The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-03 00:00:00

I NDIA. A series of important telegrams have been received at the India house and Fo►eign-office this week. They bring intelligence from the seat of wur to the 6th of March : :ENSON, ESQ., LNDTA•IIOUbE. LUCKNOW. The commander•in chief seized Dilkoosha on the 'lrti of March. He was at Beetleecoll on the sth of March, having been immediately joined by General Franks. The rebels have strongly fortified the line of their camp. Our batteries will be ready in five c:sys. Sir J. Outran crossed the Goomtee on the 6th of March with 6,000 men and thirty guns to take position on the left bank of the river, and clear the country up to Fyzsbatl. He was immediately attacked, but repulsed the enemy. Brigadier Campbell has placed a strong brigade and patrols as far as the old road from Cawnpore. In the attack on Dilkoosha Colonel Little was wounded, and in an engagement which General Franks had with the enemy just before he effected a junction with the commander-in-chiefs forte Major Percy Keith, of the .2nl Dragoons, was killed, and Lieutenant Jones, of the Engl. nears, wounded. Before his junction with the commander•in•chief, Gene ral Franks hall clearel the road from Sultannoor to Lucknow. On the 19;.11 of February he prevented a junc tion between Bundeh Duasein Chukladar and Nazim Mendee Dooasein, attacked them successfully on the same day, and defeated them with a loss of 800 men and six guns; on February the 20th he made a forced march and seized the stronghold of Badhayan, which Nazim Mendee Doossein was proceeding to occupy. The Nazim then took np a strong position at Badshahgunge, two miles from Sultanpoor, with 25,000 men and twenty five guns. On the 23rd of February General Franks attacked and carried the position. He drove the enemy in crowds before him for some miles, killed 1,800, took lwenty guns, all their ammunition, and a standing camp. Among the wounded were Rajah Hussain Ali Kkan and other leaders of note. Our loss was only two killed and sixteen wounded. General Hope Grant's brigade on February 23 attacked Meangunge, a fortified town in Oude. After a breach had been effected the place was stormed by her Maje , ty's 53rd Regiment. The rebels lost 500 killed and four guns. Our casualties were eighteen, two officers not named being among the wounded. Jung Bahadoor had crossed the Gonmtee at Sultan poor on the 3rd inst.; smallpox had broken out in the Ghoorka camp. A large force of rebels crossed in Ghorachpoor on Feb ruary 5. They were attacked by Colonel Rowcroft, and pursued for seven miles. Enemy's lose great, and eight guns taken. The force under Sir Hugh /Rose occupied the Fort of Barodia on March 1, and repulsed an attempt made by the enemy on the fort during the night of the 3rd of March. Sir Hugh Rose forced the passage of Mudinpore en route to Jhansi. The report that the es-King of Delhi had been convicted and sentenced to transportation for life was erroneous. His trial is not yet completed. General Roberts arrived at Nusseeraba I on the 22nd of February. The advance on Kotah is immediately expected. Operations against the Bheels are in active progress. The insurgent Bessavees have taken refuge in the Canara districts of the Madras Presidency. A movement was made again' t them by a force under Colonel M'Clean on the 3rd of March, but they evacuated a strong position which they had chosen, and are now with their followers dispersed through the Cantu.* jungles. Punjaub and Scinde all quiet. Nizam's country all quit. CHINA. Commissioner Yeh is on his way to Calcutta, to be kept under surveillance. H. L. ANDER3ON, Secretary to Goverment. Bombay Castle, March 9, Itlsti. Per steamer Vedia, Malta. March 29. From VINCENT MONTANIIIO. The telegrams to the Foreign-office add that "the attack on the city was to commence on the 10th of March," and that " the ladies, who are with the Queen, are all safe, and have been kindly treated " The above telegrams in anticipation of the Bombay mail contain important intelligence. Sir Cohn Campbell, who reached the Alumbagh on the Ist of March and the next day seized the Dilkoosha Palace within a mile of Lucknow, on the sth was at Beedeecoll. Sir James Outram, with 6,000 men, was despatched on the 6th across the frontier, and, after repulsing a desperate attack of the rebels, took up the position assigned to him. General Franks, with 4,000 men, had joined headquarters, and the investment of Lucknow was be►ng rapidly completed. The rebels had strongly fortified their line of camp, but it was doubtful whether they would fight. "It is the universal opinion of the Calcutta officials," writes a correspondent, "that the rebels will not light " <., THE PRESS, APRIL 3,185 S. They are in despair, quarrelling among themselves, anxious to accept any terms, and ready to slink away to hide in their own homes. Such is the view expressed also by Sir James Outram, whoae position at the Alum bagh gives him the means of knowing the truth as far as it can be known to any Europeau, and such seems to be the secret belief even of the chief. It is said, also, that the presence of the Governor- General at Allababad has reference to a project for the easier pacification of Oude by offering terms to the great landholders. "I am assured," writes the Times correspondent, "that a proclamation will be speedily issued promising life, perhaps estates, to ail who lay down their arms before a certain day." Jung Bahadoor complains that our Gov, rnment vacillate between fighting and treating. The intelli• gence from the rest of Bengal is on the whole satis factory, There are still large bodies of insurgents in different places, but they are mere marauding rabble. The Calpee rebels are the most organised body, and though still in force, 1,000 strong, are too well watched to effect any dangerous diversion against Cawnpore. The Nana, with 2,000 men on the other side of the Ganges, is said to be most anxious to put himself at their head, but the strictest watch is kept upon the banks of the river. The intelli gence from Lucknow that "the English ladies, prisoners with the Queen, are reported to be alive and well treated," probably refers to the families reported to have been surrendered by Maun Singh. It appears that Mr. Osborne, opium agent at Bustee, Goruekpore, reported the safety of the families named, saying Mrs. Duhan and her children had arrived in safety at his house, and the remainder were on the road. " They were nor, and by last accounts are still in Lucknow alive, but closely im prisoned. Messages have been received from Mrs. Orr, saying she hoped to get out, but the difficulty was to save her and her child together." In addition to the list of European families men tioned as having been preserved by Maun Singh, the Friend of India says : Many of the European residents in Oude at the com mencement of the mutinies are unexpectedly making their appearance. One after another those given up for dead are appearing as if from the grave. But a short time since Captain Hearsay reached in disguise Loha Ghent in the Kumeon district. Silica the massacre at Sects pore that officer bad been concealed in the Oude Send by a zemindar. Mr. Brand and a sergeant-major are said to be following Captain Hearsay, and are expected daily at the Pitora Ghent. Mr. Gonne, C.S., and Captain Hast ings, who were of the party, are known to have died of fever—the one in August and the other so late as December. In Central and Southern India matters are pro gressing most satisfactorily. Saugor is relieved, and Jhansi was about to be attacked. The country is being quieted rapidly, and the convergence of the different columns upon Cawnoore must in a short time complete the destruction of the Calpee rebels. The Punjsub, too, happily remains quiet. "It is important," writes the Times correspondent, " that the Punjaubees remain quiet" : I have seen a letter from Sir John Lawrence, in which he intimates that the danger is passing, bnt there are even now only 6,414) Enropeans in the Punjaub—the regiments being terribly weak, and should the population rise the enemy will he found very different from the cowardly sepoys. It has been no slight advantage during the mutiny that the Affghans have remained go et. lam in formed, on authority the Foreign•offtce would respect, that the " men round Host Mohammed," or, in other word -3, his sons, were eager to make a descent upon Peshawur, to regain their ancient province. It is nearly certain that had they come every Tilussultuan in the Punjaub would have sprung to arms, and we should have lost the province. The Ameer, however, not only refused his consent, but •ook measures to render his refusal final. He said the British had observed the last treaty, had cleared Herat, had sent him arms, and had asked nothing in return. Captain Lumsden therefore remained in safety at Cabal, and the Punjaub is ours. In a long and descriptive letter, which vividly realizes the scenes which the writer witnessed, the Times "Special" Correspondent (Mr. Russell) gives us much gossip of interest. He bad left Calcutta on 4th February, for Cawnpore. Stopping en route at Allahabad, he gives a singular fact illustrative of the disturbed state of the country and of the inadequacy of our means to put down rebellion promptly The Governor General, Lord Canning, was at that date (Feb. 10kb) encamped at Al alkabad:— His Excellency lives in an ordinary general's tent, and all the principal officers attached to the machinery of State which he has carried with him are under canvas. The very day before we arrived the report of a cannonade was heard in the Governor's camp about noon, and soon after intelligence arrived that a chief at the other aide of the Ganges, near Suraon, had proclaimed his independence and had ordered a salvo to be fired by his guns in honour of his raj. The Governor General has not a man to send to chastise this insolence, nor can he give any active support to Mr. Mayne, who is struggling to maintain the civil authority at Suraon. Arrived at Cawnpore, where the head-quarters of our army was stationed preparatory, to moving upon Lucknow, the first thing that strikes him is the enormous number of natives in our service and the prodigious number of animals in attendance on such a small fragment of our force : There were, indeed, no less than 55,000 or 60,003 camp followers, servants, bullock-drivers, elephanykeepers, grass-cutters, syces, and camel men attached to this force anti as yet what I have seen gives me not the faintest' idea of the impedimenta, animate and inanimate, of as Indian army. Sir Colin Campbell does not appear to encourage this system of impedimenta in his own personal arrangements : Certainly the t.lininander-in-chief does net set an ex ample to his officer: by any extravagance in baggage. He lives in a small subalt rn's tent, and his chief of the stuff is equally moderate. I believe his excellency's perionnet is contained in a coupet of small portmanteaus, and during this short campaign ho has slept on the ground among his men on more than one occasioa without cover of any sort. He is apparently in excellent health, although his la•wura are arduous and incessant, as ho and his chief of the staff• manage all the details connected with the disposition of his force, and to a great extent dispense with the usual services of adjutant-general and quartermaster-general. Mr. Russell, in visiting the scene of that fearful massacre which yet lives in the m,imory of all, de scribes the house as now • in ruins The house in which it took place is now in ruins; it was pulled down to clear the ground for the guns of the tote de pont across the Ganges, and the very outline of the walls is scarcely traceable. It was originally built for and used AS a zenana, an inclosed residence, with a courtyard in the centre, in which the stump of a tree was still stand ing; and off this open space were the rooms in which the massacre took place. The plaster of the walls was still Ding about in patches, but I could not detect any trace of blood. Bits of cloth and 3f women's dresses were still visible amid the rubbish ; but there were none of the more. painful tokens of the dreadful tragedy which had bee►k enacted where we stood. The well into which the slaughtered women anti children were thrown is covered in, and there only remains a small circular ridge of brick marking ; the wall of the well : Within a few feet of " the well," surrounded by a small wooden paling, there stands a stone cross off a flat slab, on two courses of masonry, the inscription on which. tells its story : In memory of the women and children of her Majesty'r.Sthid 4 Regiment, who were slaughtered near this spo6 on the 1,41 k of July. A.D.11357. This memorial was erected by twesiay men, of the same regiment, who were passing through Coioues.r.e. November 2let, 1837. This inszription is engraved on the nprig.it part of the siab, which is in the form of a Mahew cross, within a. circle of stone. In the quadrants of this circle are in scribed, in red letters and in the old English character,, " I believe in the Resurrection of the Dead." The authenticity of the writing upon the walls of the Assembly room is doubted I have spoken with officers who examined the wally„ and every scratch in the sides of the rooms, and they de-• clare that the appeal to vengeance which is attributed to one of the wretched victims was not to be seen immediately• after we returned to Cawnpore, and that it had been traced on the wall by some persou who visited the place subse quently. The "intrenchments" of Cawnporr, so gallantry defended by Wheeler, presented a melancholy spec tacle:— The position, if such it can be called, consists of two , lofty one-storied buildings, intended, I believe, to be bar racks, divided into many rooms, with outward doors opts ing into corridors. There are two deep wells near these parallelograms, which are at the distance of 104) yards or so from each other, an I three detached outhouses no the flanks. These buildings are surrounded by the remains of a miserable trench, formed by casting up the earth dug from the soil out on a slope towards the enemy. There is no ditch whatever; the trench could never have been six feet deep, and as the enemy were all round the station, these open trenches were enfiladed opon all sides. The severity of the fire was excessive. Every square yard of the walls is perforated by oannen-shot. the roofs are knocked to pieces, and in places have tumbled in en mane. No part of Sebastopol —not even excepting the range of bar racks behind the Great Redan—is more battered and shaken than the barracks at Cawnpore. In one small space I counted seventy-three shotholes, most of which were through and through the walls. The party walls• were perforated and battered in the same manner. It was a wonder how any one could live inside for an hour. one angle of a room was written in pencil, " Below this. mark young Wheeler was killed by a cannon-ball, which took off his head. His blood and brains are spattered on . the wall below." Scraps of music-books and fragments of women's dresses still lie among the tiles, bricks, and filth. with which the floors are covered. In another room the well-known appeal to vengeance. written on the wall is yet visible. It is on the larger building in the corridor, between the fourth and fifth. doors, facing to the south, on the side opposite the doors : Countrymen and women, remember the 13th of July, 1957 Your wives and families are here, misery and at the dispook of savages, who has ravished both young and old. Oh! chill, my child! Countrymen, revenge! - Mr. Russell dismisses this iuscription also as an imposition : This is an evident imposition, and is the workof the same or or a s.m lar hand, in all probability, which penned the 111 1 411.1111.111111 strikes him is the aur service and the attendance on such 1,000 or 60,003 camp t, elephant•keeper;, ttached to this force ; me not the faintest inanimate, of au ?ear to encourage his own personal does net set an ex nee in baggage. He- his chief of the stuff ccellency's nantcaus, and during - te ground among his ut cover of any sort. Llthough his la•murs tie chief of the staff ,1 the disposition of •nse with the usual ermaster-general. to of that fearful n.amory of all, de- s : is now in ruins; it for the guns of the • very outline of the tginally built for and ce, with a courtyard tree was still stand- ! rooms in which the the walls was still of detect any trace i's dresses were still :re none of the more. dy which had beets .ered women and a, and there only- brick mark*. thin rounded by a small miss Ns a flat slab, ccription on which. of her Majesty'r ■ iled? i epos on the 1,41 k of ected by tweikey men, through Catoues.re, Iprii.it p.m of the teas cross, within a. P this circle are in- Eogiish character,, Dead." n the walls of the tamined the walla ; , rooms, and they de-• hich is attributed to )e seen immediately• t it had been traced ted the place subse- ore, so gallantry melancholy spec-- A, consists of two , believe, to be bar- mtwaddoors opts- ep wells near these ce of 104) yards or oirthortses no the ?cl by the remains ug up the earth dug h ...Lamy ThArft 318