee. 0) that at the head-quarters of that regiment the Irre gular Cavalry have gone off. To-day it is rumoured that the sepoys have also gone. The only comfort is that this is the last of the Bengal army, and we hope that the Sylhet and Assam local battalions will not be drawn into the vortex, though there is anxiety about them. Connected with this very affair is a singular statement given by the Times Calcutta correspondent of the apathy of the authorities in Calcutta—viz., that Lord Canning, though earnestly reqnested a month before to send a small force to Chittagong, refused to do so, on the plea that no danger of an outbreak was to be apprehended i With respect to the rest of India, communication is so interrupted, and hence the intelligence so scanty, that little is really known : It is every day more and more • subject of regret that when the moveable column came down from Delhi, Flit telighur was not occupied, and our communication with the upper country restored. People below would then have believed the tall of Delhi, and people above would have believed in the arrival of English troops. As . yet neither fully believe anything; and we are nut soul a II 1