The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 23,1858. soldiers. A correspo writing on the Bth December says : The town full of soldiers; drunkenness the order of the day; but the peculiar features of Borne of the cases have induced the regimental surgeons to examine into them minutely, and use the stomach-pump. They de clare the men to have been either poisoned or drugged, and the analysis 3f the contents of one Highlander's stomach is stated to have exhibited arsenic. Any Govern• ment would be chary of the lives of soldiers brought out, fed, and kept at such an awful expense. Our rulers prove their anxiety to preserve European life by wholly neglecting to place the grog-shops under proper restric tion and surveillance. With respect to the feeling of Calcutta as to the general position of affairs, he writes that the aban donment of Lucknow is looked upon by the natives as " an important triumph " : My belief is the actual fighting part of the business has yet to come.. All these accounts of splendid victories, and proofs of what British valour can do, will not con trovert the fact that our enemies are increasing in number, and are as well armed and found as ever, in spite of the immense quantities of warlike stores we have destroyed ; nor do they seem to be a bit afraid of meeting us—all their previous thrashings have not dispirited them one bit. The writer attributes this to the considerate treat ment of the rebels by the authorities : At Delhi, the sentries have been disarmed ; they mount guard with sticks, in the midst of a ferocious, fanatical population thirsting for their blood; and all this to con ciliate the murderous thieves. In Calcutta, the horses of the Governor-General's body-guard, about 200 of them, have been made over to the King's Dragoon Guards ; but to conciliate this loyal body of men, who were dis armed in July last, the sentries of the Queen's Dragoons mount guard disarmed, or with sticks in their hands, be cause the Governor-General's body-guard pass and repass their temporary barracks twice a day, and it might hart their very tender and delicate feelings to see European soldiers better treated than themselves. But you must not suppose that our Governor-General sacrifices his love for his own guards to the emergencies of the State. Nut he ; a few of the horses and men are retained to escort himself and Lady Canning on their rides and appearances in public. The Calcutta Volunteer Cavalry were imper tinent enough to offer him an escort of men and horses Queen Victoria might have been proud of. He might now have an escort of 7th Hussars, Bays, or Dragoon Guards; but none suit him so well as the black faces of his beloved body-guard. English soldiers, with three and four hard-earned medals, are made to mount guard at such places as the Bank of Bengal and the Treasury, with disarmed sepoys more than half suspected of treason. The sepoy has a good room and his usual bed for the night, but that good-for-nothing brute " John Bull " may sleep on the stairs or in the verandahs as he can ; any dog's kind of treatment is good enough for him. There are at Barrackpore near 5,000 sepoys who do not work, carry no arms, have no drill, parade, or other annoyance ; a European regiment has every now and then to be under arms all night, but that is a trifie—il serves to con ciliate the natives. Now and , again some secret depot of arms is discovered. They are not bidden in one place, and will be available when wanted. The sepoys are daily making a bolt of it, we know not whither—some to Oude, many to Chittagong and Dacca. LLICKNOW. The following extracts from a private diary will serve to fill up the gap from the arrival of Outram to the final relief by Sir Colin Campbell. They will be found of touching interest, and to tell a terrible tale of the enemy we have to deal with in Oude City of Lucknow, Oct. 3. It is much I have to be thankful for. It is almost im possible to describe. God has indeed been merciful to me, and your prayers and mine must have indeed been listened to. From the ninth hour of the morning of September 2.5 until ten o'clock at night, the whole force was under a blaze of fire, every inch of the road disputed, and, as our casualties will show, a sad loss we have sus tained. Instead of affording any great relief to this un fortunate garrison of Lucknow, as I am writing one week after our entrance, we ate almost as badly off as the gar rison. Cut off from our baggage communication with C awn pore, and with few supplies left; daily fighting, daily lose. My poor good friend General Neill fell almost the last shot that was fired on the 25th alt. I wen close to him. A wretched man shot him from the top of a house. He never spoke again, and could not have suffered a moment's pain. There was a gun between us at the time, but I got rotted and saved his body by carrying it into the intrenched camp on a gan-aarriage, and it was buried by his own regiment the next day. And now I have to tell you of the loss of my poor boy. What has become of him I know not; but he must have been killed on that dreadful night. I did not want him to come, but he said yes, he would come with me, and was afraid to stay behind when the baggage was left. All the other coolies, and horsekeepers , Sze., got in safely ; but the rebels followed up our rear so closely that they cut off our sick and wounded, and at one time our heavy guns. The latter were recovered the next morning, but they burnt our wounded as they were in their dhoolies, and the bearers they either killed or pressed into their service to give information. Picture the horrors of that night fir the poor wounded—Arnold, Bailey, and many others, all left till the next morning until a regiment could go back and find them. Arnold was shot a second time in the same leg whilst in his (Wooly. It is useless 79 to tell you of my hairbreadth escapes on that day, for every one had the same. I went to see Mrs. the morning after I got in, and was truly thankful to find her alive and well, with a dear little child. Her friends at Madras had heard she was dead. She was so glad to see me, and good old Neill had brought a box of all kinds of things for the ladies, such as arrowroot, sago, candles. &c., and some wine, all of which 1 had the great pleasure of distributing. And, fancy, the dear old regiment had subscribed at Cawnpore for the same good purpose; but their box has not yet come up with the heavy baggage, and I much fear the whole of the baggage has fallen into the rebels' hands, for we were obliged to leave it about four miles from LUCK* now, and we have not heard of it since. The poor ladies expected to have left for Cawnpore immediately after our arrival, and that was the intention ; bat now it is as much as we can do to guard them here. I have also seen the —, or rather —, for the poor woman has lately been confined, and her little baby died two days ago. All the ladies are living in little holes. Mrs. has about sir feet square for herself, nurse, and child ; and they were all in daily fear of being blown up by these wretched rebels, who have mined underneath the garrison in all directions. There seems to be no help for it now but patience, and to wait for the English reinforcements. Our force is so small nothing more can really be done. Sir James Out ram is here—a braver man never rode ahorse. He headed nearly every charge on the 25th, and was slightly wounded. What am I to write or say to poor Mrs. Neill? and hs asked me, before we went into action, in case he fell, to do so. A painful duty, and Ido it with a sad heart ; but it must be done. Oct. t.—three more of our officers wounded ; poor Groom very severely, thigh-bone broken by round shot, and I fear he will lose his leg ; poor Fraser badly hit in the shoulder; and Galway slightly in the neck. Major Stephenson had a very narrow escape. A bullet passed through a door first and hit him on the stomach afterwards. But he will be well again soon. Several of the men also were wounded. I went to see poor Arnold and Bailey last night. The first cannot live more than a few hours. The scenes of this hospital are past belief. Two hundred and upwards lying side by side, sick and wounded, and our poor good ladies are walking about, bathing the heads and soothing the dying. May God bless them for it. Oct. tl iA severe attack upon oar position this morn ing, and great loss of life. The enemy have undermined us in all directions, blowing up several of our men. We cannot get out of this horrid city. It cost us 609 casualties on the 25th to get in, and to attempt to get out with the women and children would cost us half our force. Oct. 16.—Well, another week has passed, and we are still shut up in this wretched palace, and from all accounts that reach us, no prospect of getting out for the next three weeks at the least. Fortunately, our provisions, such as they are, last oat well, but these gun bullocks are rather tough. —'s brother is here, doing duty with the 78th Highlanders, but is badly wounded, and has lost two of his fingers. I went to see him in the hospital yesterday, but he was asleep. Bailey and Fraser are doing pretty well. Galway all right again ; Groom very bad, and I much fear will not recover. Stgphenson's hurt has also turned out badly, and he looks very ill. No medicines, no wine, no comforts of any kind; no clean rags even to dress wounds, so but few can recover. The enemy still being determined, mining and throwing shells all about us. Oct. 22.—Groom died yesterday. What a blow for his wife ! His child he had never seen. No sooner was his body removed from the hospital than Barclay was put in his place, badly wounded. We have now lost six officers killed and seven wounded--thirteen ; but other regiments are equally unfortunate, especially the 76th Highlanders. Our poor horses are now without grain, and little grass ; sonic are starving. I was so grieved when my little note to you through Mrs. was not sent on Sunday last. The coolie could not go, so the third mail will leave, and no news from me. Oct. 27.—At last we have heard of a chance of a relief. A column from Delhi is now on its way to join another force at Cawnpore; and we may now expect them here in a few days, so we are all in high spirits. We are all look ing a little thin upon our living. I had the good luck to get about half a glassfull of rum, a few days ago, which did me a world of good, for from the change of weather—not to cold—we have all been a little seedy from diarrhoea ; and the poor sick in hospital, those that have lost limbs, die rapidly. Nov. 2.—Another sad morning. My friend, Ned Grant, is very seriously wounded. I have just returned from his side. He was shot in the stomach, and the ball must have touched the liver. it was cut oat of the right side. I was with him soon after he was bit, but I am very uneasy about him ; and he thinks badly of himself. Stephenson is, I think, much worse to - d a y ; and, judging from his appearance, I don't think he can recover. Nov. 11.—I have not added anything to this since the 2nd. Our relief is assembling about three miles distant, and between this and the 20th I suppose it will take place. As you may imagine, I am very tired of this life, and very hungry too, for we have now been on half rations for a month, and not a drop of beer, or wine, or spirits. The consequence is our sick and wounded are doing very badly, and the whole garrison looking thin and wretched. Ned Grant is doing pretty well, though not out of danger ; Fraser, Bailey, and Barclay, doing well ; Stephenson sink ing from weakness, I think; his wound, they say, still looks healthy. Nov. 14.—Sir Colin Campbell and our relief is advance ing. They commence their operations to-day. We are to assist them to-morrow. We are very badly provided with men, and they very weak from living so long on half rations, and without grog. But I trust all will be well, and that the relief of Lucknow will be e ff ec ted this time. Nov. 26.—Three miles out W o e are relievf the walls ed and last, p city ad of Lucknow. God be praised ; at place; but only those who really de served it bein g d w hile neither women nor children were b ut molested. The Punjaub appears tranquil. From a letter of Mr. Montgomery, judicial commissioner for the Punjaub, on the trial and sentence of ten Sikh sepoys of the 23rd Bengal Native Infantry, charged with being implicated in the mutiny of that regiment, we learn the real character and extent of the force which surprised and was defeated by Greatbed's column at Agra on the 10th of October. It is generally supposed to have been a part of the Gwalior Contingent, but it seems really to have con. sisted mainly of the 23rd Native Infantry from Mhow, with the addition of 200 sowers and 400 Ghazees. It numbered altogether about 1,300 men, with eight guns. Of these guns six were carried off from Mhow and two were taken from the Rajah of Dholpore. The man who gave this information to Mr. Mont gomery says that, hearing the force at Agra was small and shut up in the fort, they determined to go and p lunder and occupy the city, and that, on reach and the station, they were surprised, attacked, and beaten by the Delhi force, of the existence of which they had no knowledge. The " surprise " seems to have been mutual, the incautious mutineers sl um bling upon our incautious troops as unexpectedly as they were unexpected. The attack, however, ac cording to all previous accounts, came from their side, but happily the victory was entirely on our own. In Central India affairs seem to progress satis factorily, but the want of European troops is severely felt. The Amgheera Rajah and his Ministers had been tried and found guilty of rebellion. The Ministers were hanged on the 20th at Indore. The Rajah awaits the decision of the higher authorities. Brigadier Stuart, in leaving Mundesore, ordered the Hydrabad Contingent, under Major Orr, to stand fast there, and Neemuch has been reinforced by 150 of li.M.'s 83rd, under Major Prescott; 150 of the 12th Regiment Native Infantry, two guns with Golundauze, and thirty Lancers, in charge of a good supply of ammunition and other materials of war, which are much wanted. The detachment of her Majesty's 83rd, hitherto at Neemuch, and the Lan cets, were to leave for Nnsseerabad, where General Lawrence proposes to take speedy measures for destroying the rebels of Awah. Thence his destina tion will be Kotah. This departure of the Mhow force leaves Neemuch in a precarious position. A correspondent writes from thence : The Mhow force has now gone back to do some other work, and Neemuch is in the same position as before — merely a bait for the rebels, and quite unable to send out and demolish any large force that might beard it from any of the neighbouring walled towns and threaten another attack. Reports are prevalent that the rebel King of Mundesore has joined with the Bukshee of Nirobhaira and the Khota Rajah, and has gone to Khota, where another large force is assembling, with fourteen guns, for the pur pose of making another attack on Neemuch. It is to be hoped that Government will soon send us a large force ; but we see no sign of it. At Khota no one can tell what number of rebels may not have assembled; it is quite possible that great numbers of the mutineers of the Bengal regiments may be there, and with artillery, too. Yet here we must wait without troops to aid us, and stand whatever the rebels may choose to plan for us. It is well that we were enabled, by checking the rebels at Jeerun, to prevent their intended attack on Neemuch at that season, for we were teen unprepared with the requisite provisions in the fort; and the position of the garrison at that period would have been most precarious. The fortnight's interval which we thus gained enabled us to lay in a stock of pro visions sufficient to allow of the garrison holding out for the fifteen days with that determined vigour which sig nalised their conduct during the late siege. But, deter mined as the garrison were to hold their own, their condi tion must have been anything but pleasant--crowded in a small fort, with 700 human beings and sixty horses, besides cattle and sheep. It is to be hoped that the Government, by seasonable reinforcements, will prevent this garrison from having again to endure the great dis comfort, annoyance, and anxiety—to say nothing of the danger—of such another siege. The rebels that wore defeated at Mundesore are said to have fraternised with the Kotah mutineers, with the intention of making another attack upon Neemuch. Fugitives from the victorious army in the north are said to be collecting with the avowed purpose of going to Nusseerabad and Ajmer-. One thing (writes a correspondent) is certain, viz.—that the whole of the fanatical Mahomedan population of Rajpootana are our inveterate foes; and every day's delay in sending troops up only accumulates the number of the disaffected. Sir Hugh Rose, K.C.8., and Sir Robert Hamilton, had both arrived at Mhow. The South Mahratta country was quieter, and the disarmament continuing. From Madras there is no direct intelligence of importance. A Calcutta correspondent writes : " I don't like the quiet way in which at Madras they are every now and then sending for more troops. Something is brewing there, b u t Government keep everything close." But beyond this we learn nothing. In Calcutta every possible effort is being made to despatch the troops up country rapidly, but, from want of previous preparation, the city is kept full of