The Press. — London, England, 1857-10-10 00:00:00

982 It is now getting near our own doors, and we have as yet. received scarcely any ref tforcements, and our troops are dying of cholet a fifty a day out ofGeneral Havelock's small force of l,:100 nieu. Our English soldiers get so dis heartened, seeing no end to their labours, and losing so many by overwhelming numbers, they begin to say they will not fight unless the King of Oude is hung up. So long as he is alive plots and machinations will continue. It is a pity we have not a more stirring Governor-General. I am sure if Lord Clive had been here he would have sent his Majesty away to Ceylon or the Cape, out of harm's way. I suppose you know he is a prisoner in the fort here, and daily emissaries are discovered trying to get letters to and from him. His Prime Minister is also a prisoner, a man truly Asiatic in cunning, and quite equal to baffling the English Government, both at home and out here, which he has succeeded in doing, as seen by the results ; for, on being made prisoner on the 11th of June with the King, he told our officers that they were too late, for a " net had been woven which the English would never unravel !" All Calcutta is on the tip-toe of expectation to hear what steps the home authorities will take in regard to the Queen and two Princes of Oude. It was all plotted before they went to England, and their being absent from India at this juncture is a clever ruse de guerre. Of course they will protest that they knew nothing of the massacre of the English officers, their wives and children, that have taken place, whilst all the time the Queen was sending messengers backwards and forwards from England to India, and letters from her have fallen into the hands of this Government which clearly reveal their guilt, and in which site urges the ex King to " strike now, whilst the British have a war going on with China and Persia, and that conse quently they have no troops to spare for India." If the Queen and Princes are not locked up in the Tower, it will be monstrons—it will be unpardonable. The Queen is a very clever woman, and she and the Prime Minister laid all these artful schemes to destroy the English, root and branch. They had for years, perhaps, been plotting to exterminate the British, and the seizure by us of Oude has not lessened their rancour. They are Mahomedans, yet to compass their ends they have leagued with Hindoos. The Mahotnedans are ruthless, and are never kuown to spare, whilst here and there a gleam of mercy has been exhibited by the Hindoos. The papers will doubtless give you particulars, so I shall write no more about these sad and awful times. The following extracts from a private journal kept by a resident at Calcutta, between the 9th and tend of August, give a lively representation of the real state of affairs at the capital:— August 9.—Her Majesty's ship Shannon arrives; said to have a reinforcement of 1,700 men, in reality she has 300 marines, but the whole of her crew is to be mole available for defence of Calcutta. Beniinck, which was to have been despatched to-morrow, is ordered to be kept back. Numerous armed bodies of men are hovering about Cal cutta, it is supposed not less than 70,000 men, exclusive of those known to be hiding in the town, and a large number of cavalry. August 10.—Lord! Canning and Elgin meet in ?con sultation. The result is said to be this—that two things are ordered to be done which no entreaty or persuasion could wring from our governor—viz., first, compulsory enlistment in the militia of all ablebodied Christians; and secondly, disarming of all Bengal soldiery still allowed to be armed. Both of these much wanted. Captain Peel, of her Majesty's ship Shannon, is to lead an expedition of 400 men to Allahabad, taking up a for. midable battery ; he will have to fight his way, for no steamer can ever stop to wood and water without risk of being fired upon. Augnst ll.—Lord Canning, after having been worried since May, consents to take into consideration the propriety of having the fort victualled and put in order for reception of the Christian population in case of necessity. This has been done at Madras some time ago ; here we think, there they do, a thing. Hazareebaugh plundered and burnt. Gya burnt and destroyed. Alonzg Money, civil service, end another gentleman, carry off the Government treasure, 900,000 rupees, fighting hard for it; the former kills five men with his own hand. - The siege of Agra, capital of the north-west, is a fact; full particulars of a fight outside the walls reach us. It lasted over two hours, and, if better led, our side would have won the day ; as it was, they had to retire into the fort, and were deuced near being cut off. The mutineers, infantry, cavalry, ai.d artillery, were well led. On our side, the Government-office clerks, and other Europeans and Christians, hastily drilled and formed into a regiment, behaved admirably, and suffered heavily in killed. Government order the pentinek, and each succeeding steamer, to prepare for carrying troops on her return voyage from Suez. Mr. Halliday, Lientenant•Governor of Bengal, pats a Mussulman into a magistracy, with a salary of 1,500 rupees a month. The man is as bitter against ns as the rest of his creed can be, and no European henceforth can carry on trade or own land in that district. The gentle man, by bribes and exactions, will probably make not less than 10,000 rupees monthly. People are open-mouthed at this appointment. Arrived, frigate Pearl and private steamer Lanrstirld with more troops, detachment of her Majesty's 00th, and marines of her Majesty's Transit, which last has finally succeeded in knocking a hole in her bottom in Straits of Banta. August 11.—A horrible rumour, on native authority, of a rising at Bangalore and total destruction of that place; wants confirmation. It is now ascertained that General Havelock has had to retreat upon Cawnpore, which he did with complete sue. cees, carrying with him everything; he was losing sixty THE PRESS, OCTOBER 10,1857. men a day by cholera. He has been reinforced and is at them again. We expect to hear of another fight. The situation of Lucknow and its brave garrison is desperate. Poor Bankes was shot before he had commanded forty. eight hours. That " excellent " man Nana Sahib is before Lucknow; he lost 40.00.1100 rupees in treasure, and C. B. 51.00.000 ditto, iu Uovernment securities of the Five per. Cont. Loan, which are to be confiscated ; I hope ho will be caught alive. Europeans are being enlisted in the police at 51. a month. The consequence is no ships will get away fur some time to come. The question begins to be asked, where are this month's salaries of public servants to come from ? The treasury is nearly empty, and Government have neither money nor credit. Everything in Calcutta up to famine price, and the present is a joke to what must follow in consequence of the immense tracts of country left uncultivated. Our native servants have all been tampered with, to murder or poison us, but have fortunately refused, some, very few, from fidelity, most from fear. I hope to add before finishing this that I have caught and hung the emissary. My own old servant explains the reason, which that if the native princes of India got the upper hand, the native gentry would give them half the wages, and exact from them exactly four times as much work as we do—they do not attempt to conceal that it is the King of Delhi, King of Oude, and Nawab of Moorshedabad, who are stirring up the present disturbance; but there is a great Belatee Rajah—a foreign potentate—who is at the bottom of it all. August 13.—Arrived, the steamer Bengal, with Sir Colin Campbell, and a delightful account of how the British pub lic view our present troubles. Lord Ellenborough is the only man who knows a bit about it. The plot thickens; more ph‘ces are destroyed, and more treasure plundered. Captain Peel (her Majesty's ship Shannon ), with 400 sea men and marines, start by water for upper provinces. Ile takes a formidable battery with him. Fourteen miles from Calcutta a ship is fired into. At last permission to flog all native loiterers and lurkers about the fort to the extent of fifty lashes is extorted from Lord Canning,but he manfully resists ( August 13) seizing large stores of arms and ammunition pointed out to him, will not call out the militia, will not do anything to some hundreds of native wealthy and influential people who have been named as having aided and abetted the rebellion. Quere—is this not doing likewise? There is a talk of disagreement already between him and Sir Colin Campbell. August 15.—More reports of disasters in the upper provinces; but Government resolutely shut up post•tele graphs, and every possible source of information; the native post runs regularly and safely. East India Company's paper of the Five-per• Cent. Loan sells in Lucknow at eighty-one per cent. discount. A hard nut for any one who says the funds are a sure indication of coming events. August 10.—Matters at Itaneegunge are said to be in so unsatisfactory a state from large armed bodies collecting and threatening the collieries, that her Majesty's 33rd are ordered off to see what's the matter and quiet the people; it is supposed and hoped they will be back again in Cal cutta for the Mohurrum. This festival commences on Thursday, the '2oth, and from that day the Volunteers are to be on duty, half of them by day and half by night, for ten days, and perhaps until the 3rd of September. In the meantime the blacksmith opposite my house is hard at work forging pike•heada, night and day, in full sight of the police, and I only mention this as a sample of what is per mitted to be carried on openly in Calcutta at such a time of danger and uncertainty. News is now coming in that thn irregular cavalry, our last stand by, are universally proving faithless, and are accordingly disarmed wherever they can be caught. Lord Canning visits the Shannon, moored close alongside the fort ; her extra cabins are ordered to be left standing until after the Mohurrum, absit omen, but it looks as if they still might possibly be wanted. Sir Colin Campbell goes incog. into Fort William, and finds matters so little to his liking that and another officer are put under arrest. It is said he will not be sworn in commander•in•chief until he is to have his own absolute uncontrolled will, in spite of Lord Canning's fancies and weaknesses for rebels and murderess. August 17.—Various cr"eks and small rivers which run into the Hooghley are full of boatloads of armed men, all making for this place, and bent on murder and plunder. The Chief Commissioner of Police at last begins to mis trust the native police, and is making frantic efforts to procure Europeans. Any fool could have told him the same months ago. The festival of the Mohurrum commences the 20th inst., and we shall see then or thereabouts what may be coming. I this day refused to join the Vigilance Committee, and did my best to dissuade others. I would like the thing well enough if it would simply begin and end in flogging and pickling the Legislative Council ; but the danger is from our numerous German and other foreigners, whom nothing short of blood would satisfy; add to this, a highly exasperatrd European soldiery would mutiny, and then there is no saying what the end might be. August ls.—Lord Canning remonstrates with General Campbell for the row he kicked up in the fort, and receives the following answer :—" Very well, my lord, you shall have the fort, and do what you like there, but I mean to remove every European soldier out of it." I am mistaken in the name of the officer put under arrest : it was not —, but Thank God it is a fact, the militia is to be formally called out and embodied by compulsory enlistment. This will give us over 3,000 Europeans and half-caste armed men, who, at all events, will make a show. Government have received information, in a singular manner, of all that, is intended to be done in the Mohurrum. The only fear is it may not be acted upon, the Governor- General being determined to listen to no suggestions whatever. I trust, however, he will think better of it. Full details are ready to go home to the Times ifhe refuses. Half Calcutta may be destroyed, but the nation at largo will learn that his lordship knew it was to happen, and with ample means at his disposal refused to make an effort even to avert the calamity. The individual who turns informer gives one material guarantee for his fidelity, in recommending a measure which fortunately was carried into effect many days ago, viz., disarming the bodyguard. They had been suspected of treachery and watched ; he wrote from a great distance, and could not have known what was doing here. August 20.—I'Verious reports of squabbles between Lord Canning and Colin Campbell ; the last not being promised his own way ordered his passage back in the Bengal. August 21.—Departure of the mail steamer put off twenty four hours. Large reinforcements of Punjaubee troops have come to Delhi; the garrison are very dispirited ; ask what terms they are to have. General Wilson very properly says not a man shall leave it alive. Volunteer infantry reviewed. August 22 —The Council meets to day, but we shall not know the result in time. The Mohurrum commences ; and the commissioner of police shows how safe he thinks the town now is by frantic efforts to enlist European police and get European troops all over the town. My company is on duty, with some of her Majesty's 29th, twenty-four hours at a time. The mails all over the country open. I wish all the foregoing were more interesting ; but think by next mail you will have an account of a tight in or near Calcutta; perhaps not if Cohn Campbell stays, otherwise there will be plenty of it. Another correspondent sends the following ex. traordinary account of a sale of uniforms by sepoys in Calcutta : A short time ago a gentleman in Calcutta saw from his window a mob of sepoys, about a hundred in number, assembled near one of the gates of Government-house, and visibly engaged in selling their uniforms by auction, one of them mounted on a hackery (native cart) acting as auctioneer. The gentleman drove to the Commissioner of the l'olice to inform him of what was going on ; he at once proceeded to Major Bouverie, the Governor• General's aide decamp, and he reported to Lord Canning. Ilia lordship remarked, " Oh, another idle tale!" when Bouverie said, " My lord, if you will look out there you can satisfy yourself." Lord Canning looked, satisfied himself, and instantly gave orders to call a meeting of his council. The sages met, deliberated for several hours — some voted for shooting the sepoys, others for letting them go—and broke up without coming to any resolution, by which time indeed it was unnecessary, as the sepoys, having finished their sale of Government property and pocketed its proceeds, had quietly walked off. Thus Government, by not seizing and punishing these men, virtually declared that embezzlement and desertion are nu crimes, and the sepoys, emboldened by having insulted the Goveroor•General at his own door with impunity, aro permitted to leave Calcutta, and will certainly not forget this most criminal leniency when levying contributions from the defenceless villagers, as many of them have been doing. The native merchants in Calcutta were astonished. They asked, " Is the Lord Sahib (the Governor• General), with so many Europeans, afraid of seizing a hundred sepoys ? If he is afraid to do this in Calcutta, then the Company's rule in the Mofussil is indeed over." AU officer waiting from Calcutta, August :22nd, says.— We are now in the midst of the great Mahomedan festival of the " Mohurrum," which commenced today, and will last until the 31st inst. This festival is in commemo ration of the deaths of those sons of the Prophet, Hussan and Hoossein ; and the pious Muasulmans, during its con tinuance, are wrought up to a pitch of fanaticism bordering upon madness. They go in procession, beating their breasts and shouting the holy names—" Hassan Hoossein !" If killed daring this time they proceed at once to all the bliss of a Mussulman paradise; and to kill an infidel then is considered an acceptable offering to the Prophet and Allah. In all former years there has been much rioting and bloodshed during these holidays, owing to the battles of the two rival sects of Soonees and Sheeas ; and it appeared not unreasonable to suppose that at a crisis like the present the ill-disposed might seize these proces sions and rows as a convenient pretext for playing the Meerut game in Calcutta. From the native Itengalee population no one feared anything; their cowardice is too notorious. But it is known that Calcutta swarms with up countrymen, discharged sepoys, and others, trained to the use of arms ; while the sale of arms in Calcutta since May last is known to every one but Government officials to have been enormous, and concealed depots are more than sus pected. Now, had the Mohurrum occurred a month ago, when our force of European soldiers was barely sufficient to garrison the fort, the safety of the capital of Bengal would probably have been endangered; but now we have plenty of troops here, and these, placed in different quarters of the town, with title) militia and several pieces of cannon, are sufficient to overawe the inhabitants. It is very hard work, however, for us unfortunate volunteers, as we are on duty in pickets of fifty for twenty-four hours together I Gossiping stories of all kinds are rife. It is reported that Government stopped all newspapers sent by last mail ( which I doubt), and that they are about prosecuting all those who signed the petition sent home by last mail—a story more doubtful still, as history tells us too plainly how dangerous it is to interfere with an Englishman's first birthright—to petition Parliament. However, nothing is too stupid and insane for a Government which burked a friendly press. It is generally known that Sir Colin Campbell, our new commander-in-chief, and the Govern ment are at loggerhead 3. It is the old story of the Governor-General insisting upon interfering with, and thwarting, the commander•in chief, which so enraged Sir Colin's preceptor and predecessor, Sir Chalks Napier. The general, it is understood, wants martial law proclaimed throughout the land, and the militiaformally called out (what