The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-26 00:00:00

INDIA. LUCKNOW RELIEVED. THE following telegram was received at the Foreign- Office on the 23rd Dec., at 11.15 a.m., through Lord Lyons, at Malta : ALEXANDRIA, Dec. 19, 1857. The Pekin reached Suez this morning, bringing Bombay dates to the 4th of December, 1857. Sir Colin Campbell having reached Cawnpore on the 2nd of November, joined the force at Alumbegh on the 21st [llth ?]. On the '23rd [l3th ?] active operations commenced, and for the next six days there was a constant series of se• vere and bloody struggles with the enemy. On the 21st, their principal strongholds having been captured, the beleaguered garrison was relieved. On the 20th, the sick and wounded, ladies and chil• dren, were sent back under an escortto Cawnpore. • The army under the Commander-in• Chief now amounts to about 22.000 mer, amply sufficient to reduce Oude to entire subjection, a task which will occupy them for some months tc come. _ _ _ Malwa field force, under Brigadier Stuart, has relieved Nusseerabad, dispersed the Efriahibpore [Mehidpore?] and Mundesore rebels, and is now clearing Malwa of the insurgents. The flying columns under Brigadier Showers, Colonel Cotton, and Colonel Tiddel, are scouring Rohilcond, complete success attending their operations everywhere. Large masses of European troops are reaching India weekly, and we are [relieved !I from all alarm for our garrisons and outposts lately in much Imminent peril. The Governor General, and the Governors of Madras and Bombay, at the (seats] of government. The above message reached Malta by her Majesty's ship Coquette; next mail on the 23rd December. LORD Lvoss. The following telegram from Malta, Dec. 23, 4 a.m., has also been received : ALEXANDRIA, Dec. 19. The telegraph announces the arrival at Suez of the Pekin, with dates from Bombay to the 4th inst. Sir Colin Campbell joined the force at the Alumbagh on the 1 1 th. On the 19th tilt., after a series of severe struggles, the garrison of Lncknow was relieved. On the following day the sick, wounded, women, and children were sent under escort to Cawnpore. The Malwa field force, under Brigadier Steuart, has relieved Nusseerabad and dispersed the Mchidpore rebels, and is clearing Malwa of insurgents. The flying columns under Brigadier Showers and Colonel Cotton are scouring Rohilcund. Reinforcements are pouring into India, and all alarm for the garrisons and outposts has ceased. Business in the import-market has been to a moderate extent. The money-market is extremely tight. Very little had been done in Government securities, quotations for which are unaltered. Freights had declined. Exchange on London, 2s. 2fd. for credits. D.C. KAY. This intelligence was received at Malta by the Coquette. (For the Latest Indian Telegram, see PosraarT, page 1264.) THE PRESS, DECEMBER 26, 1857. charge of the conetruetion of the battery nearest the city— at only 140 yards from it—which was finished satisfactorily, and breache I the water-bastion of the city. I remained in charge of the battery till the assault, in which my duties were at follows :—I was directed to take charge of a party of fourteen Sappers, with three noncommissioned officers and another officer of Engineers named Salkeld, and to proceed and blow in the Cashmere gate of the city. Owing to delays the assault did not take place till sunrise, and 1 had to advance from Ludlow Castle (uncle Simon's house ) in broad daylight to the gate, place powder-bags against it and explode them, and then give the signal fur the advance. We all arrived at the gate quite safely, although we were under a very heavy fire of musketry from the walls and through the wicket of the gate, which was open. How ever, as we were laying the bags at the gate, we began to lose men. There were two European non-commissioned officers and one native killed. Salkeld was badly wounded in the arm and leg. He has lost his arm, and his leg, being wounded, is in splints. I hope he may recover, but it seems very doubtful. I had also two natives wounded. I myself escaped with a blow on the leg above the knee from a stone, knocked up by a bullet. Out of twelve persons who were at the gate six were killed or wounded. For blowing in the Cashmere-gate in broad daylight General Wilson has put in orders that Salkeld, a sergeant, a bugler, and myself, are to get the Victoria Cross ; so we are, of course, proportionably proud, we being the first peisons in the Indian army to receive this decoration. After we got into the city, owing to the heavy loss in Engineers, nine out of seventeen who went into action being killed or wounded, I was the third senior officer fit for duty, so got charge of the left column of attack, and was continually on duty until the King evacuated the Palace. I had never more than four hours' sleep in the twenty-four, and then only by snatches. I had also the pleasure of blowing in the gate of the Palace, though no one luckily fired at me, there being so few men left to guard the Palace, and they were asleep. The gate was blown in at noon. So now the Delhi business may be con sidered over, and I hope the country will soon begin to get settled. We had a tolerably sharp action with the rebels at Bo lundshuhur, which they occupied with about 2,000 men and some fourteen guns; however, after three hours' fighting, they bolted. They had, however, managed to attack our baggage, and to cut up two sick Europeans who were being carried in dhoolies. We found a lot of Euro pean property in the fort which had been looted from Bolandshuhur. Walidad Khan was some relation of the King of Delhi, and had continually intercepted our com munications during the row. He has now, I believe, gone to Robilcund, which has become the refuge for the desti tute. 1 do not know where we go to from this place ; I believe that the force is to go to Agra, but I should not be astonished at its being ordered on to Cawnpore, to join the force under Havelock. It is quite cool in camp, though the sun is still powerful. I have not received any letters from you by this mail, but hope to get some soon. With best love to you all, believe me your affec tionate son, DUNCAN C. HOME. THE INDIA MAILS VIA MARSEILLES.-It iS not expected that the mails, with the details of the intelligence respecting the six days' hard fighting for the final capture of Lucknow, will reach Lon don before Tuesday or Wednesday next. The Pekin with the Bombay mail, arrived at Suez on the 19th inst., and H.M.'s , ast despatch-boat Coquette brought from Alexandria to Malta the telegram only . The Bombay mail may therefore await at Alexandria the arrival of the Calcutta and China mails, and will then, with them, be conveyed to Marseilles per Peninsular and Oriental steamship Vectis. 1245 SIR H. LAWRENCE ON THE STATE OF DUDE. The following is an extract from Sir Henry Law rence's article on Army Reform in the September (1850) number of the Caleutta Review (only seven months before the commencement of the mutiny), which throws considerable light upon the powerful and obstinate character of the opposition in Oude, and is interesting as a late expression of the opinion of this distinguished man on a subject which he so well understood : Oude has long been the Alsatia of India. In that province were to be met, even more than at Hvdrabad or at Lahore, the Afreedee and Duriikzye of the Khyber, the lielooch of Khelat, and the Wszeree of the Sulimani range. There also congregated the idle, the dissipated, and the disaffected of every native State in India Added to these were many deserters from the British ranks, yet the con tingent of 12,090 men have been almost wholly filled from the old Oude army. The reason assigned for the different line of conduct is, that the Punjaub was conquered, but that Oude fell iu peace. In this there is a fallacy, little understood, but not the less a fallacy. Proportionally few of the instigators of opposition at Lahore, and in the Sikh army, were Sikhs. They were British subjects, many of them British deserters. The general feeling of the Sikhs was hardly hostile. Many of the Sikhs were friendly, de cidedly so, compared with the Hindostanees in the Pun jaub service. The King of Onde employed 5.9,0n0 soldiers ; his chiefs and officials at least as many more. Of these vast num hers, one-fifth at the utmost have found employment in the police and irregular corps. Yet these levies, with half a dozen regular corps, form the whole army of occupation. This seems a grave mistake. Why not, at least, make a change? Why not move some of the Punjaub regiments that have been keeping constant watch and ward on the Indus for seven years to Oude, and send some of the King's people to the north-west? The King had some 8,04)0 artillery; of these about 500 may have obtained employment, the rest, old and young, are on the world. Surely, if there was danger in employing Sikhs in 1 4 49, it would be well to remove some portion of the Oude levies from Oude, where such materials for mischief still remain. In the province are 246 forts, besides innumerable smaller strongholds, many of them sheltered within thick jungles. In these forts are 476 guns. Forts and guns should all be in the hands of Government, or the forts should be razed. Many a foolish fellow has been urged on to his own ruin by the possession of a paltry fort; and many a paltry mud fort has repulsed British troops The 80,000 or 90,000 disbanded Oude soldiers are the brethren of the British sepoys A paragraph in the Delhi Gazelle, announcing that the Onde authorities are disposed to dispense with the service of the regular regiments for Lucknow, tempts a few further words of caution, though we do not altogether credit the newspaper report. The earliest days of annexation are not the safest. Be liberal, considerate, and merciful, hut be prompt, watchful, and even quietly suspicious. Let not toe loose characters floating on the surface of society, especially such a society as at Lucknow, be too far tempted or trusted. Wellington's maxim of " keeping the troops out of sight" answered for England; it will not answer for India. There must be trusty bayonets within sight of the understandings, if not of the eyes, of Inaian subjects before they will pay willing obedience or any revenue. Of late years the wheels of Government have been moving very fast; many native prejudices have been shocked. Natives are now threatened with the abolition of poly- gamy. It would not be difficult to twist this into au attack on Hindooism. At any rate, the faster the vessel glides, the more need of caution—of watching the weather, the rocks, and the shoals. Felix quern faciuut aliena pericula cautum. From another source we hear that the relief of Lucknow was achieved with a loss of only four offi cers killed and forty wounded, and that Sir Colin Campbell's force amounts to 12,000. The Abeona, with the 91th Regiment, arrived at Malta from Plymouth on the 20th, and left for Alexandria on the same day. The following letter was written by the late Lieut.- Duncan Home (Bengal Engineers) to his mother on the very day of his lamented death, and this cir cumstance of itself will give a mournful interest to its coutents - - Camp, Malaghur, near Bolundshuhur, Oct. 1. My dearest Mother, — In the harry and work of the siege of Delhi the last mai•day passed by without my knowing it, or being able to write, and I am now on duty with the moveable column, whose desiinatim is not known, and which has, es yet, only reached thus far, after an engage ment with Welidad Khan's men at Bolundshuhur on Monday last. He bJlted, and has let the fort in our bands, which I am at present rendering untenable. You will doubtless ere this have heard of the fall of Delhi, and that the King is in our hands. Mogul Beg and two other princes have been killed. The former was the man who killed uncle Simon.* I must now tell you something about the siege, and of my goings on in it. For ten days I was perpetually on duty day and night, first on the right and then on the left. I had charge of the construction of our first b-eaching battery, which was constructed in one night, a thing which has only been done in one other siege. The Engineers were highly complimented on it. I then had • The " Uncle Simon " mentioned in this letter is the late Mr. Simon Fraser, CommiSsiOlati Of Delhi, Who was one of the lint lionise of the mutiny, INDIA MAIL ARRANGEMENTS. The following is a statement of the now India mail arrangements which will come into operation next year : Mails made up in London: For Bombay—end, 4th,• 12th,* 17:h, and 20tho of the month. For Calcutta-2nd, -kb,* 9th, 17th, Wth,* and 2.5 th of the month. Telegrams+ due in London : From Bombay-14th and 30th of the month. From Calcutta-10th and 25th of the month. Mails are due in London, vizi Marseilles: From Bombay-4th and 18th of the mouth. From Cal cutta-14th and 29th of the month. Bombay letters via Southampton should bo posted if possible on the 12th of the month, as they are not likely to be detained in Egypt. If posted on the 4th or 20th, there will be a detention of above a week in that country. • These malls will be made up in the morning. All the rest will be made up at night. + These telegrams will be due from Malta. Should they come from Cagliari they will be one day later, and if from Trieste or Auweillee, two (toys later. The Bombay news by telegram from Malta will be twenty-one da)s old, and the Calcutta news thirty three days old. A SCREW STEAMSHIP, the Earl of Carrick, 590 tons, bound from Ayr to Liverpool, was totally lost on Sunday night last off the Isle of Man. The un fortunate vessel struck upon a reef of rocks off Marby Point, near Douglas, Isle of Man, and soon after became a total wreck. She had, in addition to the crew, one passenger on board, but, with the excep tion of two of the crew, all were drowned. EDUCATIONAL FRANCHISE. A PETITION in favour of an educational franchise, signed by many leading men of the day, was recently presented to Lord Palmerston. The following is the form or the petition . Your lordship having announced your intention to bring in a measure in the session of lwei for altering the repre- sentation of the Commons, we, the undersigned, earnestly recommend to ,our lordship, in preparing any plan for this object, to give your best consideration to the fitness of granting, for the benefit of the whole community, a sub stantive voice in the Legislature to those °lasses who have had the advantage of a liberal education. ;2. We can see no better way of giving effect to this principle than by conferring on them, as such, a distinct and separate representation, so that '.heir votes may not be swamped, as they would be if only enfranchised as units in large popular constituencies. 3. With that view, it would be advisable to esamine the practicability of amalgamating in separate territorial con stituencies the different classes and professions thus pro• posed to be enfranchised. We say in territorial, not pro fessional constituencies, that the members so obtained may be as much as possible free from the exclusive in fluences of any single class or profession. 4. If these views be of sufficient value and importance to be taken into account in preparing any new measure of reform, practical effect can only be given to them by a number of such members being introduced into the House of Commons sufficient to give them a fair weight in its deliberations. 5. Your memorialists beg leave herewith to transmit a pamphlet on this " Educational Franchise," containing two tables bearing on the subject. which were most care fully prepared front the best available authorities four years ago, and which will therefore, they believe , be found sufficiently correct to serve as guide for further lures. U—.