The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-18 00:00:00

your resolutions. Now, what were the resolutions of the hon. and learned member for Sheffield? I remember several memorable occasions on which the hon. and learned gentleman, unsupported by any personal following in this house, has proposed resolutions. I need scarcely remind the house of what was, perhaps, the most memorable occasion on which the hon. and learned gentleman brought forward a resolution. Tt was a resolution for an inquiry into the state of the English army before the walls of Sebastopol. Was that an WI. English resolution? Was it an unconstitutional resolution? Why, the noble lord, who was one of the guilty Ministers, yielded to the vote when that resolution was carried. But to return to the question before the house. The house, it must be admitted, had not been treated with candour in these Persian transactions; but he could not get over the fact that, on the meeting of Parliament, there was an announcement of the war with Persia in her Majesty's Speech ; that arm the occa sion when this question ought to have been mooted, and he could not agree to a resolution which affirmed that the war had been declared, prosecuted, end concluded without any information being communi cated to Parliament. He should, therefore, vote for going into committee of supply. Upon a division the motion for going into com mittee was carried (thereby negativing Mr. Roe buck's resolution) by 352 to 38. The house then went into committee of supply, but the cbairman was immediately ordered to report progress, and the remaining business having been disposed of, the house adjourned at half-past one o'clock. THE PRES . 5, JULY 18, 1857. and in a position defended by heavy guns from the Delhi arsenal. The rebels were assaulted by one of those rapid movements of which we have had frequent examples in Indian annals. The pace was so great, the attack so impetuous, that the incur- gents were driven from their guns, and put to flight without a chance of rallying. Their panic was fatal. The pursuit was hotly pressed, and twenty six field-pieces were captured with all the horses and harness, the artillerymen having abandoned their charge and precipitately fled, to be sabred by the cavalry. No time was lost in following up the first advantage, and in the evening a considerable English force had reached the Delhi cantonment, and encamped for the night on the heights corn manding the city. These heights are not suffi ciently near, it is said, to command the town effec tively, but the position is good to batter the city, if necessary. The rebels are now in a net, from which they have no egress. On the right bank of the Jumna the occupation of Badulla Serajs leaves no opening for retreat. The fort of Rohtuk is occupied, and the Kurnaul road rendered impassable, while in the direction of Muttra the native contingents stop the way, and Brigadier Wilson commands the passage of the Hindun, intercepting the roads into Rohilcund and Dudh. Nothing now remains for the rebels but to defend themselves in Delhi or surrender at discretion. A ring of bayonets and artillery is drawing around them, and possibly by this time thousands of these misguided men have either ex pired amid the ruins of Delhi or perished upon the scaffold. The European troops before Delhi consist of the 9th Lancers and Carahineers, 75th, 60th, Ist and 2nd Fusiliers, three troops of horse artillery, a field battery, and a siege train, besides a portion of the Punjaub Guide Corps, horse and foot, brought down from their station of Murdan, on the Affghan fron tier. There are also the trusty Goorkhas of the Sirmoor battalion. The defences of the mutineers against this formidable force are a high wall and a ditch. and the guns of two siege trains. How they are off for ammunition is not known. The maga• zinc was fired, and at least partially destroyed, at the commencement of the outbreak by Lieutenant Willoughby, the Commissary of Ordnance, whose escape is yet doubtful. The mail at Bombay was detained forty-eight hours in the hope of its receiving intelligence cl the fall of the city, but it was com pelled to leave without those satisfactory tidings. Nevertheless, all speculation as to the fate of the Delhi mutineers will, we hope, be set at rest by the next mail. While so much is known of the career so far of the Meerut and Delhi mutineers, a horrible story remains to be toll of the fate of the Euro peans left in Delhi at the time of the outbreak. When the 3rd Light Cavalry, which first broke out in open mutiny at Meerut on the 10th of May, entered Delhi the next morning, they rode at once towards the British quarters and commenced by shooting down every European they met. Mr. Fraser, Capt. Douglas, and Mr. R. Nixon were the first victims. Notice was instantly conveyed of what was occurring to the brigadier, and the 51th Regiment N. 1., with two guns, was sent down. The 54th marched through the Cashmere Gate in good order, but on the approach of some of the Sowars, the sepoys rushed suddenly to the side, leaving their• officers in the middle of the road. The troopers immediately rode at them at a gallop ; the officers were unarmed, and one after the other were shot down. After butcher. ing all the officers of the 54th, the troopers dis mounted, and went among the sepoys of the 51th, shaking hands with them, and then, joined by the 51th, proceeded to search the European residences at hand. The dreadful news, we can believe, rapidly spread throughout the British quarters; our un• happy countrymen and women rushed, some to the Flagstaff Battery and some to the Palace, for protec tion. Little could be afforded them; there were no British troops to defend them. The 38th Native Regiment in possession of the fort was in the con spiracy, and so, on the advice of the commanding officer, every one who could fled on horseback to Kurnaul or Meerut. Many hairbreadth escapes are of course related, but happily the main body of residents got safely oft Those poor forty eight unfortunates, women and children, who had taken refuge in the Palace, firm in their reliance upon the King of Delhi to protect them, were soon atter upon the demand of the mutineers given up by him to be cruelly massacred one by one. It is told by an eye witness that these troopers, drunk with European blood, thirsted yet for vengeance, and as they dragged out these poor creatures to butchery, and worse, pointed to their own legs, and called attention to the marks of the manacles which had been put upon them at Meerut, and appealed to the poor trembling women, whether they were not justified in what they had done and were about to do. It is too terrible to dwell upon this frightful scene, and we will trace rapidly the spread of the mutiny northwards and eastwards. At. Futteyghur, Etawab, Pinaporc, Setapore, Lucknow, Ferwpore, 140 tit . _ Lahore, it is the same ; even in Gwalior and Seepra a similar pernicious spirit has been evinced. At Fero zepore the mutineers were attacked by the Olst Foot, the 10th Cavalry, and artillery, with such effect that the 5 7 th Native Infantry at once laid down their arms, and the 45th, after losing many of their number, fled in confusion. The 9th Native Infantry made no at tempt to murder their officers, contenting them selves: with the plunder of the treasuries. Some few of the sepoys stood to their officers to the last, and have been well rewarded with promotion. At Meean Meer, the camp of Lahore, the three native infantry regiments of the garrison, the 16th, 26th, and 49th, were disarmed on the 13th by Briga dier Corbett, with the 81st Foot and the powerful force of artillery, horse and foot. At Peshawur, on the 22nd, three more infantry regiments, the 24th, 27th, and 51st, and the sth Light Cavalry, were de prived of their arms. A Subandar major of the 51st was hanged in presence of all the troops. At Murdan, the 55z1i, or the greater portion of the regiment, deserted their colours. Their colonel, Spottiswoode, committed suicide. A party of Euro peans and Irregulars from Peshawur attacked them, killed or captured 200, and drove the remainder to seek safety by hasty flight into the Swat Valley in their rear, the entrance to which is now carefully guarded against a possible attack by the tribes. Six men of the corps halt already been shot at Peshawur, together with a native officer of the 10th Irregulars, and the prisoners, 150 in number, were to be tried as soon as they were brought into the station. At the latest dates the whole of the Punjaub was pei fectly tranquil. At Lucknow the mutiny broke out in the same manner as at Meerut, commencing with the burning of almost every thatched house near the native lines. But Sir Henry Lawrence was ready for the explosion. He at once turned out with her Majesty's 32nd Foot, a battery of artillery, and that portion of the 7th Cavalry which remained faithful, and attacked the insurgents ; the latter were not only defeated, but pursued fur thirty miles. Several of their number were killed and a few taken. These latter have since met the fate they deserved, by being blown from guns—a death more calculated than any other to strike terror into the native mind. In the course of this outbreak we have to deplore the loss of about a hundred Europeans, including five officers, among them Brigadier Handscombe, a noble old soldier. At Alyghur and Etawah, the native regiments soon began to show symptoms of the prevailing disease. At Mynpoorie, fifty miles south-west of Agra, two companies of the 9th Native Infantry rose in open mutiny. Fortunately, one of their officers, De Kantzow, and several native officers, hail presence of mind and influence enough to persuade the men to leave their cantonment peacefully. There is every reason to believe that they proceeded first to Aly ghur, where four companies of the 9th Native Infantry were quartered. That portion of the 9th Native Infantry was ready to join in a movement towards Delhi, having abandoned its allegiance under circumstances curiously illustrative of Indian character and English in:smanag,ement. An ernis• sary of the insurgents had been discovered in the fort of Alyghur tampering with the regiment. The sepoys, under loyal influence, surrendered him to their commander, and on their evidence he was tried, sentenced to be hanged. The sepoys pro- tested that it would bring disgrace upon them to hang the man. Shoot him if the authorities pleased. He was hanged, and at the moment of execution, a fanatic from the ranks, stepped out and (pro. claimed that they had destroyed a martyr to the cause of religion, since the Company's Government were firmly bent upon abolishing caste throughout India. The men listened, debated, wavered, and finally broke up with loud shouts, de claring their intention of marching to Delhi, and speedily put their resolve into execution. The rest of the 9th Native Infantry, quartered at Etawah, followed the example of its fellows, and marched off towards Delhi, after burning the bungalows and robbing the treasure. At Agra the 44th and (17th mutinied, and proceeded to Delhi, murdering, it is feared, some or all of their officers. The spirit shown by these companies determined Mr. Colvin at once to disarm the remainder of the regiments to which they belonged, which was accoreingly done on the Ist of June, in the presence of the 3rd Europeans and Captain D'Oyly's European field battery. The affair went off quietly, and the city has since been tranquil. Some of Scindia's contin• gent came up from Gwalior and were employed to garrison the deserted station of Etawah and restore the ejected civil authorities. Out of the Europeans in Agra a corps of volunteer horse has been raised, which, under the command of Lieutenant Gteatlied, assisted a few days after the disarming of the 41th and 07th in the execution of a capital piece of service. The Rao or petty chief of Burtorolee, near Alyghur, availed himself of the prevailing disorder to declare his indeoendence, turning out Govern ment officials, burning villages, exacting contribu s tiOnst and es U4)4424 3 6 himself at N.hyrr as the sea THE MUTINY IN THE BENGAL ARMY. THE intelligence by this last mail is incontestably most serious. The dates extend to June 15, Bombay ; and June 7, Calcutta. The mutiny, as we anticipated last week, has spread to Alyghur, Myn poorie, Etawah, Lucknow, and Ferozepore, and upwards of thirty regiments of the Bengal army were in open revolt or had " disappeared" from their colours. Delhi had not been captured; disaffection is beginning in Burmah ; the Madras army is doubtful; and the panic throughout India at the state of affairs was so serious that the funds had fallen rapidly from the last dates, Govern ment securities were " almost unsaleable," the native capitalists were everywhere withdrawing from the banks large sums of money and secretly hoard ing them, and every day was disclosing proofs in support of the great tact that the mutiny was pro. meditated, that it was one active, uniform, and ex• tended plan of sedition and revolt, that it was well known that it had been leng organising with secrecy and skill, that it was rapidly spreading, and that Central India to be preserved must be recon quered. To commence cur summary of events with the heart of the insurrection, Delhi, it appears that a strong European force had moved down from Umballab, under the command of General Anson, and had arrived at Kurnaul by the 20th May, when the commander in-chief was attacked by cholera, and died in a few hours on the 27th. Sir Henry Barnard immediately assumed the temporary command, and moved forward upon Delhi cu the 30th. The advanced guard from Meerut, under Brigadier Wilson, consisting of the Carabineers, 00th Rifles, and Artillery, took up a position at the village of Ghazee-ooti deen-nugger, where the road to Delhi crosses the little river of Hindun by a suspension bridge, some fifteen miles from the capital. That same afternoon the rebels, no doubt perceiving themselves being surrounded, and anxious to secure a retreat in case of need, came out of Delhi in force, with five guns on the further side of the stream, and opened fire upon the English position. A smart engagement followed. The brigadier took his artillery and dragoons across the river by a ford, while the rifles passed the bridge. They attacked at once in front and flank; the mutineers were doubled up and, with the loss of all their guns, driven hack, part into a burning village, which they the:nsel ' , es had fired, and where they perished miserably, and part into the open plain, where they were cut up by the sabres of the dragoons. Un daunted by this severe check, they returned to the attack on the following day, and were again repulsed. On the Ist of June the brigadier, whose loss on the first day hail been about forty killed and wounded (that on the second is as yet unknown), was rein forced, and no further attempt had been made to contest his possession of the bridge and ford. In a week's time the main body of the British troops bad arrived in the neighbourhood, and on the morning of the Bth a junction seems to have been effected between the Meerut force in advance and that of Brigadier Halifax, probably by the passage of the .lumna at Bhagput. The combined force advanced to Badulla Seraje, where the rebels had intrenched themselves oit growl highly favourable to them,