The Press. — London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 20, 1858. In the Bombay I'residency and in Central India matters were ranch in the same state. Lieutenant Osborne, the hero of Rewab, was clearing the road b e tween 3lirzapore and Bombay, and one of the gajpootana columns hail at last moved northwards. The only news from Indore is that the Ameer of Mebidpore, who was deeply concerned in the mutiny there of the Malwa Contingent, who killed their two officers and two sergeants, had been tried by drum head court-martial, and blown away from a gun. There bad been many executions, both by hanging and blowing from guns, of the Maharajah's muti neers, and other trials were going on daily. Sir H. Ro-e, it was reported, had of dered 149 of the Malwa mutineers to be hanged in a single day. The Malwa geld force returned to Mhow on the 19th of Decem ber, preparatory to an advance for the relief of Sangor. From either of the seats of Government there is little news of importance. At Calcutta the Lucknow refugees bad at length arrived. They had been re ceived with a royal salute from the ships and bat teries, and, on landing, were welcomed by nearly all the European inhabitants in Calcutta, except the Gover nor-General, and Lady Canning. A writer, describing the event, says :—" The black dresses of most of the ladies told the tale of their bereavement, whilst the pallid faces, the downcast look, and the slow walk, bare evidence of the great sufferings they must have undergone both in mind and body." The Indian mail-packet Pera, which is due at Southampton on the 6th proximo, will, it is expected, bring to England many of the women and children belonging to the famous Lucknow garrison. The next Indian telegram is due in London on the 22nd instant. It will contain news from Cal cutta up to the 24th ult. CHINA. OPERATIONS AT CANTON. After a year's inactivity, Canton has been again bombarded by our forces, and this time with a more definite result. The city was strongly garrisoned and defended by a powerful Tartar force, but some .5,000 English and French sailors and marines were found sufficient to capture the outer defences of the city on the 28th and 29th Dec. last. For some time past the prepartions for enforcing Sir John Bowring's demands upon the Chinese hare been gradually arriving at perfection. Soldiers, sailors, and marines have been collected together, the British and French squadrons, and the British and French Envoys have joined company, and, finally, a letter was despatched to Commissioner Yell, giving him ten days for con sideration. The terms offered in that ultimatum be rejected; the troops were moved up and occupied Boum An ultimatum was sent to Yeh on the 21st Dec. that be rejected ; and all efforts, observes Sir Michael Seymour in his despatch of 28th Dec., "to avert the evils of war having failed through the obstinate determination which has characterised the proceedings of the Imperial Commissioner from October 21, 1650, nothing remained for the com manders of the allied forces but to address the Imperial Commissioner, and to carry into execution the painful alternative of attaclsing Canton, which was commenced at daylight this morning." A further despatch from General Straubenzee, Dec. 29, states as follows :-- 3l Lord,—l have great satisfaction in reporting that Canton city was escaladed and captured this day at nine o'clock, with a more trifling loss than could have been ex pected. Great emulation was displayed by the whole allied force, among whom the greatest cordiality and good feeling exists. We have to deplore the loss of Captain Bate, of the Royal Navy ; also of Lieutenant Hackett, of the 59th Regiment. Lieutenant Bowen, of the same regiment, has been seriously wounded. All is still in confusion, and the mail leaving; I must, therefore, defer further details till the next opportu nity.—l have, &c., C. T. VAN STRAUEENZEE, Major-General, Commanding Troops in China. Fort Gough is now being occupied. The Right Hon. the Secretary• of State for War, &c. "Our gratification," adds Sir M. Seymour, in his official despatch, Dee. 29, " at this quick success with trifling loss has been damped by a great calamity, in the death of Captain William Thoniton Bate, of her Majesty's ship Acton, who was killed by a gingall ball while reconnoitring a suitable spot for placing our scaling ladders." The details of the operations may be briefly summed up. After several careful reconnaissances, end after the rejection by the Chinese of the ulti matum of the allied powers, the bombardment opened on the 28th December from the steamers and gunboats of the two fleets. At noon the troops landed at Kuper Creek, and advanced at once to the attack of L , in Fort, which was carried without any great difficulty. Ibe capture of this fort closed the operations of the day. On the 29th Magazine•bill and Gough Fort were both carried without much loss. At the moment the mail left the whole of the derenceS pr Canton !Min possession of our troors, THE IELIEF OF LCCKNOW. A Gazette Extraordinary published on Wednesday contains a series of despatches received at the India house on the 15th inst., detailing the operations fur the relief of the garrison of Lucknow by the force under General Havelock and Sir J. Outram, with the reports of the commander and officers of the garrison, describing the incidents of the defence of the place before it was relieved. They are dated from the 30th of September to the end of Decem ber last. On the 30th of September Sir J. Outram reports to Sir Colin Campbell, the commander-in-chief, that General Havelock had effected his junction with the garrison of Lucknow on the evening of the 25th. Sir J. Outran took the command on the following day. The commandant of the garrison, Brigadier Inglis, had been warned by Sir James Outran of the approach of the relief, and ordered not to weaken his small force by detaching any part of it to support the advancing troops if they became engaged in the city, lest the enemy should take the opportunity to assault his position. Sir J. Outram's despatch of the 30th of September describes the mining operations of the mutineers, by which they attacked the exterior and intrenchments of Lucknow, as having been carried on in the most scientific manner. Six mines had been completed, one of them from a distance of 200 feet under the principal defensive works. The mines were quite ready for loading ; had they been fired the garrison would have been entirely at the mercy of the assailants. The delay of the relief for another twenty-four hours might have sealed the fate of all the defenders. In the advance of the relieving force the enemy was beaten in the open field with out difficulty. In the suburbs of Lucknow the resistance was more obstinate, and the troops, under General Havelock, forced their way to the garrison at a great sacrifice. The difficulty of fighting a way through five miles of disputed suburb, and want of carriage, rendered it impossible to cany off the sick and wounded of the garrison, the women and children, the whole numbering in both forces 1,500 souls. The rescue was therefore deferred till the arrival of reinforceme.nts. The operation is described more fully in the fol lowing despatch from General Havelock, addressed to the adjutant•general of the commander-in-chief. General Havelock states that he crossed the Sye on the 2nd of September, and engaged and defeated the enemy on the 23rd in front of Alumbagh, in spite of his rear being attacked by 1,500 cavalry who crept round unperceived : The troops bad been marching for three days unde r ' perfect deluge of rain, irregularly fed, and bsdly housed i n villages. It was thought necessary to pitch tents, and per. mit them to halt on the 24th. The assault on the city was deferred until the 25th. That morning our baggage and tents were deposited in the Alumbagh under an escort, and we advanced. The first brigade, under Sir James Outram's personal leading, drove the enemy from a suc cession of gardens and walled inclosures, supported by the second brigade, which I accompanied. Both brigades were established on the canal at the bridge of Charbagh. From this point the direct road to the Residency was something less than two miles; but it was known to have been cut by trenches and crossed by palisades at short intervals, the houses also being all loopholed. Progress in this direction was impossible; so the united column pushed on, detounng along the narrow road which skirts the left bank of the canaL Its advance was not seriously interrupted until it had come opposite the King's palace, or the Kaiser Bagh, where two guns and a body of mer cenary troops were intrenched. From this intrenchment a fire of grape and musketry was opened under which nothing could live. The artillery and troops had to pass a bridge partially under its influence, but were then shrouded by the buildings adjacent to the palace of Fureed Buksh. Darkness was coming on, and Sir James Out- ram at first proposed to halt within the courts of the Mehal for the night ; but I esteemed it to be of such im portance to let the beleaguered garrison know that succour was at band, that, with his ultimate sanction, I directed the main body of the 78th Highlanders and Regiment of Ferozepore to advance. This column rushed on with dest. , erate gallantry, led by Sir James Outram and myself, and Lieutenants Hudson and Hargood of my staff, through streets of flat-roofed loopholed houses, from which a per petual fire was kept up, and, overcoming every obstacle, established itself within the inclosure of the Residency. The joy of the garrison may be more easily conceived than described; but it was not till the next evening that the whole of my troops, guns, tumbrils, and sick and wounded, continually exposed to the attacks of the enemy, could be brought step by step within this enceinte and the adjacent palace of the Fnreed Buksh. To form an adeinate idea of the obstacles overcome, reference must be made to the events that are known to have occurred at Buenos Ayres and Saragossa. Our advance was through streets of houses such as I have described, and thus each forming a separate fortress. lam filled with surprise at the success of the operation, which demanded the efforts of 10,000 good troops. The total of casualties appended to the despatch is 110 officers and men killed, 330 officers and men wounded, 77 men missing. Another despatch from General Havelock, dated November 16, addressed to Colonel Napier, chief of the staff of General Sir J. Outram, that officer having then taken the command, describes a minor Operatiou conducted by General Havelock, It is 179 short, but interesting, as it must be one of the last the lumented general ever wrote : Lucknow, Nov. 16, 1R57. Sir,—l beg to report, for the information of Major. General Sir James Outram, G.C.8., the complete success of the operations in which the troops of my division were employed under his own eye this evening in capturing • succession of houses in advance of the palace of Fumed Buksh. I have given iu the margin the details of detach ments employed. The nature of the enterprise may be shortly described as follows :—The progress of the relieving force under his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief was anxiously watched, and it was determined that as soon as he should reach the Sikunder Bagh, about three miles from the Re sidency, the outer will of the advance garden of the palace, in which the enemy had before made several breaches, should be blown in by mines previously prepared; that two powerful batteries erected in the inclosure should then open on the insurgent's defences in front, and, after the desired effect had been produced, that the troops should storm two buildings known by the names of the Hern lihana, or Deer•honse, and the steam-engine house. Under these also three mines had been driven. It was ascertained about eleven a.m. that Sir Colin Campbell was operating against the Sikunder Bagh. The explosion of the mines in the garden was therefore ordered. Their action was, however, comparatively feeble, so the batteries had the double task of completing the de• molition of the wall and prostrating and breaching the works and the buildings beyond it. Brigadier Eyre cern minded in the left battery, Captain Olpherts in the right ; Captain Maude shelled from six mortars in a more retired quadrangle of the palace. The troops were formed in the square of the Chuttur Manzi', and brought up in suc cession through the approaches, which in every direction intersected the advance garden. At a quarter past three two of the mines at the Hera lihana exploded with good effect. At half-past three the edvance sounded. It is im possible to describe the enthusiasm with which this signal was received by the troops. Pent up in inaction for up wards of six weeks, and subjected to constant attacks, they felt that the hour of retribution and glorious exertion had returned. Their cheers echoed through the courts of the palace, responsive to the bugle sound, and on they rushed to assured victory. The enemy could nowhere withstand them. In a few minutes the whole of the buildings were in our possession, and have since been armed with cannon, and steadily held against all attack. It will he seen by the inclosed return that the loss has been small. An account of the proceedings of the relieving force down to the 25th of November is given in a second despatch from Sir J. Outram to Major-General Mansfield, chief of the staff, hearing the above date. Sir J. Outran' pays the highest compliments to all the officers and men engaged in the defence of the garrison during that period. " Never," he says, " could there have been a force more free from grumblers, more cheerful, more willing, or more earnest." The operations of the engineers in Lucknow, under the command of Captain Cromachie, he declares to have been without parallel in the history of war : Twenty-one shafts, aggregating 200 feet in depth, and 3.291 feet of gallery, have been executed. The enemy advanced 20 mines against the pvlaces and outposts ; of these they exploded three, which caused us loss of life, and two which did no injury; seven have been blown in ; and out of seven others the enemy have been driven, and their galleries taken possession of by our miners—results of which the Engineer Department may well be proud. The reports and plans forwarded by Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.8., and now submitted to his Excellency, will explain how a line of gardens, courts, and dwelling-houses, without for tified enceinte, without flanking defences, and closely con nected with the buildings of a city, has been maintained for eight weeks in a certain degree of security ; bat not withstanding the close and constant musketrytire from loop holed walls and windows, often within 30 yards, and from every lofty building within ride-range, and notwithstand ing a frequent though desultory fire of round shot sod grape from guns posted at various distances, from 70 t) 50U yards. The remainder of the despatch contains Sir J. Outram's acknowledgments of the services of the officers under his command. A report from Brigadier Inglis to Sir J. Outram details the measures taken subsegnent to the relief to remodel the garrison, exhausted by privatirns and fatigue, and to restore order in the place. He states that the buried treasure, amounting to nearly twenty live lass of rupee, had been exhumed and placed again in charge of the civil anthorities. - The remaining despatches are the reports from offi. cers of the garrison, giving the particulars of operations incident to the defence, by detached parties, in sorties and attacks on different positions held by the enemy, and the details of the work of the mines requited to check those of the assailants. A general order of the Governor-General of India in council, dated Fort William, Dec. 22, 1837 (No. 1025), sums up the recommendations in the de spatches of the generals, and acknowledges in a handsome manner the distinguished services of the noncommissioned officers and privates engaged in the defence of Lncknow, " for the valour they have displayed in the field, for the firmness with which they have maintained their position in the city, and for th,t cheerful, willing, and earnest manner in which they have discharged all the various duties and borne the privations imposed upon them, under circume stances of extraordinary dif s lioulty and bardsbir -