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

Upon the 20th fire was opened on the Kaiserbagh, which gradully increased in importance, till it assumed the character of regular breaching and bombardment. The Kaiserbagh was breached in three places by Captain Peel, R.N., and I have been told that the enemy suffered mach loss within its precincts. Having thus led the enemy to believe that itthnediate assault was contemplated, orders were issued for the retreat of the garrison through the lines of our pickets at midnight on the 22nd. The ladies and families, the wounded, the treasure, the guns it was thought worth while to keep, the ordnance stores, the grain still possessed by the commissariat of the garrison, and the State prisoners, had all been previously removed. Sir James Outram had received orders to burst the gnns which it was thought undesirable to take away; and he was finally directed silently to evacuate the Residency of Luck now ut the hour indicated. The dispositions to cover the retreat and to resist the enemy, should he pursue, were ably carried out by Brigadier Hon. Adrian Hope; " but I am happy," adds Sir Colin, "to say the enemy was completely deceived and he did not attempt to follow. On the contrary, he began firing on our old positions many hours after we had left them." The movement of retreat, remarks the commander in•chief, was ad mirably executed, and was a perfect lesson in such combinations: — Each exterior line came gradually retiring through its supports, till at length nothing remained hut the last line of infantry and guns, with which I was myself to crush the enemy if he had ventured to follow up the pickets. The only line of retreat lay through a long and tortuous lane, and all these precautions were absolutely necessary to insure the safety of the force. The extreme posts on the left, under Lieutenant-Colonel Hale, her Majesty's 82nd ; Lieutenant-Colonel Wells, her Majesty's 23rd Foot; and Lieutenant-Colonel Ewatt, her Majesty's 93rd Highlanders, made their way by a road which had been explored for them, after I considered that the time had arrived, with due regard to the security of the whole, that their posts should be evacuated. It was my endeavour that nothing should be left to chance, and the conduct of the officers in exactly carrying oat their instructions was beyond all praise. During all these operations, from the 16th inst., Brigadier Greathed's brigade closed in the rear, and then formed the rear-guard as the troops retired to Dilkoosha, which was reached at four a.m. on the 23rd inst. by the whole force I must not forget to mention the exertions of the cavalry during all the operations which have been de scribed. The exertions of Brigadier Little and of Major Ouvry, respectively, of the Cavalry Brigade and the 9th Lancers, were unceasing in keeping up our long line of communica tions, and preserving our extreme rear beyond the Dil koosha, which was constantly threatened. On the 22nd the enemy attacked at Dilkoosha; but was speedily driven off under Brig idler Little's orders. The officers commanding tile Irregular Cavalry, Lieu tenants Watson, Youngliusband, l'robyn, and Gough, as well as all the officers of the 9th Lancers, were never out of the saddle during all this time, and well maintained the character they have won throughout the war. I moved with General Grant's division to Alumbagh on the afternoon of the 24th, leaving Sir James Outram's division in position at Dilkoosha, to prevent molestation of the immense convey of the women and wounded which it was necessary to tranaport with us. Sir James Outram closed up this day without annoyance from the enemy. I have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's must obedient humble servant, C. CAMPBELL, General, Commander-in-Chief. In the following " General Order" Sir Colin Campbell congratulates the army upon this great exploit : - Head-quarters, La Martiniere, Lucknow, November 23, 1857. . _ . The commander-in-chief has reason to be thankful to the force he conducted far the relief of the garrison of Lucknow. 2. Hastily assembled, fatigued by forced marches, but animated by a common feeling of determination to accom plish the duty before them, all ranks of this force have compensated for their small number in the execution of a most difficult duty by unceasing exertions. 3. From the morning of the Roth till last night the whole force has been one outlying picket, never out of fire, and covering an immense extent of ground, to permit the garrison to retire scathless and in safety, covered by the whole of the relieving force. 4. That ground was son by fighting as bard as it ever fell to the lot of the commander-in-chief to witness, it being necessary to bring up the same men over and over again to fresh attacks; and it is with the greatest gratifi cation that his Excellency declares he never saw men be have better. 5. The storming of the Secunderbagh and the Shah Nujjeef has never been surpassed in daring, and the success of it was most brilliant and complete. 6. The movement of retreat of last night, by which the final rescue of the garrison was effected, was a model of discipline and er.actness. Tile consequence was that the enemy was completely deceived, and the force retired by a narrow, tortuous lane, the orly line of retreat open, in the face of 50,000 teemies, without molestation. 7. The commander-in-chief offers his sincere thanks to Major-General Sir James Outram, G.C.8., for the happy manner in which he planned and carried out his arrange ments for the evacuation of the Residency of Lucknow. L . By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, IV. MAYHEW, Major, Deputy-Adjutant-General of the Army. THE PRESS, JANUARY 16, 1858. We question if the intelligence by this mail has been surpassed in interest by any previous coineau nications from India. " Since the commencement of the rebellion," writes a correspondent, "no mail has taken to England such disastrous intelligence as will the present—never, perhaps, has our power in India &neared in so precarious a position." The events detailed and announced are as important as they are numerous. The abandonment of the Resi dency of Lucknow, the death of Havelock at Al um bagh, the surprise of Windham at Cawnpore, the rapid and creditable success of Sir Colin Campbell, the descent of Jung Bahadoor into the plains of Bengal, the advance southward of the Oude rebels, and the numerous petty but continual outbreaks in different parts of the country, are all of a nature to attract our warmest interest and sym pathy, we fear, to demand our gravest attention, and to dissipate entirely the stupid boasts of those shortsighted partisans who, for the last six weeks, have incessantly proclaimed the rebellion to he sup pressed, and the complete pacification of India to be at hand. As the main interest of all operations centres in the force under the immediate direction of the Com mander-in-chief, we will commence our brief sum mary with the events connected with the final and complete relief of the garrison at Lucknow by Sir Cohn Campbell. Our last detailed intelligence left Sir Colin in possession of certain portions of Luck now. It appears that his victories, though terribly destructive to the enemy, were only achieved with severe loss to ourselves-000 being reported to have fallen in the three last days' fighting. The enemy, notwithstanding these victories, still numbered at least 50,000 fighting men, who showed less inclination to retreat than determination to defend the city street by street and inch by inch. To attack them was to sacrifice a force already reduced and risk the necessity of a third relief. The Commander-in chief, encumbered with women and children and sick and wounded, therefore determined to evacuate Lucknow. Three days were employed shelling the palace, with the view to cheat the enemy into the belief that an assault was intended ; and jthe ruse was successful. At midnight, on the 22nd of November, the whole of the garrison, the State prisoners, and the treasure were withdrawn " in presence of the whole force of Oude." Many of the guns were destroyed, the remainder were carried off, and the Residency, the scene of such terrible suffering and such heroic endurance, was abandoned to the enemy. The retreat, designed with profound forethought, was conducted with exquisite skill, and in so masterly a manner as to draw from the Commander-in-chief the warmest encomiums upon the officers and men engaged. We do not here enter into any account of this manoeuvre. Sir Colin Campbell's despatches, published above, supply all details. The rebels entering the Residency on the 23rd, were blown up by two of our men who remained behind to fire the mine, and who it is feared lost their lives on the occasion. At Alumbegh Sir Colin halted, on the 21th, for some hours, collecting his scattered forces and arranging for the permanent defence of the position ; and here he sustained a loss which in 1 India has spread universal gloom, and in England clouds the glory of the Relief t Sir Henry Havelock, worn out with fatigue, exposure, and mental suffering, expired at the Alumbagh on the 2rali of November. How he died no one in Bengal yet knows. According to one account, his toil, never remitted, however his health might be impaired, brought on an attack of acute dysentery. According to another, his death was the effect of wounds received in action. The Government has published no particulars, and has noticed hint only at the tail of a general order about the garrison. While Sir Cohn was at Alumbagh the Gwalior rebels, whose indecision for so many months has been of the greatest advantage to us, at length re solved upon definite measures. Cawnpore had been left under the command of Gen. Windham. He had with him about 3,000 men, consisting of portions of the 34th, 04th, 82nd, and 88th Regiments, besides artillery. It is said that his orders from Sir Cohn were on no account to risk an engagement. How ever that may be, he heard on the 20th that the Gwalior rebels were advancing on Cawnpore. On the 25th information reached him that the advanced guard had arrived at Pandoo Noddy, about eight miles from Cawnpore. These were not the Gwalior troops : they were Doer Singh's rabble, who having been beaten out of Behar in August by Vincent Eyre, bad since • joined the Gwalior disciplined troops, and had come on as their advanced guard. General Windham, deceived by his spies, assuming these rabble to be the Gwalior troops, marched out of Cawnpore on the 20th, attacked, and after a contest of an hour and a half's duration, beat them. Of what ensued we have no definite details, but it would appear that General Windham, presuming a little upon his victory, neglectsd to take those pre- - cautions so essential in the face of an enemy. But, be that as it may, the main body of the Gwalior rebels, finding their advanced guard driven iu, and no doubt well served by their spies, who in all pro. bability represented Sir Colin as shut up in Lueknow, made a rapid detour to the Delhi road, and on the morning of the 27th marched on the station of Cawn. pore from the westward. Instead of attacking with promptitude, they contented themselves with as . suming a threatening attitude at Nawabgunge, a suburb two miles distant from Windham's standing camp : On the following day (27th Nov.), Windham withdrew his camp in the direction of the city of Cawnpore, with high brick-kilns on either side of the town close behind him. About eleven the enemy came on, and with a very extended line quite outflanked us on both sides, Th e fire was heavy, but not very accurate, as the loss on our side was nothing; but the day began with disaster, and things never mended. The detachment of the Naval Brigade, in oharge of two 24-pounder iron guns, &ban. doned their guns when the enemy were 1,100 yards Lff, and left them standing on the road for others to bring in. The enemy got round Windham's right and into cantonments whilst the fighting was going on in front. An alarm was spread through all, and a retreat was sounded—helter shelter, all came tumbling back into the fort. One of the 24-pounders got upset in the town, and was left behind, and the chaos of the intrenchment at nightfall was beyond parallel. Colonel Adye and Capto in Austin crept out at midnight with 100 men into the heart of the city, and succeeded in recovering the 24-pounder, and brought it back, or it would now have been in the enemy's Lands. The following day an advance of skirmishers took place, and extended over an immense radius. The Rifles succeeded in eaptui ing two IN-pounders, but the right advance was wit so fortunate. Wilson, :he brigadier, was shot at the head of his regiment; the bri gade-major fell with him ; also the quartermaster-general, as well as Major Stirling, commanding the 04th; and this force was compellei to retire, leaving its dead and wounded behind, with the exception of the brigadier, who just lived half an hour after reaching his tent. The follow. ing day the troops were so fagged as to be forced to con fine themselves in the intrenchments, the evening closing in upon us, and opening fire on the works. Fortunately the chief, on his way back from Bunnie, heard the firing and pushed on with all speed, crossing himself that evening and his force the following morning, the fourth day (November 30). Owing to the ladies and wounded, we have been inactive now for four days. The rebels are some 500 yards outside the works, and fire at us as it suits their pleasure, selecting the hospital principally, which they have hit several times. Musketry goes on all night, and artillery at times. As I write, an occasional roundahot goes over or into the camp. You will hear how some regiments behaved. All the cimp fell into the enemy's hands, and the tents burnt, and there are now only 100 to issue for all comers ! All the Uwalior Con tingent is here—some 12,000 men. What Sir Colin in tends to do is a mystery, but we wait from hour to hour, from day to day, for some move. All are anxious, as you may suppose, and the loss will be heavy, no doubt. At one period of the second day an attempt was made to storm a battery of six guns. The Rifles and the Gith were ordered to take it; the troops went at it with all the dash of British soldiers. An officer, who was himself in the melee, will tell the rest : The brigadier gave the word to charge, and " at 'em " we went; but sadly reckoned without our host. You will imagine wtiat a fire we were exposed to when 1 tell you that we went in 1.1 officers and 100 men ; of the former, seven were killed directly, and two wounded ; of the latter, only 18 killed, and 13 wounded—so the officers were evi dently picked out. We fought at the gnus for about ten minutes. Two were spiked—one by Major Stirling, who rushed up to it, sword in hand. The native gunners rushed at us in the most ferocious manner, cutting with their swords, and throwing bricks. By the latter, Captain Bowlby and I were knocked down together, but jumped up again directly, when the devils came at us again with swords and shields. I fired my pistol at one fellow, and I suppose I hit him, for he did not come on. Brugsdier Wilson was kilted. I was just behind him, when his 'Rose was struck by two balls. He was afterwards shot through the body. However, we were regularly beaten off, and then commenced a must terrible retreat. The guns—six in number—and swarms of infantry poured in a withering fire. As I ran to the rear, officers and men were shot down within a yard of me ; but I escaped by the greatest miracle. I ran by the brigadier's side, until his horse was hit, which was about 20 yards from the muzzles, when I passed him. Directly an officer was down the sepoys cut him to pieces with their tulwars. But just fancy 100 men. charging six guns and about 1,001) infantry In this terrible affair Wilson, Stirling, Mut?lV, M'Crea, Gibbons, Mackinnon, and every officer on the staff were killed. The guns, charged to the muzzle with grape, were fired at less than "20 yards. After this some confusion appears to have occurred in ca:np ; and the end of the whole affair was that General Windham was forced to retreat into the intrenchments of Cawnpore,leaving standing camp, stores, camp equipage, and the entire station of Cawnpore to the west of the canal in the hands of the enemy. Our loss was proportionately heavy, and several of our men, and even some officers, fell alive into the Lauds of the enemy. It is stated in private letters that one of these was forthwith banged on the very gallows Neill bad erected to hang the Brahmins, a second beaten to death with shoes,