The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AUGUST 22, 1857. and Mhow. The force at Nusseerabad, under the command of Colonel Lawrence (her Maiesty's 83rd, Ist and 2nd Bombay Cavalry, and 12th Bombay Native Infantry), is under orders to march to Agra, but it is supposed that the numbers of this little corps are insufficient for the purpose, as Ajmere can not be left unprotected. From Central India the intelligence is by no means satisfactory. The entire Gwalior Contingent attached to Scindia, and the personal regiments in the pay of Holkar the Mahratta chief, have revolted, and the effect of this revolt was regarded with appre• hension at Bombay. Sattara, Gujerat, and Baroda were more or less excited, and the native troops at the important station of Mhow broke out a day or two afterwards in open revolt : Whether or no Scindia has identified himself with the cause of his mutinous soldiery is not yet known. He may be stanch, perhaps, or even probably is ; but the old woman, his adoptive grandmother (I believe that is the relation between them), who goes by the name of the Bye za-bye, is undoubtedly busy bringing to bear against us her implacable zeal and her well•filled treasury. I know that she has sent emissaries under the guise of complimentary visits to the kindred chiefs of Baroda and Kolapore, causing to the British Resident at the former station an unnecessary amount of disquiet, of which more presently. At Kolapore the Resident failed to observe the ulterior object of the mission, but on reporting the circumstance was instantly directed to desire the arrest of the emissary. But if the proceedings and designs of Scindia are as yet hidden from us, those of the other great Mahratta chief of Central India are fully known. The capital of Holkar, no less than the capital of his rival, has been the scene of revolt. Two of his personal regiments (be has no con• tingent) mutinied at Indore on the lat of this month. On the morning of that day Colonel Durand, the acting resi dent, observing suspicious symptoms, despatched an es press to Mhow for the European battery at that station, commanded by Captain Hungerford. That officer set out at once, but was met on the road by a counter•order, in forming him that the anticipated mutiny had broken out, and that Colonel Durand had fled. Captain Hungerford retraced his steps to Mhow, but the news from Indore arrived there with or before him, and that same evening the 23rd Native infantry rose, with the right wing of the Ist Cavalry, of which the left had already mutinied at Neemuch. Colonel Platt, of the 23rd, fell, with his adju tent, Fagan, and Major Harris commanding the cavalry. The rest of the officers, with the women and children, and Captain Hungerford with his guns, got safely into the fort, and the mutineers after firing the cantonments decamped. Telegraphic communication with Mhow, interrupted for a few days, was restored yesterday. The country round was reported tranquil. Colonel Durand was safe at Sehore, in the Bhopal country, and on hearing of Holkar's fidelity, and of the departure of the mutinous regiments for Delhi, would doubtless return to Indore. The loyalty of Holkar has been of the last importance to our cause in Central India. We are not without the means of judging of the effect that would have been produced by his defection. The very rumour that the mutiny at Indore was his doing was at once sufficient to rouse more than one of the petty chiefs of Malwa. The Rajah of Dhar—you will see the place on the map just to the westward of Mhow—whom I remember seeing down here three years ago, has been bestirring his scrubby little self. His neigh. boar of Amjhera has actually had the audacity to pounce upon the town of Bhopawar, where is located the British Residency for these little States, and to imprison the officials. His course, however, will soon be run. Not only is a force moving from Baroda, of Bombay infantry and Guicowar's guns, but Holkar, among his other good deeds, is sending a body of well-affected troops from his side, so that the little Rajah is likely to be shortly dispossessed of his raj.—Times cur. The mutiny of the 41st Native Infantry at Seeta pore is still obscurely known. The sepoys are said to have made a complete butchery of the Europeans, and to have proceeded afterwards to Muhmudie. As ill luck would have it, the civil officers from that place and Saharunpore were met by them on the road and massacred, with the exception of one Cap tain Orr, who escaped after witnessing the horrible fate of his companions. This sums up briefly the state of Bengal down to the latest dates. There can be no longer any doubt but that it is an affair of campaigns, and that the complete re-conquest of the Bengal provinces is what we have at present to effect. The sepoys everywhere have exhibited great bravery in their engagements with the British troops, and the most excellent mili tary dispositions. The troops are entirely under the command of the subadars—men most brave, able, and experienced in our service, and in every way competent to assume the command of an army. The heavy rains which set in on the 27th of June will check all active operations in the field for some months, and will afford the rebels a fatal opportunity to complete their organisation, and mahoclise their plans for the ensuing oampaigro. 6th of June, and seized a fortification called the Star Fort, whilst the officers took refuge in the city fort, a strong position, which the chief in command, Captain Skene, spoke confidently of holding until relief arrived. Unfor tunately the widow of the late Rajah thought she had cause to be discontented with the treatment she had received from the East India Company, and considered it a grie- vance that she had been deprived of the reversion of her husband's dignit. She joined her cause with that of the mutineers, gave them some artillery, with which they breached the gate of the fort ; after which they assaulted and carried it, and massacred all that were inside. A re• lation of the Ranee was placed in power by the sepoys, who then proceeded to Cawnpore, where they were joined by the 10th Native Infantry from Furruckabad, a regiment guilty of no innocent blood, having been content with sacking the treasure, and dismissing their officers scathe less. A tew soldiers, indeed, stood by the officers, and enabled them to retire safely into the fort of Furruckabad. To these mutineers we may have to add the 3rd Irregular Cavalry, 31st Bengal Native Infantry, and 41st Light Infantry from Saugor, regiments which raised the standard of rebellion after pretending, like the lith at Allahabad, that they were stanch, and desirous of showing their prowess against the mutineers. Colonel Neile, who had attacked and beaten the rebels at Allahabad, had opened communications with Cawnpore on the 24th June, and was about to advance to Sir H. Wheeler's relief so soon as he could collect together a force sufficiently strong to clear the road and maintain his communications. The battle at Allahabad upon the 11th June was a gallant affair:— On the 11th Colonel Neile, of the Madras Fusiliers, reached Allahabad, and fresh troops came up from Benares in the steamers Coel, Sir Charles Allan, and Jumna. The ladies and children were removed as soon as possible, and sent down by the Sir Charles Allan to Calcutta. Colonel Neile then called together the whole staff of officers, and made arrangenteot-o f' o• taking the city from the rebels. The guns of the fort opened fire with round shot on Dark gunge, a suburb on the right bank of the river, chiefly inhabited by Brahmins. After eighteen or twenty rounds bad been fired, a detachment of sixty Madras Fusiliers, forty of the 3rd Irregular Cavalry (all that remained loyal out of 150), and three companies of Sikhs, advanced nut of the place, and swept the mutineers before them, bayoneting all that came within their reach, whilst the Irregulars sabred those who fled. Daragunge was thus cleared in a very short time, and the Sikhs encamped on the ground near the fort. The 33th and 14th were spent in organising a second attack on other quarters, the rebels mustering very strong and numerous; so great, indeed, was their confidence that on the 15th they attacked the Sikhs with great vigour ; they were quickly repulsed, and at gunfire (eleven o'clock), a howitzer having been placed on board of the steamer Jumna, with a detachment of Madras Fusiliers, the stronghold of the Brahmins, Pran gureltolah, and Duriabad, the suburb; inhabited by the Pathan Mahomedans, were set on fire and gutted, many people being killed in the course of the operation. In an• other direction the Sikh regiment of Ferozepore and fifty Madras Fusiliers advanced and set fire to a part of the town in which the rebels had thrown up an intrenched work, under the direction of a fanatical Moulvie (priest). The Sikhs advanced with the greatest bravery against the position of the insurgents, covering in excellent style the handful of Englishmen, when they retired from the contest. 'the position was entered, and a fierce battle fought. Several of the chief men under the Moulvie, or priest of the weaver caste, and 300 of his followers were killed. Our force retired without taking the position, but the Moulvie had had enough of it. He fled with the remnant of his followers in the night, leaving a large quantity of provi sions behind in the intrenched position. Two guns taken away by the fith Native Infantry were recovered. On the 11;th the whole of Allahabad was in Colonel Neile's posses• sion.—D. News cor. At Lu,...know, Sir Henry Lawrence continued shut up and surrounded by a strong force of rebels. Up to the 21st June he had not been attacked, and happily had thus been permitted to complete his defensive arrangements. From Bareilly and Mooradabad details have been scanty since the mutinies. The subadar at Bareilly is reported to have assumed command of the rebel forces, and to ride about in the carriages of the unfor tunate Brigadier Sibbald, followed by a numerous staff in the buggies of the officers. The supreme com mand of Rohilcund has been taken by Khan Bahadoor Khan, who assumed the title of king, and inaugurated his reign by the massacre of all the inhabitants of a native Christian village, a few miles from Bareilly. Since the mutiny, a body of insurgents has marched towards the Ganges, to a place in the Ghauts called Gurmuktesur, and a large body of Oude mutineers have crossed the Ganges and Jumna and encamped at Khoorja, at the point where the Agra road sepa rates into two branches, one leading to Delhi, the other to Meerut, through Boolundshuhur. At the leafr place also a body of Gude insurgents has taken up its quarters, and the Europeans have fled into 111 eerut. The Neemuch mutineers have not stirred, and still remained, according to the latest news, about fifty miles from Nusseerabad, waiting to be joined by the oontingents of Melaidpore, tolnywar, Indore, LETTERS FROM INDIA. Many are the details given in private letters pain fully interesting of the escapes of our countrymen and women. Two squadrons of cavalry, detached from Bowgous; to Mynpore, under Captain Hayes, marked themselves by such a cowardly massacre of their officers as rivalled that at Meerut. These two hundred men had been sent out to open the road between Mynpore and Alleygurh. Captain Carey writes : When we had cantered up to within about fifty yards of them one or two of the native officers rode out to meet us, and said in a low voice, " Fly, Sahibs, fly." Upon this poor Hayes said to me, as we wheeled round our horses, " Well, we must now fly for our lives," and away we went with the two troops after us like demons, yelling and sending the bullets from their carbines flying all round us. Thank God neither I nor my horse was hit. Hayes was riding ou the side nearest the troopers, and before we hal gone many yards I saw a native officer go up alongside of him, and with one blow cut him from his saddle. It was the work of an instant, and took much less time than I have to relate it. On they all came shouting after me, and every now and then " ping " came a ball near me. Indeed, I thought my moments were numbered, but as I neared the road at the end of the maiden a ditch presented itself. It was but a moment I thought, dug my spurs hard in, and the mare flew over it, though she nearly fell on the other side ; for- tunately, I recovered her, and in another moment I was leaving all behind but two sowers, who followed me and poor Haye's horse tearing on after me. On seeing this I put my pistol into my bolster, having reserved my file until a man was actually upon me, and took a pull at the mare, as I had still a long ride for it, anti knew my riding must now stand me a good turn ; so I raised the mare as much as I could, keeping those fiends about 100 yards in rear, and they, I suppose, seeing I was taking it easy, and not urging my horse, but merely turning round every now and then to watch them, pulled up, after chasing me two good miles. Never did I know a happier moment, and most fervently did I thank God for saving my life. Hayes's Arab came dashing along, and passed me ; I still oontinned to ride on at a strong pace, fearful of being taken and murdered by some who had taken a short out unknown to me. Thus up to the sixth mile from home did I continue to fly, when, finding my mare completely done, and meeting one of our sower& T immediately stopped him, jumped up behind, and ordered him to haste back to Mynpore. After going about a mile on this beast we came up to Hayes's horse, which had been caught, so on him riPtran g , and he bore me back safely to cantonments. It was, indeed, a ride for life or death. An officer escaping from Neemuch writes : We started on foot with only three rupees and the clothes we had on. I had Mrs. Laurie by one hand and a child on my other arm. We had hardly proceeded a mile when we heard a party of cavalry coining in pursuit of us; we all lay down quietly on the ground and they passed without discovering us. We then left the road, and eon tinned wandering about in the jungle till daybreak, and we succeeded in reaching our destination by eight a.m. We had been there three or four hours when news was brought us that the whole of the mutineers were coming to Jawnd with the intention of killing all the Feringhees who had escaped from Neemuch. There was, therefore, no other alternative than for as to start again, and at haltpast ten at night we arrived at a place twenty miles from Jawud, called Deegur, where we remained for two days to ascertain whether the mutineers really were in pursuit of us or not. Finding they had struck off to Delhi we returned to•this place, and soon after a letter arrived from Jenioniah say ing, that the Mehidpore Contingent, 1,500 strong, com posed of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, had mutinied and killed their officers and were marching to attack ns. We, therefore (twenty.four officers), shut ourselves up in the fort here, determined not to allow ourselves to fall alive into their hands, but yesterday, I am thankful to say, we received information that they had given up the idea of coming here and had gone in the ditection of Delhi, and the only thing we have fear now is lest the surrounding country should rise against us; but everything depends on the capture of Delhi. An officer at Snares thus sums up the . position of affairs there : The whole country has risen as one man. The reel, dency is besieged. The besieged are hopeful, and expect to hold out till reinforcements arrive. They have been suffering for many months. Her Majesty'S 32nd are there, and Sir H. Lawrence is the best man in India they could have for the emergency. Butyet the numbers are few, and a hostile aril fanatic people are to be dreaded. God grant that they may hold out—otherwise fearful will be the butchery. They have nigh upon 200 ladies in the residency. Cawnpore is in a most ticklish state. They have but 500 Europeans, if so many, with some artillery. They have intrenched themselves. So Icng as the telegraphic com munication was open the most urgent and repeated calls for reinforcements were being made. We had not any to give. We supplied 100 by denuding ourselves. At the outbreak here we had hardly 150 men on the parade-ground. Since then more have been arriving, which we have sent on to Allahabad. A steamer with 350 is expected to-day or to morrow, but it goes up straight to Allahabad, which will shortly be stocked with 1,000 men. Agra had three native regiments and one European. A portion of the acme were sent to Muttra to guard the treasure. These rascals sent for another company from Agra and then " looted " the treasury. Seeing . this the remaining Porticos of the sepoys at Agra were disarmed,