The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-24 00:00:00

■ MI M shall have and perform all the powers and duties relating to the government and revenues India which are or may be now exercised and perf irtned by the East India Corn• pony, or by the Court of Directors or Court of Proprietors of the said Company, either alone or with the approbation of the Commissioners for the Affairs of India. 8. That such Secretary of State shall be responsible for the government of India and the transaction cf business in the United Kingdom relating thereto, in the same manner and to the same extent as any of her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State are responsible in the several departments over which they preside. 4. That, in order to assist such Secretary of State in the discharge of his ditties, it is expedient that a Council be appointed of not less than twelve nor more than eighteen members. b. That, in order to secare the greatest amount of knowledge and experience in the management of the affairs of India, it Is advisable that the principal portion of the members of the Council shall have served in India for a term of years to be limited by statute. 6. That, with a view to the efficiency and independence of the Council, it ,s expedient that it should be partly nominated and partly elected. 7. That the members of the nominated portion of the Council shall be selected by her Majesty, subject, as a loners.' rule, to the qualification above expressed, and one half at the least of the elected members shall possess the like qualification. 8. That the members of the elected portion of the Council should be chosen by a constituency composed of persons who have previously held military commissions or civil appointments in India, in her Majesty's service or in that of the Government of India, or who may possess a direct interest, to an amount to be specified, in some property charged or secured on the revenues or territories of India. 9. That the Council shall be presided over by the Secre tary of State, or by some member of the Council to be nominated by him as Vice• President. 10. That arrangements shall be made from time to time by the Secretary of State and the Council for the meetings of the Council, for the mode of procedure at such meet• ing•, and for the distribution and transaction of business. 11. That all despatches, letters, orders, and communica tions shall be addressed to the Secretary of State, and shall be open to the inspection of every member of the Council, except such as are now by law addressed to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directo►s. 12. That the recommendation of persons for first ap• pointments shall be made to her Majesty by the Secretary of State, with' the concurrence of the Council ; and the same rules shall be observed in the making of such re commendations as have been followed by the Court of Directors in the making of such appointments. 13. That, for the purpose of ascertaining the fitness of persona for the several appointments for which they may be so recommended, the same rules for the examination of cadets and of clerks shall be adhered to which are now followed by the Court of Directors of the. East India Company, until the same be altered by the Secretary of State and Council of India. 14. That provision shall be made for transferring to the Crown all the real and personal property of the Company, except their capital stock, and the dividend thereon, so as to vest the same in her Majesty, for the purposes of the Government of India; for continuing the charge on the revenues of India alone of the dividend on the capital stock of the said Company until the redemption thereof, and of all the territorial and other debts and engagements which are payable by the Company out of the revenues of India ; for auditing the accounts of the Home Government of India, under the direction of her Majesty's Treasury; for laying such accounts annually before Parliament; and for securing the preference given by the 3rd and 4th of William IV. to the dividends on the capital stock of the said Company and the right of the said Company to de• wand the redemption of such dividends, and their right on the Security Fund undiminished and unaffected by the transfer to the Crown of the direct government of her Majesty's Indian possessians. Mr. RICH has given notice that he will move, in committee on resolutions for the government of India, on the resolutions for the appointment of a Secretary of State and council of twelve or eighteen members, to propose amended resolutions, for the appointment of a Pt esideit and Vice-President ; with five assistant commissioners, to whom special duties may be assigned in subordination to the President and Vice- President. Tits James Baines clipper-ship, just arrived from Calcutta, to which city she had conveyed upwards of 1,000 troops, caught fire and was burned to the water's edge in the Liverpool Docks on Thursday morning. The fire broke out among the cargo, which, with the ship, was fully insured. Fortunately the fire was prevented from spreading to any serious extent, or the result might have been most disastrous. Tne efforts of the firemen, owing to the inflammable nature of the cargo, produced but little effect upon the burning mass, and it was then deemed advisable t) scuttle the ship. Unfortunately, in consequence of the low state of the water in the dock, the ship grounded before she was covered. In the course of the afternoon the masts fell overboard, breaking in the roofs of the dock sheds. At. half•past four o'clock the ship, which lay about forty feet fron► the quay, was a mass of fire from the stem to the poop. The shell of the ship, however, was perfect. THE PRESS, APRIL 24, 1858. INDIA. m ut u te a r k ly eir s y o t fi h re at tfhmeymcolonntegotdeidattahneemeses, lavnesdweitvbacatt;amted7.l,thelor; parapet and bastions up to the Second Cavalier. At 4 p.m. Sir Colin sent orders to Sir James Outrattl place his mortars in position to shell th e Kaisrrb h t° ag soon as possible, and soon afterwards th e Hi ghlanders and a party of the Sikhs, turning to th e i r r i g h t from tl ie Martiniere, seized upon the enemy's abandoned wo rks, and established their pickets in the second b ast i on. Our loss was trifling—five killed and twenty-two wounded. The next day Sir Colin pushed on his successes, and the whole line of the enemy's works from the canal beyond Banks' House were won. Ou the 11th the Secunderabagh was carried, and day by day Sir Colin, with little loss and under cover of a tremendous artillery fire, swept the rebels gradually from before him. By the 19th the whole city was in hie . possession. Scarcely was this consumm at i on attained, when a triumph of a different character was achieved. Two English ladies, Mrs. Orr and Miss Jackson, regarding whose fate the gravest apprehen sions had been naturally felt, were brought safely into Jung Bahadoor's camp by two officers from the house of one Meer Wajid Ali, by whom they had been protected and well treated. Up to the latest dates Sir Colin Campbell remained near the captured city, engaged in the selection of a proper military position, and in arrangements for the future garrison. The non-combatant portion of the fugitive inhabitants would be reassured and invited to return to their dwellings—the combatants followed up as speedily as possible. The rebels who have escaped number, it is reported, from thirty to fifty thousand. They were making for Rohilcund, the Doab, and Bundelcund : At one point, between Futtyghur and Cawnpore, one party is already reported to have effected a passage, but to have recrossed after a skirmish with a party of cavalry. On the other or eastern bide of Oude the rebels, beaten by Franks in his advance upon Lucknow, and afterwards by Captain Sotheby, of the Pearl, with part of the Naval Brigade, are threatening Goruckpore from the Fyzobad direction. To protect their lately recovered station the 13th Light Infantry are oalered up from Azimghur, where they are replaced by the 37th from Ghazeepore. No great harm can be done on this side. it is 13undelcund that gives us anxiety. This great province has long, as you are aware, been in a disturbed state. In every direction its lawless inhabitants, the Bundelas, are ready to join any leader who promises them plunder. Such a one they are said to have just now in the person of one Bala Sahib, brother of the Nana, who is now abroad in Bundelcund seducing the disaffected, or oppressing the loyal chief. tains of the province. Thus, the Rajah of Chnanpore has been mulcted of seven lams of rupees. The Rajah of Churkaree, refusing a similar demand, had his town de stroyed by fire, and had to take refuge in his fort, where, by the latest accounts, he still held out. An Englishman with him, a Mr. Carne, a Government agent, I believe in some degree, managed to escape to Punnet), where the friendly chief of that district housed him. Who are the people that Bala Sahib has with him is not clear; rebels, it is said, from Humeerpore, on the Juwna below Calpee, or possibly some of the notorious mutineers from the latter place. The latter, I think, is the most probable conjecture. The Gwalior Contingent always worked to gether, anal with something of a purpose ; and I anticipate that when the Caloee remnant of that contingent does move it will move in a mass. At present it is, no doubt, watching the movements of Sir Hugh Rose. Sir Hugh Rose, by the last accounts, was advancing on Jhansi, where it was expected serious resistance would be offered him. The rest of India appears to be as tranquil as we can expeet. The Punjaub was quiet, and fresh native levies were being pushed down towards the Doab, while reinforcements of British troops were being rapidly despatched from Bombay to take t heir place in the Punjaub. Bombay and Madras were both tranquil, but in the Southern Mahratta country there were incipient symptoms of a fresh outbreak. At Calcutta, the effects of the recent panic were yet experienced. foreign an (Colonial ptelligtnce. CAPTURE OF LUCKNOW. THE details received of the capture of Lucknow do not add so much to our information as might have been expected. Our artillery fire was so crushing that at the moment of assault there was little resist ance to the bayonets of our troops. The first de cided step towards the reduction of the place from the south took place on the oth of March. Sir James Ontram, on the night of the 7th, had crossed over the Ooomtee twenty two heavy guns, and on the morning of the oth, under cover of their tremendous fire, he assaulted And captured the Badshahbagh. Sir Colin Campbell and his staff watched the opera. tions from the top of the Dilkoosha:— Whilst we were watching and waiting to get a glimpse of Outram, whose guns, mingled with incessant musketry, had kept up their thunder since daybreak, a diversion was effected on the roof of the Dilkoosha in the advent of Fulwan Singh, brig dier of the Ghoorkas of Franks's divi sion, a very gallant gentleman indeed. In white kid gloves, a bright olive tunic trimmed with gold lace and fastened across the breast with a clasp of diamonds ; tight olive pantaloons, with gold stripe ; a gay little olive skull cap, with a gold lace tim, in front of which—mines of Gni conda!—there glittered, broad and large as one's hand, an aigrette of great diamonds, into which was fired jantily a light graceful plume of bird of Paradise feathers, the ends of which were curved in a gentle wavingbend by the weight of pearls and emeralds attached to them—a scimitar with jewelled hilt and sheath, and jewelled pistols by his side— what a contrast did our friend present to plain Sir Colin in Lis pith helmet, a plain blue frock-coat with buttons, and corduroy trousers, whose only mark of command was his air and his trusty old sabre lucked under his arm !— Times Idler. That same afternoon the Martiniere was assaulted by the 4th Brigade, and carried by the bayonet in less than ten minutes. Just before the assault Captain Peel, of the Naval Brigade, was severely wounded by a musket-ball in the thigh : Every one heard of the accident with grief—" What ! Peel wounded ?► what a loss to us to-day !" Such was the universal nation. Our guns were now thundering howitzers, and 24.- the • ,•pounders—at pits, huts, and Martiniere, from which the enemy kept up an incessant fusillade of the weakest sort—the only thing re markable about it being its pertinacity. The time wcre on, and at last the Highlanders and Sikhs came marching from their camp, and drew up behind the Dilkoosba. The chief, General Mansfield, and staff were on the roof, but, as the moment approached, Sir Colin went down, and on foot among the men gave his last orders to the officers. And now just observe this fact :—The enemy had remained steady in their trenches under the fire of six mortars and ten heavy guns and howitzers. But the instant they caught sight of our bayonets, and that the lines of the Sikhs and Highlanders came in view, we observed them, by twos and threes, and groups, and at last in masses, running and marching at the double as fast as they could clear out of the works, and moving to the rear or stealing off under cover of their parapets. The commanderzin chief came up to the roof again just in time to see the complete success of his plan. The orders were obeyed beautifully. We saw the Highlanders, with skirmishers thrown out in front, advancing rapidly, without a sound in their ranks, towards the Martiniere, while the Sikhs on their flank, agile as panthers, ran at full speed towards the trenches, from which the enemy, firing a few hurried shuts from their muskets, were flying so fast that not a man was left inside by the time our troops were within 200 yards of the Martiniere. But their gunners on the right of the Martiniere, along the canal works, had seen the attack, and they began to pitch round shot up to us, and to plump them among the dhooly-bearers and light baggage advancing in rear of our column. In less than ten minutes we saw Highland bonnets among the trees in the park, and the Sikhs rushing through the ruins in the rear, looking in vain for an enemy. I should have mentioned that just before the assault took place an officer came in to say that the enemy in the canal trench, behind the Martiniere, fearing an enfilading firo from Outram, had abandoned the works, but our glasses told us that there were aepoys still in the Cavalier Bastion and behind the high parapet which ran across the head of the canal. The commander-in-chief therefore sent the following order to Sir James Outran at one p.m. : It is still pordble to make out people (the enemy) on it(' line of the :anal. The commander•iu chief requests that guns may be placed in posluou to enfilade lt. These orders were soon obeyed. and while the High landers, advancing to the wall of the Martiniere park on the left, gained the whole enclosure, another body of them and the Sikhs took possession of hula in the rear of the building, and engaged the enemy lining the parapet of the canal trench. But soon round shot and shell from Outram'i. guns, sweeping the whole of the left of the line, forced the enemy to abandon the works they had con structed with much care and labour, and on which they had relied with such confidence. The chief, and his staff and followers, now galloped over to the Martiniere. Mounting to the summit we had a splendid view of the position, but the enemy opened two gun• on us, and Sir ac t Colin ordered all officers not on . down at once. Ontram was creeping on, and his g' u ing almost up to our skirmishers, with repeate• . f ig, ea swept every inch of the enemy's front on tt . ...f r r at .s, rushed them •••• SARDINIA AND NAPLES. THE CASE OF THE " CAGLIARI." A telegraphic despatch from Turin, April 22nd, states that the reply of the Court of Naples to the last Sardinian Not' was olficially communicated that day to Count Cavour. The reply is couched " in moderate terms," but contains "a flat refusal" of the Sardinian demands. Letters from Piacenza state that the concentration of Austrian troops upon the Sardinian frontier is occasioning much remark. The Austrian garrison of Piacenza (in the Duchy of Parma) is being power fully reinforced. On the other hand, all otliceri of the Sardinian army on leave have been ordered to rejoin their regiments. FRANCE. The result of Bernard's trial has created a pro found impression upon the Paris press. The Mont' teur gave a faithful account of the last day's trial without comment. The Debuts " dare not" print Mr. E. James's defence. The Constitutionnel 50- 110WKOS that the acquittal of Bernard has excited gl