The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-22 00:00:00

through a gate, which the engineers blew in, and' and left, carried the walls, turned the bar . streets, and quickly, and with slight loss lace in their possession. So far all was ./ was taken, and the assailants bad sustained incommensurate with so great a success. But, hand, the enemy had not suffered very • they had fled too quickly for that, and will expect to hear that an immediate and iursuit was directed with cavalry and horse the thousands of rebels who poured out of •ity. Such was the expectation of every of those two branches of the force. But ,clod took place, strange to say. Whom to cannot make out. No pursuit was ordered useless. Thus writes to ine a not unknown 'clock on the morning of Tuesday, the 30th of Ilussars arrived at their encamping ground having completed, in three marches, a dis ix miles in forty-seven hours. Immediately in camp an order was brought to Colonel ending &LI detachment. of the Nth Hussars 10th Native Infantry, to be ready to turn _nt of Hussars by seven o'clock, as it was bombard the town at half-past five, after nfantry would storm, and the Horse Artillery ilry, consisting of Scinde Horse, 2nd Bombay Bth Hussars, were to march down the river ilea, to a place where it was fordable, and the town on the opposite side, to prevent _. the part of the rebels to escape. At seven started—if fatigued, ready and cheerful ,ained the whole day just on the other side of 'ing to their horses or lying udder the trees, least of the enemy were escaping within them. The next morning they marched np miles to Kotah, made an entry into the returned to their original encampment at till the day following, at fur o'clock in the r allowing the enemy fifty-two hours' start it of Scinde Horse, Bombay Cavalry, ,torse Artillery was sent to pursue them, cut disperse them." nothing came of this stern chase. Sixty miles iere got over, and eight abandoned guns were ' the enemy nothing was seen. And thus a force is thrown into Sir H. Rose's rear, Calpee, troubling Scindia's country—into penetrated as far as Esaghur when last engaging one of the feudatories of Scir.dia, N'.poor—and generally hindering the settle- India. appears that, after the storming of Jhansi, Rose set out in the direction of Calpee. thousand men hanging on his rear will not be accompaniment. fort of Calpee is a whole regiment of Contingent, with five guns ; a Pandit, Sahib, halds the chief authority, and is Buxee. Between the fort and the there is half a regiment of the contin ►ew levy of the same strength, with six ition, of which three are heavy guns. on the banks of the Jumna, tie bridge .4 broken, there are 350 men of a regi- Godfrey's Regiment, and the remainder lied Indus Chowraseee. INDIA DIRECTORS TO THE /R-GENERAL ON THE TREAT ' THE REVOLTED PROVINCES. Parliamentary papers issued on Mon ; is the following copy of a letter from Directors of the East India Company Governor General of India in Council : May 5, 1854. hare received, by the mail of the 25th 'of from the Secret Committee, which has before us, respecting the policy which it pursue towards those natives of India who been in arms against the authority of the ment. emphatically confirms the principles which .-dy adopted, as set forth in your circular of July, 1857, by impressing upon you the pro pursuing, after the conquest of the revolted pro se of policy distinguished by a wise and dis generosity. You are exhorted to temper mercy, and, except in cases of extreme crimi- . an atuuesty to the vanquished. In the expressed by the Secret Committee we entirely Whilst there are so', e crimes which humanity to punish with the utmost severity, there less aggravated character, which it would unjust and impolitic not to pardon and to forget. offences with which you will he called upon to ee different kinds. Firstly, high crimes, in stance prepenre, and aggravated by treachery Secondly, offences the results rather of of malice, into which it is believed that n drawn by the contamination of example; "PPosing themselves to their more powerful r by the belief that they have been comprip acts of their associates, rather than by any embarrass the existing Government. And, of a less positive character, amounting to • passive connivance at evil, or at most to ng such assistance to the rebels as, if not have been forcibly extorted, and which in would have been death to refuse to bodies of exasperated mutineers. • A - 7 veiv..e." - es-zreveu the town through a gate, wl s preading right and left, ca ricades in the streets, and bad the whole place in the well—the city was taken, a a loss quite incommensurat on the other hand, the severely either ; they had therefore you will expect vigorous pursuit was dill artillery alter the thousand the captured city. Such officer and man of those tv nothing of the kind took pl blame for it, I cannot make till pursuit was useless. T vett:— " At one o'clock on the 1 March, the Bth Hussars ari b e fore Kotab, having cow lance of sixty-six miles in on our arrival in camp an De Saha, commanding 6el, and part of the 10th Nath out his regiment of Huss intended to bombard tht which the Infantry would and the Cavalry, consistinf Cat airy, and Bth Hussars about seven miles, to a p then move up to the town any attempt on the part of o'clock all started—if fetigi But they remained the who the ford, standing to their while 7,000 at least of tl seven miles of them. The the river seven utiles to town, and then returned ti the ford. Nut till the day afternoon—after allowing I —a detachment of Sell Hussars, and Horse Artille them up, or disperse them Of course nothing came of ground were got over, a found, but of the enemy large armed force is thr making for Calpee, trou which they had penetrate heard of, after engaging on the Rajah of So-poor—and ment of Central India. From this. it appears that Sir Hugh Rose set out Seven thousand men btu An agreeable accompauii Within the fort of C the Gwalior Contingent by name Dada Sahib, Narayun Ran 18 Euxee old godowu there is ha gent, and a new levy of guns in position, of w Further down on the ba over which is broken, t ment called Godfrey's I at a point called Indus THE EAST INDIA GOYERNOR•GENE NEXT OF THE RI AMONGST the Parliamen day mot ning is the foil the Court of Directors c to the Governor Genera 1. Yon will have receivt Moth, a letter from the since been laid before us, becomes you to pursue toy have recently been in arm Briti.h Government. 2. That letter emphatic% you bale already adopted, the 31st of July, 1857, by pnety of pursuing, after a mires, a course of policy t: eliminating generosity. justice with mercy, and, ex nelit3t to grant an armies sentiments expressed by th concur. Whilst there are coils upon you to punish v are others of a less aggrav be equally unjust and Unix _ 3 . The o ff ences with wa deal ore of three differen t 1 o 'pted by malice prep ense antt cruelty. S econ d ly weakness than of malice, rually have b een drawn by by the fear n o , f O pp osin g the mined by the acts of their active desir e t thirdly, offe nces embarrass t n h ne s of a less r little the act "p . !II ving such passive co _given y , would . have been aas fo l- ?an it would have t ucentious and exasperated THE PRESS, MAY 22, 1858. 4. It is the first only of these offences, the perpetrators of which, and their accomplices, it will be your duty to visit with the severest penally which you can inflict ; and it is, hsppily, in such cases of exceptional atrocity that you will have the least difficulty in proving both the com mission of the offence and the identity of the offender. In the other cases you might often be left in doubt, not only of the extent of the offence committed, but of its actual commission by the accused persons; and, although we are aware that the retribution which may be righteously inflicted upon the guilty may be in some measure re stricted by too much nicety of specification, and that, in dealing with so large a mass of crime, it is difficult to avoid the commission of some acts of individual injustice, we may still express our desire that the utmost exertion may be made to confine, within the smallest possible com pass, these cases of uncertain proof and dubious identity, even though your retributory measures should thus lull short of what in strict justce might be inflicted. 5. As soon as you have suppressed the active hostility of the enemy, your first care will ho the restoration of public confidence. It will be your privilege when the disorga nized provinces shall no longer be convulsed by intestine disorder, to set an example of toleration and forbearance towards the subject people, and to endeavour by every means consistent with the security of the British empire in the East to Kiley the irritation and suspicion which, if suffered to retain posession of the minds of the native and European inhabitants of the country, will eventually lead to nothing less calamitous than a war of races. 6. In dealing with the people of Code, you will doubt less be moved by special considerations of justice and of policy. Throughout the recent contest we have ever re garded such of the inhabitants of that country as, not being sepoya or pensioners of our own army, have been in arms against us, as au exceptionable class They cannot be considered as traitors or even rebels, for they bad not pledged their fidelity to us, and they had scarcely become our subjects. Many, by the introduction of a new system of government, had necessarily been deprived of the main tenance they had latterly enjoyed; and others feared that the speedy loss of their means of subsistence must follow from the same course, It was naturd that such persons should avail themselves of the opportunity presented by the distracted state of the country to strike a blow for the restoration of the native rule, under which the permitted disorganization of the country had so long been to them a source of unlawful profit. Neither the disbanded sol diers of the late native Government, nor the great talnok dars and their retainers, were under any obliglition of fidelity to our Government for benefits conferred upon them. You would be justified, therefore, in dealing with them as you would with a foreign enemy, and in ceasing to consider them objects of punishment after they have once laid down their arms. 7. Of these arms they must for ever he deprived. You will doubtless in prosecution of this object address your self, in the first instance, to the case of the great talook- Jars, who so successfully defied the late Government, and many of whom, with large bodies of armed men, appear to have aided the efforts of the mutinous soldiery of the Bengal army. The destruction of the fortified strongholds of these powerful landholders, the forfeiture of their re maining guns, the disarming and disbanding of their followers, will be among your first works But whilst you are depriving this influential and once dangerous class of people of their power of openly resisting your authority, you will, we have no doubt, exert yourselves by every pos sible means to reconcile them to British rule, and encou rage them, by liberal arrangements made in accordance with ancient usages, to become industrious agirculturists ; and to employ in the cultivation of the soil the men who, as armed retainers, have so long wasted the substance of their masters, and desolated the land. We believe that these landholders may be taught that their holdings will be more profitable to them, under a strong Government, capable of maintaining lhe peace of the country, and severely punishing agrarian outrages, than under one which perpetually invites, by its weakness, the ruinous arbitration of the sword. N. Having thus endeavoured, on the re-establishment cf the authority of the British Government in (►ude, to re assure the great landholders, you will proceed to consider, in the same spirit of toleration and forbearance, the condi tion of the great body of the people. You will bear in mind that it is necessary, in a transition state from one Government to another, to deal tenderly with existing usages, and sometimes even with existing abuses. All precipitate rehiring are dangerous. It is often wiser even to tolerate evil for a time than to alarm and t. irritate the minds of the people by the sudden introduction of changes which time can alone teach them to appreciate, or even perhaps to understand. You will be especially careful, in the readjustment of the fiscal system of the province, to avoid the imposition of unaccustomed taxes, whether of general or of a local character, pressing heavily upon the industrial resources, and affecting the daily comforts of the people. We do not estimate the successful adminis tration of a newly-acquired province according to the finan cial results of the tiret few years. At such a time we should endeavour to conciliate the people by wise eonces along, and to do nothing to encourage the belief that the British Government is more covetous of revenue than the native ruler whom it has supplanted. THE INDIAN MUTINY. THE following extraordinary Praclarnation was issued by Prince Mirza Mahomed Feroze Shah on the 3rd of Rujub, 1274, corresponding with the 17th of Feb ruary, 1858: Be it known to all the Hindoo and Tfahomedan inhabi tants of India that to rule over a country is one of the greatest blessing-i from Heaven, and it is denied to a tyrant or an oppressor. Within the last few years the British commenced to oppress the people in India under different pleas, and con trived to eradicate Hindooism and Mahomedanisui, and to make all the people embrace Christianity. The Almighty Power observing this, diverted the hearts of the people to a different course, and now every one has turned to annihilate the English, and they have nearly done so. Through avarice and ambition the British have shown some resistance, though iu vain. Through Divine mercy that will in a short time be reduced to nothing. Let this also be known to ull the Hindous and Muttisnl mans, that the Engbah bear the bitterest enmity towards them. Should they again become predominant in this country—which God firbid—they will destroy religion, property, and even the life of everyone. A brief sketch of the views and intentions of the Su preme Court and Parliament is hereby given, in order to warn the people thut they should get rid of habits of negli gence, and strive in unity to destroy the intidols. When the Indian troops mutinied to save their religion, and killed all infidels in several places, the wise men of England were of opinion that had the British authorities in India kept the following thim,s in view the mutiny would never have broken out : 1. They should have d etroyed the race of the former kings and nol,les. 2. They should have burnt all books of every other religion. 37 They should not have left even a biswa of ground to any of the native rulers. 4. They should have intermarried among the natives, so that after a short time all would have become one race. 5. They should nut have taught the use of artillery to the natives. 6. They shonl,l not have left arms among the natives. 7. They should Dot have employed soy native until he consented to eat and drink with Europeans. 8. The marines and Hindoo temples should not have been allowed to stand. 9. Neither Moulvies nor Brahmins should have been all vwed to preach. 10. The several cases brought into the courts should have been decided according to English laws. 11. English priests should have performed all nuptial ceremonies of the natives according to their English customs. 12. All prescriptions of the Hindoo and Mussolmans physicians should have been prohibited, and English me dicines furnished i.:stead. 13. Neither Hindu° nor Mitssulrnan fakeers should have been allowed to convert people without the permission of English missionaries. 14. European doctors only should have been allowed to assist native women in childbed. But the authorities did not take means to introduce these measures. On they contrary, they always encouraged the people, so much so that they at last broke out. Had the authorities kept in view the maxims above alluded to, the natives would hare remained quiet for thousands of years. These are now the real intentions of the English, but all of us must conjointly exert ourselves for the protection of our lives, property, and religion, and to rout out the English from this country. Thus we shall indeed, through Divine mercy, gain great victory over them. I (the Vrincel now draw a brief sketch of my travels, and I hope the people will pay attention to what I say. Before the destruction of the English I went on a pil grimage to Mecca, and on my return I observed that the English were in a bad and hazardous position. I there fore offered thanks to God, because it is in my nature to follow the principles of my religion and to promulgate justice. I persuaded many at Delhi to raise a religious war ; I then hastened towards Gwalior, where the majority of tl e military officers promised to kill the English and take up my cause. A small portion of the Gwalior army accom panied me. I had not the least intention to announce war before I had everything in order, bat the army became very enthu siastic, and commenced lighting with the enemy (the English). Though our army was then but a handful, and that of the ene.ny very large in numbers, still we fought manfully, and, though apparently we were defeated, in reality we were victorious over our enemy, fur we killed 1,004) of them. Since then 1 have been collecting as well as exhorting the people. I have exerted myself in procuring ammuni• tion up to this day, now four iiiontlia since the commence ment. Thank Got!, au army of 150,000 old and new men are now bound by a solemn oath to embrace my cause. I have collected considerable treasury and munitions of war in many places, and in a abort time 1 shall clear the country of all infidels. Since the real purpose of this war is to save religion, let every Hindu() and Id ussultean render as,istance to the utmost. Those that are old should offer their prayers. The rich, but old, should assist 'Air sacred warriors with money. Those in perfect health, as well as young, should attend in person. But all those who are in the service of either Mirzs Rirjish Kadur Bahada. in Lucknow and of Khan l3ehadoor Khan at Bareilly, should not venture out to join us, for those rulers are themselves using their beet endeavours to clear the country of all infidels. All who join us should do so solely with a view of pro— mulgating their religion, not with that of worldly avarice. Thus victory will certainly smite upon us ; then distinguished posts will be conferred on the people at large. The delay in defeating the English has been caused by people killing innocent children and women without any permission whatever from the leaders, whose commands were not obeyed. ~