The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

T H been taught to despise, and that feeling, which the civil service in particular bas so sedulously created and en couraged, has now recoiled on the Government. But this, I am sure, will not alter the views of the present Govern ment. Tu conciliate the natives at any cost is the order of the day. To humble the Europeans and exalt the natives, in spite of all that has happened, is the unmistake able determination of the present Government. Moonahee Ameer Ali was appointed deputy commissioner of the Patna division, and created a Khan Bahadoor. A man who was deeply implicated in the Patna conspiracy during the Pun jaub war, and who was, together with other conspirators, imprisoned in Arrah, has lately been appointed a magistrate of Sasseram and of the Shshabad district, and is shortly to receive a 'theist (a robe of honour) from Government of ten thousand rupees value. His name is Shah Kuberoo deen. Another Mussultuan named Azeemoodeen Hoosseitu Khan has been intrusted with the settlement of the confis cated estates of Baboo Cowar Singh, and instead of settling the estates with the European sufferers, the fellow is doing what is moat congenial to his feelings, and excluding Christians ! Till when is this miserable infatuation to last? I fear till we have a Queen's Government, and the miserable civil service clique now in power is extinct. I trust you will do what you can in England to get us compensation and • change of Government, for .we can expect nothing good from the present one. Mr. W. Taylor, our late Commissioner of Patna, was sus pended on the ostensible ground that he ordered the func tionaries of Tirhoot and Gyah to leave their stations and concentrate at Patna, " when there was no ground for such ill-judged panic." The fact is that there was imminent danger of losing their lives, and Mr. Taylor acted as every man of good judgment and humanity would have acted ; hut the real reason of his removal, and I may say disgrace, was that he was very severe to the mutineers and to the bad and dangerous people of Patna ; and in putting down conspiracy and intrigues against Government, Mr. Taylor carried the laws into effect, and hung those who deserved it. Since his successor, Mr. Samuels, and his deputy, Ameer Ali, all such punishments have ceased. With this example no one dares to punish the natives. Another writer remarks upon the general position of affairs : Except in the immediate neighbourhood of the mutineers a man may safely pass now in almost any part of the country, carrying arms only as a protection against any casual plunderers who might be emboldened by the relaxa tion of the civil power to attack a defenceless traveller. The great difficulty will now be that of obtaining means of transport, the scarcity of which will not only exerwse an injurious effect upon the trade of the upper provinces especially, but may lead to much suffering in the districts where the crops may have been deficient. The struggle i., however, by no means over. The forces finally collected in Oude are very numerous and must be desperate. The numberless and indescribable atrocities perpetrated by them forbid the offer of any terms, and it is a far more arduous task to deal with such a body than to defeat an army. We do not, however, share in the opinion that the pacification mast necessarily be a work of years. With the means now available all will depend on the policy adopted. Oar conviction is tliat the power, usefulness, and prestige of our name have been frittered away—we can find no better expression—by weak, over-refined schemes of Government ingeniously framed in the bureau by men far better skilled in weaving theories than in judging of men and things. A dissertstion on government would be out of place here, but the interests of this country and of Great Britain alike require that the policy under which so great a disaster has taken place should be vigorously re viewed. Why is there so marked a difference between the government of the Punjaub and that emanating from Calcutta? The answer, we think, will be, that there the magnitude of the danger was recognised—reward and punishment were promptly meted out—a lead was taken— the masses moved in our favour. Here the danger was, as far as possible, ignored ; pardon and conciliation were talked of before our power was established, and a native lawyer of no local standing made to represent Government at Patna at a time when nothing but the indomitable courage of a small band of British troops could have saved the district and convinced the classes naturally averse to war and all violent change, that safety might yet be on the side of the existing Government. The difference is what might be expected from the different systems and those who are at the bead of them. Much bitter and indiscrimi nating abase has been published from this city, which meets little general approval here, and far less in the Mofusail, where the condemnation of all parties is more justly levelled, not only against individuals but against the system, and the principles upon which Indian government and reformation has been attempted, and statesmen and the public at home also will find much to reconsider in the opinions heretofore generally recei►ed on this subject. The following interesting communication is from a gentleman in India : The arch-fiend. Nana Sahib, has again made his escape, and is assembling a very formidable force. It is said he has 20,000 men of his own, with twenty-four artillery pieces, and the Gwalior rebels, numbering 8,000 men, with fifty heavy cannon, have placed themselves under the orders of the Nana. In addition to this force there is the famous traitor, Koer Singh, with a large force, both cavalry and artillery, so that altogether there cannot be less than 100,000 men in arms against us. Were this force to meet us on open field, even double their number would not cause us the least anxiety ; but as they divide themselves into several parties. and threaten us on several points— namely, Mirzapore, Allahabad, and Cawapore—we are unable anywhere to concentrate a sufficient force to effec tually check them ; and even if we kill 100 men to each five we lose, the loss will tell more on our part than on theirs. The great drawback ender which we are labouring is the want of sufficient cavalry, so that we have no means E PRESS, JANUARY 9,1858. of pursuing the rebels, who, after ursuccessful opposition, generally disperse, and some weeks after reassemble in some other place, when we have to attack them again ; and to this sort of warfare we shall have to apply ourselves until the greater portion of our forces arrive. In fact, our generel position cannot be considered to have improved much, and although some of the districts are perfectly quiet, yet there is a feeling of uneasiness which prevails everywhere where no European troops are stationed.. We are completely left in the dark as to what is going on at Delhi, and the public is actually left in ignorance whether there is a sufficient force left there to protect the city. The latest accounts received from that quarter have mused public indignation about the mistaken leniency shown to the King and his vassals by the officer in com mand, who, of course, must act under the order of Go vernment. Our brave soldiers and their wives and poor children have been murdered there in cold blood, and their mutilated remains call for vengeance and retribution upon the villanous assassins; yet Government will not hearken to the voice of the public, and hence the feeling against Lord Canning and his advisers is very strong. Had we had a man of proper energy and ability at the bead of affairs the rebellion would never have been so widely spread ; but when it was our policy to have recourse to stern measures, and strike terror into the hearts of our enemies, we tried the means of reconciliation by absurd proclamations, which bore evidence to our weakness, and showed a total igno rance of the actual state of affairs. Indeed, never was there a Government that so little knew of what was going on, and so thoroughly unprepared for restoring order. From the camp at Caw•npore we have an original letter before us, in which the following description of the state of affairs there occurs:— The strength of our force is 8,000 men ; that of the sepoys, 80,000—s great differenos ; we have also the Gwalior force within fifty miles of us, consisting of 8,000 men, forty-six guns ; and, besides the above, we have Naos Sahib, with some considerable force, hovering near us. We are all on the siert, I assure you, and working hard at intrenchments, which I trust may enable us to protect ourselves for many months. From the intelligence brought by the last mail it would appear that General Windham had advanced outside his intrenchments. NEWSPAPERS FOR SOLDIERS IN INDIA.—A corre spondent from the north-west, whose letter (says the Hurkaru) appeared in a recent issue, stated that our brave soldiers in Cawnpore are " dying for news," and suggested that persons who do not file thei• papers sbouid affix a one•anna stamp on the enve lope, and direct them—" For the Use of the Soldiers in Hospital, Cawnpore." We are sure that, having thus prominently directed attention to the above, the suggestion will meet with an immediate response, and we do not see why the Post-office should not transmit newspapers so addressed free of charge. GENERAL HAVELOCK. MAJOR-GENERAL SIR MERRY HAVELOCK, Bart, K.C.8., was born at Bishopwearmouth on the sth of April, 1795. He was the second of four sons of the late W. W. Havelock, of Ingress-park, near Greenhithe, Kent, by Jane, daughter of Mr. John Carter, of Yar mouth, a member, it is said, of the Ettrick family. His father was the descendant representative of a family which long had resided in the neighbourhood of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and who claimed a direct descent from Guthrum, the Danish Prince who lived before the Norman Conquest. All, how ever, that is known for certain is, that Sir Henry Havelock's father and grandfather were large iy en zaved in commerce and shipping in Sunderland, and purohased Ingress•park with the proceeds of his suc cessful speculations. He was educated at the Charter house. About 1813, in consequenceof adverse fortune, Ingress-park was sold to Government, and Havelock was entered of the Middle Temple, and attended the lectures of Chitty, the eminent special pleader, where his most intimate associate was the late Sir Thomas Talfourd, the author of lon. An elder brother had distinguished himself in the Peninsular war and at Waterloo ; and Henry, yielding to the military pro pensities of his family, endeavoured to obtain a commission. A month after Waterloo he was ap pointed Second Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade (the 95th), where his military training was assisted by Captain (afterwards Sir) Harry Smith, the victor of Aliwal. Havelock served for eight years in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and having at length ex changed into the 13th Light Infantry, embarked for India in 1823. Next year the first Burmese war broke out, and Havelock was appointed Deputy-Assistant- Adjutant• General, and was present at the actions at Napadee, Patanagon, and Paghan. At the close of the war he was associated with Captain Lumsden and Dr. Knox on a mission to the Court of Ava, and had an audience of the " Golden Foot," when the treaty of Yandaboo was signed. In 1827 he pub - lished the " History of the Ave Campaigns," and in that year he was appointed Adjutant of the Military Depot formed at Chinsurah by Lord Combermere. The Chinsurah establishment having been broken up, Havelock returned to his regiment. lie subse quently visited Calcutta, and having passed in the languages at the college, was appointed adjutant of his corps by Lord William Bentinck. In 1838 he was promoted to a company, after having served twenty-three years as a subaltern. An army was now collected for the invasion of A ffghanistan, and Havelock accompanieJ it on the staff of Sir loughby Cotton. lie went through the first Affho o campaign, was present at the storming of Gbuznee, and the occupation of Cabul, and then returned to India with Sir Willoughby Cotton. Having obtained leave to visit the Presidency, he prepared a " Memoir of the Affghan Campaign," which was soon after printed in London. He returned to the Punjaub in charge of a detachment. and was placed on the staff of General Elphinstone, as Persian Interpreter. When the Eastern Ghilzies having risen blockaded Cabul, Havelock was sent to join Sir Robert Sale, then marching back to India, and was present at the forcing of the Khoord Cabul Pass, at the action of Tezeen, and all the other engagements of that force till it reached Jellalabad. In the final attack on Mahomed Akbar, in April, 1842, which obliged that chief to raise the siege, Havelock commanded the right column, and defeated him before the other columns could come up. For this he was promoted to a brevet majority, and was made Companion of the Bath. He was then nominated Persian Inter preter to General Pollock, and was present at the action of Mamoo Keil, and the second engagement at Tezeen. He then proceeded with Sir John MiCaskill's force into the Kobistan, and had an im portant share in the brilliant affair et Istaliff. Next year he was promoted to a regimental majority, and nominated Persian Interpreter to the Commander-in- Chief; Sir Hugh Gough. At the close of 1843 he accompanied the army to Gwalior, and was engaged in the battle of Maharajpore. In 1844 he was pro moted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by brevet. In 1845 he proceeded with the army to meet the invasion of the Sikhs, and was ac ively engaged in the battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon. At Moodkee he had two horses shot under him ; at Sobraon a third horse was smitten down by a cannon-sho., which passed through his saddle cloth. On the cot elusion of the Sutlej campaign be was appointed Deputy-Adjutant-General of the Queen's troops at Bombay. The second Sikh war now broke out, and his elder brother, Colonel William Havelock, was killed at Ramnuggur. His own regiment, the 53rd, having been ordered into the field, he quitted his staff employment at Bombay in order to join it, and had proceeded as far as Indore when his further progress was countermanded, and he returned to his post. Twenty-five years of incessant and laborious service now began to tell on his constitution, and his medical advisers, in 1849, sent him to Europe for two years for the restoration of his health. He returned to Bombay in 1851, and was soon after marls brevet colonel, and appointed, through the kindness of Lord Hardinge, by whose side he bad fought in the three battles of the Sutlej, Quartermaster- General, and then Adjutant-General, of Queen's troops in India. On the despatch of the expedition to Persia he was appointed to the second division, and commanded the troops at Mohammerah, the glory of which action was, however, reserved for the naval force. On the conclusion of peace he returned to Bombay, and embarked in the Erin for Calcutta, in which vessel he was wrecked in 1857 off the coast of Ceylon. Five days after he obtained a passage in the Fire Queen, and, on reaching Calcutta, was immediately sent up to Allahabad as Brigadier• General, to command the moveable column. His subsequent career has been so recently the subject of public admiration, that we need do no more than recapitulate the leading incidents. With the greater portion of the (14th and 78th Regiments he first attacked the mutineers at Futteypore, on the 12th of July, and on the 15th, ta Aoung and at Pandoo Nuddee ; on the 16th at Cawnpore, where he had a horse •shot under him, and where the enemy lost twenty-three guns. Advancing from Cawnpore on the 29th, he captured Oonao and Busseerut Gunge and nineteen guns. This position he was obliged to give up, but retook it on the sth of August, inflicting great slaughter on the rebels. On the 12th of August be again defeated the mutineers, and on the 16th attacked them at Bithoor. Eventually receiving reinforcements under Sir James Outran, he entered Lucknow on the 25th of September, and held his ground there until the garrison was finally re lieved by Sir Colin Campbell on the 17th of No vember. For his first exploits in the early summer Brigadier-General Havelock was rewarded with a good-service pension of lilll. a year—ail, we may here remark, that his Royal Highness the Comman der•in-Chief then bad it in his power to bestow. Since that time Havelock has been raised to the rank of a general officer, hononred with the riband of a Knight Commander of the Bath, and rewarded with 1,0001. annual pension, though for one life only, and the colonelcy of the 3rd Buffs. Finally, on the 26th of November last, the London Gaattle