The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

1176 NOTICE OF MOTIONS. Mr. Hz.knLast—That he would on Tuesday next submit a resolution, " That the principle of unlimited liability in joint-stuck banks enforced by the present law gave them a species of credit dangerous to their character and inju. noes to public credit." Lord Joas RUSSELL—That, on Thursday next, it was his intention to move that this house do resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, and also to consider the disabilities of our Jewish fellow-subjects. Mr. \V. WILLIAMS — That, on going into committee of supply ou the army and navy estimates, he would move that those estimates be referred to a select committee. THE PRESS, DECEMBER 5,1857. Round them lie immense bands of armed sepoys and peasantry, numbering in the aggregate at least 40,000 men. With one exception, every landholder in Southern Oude has declared against the British, not from any dislike, for the same men saved British officers, but from a desire to share the spoils of a falling dynasty. If General Outram has or can obtain provisions he may hold out for any time ; if not, lie must cut his way to Cawnpore, with, I fear, frightful loss. Colonel Greathed has gone into Agra again. Thence he proceeds to Mynpoorie, and so to Cawn pore. But he cannot hope to reach Lucknow much before the end of this month, and meanwhile men, soldiers espe cially, must eat. There is no force to send to his aid, except this column, and the whole question turns on its arriving in time.—Times cor. The statement last week in the Foreign office tele gram that two regiments had reached Lucknow is a pure fiction. Not a man nor a biscuit has reached Luck now since Outram entered on the 26th September. The convoy with provisions, sent off from Cawnpore a short time after the departure of Havelock's force, had not been able to penetrate beyond Alumbagh : On the drd a convoy of WO men of the 64th, commanded by Major Bingham, with provisions, left Cawnpore, but were able to get no further on than Alumbagh, where they left their supplies, returning to Cawnpore withont having experienced any molestation either on their advance or return. On the 11th a party of 130 arrived at the latter place from the former, bringing with them a large number of camels and elephants to assist in carrying back again provisions. On the 14th a second convoy under Major M'lntyre, of the 78th Highlanders, was despatched. He was obliged, however, to intrench himself, when within four miles of his destination, returning his stores, which he was not strong enough to protect, and await reinforce ments. Alumbagh was now occupied by about 1,000 men. The approaches are commanded by heavy guns, anti the ground cleared anti exposed in all directions to the distance of about 500 yards. Whether the women and children are at Alumbagh or still in the Residency it is impossible to say with any precision. A writer from Cawnpore, Oct. 12th, thus details the advance of the brigade from Alum- bagh : After our army had got well over the bridge cheers and loud hurrahs rent the air, and handkerchiefs and pieces of cloth were waved by the garrison, which, I am happy to say, was shortly after joined and set free by the brave troops come to their succour. This relief happened in good time, for the rascally rebels had a part of the garrison intrenched camp undermined, and ready for loading. Had we delayed another day. there would, I doubt not, have been another tragedy enacteJ, but, as I said before, the relief was well timed. It is more than my pen can do to give you even the most distant account of the meeting 'twas so pleasing to behold ; I shall, therefore, leave it to your imagination. The poor women, and the still more helpless children. were in a most miserable plight for want of clean clothes ; in fact, the whole of the garrison were hard up for a change. Then he adds,—" The women, children, and sick, were all sent to the intrenchment at Alumbagh, and there they are now waiting for reinforcements ere they can be trusted even as far as Cawnpore, distant some forty miles or so." And he confirms this by stating that " no sooner had the ladies and children reached the intrenchment, and the escort joined the main body in the garrison, than the enemy flocked in rear of our advancing columns under Generals Outram and Havelock, and destroyed the bridge" : They then took up a position along the canal, to inter cept, obstruct, and prevent any communication, provisions, and reinforcements passing to our army, now well up to the walls of the town. This measure leaves our main body, and the party in the intrenchment at Alumbagh, in a strange pre licament ; and should any from the latter sally out towards the broken bridge, he meets with a warm reception from Jack Sepoy in the shape of a dozen or so of bullets, and is, therefore, fain to stay within doors. That Outram's position is perilous, even this writer— who takes such a cheerful view of the whole affair as to permit the publication of his letter in the Indian papers—admits : Our general is crying out loudly for large reinforcements. I believe he expects part of the force from Delhi shortly. It will be impossible to send him a large force from Cawn pore under a fortnight at the very least. ' The report of Mann Singh and all the landowners of Oude having declared against us is contitmed. The rising of Maun Singh is thus explained by a Calcutta correspondent, and the explanation is curious as an illustration of the nature of that policy which guides the Calcutta Council : Mann Singh is one of the largest property owners in Oude, but both by the late King and by our Government he had been deprived of a considerable portion of his estates. Throughout this struggle he had, up to a very recent moment, remained neutral ; he had saved the lives of several of our ladies and countrymen ; and he had caused it to be intimated to our Government that on receiv ing • promise of being reinvested with his forfeited estates he would exchange his neutrality for active co-operation. Our Government was pressed to accede to this offer by some of our ablest public eervants ; but they did not at all like the proposal, and temporised. General Havelock's early repulses, and the distressing accounts which came in from Lucknow, caused them to reconsider the proposal, and finally about a fortnight ago they agreed to it. Before, however, their consent could 1 e conveyed to Mann Singh, ► that powerful vassal, despairing of ever obtaiuing it, had INDIA. LU C KNOIN'DELIII-CALCUTTA. As usual, the detailed accounts received this week present the picture of affairs in India in altogether a different and darker light from that thrown upon them by the early telegrams. From the telegram last week, Outram and Havelock in Lucknow ap- peared to he as safe as if they were in Calcutta, and that nothing now remained to be achieved but the pacification of the country around them. By our letters we learn that all we can do, after four months of continued effort to bring of the garrison of Luck• now, is to prolong the miseries of the besieged,by leav ing them and the relieving army under Outram and Havelock in a most precarious position. We do not stop to enter here into that question of pressing im portance, why in four months the efficient relief of the garrison has not been eirected,.but we pass on at once to details. It now appears that Outram and Havelock crossed the Ganges at the head of some '2,500 men, and, marching on Lucknow, became so encumbered with their sick and wounded that they were compelled to leave them with a guard, numbering in all some 300 men, at Alumbagh, a post distant three miles from Lucknow. This place had been strongly fortified by the rebels, and they were only driven out, on the 25th September, after a desperate contest. Having cap tured all their guns and driven the enemy to a distance, and Alumbagh being found sufficiently strong to be held by a party of the 641 h Foot, under Major Sibley, it was decided that here the sick, the wounded, and the baggage should be left behind. Betwixt Alum bagh and Lucknow is an extensive plain, traversed by a wide canal. Havelock, with the main body of the force, crossed this by the bridge on the 26th Sep • tember. On nearing the city the English troops made a detour to their right, in order to turn the principal defences of the rebels outside the Residency. Notwithstanding this precaution, our loss before the Residency was reached was extremely severe ; its exact extent has not yet been published. Outram then occupied the Residency, and Havelock garrisoned the Balee Guard in advance. The next day after their arrival they found it necessary to attack the intrench menes of the besiegers, in order to relieve themselves from the incessantfirekept upon the Residency. These being capture.i at the point of the bayonet, and with a terrible loss of life—Neill, Hamilton, Perrin, Gra ham, Preston, and about forty officers, falling here, with upwards of 500 men killed and wounded—Have lock proceeded to drive the enemy out of the city, and by dint of hard fighting contrived in the course of tour days to advance about two miles, when he was compelled to desist for want of force and from a des perate attack on the Queen's palace having been repulsed with heavy loss. Outram was wounded in the shoulder. The loss on these four days is not stated. Lucknow is about six miles in length, in the direction from S.E. to N.W., the Resi dency being situated nearly at the south-eastern extremity. It would appear, therefore, that it was only out of this south eastern portion of the city that Havelock had succeeded in expelling the enemy. The old town, by far the most favourable part of the city fur that fighting under cover to which the enemy are most partial, is therefore still intact. It is also stated that at one time all communication between Outram at the Residency and Havelock at the Balee Guard had been rendered impossible. They had re• united their forces when the last intelligence was sent off, but were unable to communicate with Alum bagh, the rebels having broken down the bridge across the canal. That the two divisions of the Lucknow force have effected a junction would seem certain, but General Outram has now barely 2,000 men with him in the Residency. This force may be strong enough to defy any native enemy, but it is doubtful if it is sufficiently provisioned. Their very existence, in point of fact, tarns upon the ra pidity with which assistance can be afforded them : cast in his lot with the rebels. He, by his revolt, roused sill the rest, and our countrymen had scarcely obtained possession of Lucknow than they found themselves be sieged there. A letter from the intrenched camp of Cawnpore, dated October lllth, and published in the Mr- Lou, speaks in reference to Lucknow as follows : This prolonged silence bodes no good, I fear, fur our brave fellows at Lucknow ; day after day glides away and still no news of them. The truth must out, and it is this : that our force at Lucknow has been—whether wisely or not I cannot pronounce—allowed to be separated, and each division is so hemmed in that, from the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, they cannot rejoin each ether. After the fight of the 25th ult. it appears that our force held three distinct positions, viz.—the Balee Guard, the Residency, and Alumbagh ; since that time I have learnt that after a severe tight, that portion of the Residency were enabled to form a junction with those at the Baleu Guard. Still, however, they are separated from those lying in the Alumbagh, and we have no communication with either portion of the force. A few days ago a hundred men of different regiments came in, escorting baggage, camels, elephants, (tc., bring. ing with them a letter front a friend of mine now lying in Alnmbagh. I extract the following from it :—" The sick, wounded, commissariat stores, officers' servants, and bag gage are all left in this place—a large garden. The force went on to Lucktiow, which is three miles from this, on the 25th ult.'to relieve the unfortunates, and which we succeeded in doing on the 20th, after hard fighting and severe loss. Poor General Neill fell ; also Brigadier Cooper, of the Artillery. They took two days' rations with them, and we expected them to rejoin us again in two or three days; but here is the sixteenth (lay and no signs of them yet. Captains Macbeen and Freeling went with the force, and Gardener with them. The officers took nothing with them but the clothes they stood in. All their servants are here." _ _ This, and the bare fact that we have no means of com munication with Lucknow, and are in complete ignorance of what is daily enacted there, will enable your readers to judge of themselves in what position our army at Lncknow stands. There can, l think, be little doubt that they are in great straits, and it is the imperative duty of the Govern. ment to push men up here as rapidly as possible, artillery. men particularly. Round Cawnpore itself the rebels were once more congregating. Colonel Wilson, in command at Cewnpore, had been compelled to move out on the night of 17th Oct. once again upon Bithoor and attack the rebels who were posted there in force. The troops arrived on the ground on the morning of the 13th, and after an hour's hard fighting the rebels were driven back, and their guns and ammunition captured : The 19th was occupied in destroying I3ithoor. On the morning of the 20th the victorious and gallant little band returned to Uawnpore. On their way back the village of Sheo-Rajpore was destroyed, and in a house filled with straw five of the rebels were discovered by the men of the 01th probing the mass with their bayonets. They dashed out sword in hand, when they were immediately de spatched. Two of the prisoners brought in were hanged : ono of them was the bearer of letters from Nana Sahib to the people in and around Bithoor, calling upon the people to provide ammunition and have supplies ready for his arrival, expected in the course of lilteen days. Such then is the position of affairs before Lucknow. DELHI. Since the capture our interest in Delhi has to some extent subsided. A letter in the Times this week from a" Civilian" conveys to us a vivid impression of the dangers of our position before Delhi, of the difficulties of the siege, and of our comparatively prostrated strength after the capture. He regards the capture of Delhi as an enormous piece of goad luck, but he seems doubtful a to the effect of the triumph : I hope (ho writes) it may prove that Delhi has been token at the right time. ]t is certain that it was not taken a day too early, and that a little more delay in a Delhi September. work, climate, and the prospect of rein foroements to the enemy from Mhow and Gwalior all telling against us, would probably have proved fatal. Great, indeed, will be our " lkbal " if it has all turned out for the best. -- --- ----- The assault and capture appears to have been fraught with danger to us, for our men, as well as their Sikh, Ghoorka, and Affghan allies, finding "vast quantities" of wine and spirits—evidently left in their way with a purpose—indulged to au extent which might have proved disastrous : In truth, the days which followed the first assault were a time of great anxiety. Our progress was slow; the number of men whom we could bring into action curiously small, and the abandonment of the positions held by the enemy was, I believe, a relief to the generals, even though we did not exterminate the mutineers. In fact, I believe that the bridge of boats was purposely left intact by our batteries; we were well content to leave a bridge to a flying enemy. I do not think that the enemy were actually forced nut by our shells. I was surprised to find how little damage was done by them. With respect to tha state of onr army at Delhi the "Civilian" alludes suspiciously tothe terrible losses in fhcted on the European officers of our allies, and points out the marked numerical inferiority of European to native troops :