The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

THE MUTINY IN THE INDIAN ARMY. TnE anticipation that the mutiny of the native troops at Barrackpore would be followed by a general revolt of the native regiments in the Bengal Presidency, which would shake the fidelity of the native troops through out India, has been fearfully fulfilled. The telegraphic intelligence a fortnight since briefly told us that the 3rd Cavalry at Meerut were in open mutiny, and that their cantonments were burning. The report, and worse, has this week received ample confirmation. The entire native force at Meerut, consisting of the 3rd Cavalry, the 11th and 20th Regiments of Native Infantry, and the Sappers and Miners, on the 10th !Slay openly revolted, shot down their officers, and taking the road to Delhi—distant about forty miles— were there joined by the garrison of the city, consist ing of the 3sth, 34th, and 74th Regiments of Native Infantry, and a strong body of the Native Artillery. The city was of course at their mercy. In a few hours those English men, women, and children who could not escape were brutally murdered, the bank was broken into and robbed, the living representa tive of the Mogul dynasty—the son of the late Emperor—was proclaimed King of India, and a revolution in Delhi was accomplished. But the object of the mutineers was not complete without the seizure of the arsenal. The small guard under Lieutenant Willoughby bravely defended themselves for a short time against overwhelming numbers. They were at length beaten in, the gates of the arsenal were forced, and as the rebel sepoys swarmed in by hundreds the gallant Willoughby blew up both them and the arsenal, escaping himself with but slight injuries, and ultimately reaching friendly shelter in the neighbourhood of Delhi. The intelligence of the serious nature of the revolt spread over India hke lightning. At every station where native troops were collected symptoms of restlessness and reports of open mutiny were rife. Happily, as yet. neither have been confirmed. At Agra, Lucknow, and Calcutta, and even far up in the Punjaub, the effect of the revolt at Delhi was perceptible, and every precaution had been taken by the authorities to secure tranquillity ; but with so small an English force as we have at present in India, and with such vast elements of discontent as exist in the native army, and indeed in the native mind throughout, it is impossible to predict the limits of this mutinous movement of the native army. However, at present the revolt appears confined to the army and to the rabble of the revolted districts. The details received from India are very full, and several private letters bring before us vividly the terrible scenes at Meerut and Delhi. From one of the I 2ch May, dated Meerut, we extract the following account of the Meerut mutiny : On Sunday the 10th, between five and six o'clock in the evening, I was in my bungalow, in rear of the lines of the 11th Native Infantry, where i have resided since my arrival at the station, when, as I was dressing, preparatory to going out for a ride with Colonel Finnts, of the I 1 th Native Infantry, my attention was attracted to my servants and those in the neighbouring compounds going down towards the front of our inclosuree, and looking steadily into the lines of the 11th, whence a buzzing murmuring noise proceeded, such as I have often heard in cases of fire, or some such alarm. Of this I took little notice, but went down to my gate, still dressing, and the noise still increasing, 1 returned to the bungalow, put on my uniform, and again went out. I had scarcely got to the gate, when I heard the popping sound of firearms, which 1 knew at once were loaded with ball cartridge, and a European non• commissioned Lfficer came running with others towards me from the 1 lth lines, sating, For God'a sake, sir, leave ! come to your bungalow, change that dress, and fly !" I walked into my bungalow, and was doffing my uniform, the bullets by that time flying out of the 11th lines into my compound, when the head:tar-major of the 1 lth rushed into the room, terrified and breathless, and exclaimed, "Fly, sahib,—fly at once! the regiments are in open mutiny, and tiring on their officers, and Colonel Finnis has just been shot in my arum." It was evidently becom• ing serious. I came out, and ordered my horse to be saddled end brought up, my servants still begging of me to fly for my life. I mounted. The lines of the 6th Dragoon Guards ICarabineersi lie to the north of my bungalow, separated by a rugged and barren plain, cut up by nullahs and ravines, upon which, ruling out of the back part of my compound, I descended. A Briton does not like actually "running away" under any circumstances, and 1 was riding slowly.through the uneven ground, when the havidar major before mentioned exclaimed, " You, sahib, are mounted and can make haste, ride to the European cavalry lines, and give the alarm." Good ; I galloped off, crossed the difficult ground all right, got into the cavalry lines, and made for the colonel's house, which lie bad just left, and found him in the barrack lines on horseback, ordering the Dragoons to saddle, arm, and mount without a moment's delay. Here I shall leave the Dragoons and myself, and return to the Native Infantry parade•ground, and the cnnmencenient of the mutiny and massacres. About five o'clock the ` . ...0th Native Infantry and the nrd Light Cavalry rushed from their lines, armed and furious ; the former regiment firing off their muskets, approaching the 11th Native Infantry, and calling upon them to arm, come out, anl join them. I believe the 11th hesitated at first—cause unknown ; but presently they too armed and rushed out, and the mutinous fuel took flame. About this time Colonel Finnis and several other officers of the lltb THE PRESS, JULY 4, 1857. Native Infantry came upon the parade, and commenced haranguing the sepoys, and attempted to pacify them and bring them to order, when the colonel's horse was wounded by a bullet tired by the 20th. On this he saw that the matter was more serious than he had wished to believe ; and, one of his officers asking him if he should ride off to the brigade•major, ask fur aid, and give the alarm, he con sented. This is the last time he was seen alive by Euro. peen eyes, for immediately afterwards he was shot in the back by a sepoy of the 20th, fell from his horse, and was actually riddled with balls. About this time the other officers of the llth, seeing that their presence among the mutineers was perfectly useless, and the bullets flying about them in all directions, retreated from the lines, and sought safety mostly in the direction of the Carabineer lines, to which I must now retransfer the narrative. It took us a long time, in my opinion, to get ready, and it was dark before the Drsvons were prepared to start in a body, while by this titre flames began to ascend in all directions from the lines, and the officers' bungalows of the 3rd Cavalry and the Ilth and 20th Native Infantry, from public buildings, messhouses, private residences, and, in fact, every edifice or thing that came within reach of the torch and the fury of the mutineers and of the bazaar canaille, who in considerable numbers, I believe, joined in their terrific orgies. On all sides shop• up into the heavens great pinnacles of waving fire of all hues and colours, according to the nature of the fuel that fed them, huge volumes of awoke rolling sullenly off in the sultry night air, and the crackling and roar of the conflagration min gin; with the shouts and riot of the mutineers. The Dragoons and Rifles pursued the mutineers for a short di,tance, and, having made the circuit of the lines, appear to have returned to head quarters. This correspondent continues : I must now come to the particulars of the brutal out rages and assassinations that marked this infernal out break, premising, however, that a sense of delicacy and a regard for the harassed feelings of surviving friends and relatives, prevent me frun entering into details, the relation of which could only gratify a mind fund of horrors and atrocities. At the very commencement of the etnente the 3rd Light Cavalry, saddling and mounting their horses, galloped off to the gaol, and of course, overpowering all resistance, liberated their eighty-five comrades ; and all the other prisoners, to the number of about 1,300, apparently. Returning from this they joined the mutineers of the 2'ith Native Infantry, and the work of indiscriminate European massacre began, without regard to rank, age, sex, or em ployment, furious and merciless. Veterinary Surgeons Phillips and Dawson, of ►he 3rd Light Cavalry, and the wife of the latter, were massacred, and also Lieutenant M•Nab, of the same regiment, several others of the corps having miraculous escapes, but the surgeon, Christie, being wounded. I fear mortally. Of the officers of the 20th Native Infantry, Captain Taylor commanding, Captain Macdonald, with the wife of the latter, were savagely slain, with, as in the case of the cavalry officers, numerous narrow escapes. Of the 11th Native Infantry poor Finnis was the only officer slain ; but Mrs. Chambers, the wife of the adjutant, was pitilessly slaughtered in her own bun galow, which, as I have told you above, we saw burning ; and remember, as I have also said above, I refrain from describing details, merely giving the caanaPies. Among those not in the military employ of the Government who perished in this indiscriminate massacre, were Mr. Tregoar, of the education department, Mrs. Courteney, the mistress of the hotel, and many women and girls whose names Ido not know. After all this work was done and the mutineers had retreated, the remainder of the night passed away in gloom and doubt, and the conflagra• Lion, having nothing more to feed upon, was extinguished, as it were, by the rising beams and more powerful light of the sun. I mounted my horse and role down from the Carabineers' lines towar Is my hospital and the Native Infantry lines, dubious ea to ihe state of affairs, and came to the charred and blackened huts anti bungalows, all naked and deserted. On my way down a dhoolee ap• proached and was passing me, when I stopped the bearers and asked what they carried? They answered, " the Colonel sahib." It was poor Finnis's body, which had just been found where he fell, and was being carried towards the churchyard. The horrible atrocities committed at Meerut seem to have been more the work of the rabble about the Bazaar than of the sepoys. The Rev. T. C. Smyth, Chaplain of Meerut, writes : The inhabitants of the Suddur Bazaar and city committed atrocities far greater than those of the sepoys, as in the ease of Captain M'Donald's wife, whom they pursu-d some distance and frightfully mutilated (though her childien were happily all saved by the ayahs ), and of Mrs. Chambers, wife of the Adjutant of the 11th Native Infantry, who was murdered in her garden during Mr. Chambers' absence on duty, her clothes having been set on fire before she was shot, and cut to pieces. About ten o'clock a bungalow, immedi ately opposite our house, was set on fire by five troopers of the 3d Light Cavalry, and an attempt ( though happily nn• successful) was made to fire the Brigadier's house. After eleven strong pickets and patrols of the English cavalry, artillery, and infantry were posted on the road near our house, hut the firing of houses, &c., continued till close upon daybreak, principally caused by the neighbouring v ina 4 errt, after the guarding of the lines. The loss of pro perty. and alas ! of life, has been very dreadful. The part of Meerut in which the insurrection principally ragetL is a miserable wilderness of ruined houses, and some of the residents (as was the case with Mr. and Mrs. Breathed, the Commissioner of the Division) escaped miraculously from the hands of their pursuers, by hiding themselves in the gardens and outhouses of their burning burgalows, and in some c ises by disguising themselves as native servants. Before the European troops arrived on Sunday night at the scece of action, fourteen officers and their wives, together with several soldiers of the artillery and 60th Rifles, and woolen and children of the military and general mai. 649 dents in the at ition, had been barbarously cut to pieces. Among other instances of frightful butchery was that cf Sergeant Law, his wife, and six children, who were living beyond the precincts of cantonments. The state in which the father and three of the infints were found defies descrip tion. Happily the mother and three other children, though grievously mangled, crawled about midnight to the Artillery Hospital, and it is hoped will recover. Mr. Rotton and I have buried thirty-one of the murdercd, but there are others whose bodies have not yet been brought in. The Bengal Hurk.aru continents strongly upon the indec slim exhibited at the he td -quarters at Meerut during these frightful scenes • The most marvellous circumstance is that the European troops were not sooner brought to the rescue, since they were in strength more than adequate for the protection of the station, and might surely have been expected to pre vent the greater proportion of the bloodshed. But not only were thi, atrocities to which we have alluded—and some of them are of a nature to which the narrators, in deference to the feelings of surviving friends, scarcely venture even to allude —committed without check, but when the insurgents were at length pat to flight, the pursuit of them by the European troops seems to have been of a most undecided character, and abandoned for no apparent cause except that the night was dark, and even this difficnity did not continue, for the moon rose upon the scene of desolation. The mutineers appear to have arrived at Delbi on Monday, the 11th of May, and to have gone first to the cantonment, which is about two miles from the city. They tilers called upon the native regiments the 39th, 54th, and 74th, and the Native Artillery —to join them in resisting the design of the Government to convert them to Christianity. The call was immediately responded to, the 38th setting the example and murdering their officers, and the rest promptly following. These troops at once en tered Delhi, and sacked the British quarters. Some of the Europeans escaped across the Jumna, and thirteen were reported to be near Bagput, on the let bank, protected by the zemindars ; but the rest, including Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, M. Le Bas, Mr. Johnstone and his daughter, and many ladies and children, were brutally murdered. The mutineers then proceeded to the city, in which are situated the arsenal, the fort, the King's palace, and the civil station, and took unresisted possession of the whole (except the arsenal), murdering all the Europeans they could catch. Of the state of Delhi nothing snore is ascertained, and probably will not be until the place is retaken by the British troops. It is probable that not a single European—man, woman, or child—is alive in Delhi at the present moment. The most active measures are of course being taken to suppress this revolt, and it is satisfactory to know from latest intelligence that the garrison at Agra and of the neighbouring stations remain stanch Martial law has been proclaimed in the districts of Meerut and the Delhi territory, while the most vigorous proclamations threatened terrible punish ments to all who should join the insurgents, but promised to recompense those who remained faithful to the Government. At Oude and in the Punjaub, Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir John Law rence, with Major-General Reed, commanding the Peshawar Division, have taken the most energetic measures to suppress the first symptoms of in subordination. The native troops both at Lahore and Ferozepore have been disarmed, moveable columns of British troops have been organised to traverse the country in all directions, and by these wise measures it is to be hoped that the revolt will be confined to Delhi, where by this time possilly prompt vengeance has overtaken the mutineers:— The great blow w;11 be delivered from the north ; but by all the great roads in other directions troops have been closing in upon the doomed city. The Sirmore battalions wee at Boolundslinhur, on the east, the Agra Brigade', strengthened by cavalry and artillery from Gwalior, ad vancing irom Muttra on the south, the troops of the Jiit ihs of Dhurtpore and Ulwar moving up on the west. From the north west were pouring down the hot , emen of the Rajahs of Putteeala and Jheend, while the great road from the hill stations by Kornanl and Meerut lay open for the march of the commander-in-chief. General Anson was to leave Umballah, whither he had repaired in haste from Simla, on the Nth. He had brought with him from Kassowlie her Majesty's 75th Regiment. At Umballah he found the oth Lancers, the let European Fusiliers marched in from Dueshate, the 4th Light Cavalry, the sth and (1:411 Native Infantry, and two troops of ( European) Horse Artillery. The whole of this force he would, it was ex pected, take down with him to Meerut, where he would find the Carabi.teers, the 69th and a strong force of artillery, and taking them with him would advance at once upon Delhi. The city lying upon the further or right bank of the Jotona, and being connected with the left hank R bridge of boats only, which the insurgents have doubt less destroyed, it is possible that some time may be occu pied in conveying the troops across the river. But before many days are past we shall, I suppose, bear that retrilo:- tion as signal as merited has been dealt to the insurgent soldiery. Calcutta was in a disturbed state. The proclama tion of martial law was thought probable, for a paper, duly signed and sealed, was found in the city on the 18th May, calling on the " faithful " to rise en Inane and slaughter the Feringhi Caffres ! On the previous 1