The Press. — London, England, 1857-10-03 00:00:00

The bridge of boats at Delhi is reported broken on the Meerut side, and the mutineers were attempting to repair it. (Signed) J. 1). Macrimasos,Put.-Colonel, Military Sec. to the Chief Commissioner. It is said that the mutineers in the city mustered 1,000 rank and file less on the 2nd than they did on the Ist, after the fearful thrashing they got from our men. The contest is reported to have been more severe than any former one, the mutineers being drunk and reckless. The Sind Kossid Extra, August 18, adds a small scrap of news : Some infernal machines had been sent by our force against the bridge of boats at Delhi, for the destruction of w hich we have offered a reward of •241,00 a rs. One account has it that they struck an island and exploded. another that the mutineers discovered them, and managed to secure them before they could do any damage. The Poonah Observer of the 27th August states that the King of Delhi had made an offer of terms : A letter from Aboo, dated the 11th instant, mentions that the King of Delhi has offered to make terms with us, on the condition that thirty six lass of rupees annually, instead of fifteen as heretofore, should be secured to him reu and his successoN. This proposal was, of course , pel ) * torily declined. He was informed that nothing but un conditional surrender could he accepted ; and this we should hope would be instantly followed by unexeeption• able hanging, drawing, and quartering, on a gallows raised so high over the royal palace at Delhi, that the " Great Exhibition" should be witnessed by all the country round. A diary of events which since the siege have occurred in Delhi, and kept by a native, contained some statements of interest. After detailing the events of the first days of insurrection in May, the plunder of the city, and the massacre of the Christians, the writer states that by July 11th order was restored, plundering had ceased, and the rebels paid in ready cash for everything. The rebels in Delhi on the 30th May, after the battle of Subzee Mundee by Sir Henry Barnard, only mustered 7,000 men. They had collected a treasure of 530,000 rupees. " Parties of fifty and. one hundred join daily," adds the narrator:— - On the •2nil of :tine a great battle was fought. Thou• sands of rebels were killed. The British tomes were victorious. On the 9th of June another action took place, and hundreds of the mutineers were killed and wounded. On the 10th the action continued and lasted till late in the evening. Since yesterday the shells from the British camp fall in the city, but as yet no lives have been lost. The rebels, although they have no commander, tight bravely. They, however, receive no reinforcements and are daily diminishing in number, whereas the strength of the British fortes continue to increase. It is said that two Europeans dressed as natives came into the fort with an intention of blowing up the powder magazine. They were detected and killed. June 23. Actions are fought as usual, but nothing decisive has as yet taken place. From 10) to 21)4 of the rebels arc killed daily. No information is obtainable of the losses iu the British forces. Firing of guns and musketry keep up all night. Shells are thrown in the city and fort, winch has caused the destruction of many buildings near the Cash mere and Cabul gates, and some lives have been lost. The Nitaseerabad brigade of mutineers came in two days ago. On the 27th he tells us of a successful ruse of our generals : About two or three days ago a " muhawnt" with an elephant from tho British camp came to the King, saying that he was so much annoyed by tho Europeans that he made his escape. The King ordered the elephant to be kept in the Feelkhans and took the muhswut into his service. For two or three days the muhswut went about examining the different places in the fort, and then sud- denly disappeared. It is supposed that he was a spy from the British camp, as, since the day he left the fort, shells are continually thrown on the palace, part of which is demolished. The King finds the palace rapidly becoming top hot for him, sends fur the Subadar Bahadour, the com mander-in-chief, who commands the troops in the fort, and desirel him either to remove him out of the fort or do something to stop the British shelling, which was very destructive : The subadar begged the King to remain in the fort another day, and that during that time he would devise means to put a stop to the shelling. Early the next morning the subadar, with a party of 1,000 Porbeas k natives of the eastern provinces), armed only with swords and muskets, attacked the British ttoops. They fought desperately, but the Europeans and Sikh troops, who were about 10,000 strong and were on the alert, opened a tire of grape on the subadar. With the exception of a few men the whole of his party was destroyed. The Rajah of Putteeala would appear to have full faith in our raj, according to the diarist : It is reported that the Porbeas sent a message to the Rajah of Putteeala, inquiring why he was assisting the English, and telling him not to do so ; otherwise, on the establishment of the King's authority and the ex tinction of the English, he should be the first person to suffer for it. The Rajah sent an answer that it required THE PRESS, OCTOBER 3, 1857. an age to move the English, and that it was folly on their part to wait for that event; that whenever they took the trouble to come to his Owe he would be ready to meet them. The Rajah of Putteesla has sent a large force to join the British troops before Delhi. The last despatch gives a favourable view of the position of affairs before Delhi : Delhi, August 11. The English were never in a better position than now in camp. The matineers are quite dispirited by the utter failure of their attacks on the Ist and 2nd, their loss being estimated by themselves at 3,00 d. The dis persion of the rebels may now be really looked for. Nino hundred of the Neemuch force alone never returned to the city after the attack of the Ist. The loss of the Bri• tish was under thirty. Brigadier Cl►arnberlayne'a and Colonel Seaton's wounds progressing favourably. The following is from the summary of the Bengal Hurkaru (Calcutta) of August 21:— Reinforcements had arrived at Delhi, and the besiegers were making more impression upon the place than they had ever done before, were in batter spirits, and had the fullest confidence in their speedy and triumphant success. The besieged were in a wretched condition, and it is said had offered terms of capitulation, which had been refused, nut because they were unsatisfactory, but because no terms at all could be accepted. After the many false reports which have been circulated upon the subject, we can scarcely expect our readers to share our coufidenee hell we once more express our belief that Delhi will have fallen long before this sheet is in their hands. But such is now the general impression, and it is justified by the strongest facts. The besieged, it is known, are nearly without ammunition, having fur some time past been firing pieces of telegraph wire and kunkur from their muskets, and they are besides being fast decimated by faiuiue and disease. General Cortlandt was at Jbansi on the 7th of August, and would have to engage a large body of insurgents of the 4th and 9th Native Infantry and 14th Irregulars and Hurrianah Contingent Infantry, strongly intrenched, fourteen miles south-west of Ilansi, in the Itanghur village of Jumulpoor. CANVNPORE. From Delhi we turn to Cawnpore, and hero the intelligence is far from satisfactory. General Have lock, after the most gallant advance upon Lucknow, and the defeat of the rebels at Busseerutgunge, was compelled to retire upon Cawnpore, on the l,t Aug., to relieve himself of his sick! and wounded. It was at this point that our former narrative left that gal lant officer and his little band of heroes. Reinforced by General Neill with two guns—he had no infantry to give him—Havelock once more advanced to the relief of Lucknow. He marched on the evening of the 4th of August, and encountered on the sth an army of 5,004) men, whom he engaged and defeated, cauturing three guns. He then pushed on to Busseerutguage, the scene of his former exploit, and there received information that full 3,000 men were between him and Lucknow, with three fortified vil lages and one broken bridge, strongly intrenched, on the road; and that the enemy had a large body of artillery and irregular csvalry. General Havelock had but 90J Euro pean soldiers in all, and but little or no carnage fur his sick and wounded. He therefore decided upon again retiring upon Cawnpore, and holding that post until reinforcements arrived. The possibility of his making his way to Lucknow was out of the question, but the cer tainty of sacrificing his men and failing iu the relief of the garrison was evident. Thus in all probability the three parties, viz., those at Lucknow, at Cawnpore, and his own, would have been cut off in detail, whereas by retiring upon Cawnpore he secured that place, and there was still the chance and the hope of the Lucknow garrison being able to hold out until reinforcements arrived. General Havelock and General Neill will, I hope, be able to bold their ground until reinforcements reach them. In the meanwhile I tremble for the fate of Lucknow, which has had strong assaults to repel, and heavy losses, iu the death of Colonels Banks and Reed, to deplore. The Ayr Observer has been favoured with the fol lowing extract of a letter from General Neill, dated Cawnpore, August 1: Since I arrived here I have been hard at work to get order reestablished. I have now put a atop to the plundering I found going on by reorganising a police. I am also collecting all the property of the deceased, and trying to trace if any have survived, bat as yet have not succeeded in finding one. Man, woman, and child seem all to have been murdered. As soon as that monster Nana Sahib heard of the success of our troops and of their having forced the bridge about twenty miles from Cawn pore, he ordered the wholesale butchery of the poor women and children. I find the officers' servants behaved shamefully, and were in the plot, all but the lowest caste ones. They deserted their wasters and plundered them. Whenever a rebel is caught he is imme diately tried, and unless he can prove a defence he is sen tenced to be hanged at once ; but the chief rebels or ring leaders I make first clean up a certain portion of the pool of blood, still two inches deep, in the shed where the fearful murder and mutilation of women and children took place. To touch blood is most abhorrent to the high-caste natives, they think by doing so they doom their souls to perdition. Let them think so. My object is to inflict a fearful punishment for a revolting, cowardly, barbarous deed, and to strike terror into these rebels. The first I caught was a subadar, or native officer, a high-cute Brahmin, who tried 959 to resist my order to clean up the very blood he had helped to shed; but I made the provost-marshal do his ditty, and a few lashes soon made the miscreant accomplish his task. When done, he was taken out and immediately hanged, and after death buried in a ditch at the road side. No one who has witnessed the scenes of murder, mutilation, and massacre can ever listen to the word " mercy," as applied to these fiends. The well of mutilated bodies—alas ! con taining upwards of 200 women and children—l have had decently covered in and built up as one large grave. lam in the intrenched camp—a most miserable position. None bat Englishmen could have held it for a day, and yet how nobly did poor Sir H. Wheeler hold out here ! On the 29th General Havelock moved on towards Lucknow. He had not gone far before he came on a strong post of the enemy, about 20,000 with guns. lie defeated them gal lantly and took all their guns, but sustained considerable loss. Among the number, I am sorry to say, was young Richardson, a fine, gallant young officer of the Fusiliers, whom I had highly noticed at Benares for his gallantry ; and young Seton, of the oth Bengal Native Infantry, was wounded. He was hit in the lower jaw. He was an aide decamp, and made so for his gallantry. The same aft-r -noon the force was again engaged, and again defeated the rebels, taking all their guns, making a total of twenty guns taken, all of which they spiked, and completely gained the day. Notwithstanding this, on the 3lst General Havelock returned to the bank of the river opposite Cawn pore, where he sent to me for further reinforcements — requiring a battery, two .24-pounders, amid 1,000 more European infantry. I have just written to him that there is half a battery coming on here to•day from Allahalwl, which I send on at once to him. I can also send him two iron guns, but European infantry there is none to send him here- If he waits for that lie mast wait reinforce. ments from Calcutta, and a long delay, during which time Lucknow may share the fate which befel Cawnpore. The rebels, flushed with victory, will return on this, reoccupy Cawnpore, and I have no troops to keep them out. I must be starved out. The influence, too, on Agra may be most disastrous, but I hope General Havelock, who has been so successful, will now advance again and relieve Liu:know, which is to be abandoned, the force there brought in here. and by that time reinforcements will have arrived, ready to accompany General Havelock to A3ra and Delhi. The following is the latest intelligence received of the operations of the gallant general since his return to Cawnpore TRW' GENERAL HAVELOCK. Munselwar, August 13. I entirely routed on the 12th a detachment of about 4,000, with six field guns, who had intrenched them- selves at Bermelijeeka Chowkee, in advance of ltusseerat• gunge, with a loss on their part of 300 killed and wounded; my own was thirty-five. This action has inspired much terror amongst the enemy, and prevented any opposition to my recrossing. Faun GENEIUL NEILL. Cawnpore, August 18. On the 15th defeated the enemy near the old ground, and returned in the night to my position, aix miles off. On the 6th I sent a steamer with a small detachment to look up Bliitoor, where the enemy were assembled, with good effect. On the 16th General Havelock moved out in one column to lthitoor, and carried the enemy's position, capturing two guns ; the men beir.g much exhausted could not follow them up. Native accounts from Luck now represent them holding out well, the enemy making no impression. The Poonah Observer publishes a private letter, giving an interesting account of the second advance of Havelock : We (Poonah Obserrer) have been very kindly favoured with the perusal of a letter from Cawnpore, (Wed so late as the 13th inst., from which we learn that General Havelock, after having had • severe fight with the enemy on the 12th, in which he took two guns, with some loss on our side, crossed the Ganges on the morning of the 13th, and returned to Cawnpore, where he wili await the arrival of reinforcements. The following is au extract from this letter, which is written by a gallant noncommissioned officer of the brave 7• 4 th Highlanders, who has been present in every action with the rebels fungi) t by General Havelock:— " Here I am again safe and sound at Cawnpore, after a most severe fight yesterday with our old enemies, the sepoy mutineers, in which we had three men killed and ten wounded—one young man had his leg blown away. There were only 120 of the pith Highlanders present, the remainder being sick. Our whole force consisted of +soo men, including the Sikhs. A great many followers were cut to pieces by the enemy's cavalry and round shot. There were two guns playing on the 7slth, which would no doubt have destroyed every man of us but for our timely resolution—a desperate one, no doubt, but it had to be done, or all would have perished beneath the deadly fire. General Havelock was calmly looking on ; he knew well what we desired; and before he gave the order to advance all rushed forward to the charge, and in less than five minutes captured two guns and four horses, bayoneting a number of the enemy who tried to save the guns (two brass 0 pounders.) General Havelock rode up after us, crying out, `Well done, brave Highlanders! You have this day saved yourselves and your comrades !' We did not loose a man in the charge, though it was thought by other corns to be a mad attempt. As we started to charge the last round of grapeshot went immediately over the heads of our small bend of men ; bat in their haste to fire the enemy lost their elevation, so we thus escaped. Private M`Grath and myself were struck in the action, but only bruised, the shot having first hit the ground. M'Grath received five bells on different parts of his body, so he had