The Press. — London, England, 1857-10-24 00:00:00

~T that we are living face to face with great and awful realities —life and property most insecure, enemies within our camp, treachery and distrust everywhere. We can scarcely believe in the change which has so suddenly suspended all the pleasant repose and enjoyment of life. Here we are almost in a state of siege, with dangers all around us— some seen, some hidden. We can only put our trust in God, and try to maintain an even and tranquil spirit to go through all our trials and perform all our duties as long as God sees fit to assign us any. • • --- - On the 31st she writes to her sister in a spirit breathing the purest piety and resignation : The crisis is apparently near, and all we can do is to pray for courage and strength to meet it. Dear A—, I am so grieved to have such sad news to send you, but it is useless to shut our eyes to the dreadful probabilities. We must meet them, and implore our Father in Heaven to enable us to keep up a firm and tranquil spirit. I cannot write to dear Harry this time. If I am spared another fortnight I hope it may be to give brighter accounts. Dearest A—, we cannot hope to weather the storm with out disaster ; so let us be prepared. I cannot answer your dear, kind letter. It gives us immt nse comfort and satis- faction to have your assurance of kind intentions with regard to our poor little ones. If we live over this crisis we shall say more about it. If these are my last words to you, my dearest sister, be assured that we think of you with most grateful and affectionate feelings, and that we consign to your charge our dear boy with the utmost con fidence that you will ever be a mother to him and do your very best for him. My sweet one here will share whatever is my fate, most likely, and that I trust to our Almighty Father, without venturing to look forward beyond the present hour. On the same day Colonel Ewart writes : lithe troops should break out here, it is not probable that I shall survive it. lily post and that of my officers being with the colours of the regiment, in the last extremity some or all of us must needs be killed. If that should be my fate, you and all my friends will know, I trust, that I die in the execution of my duty. And you and my brothers will be kind to E— and my children. Ido not wish to write gloomily, but there is no use disguising the fact that we are in the utmost danger ; and as I have said, if the troops do mutiny, my life must almost certainly be sacri ficed. But Ido not think they will venture to attack the intrenched position which is held by the European troops. So I hope in God that E— and my child will be saved. And now, dear A—, farewell. If under God's Providence this be the last time I am to write to you, I entreat you to forgive all I have ever done to trouble you, and to think kindly of me. I know you will be everything a mother can be to my boy. I cannot write to him this time, dear little fellow. Kiss him for me. CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW. The Times last Saturday described General Have lock " marching back in triumph " from the second battle at Bhitour. The following letter, if it does not give us a very brilliant picture of this triumphal march, points out to us, with painful distinctness, the inadequacy of the force at Havelock's com mand for the herculean work he had to perform, and the swarms of rebels against whom we have to contend in Gude : Cawnpore, Aug. 22. After our victorious march to and triumphal entry into Cawnpore, our foray into the Oude territory, and the cap ture of about seventy guns from the enemy, I sit down to give you a description of the state of affairs existing here, and of the appearance of the station in ceneral. It is not my intention to enter into the details of the numerous tights that have taken place, as they are known to you all. Has not the electric telegraph Boiled forth the news of our numerors victories—the dispersal of the enemy, and the capture of their guns? Does not this lead to the inference that all must be peace and quietness here ? So think the good easy people of Calcutta, now that the danger is re moved from their own doors; and so perhaps thmk our friends of Western India. But let them not " lay the flattering unction to their souls," for such is not the case ; " the snake is only scotched." Hydri.-headed, our enemy exists in every debateable point of ground up here. From where their guns come, Heaven only knows; for defeat them to•day, and take their guns from them, to-morrow you find them in a fresb position, with plenty of ordnance to greet you! True it is that they pursue Fabian tactics, which, with a determined enemy,possessed of the resources that we shall soon have, I trust must lead to their destrue. ti m. The victories of our *my have been chronicled in Government despatches and editorial articles ; bat where is the Russell to tell the history of their sufferings, their privations, and hardships? From Allaliabad to this many men sank through sheer exhaustion ; but the real suffer ings of the army only commence! when they entered the nude territory. For twent)-two flays without tents, they fought and bivouacked in rice fields and swamps ; and what has been the effect produced upon the enemy by our suc cesses in Oude? A vety faint one I am atrai 1. The rebels, defeated at Cawnpore, retreated across the river, and have been joined by immense bodies of the Onde troops; in fact, the article kingdom of Oude seems to be in arms against us, and every village is fortified, loopholed, and barricaded. These villagers fight with the desperation of fanatics ; in fact, they have cost us more men than we have lost in charging the batteries of the enemy. Round shot make bit little impression upon these mud buildings —even 24-pound shot only pass through and leave the hole. There is no alternative but to enter them with the bayonet. But at what a fearful sacrifice ! Every door is barricaded, end every part of the building loopholed ;the consequences are, that our men are shot like g a m e w ith o ut a chance of hitting scarcely one of them. In the long run they are E P I;tiE Sf ►BES. entered, but at the loss of twenty or fifty men; such was a part of each ofour fights in Oude, with the exception of the last. All that we could do was to advance a few miles into the country, defeat them, and then retire into our old position, about six miles from our landing-place.. . . . We are nearly knocked up with severe duty, for the men cannot get one night in bed; and our accommodation is wretched, lying on the bare damp ground. This has brought on cholera to such an extent that we are losing from the force about eight or ten men daily. Our regi. ment has suffered dreadfully from this cause, and we have dwindled down to a mere handful. But we expect WO men of ours in, with three guns, to-morrow. The Government will not serve the men out with cots to lie upon, although they can be procured by hundreds, so the men hove to buy for themselves if they hare the money. In hospital the same system of mismanagement is carried on. Even here you would think that the guartermaster-genensl would provide cots and beds for the sick and wounded. Nothing of the sort; they, too, must lie upon cold ground, a great number of them. Neither is there a sufficient number of medical officers here ; the few that are here are worked almost to death. Surely Government could send up any amount of medical attendants from Lower India, and not allow such a disgraceful state of things as this to continue. And where, too, are they whose mission it is to whisper hope and comfort to the sinking sufferer in his passage to the tomb? Have they, too, fled affrighted before the storm? If Government will not perform its duty, and send chap. lains here, are there no worthy men in the lower provinces who, following in the footsteps of their Great Muter, dare to hasten to the bedside of sinking humanity ? This is very sad, and looks very like a repetition of the Crimean disasters. That the last fight on the other side of the river and the retreat to Cawnpore were very severe all letters testify. An officer of the force writes, August 20th : We had only 550 Europeans in the field, and 350 Sikhs ; the enemy at least 12,000, with large bodies of cavalry, and their guns horsed. Ws advanced from the right very steadily, when the enemy unmasked their guns and opened fire with great effect. 1 never saw guns better served, and the fire was very heavy, and from their guns being covered by earthwork's, &c., we had great difficulty in getting at them. However, our guns on the right eventually, by steadily advancing, obtained a flanking fire ; and the Highlanders making a gallant rush carried the enemy's left battery of two gnus, which, with horses and waggons, were captured. No sooner was this done than the rest made a clear bolt, our guns following, and pouring in round shot and grape with good effect. Their loss must have been very heavy, ours 140 killed and wounded. We halted during the heat of the day, and then returned to our old position, and the following morning moved down to cross the river, a work of much time. I was at work from seven a.m. till dark, and such heat I never felt ; men dropped down from sun• stroke, and every one was more or less affected. I managed to crawl up to tie hotel, take a glass of brandy and water, and to bed. The next day we were at rest, but the following morning we moved out to Bhitoor, where the Saugor mutineers assembled. We found them as usual strongly posted under cover, on the ether side of the nullsh leading into the town. We drove them out under a very heavy fire of musketry with considerable loss, taking their guns, and pushed clean through the town to the com missioner's old house, in the compound of which we halted ; our loss in killed and wounded, .I;c., being about 130. My horse was shot in the face, and I had, as well as all our officers, some very narrow escapes. The next morning we returned to this, and pitched our amp on the Sawadah plain, but the rain came down so heavily we were driven into the cavalry stables, which fortunately for as the rebels had spared, and we are now very comfortable. We are now assured of reinforcements, and will advance ou Lucknow directly they arrive; and we shall be in plenty of time, as we have good accounts, and they can hold out for a short time. A medical correspondent with General Havelock's force does not give us a satisfactory account of the health of the gallant little band. The cholera still hangs about the camp : Camp, Cawnpore, August 31. We are still lying on our oars awaiting reinforcements. Parades and roll•calls are the order of the day. Since my last communication the whole of the sick and wounded, numbering altogether about five officers and two hundred European soldiers of all ranks, have been sent to Allaha• bad under au escort of Sikhs, the latter, with the medical staff, going as far as a village called Sohnnagur, from whence they return, being relieved by a corresponding number from Allahabad. The health of the small force at present here has much improved during the last week or ten days, the number of sick Europeans in camp to• day being about one hundred or nearly ten per cent., the usual average in this Presidency. About ten deaths have occurred, chiefly from cholera. This disease still rages in and about the camp, but not in so virulent a form as it formerly did. Phlegmon and fevers, complicated with towel affections, are now the prevailing complaints. A detachment of the 78th Highlanders, numbering some 200 of all ranks, arrived yesterday by dak from Allahabad. Other detachments of the different corps located here are daily expected. The sth Fusiliers and 90th Light Infan- try. with one troop of Horse Artillery, are in Allahabad, and are coming up to join in the column. General Sir James Gomm is also expected shortly. The rebels are erecting a battery on the other side of the Ganges, and near the place where we effected our landing in Oude. Their cavalry or sowers come to the river side every morn ing, and go through some evolutions, brandishing their sabres, and cutting a number of other capers. The weather for the last few days has been olose and sultry, 857. 's shows Oi deg at noon in the shade It is said that a very large sum of money has been offered for the capture of Nana Sahib, of whom I shall have occasion to speak by-and-bye. A sower, Dabee-deen, who accompanied Ge neral Havelock to Cawnpore, and then pushed on alone into the Futteyghur district, has given some interesting details. He remained at Fat teyghur six days. The Nawab of Furruckabad is described as having taken a most active part in the destruction of the Europeans and Christians, and to have been most ably supported throughout by Moulvie Hidaet Ally, tehaildar of Mobnndabad. This person, a native of Moradabad, was originally mohurrir in the magistrate's office at that place, and possesses a slight knowledge of the English lan guage. He has always received the greatest encou ragement and favour from his European superiors, and has exercised the powers of a deputycollector since June, 1851. He has now been appointed dewan to the Nawab, who is said to be entirely under his influence. Daboe-deen states also that on the day he reached Futteyghur Hidaet Ally ordered a public execution on the parade ground of twenty one native Christians and seven European females with several children. These unfortunates are sup posed to have been taken prisoners before they could make their escape into the fort with the other Europeans. The execution was superintended by the Nawab and Hidaet Ally in person. Two females and one little child were not struck by the shot from the guns ; the poor wretches had been thrice fired at, and the Nawab was inclined to release them on their begging hard for their lives. Hidaet Ally, however, interposed, and said that by the Mahome den law all unbelievers ought to be destroyed ; and these poor people were then despatched by the soldiers at Hidaet Ally's command. About ten of the Company's hurkaras were executed at the same time. Dabee-deep states that when at Futteyghur he was told by many persons that eighteen Europeans were still in safety in the fort of Kussoura, where they were protected by Hurdeo Buksh. The collector, Mr. Probyn, and his family, are said to be certainly amongst this party, which is said to contain also several retugees from Shejehanpoor and Bareilly. The fort of Kussoura is a strong place just within the Oude frontier, about twelve miles from Futtey ghur. Hurdeo Buksh is a powerful laedbolder in Oude, can command at a pinch 5,000 or 6,000 match lock men, Thakoors of his own caste. About twenty years ago his father, Runjeet Singh, took refuge in the Futteyghur district, in consequence of being hard pressed by the Nawab's troops ; on that occa sion Mr. F. H. Robinson, the magistrate of Futtey- Our, disregarded all the requisitions of the Resident, to send him back a prisoner to Lucknow. Runjeet Singh after this took up his residence at a village of his own, Dhurropore, which is just outside the Oude frontier, and until his death, a few years ago, always professed himself as under the greatest obligations to Mr. Robinson and the British Government. It is hoped that this feeling has descended to this son, and that in consequence he will continue to with stand the repeated demands of the bloodthirsty Nawab of Furruckabad, to give up these unfortunates whom he has hitherto so successfully protected. Dabee deen adds, that after the escape of the Europeans from the fort, about the 10th of July, the ghat manjees who supplied the boats were severely punished by the Nawab, as were also all persons who were suspected of having given any European or Christian assistance of any kind. As a very grave interest at present attaches to everything connected with the garrison of Lucknow, we may mention that it consists of about 300 of the 32nd Foot, 140 sick and wounded, 300 women and children, and 400 natives, chiefly Sikhs. A. letter from Calcutta thus describes the life led by the garri son at Lucknow • It must be understood that sttachei to the Residency house. which is the principal building in their position, is a large tykhane, or under-ground house. Livieg in this, the portion of the garrison who were not actually on duty, and the ladies and children, have been in a great measure secure from molestation from round shot and small arms. Those, however, on duty or who went out to procure water were eternally fired at by a large 24. pounder, and peppered with small arms from a luopholed house, within a few hundred yards of the Residency. Thisfire at last became so unbearable that it was determined to attempt to under mine the loopholed building. Everything succeeded to perfection; the mine was complete, the train was laid, and the garrison only waited till a sufficient number of the enemy should have congregated in the loopholeil building. The wished-for opportunity presented itself on the 21ith August (Prince Albert's birthday). A heavy fire was opened from the building, and it was in consequence crowi:ed to excess. A favourable moment was selected, the train was fired, upwards of one (nearly two) hundred bodies were blown into the air, sr d the garrison, sallying out at the same moment, not only spiked the 21-pounder, which had so long annoyed them , and otherwise rendered it unserviceable, but they succeeded in procuring what they most wanted—large supplies o