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

814 the Panjaub forces and a wing of the Bombay European Fusiliers which marched from Mooltan to Lahore on the 22nd of June. All that is known respecting reinforce ments to General Barnard was, that a wing of her Majesty's 61st Foot left Ferozepore on the 13th June, Loodhiana on the 19th, Umballah on the 23rd, and have doubtless arrived at Delhi by this time; that the Ist Punjaub Irregular Cavalry, 500 sabres, under Colonel Hughes, left Feroze pore for Delhi on the 20th ; that Brigadier Chamberlain, now acting adjutant•general of the army, had passed Raiment with his force, awl reached the scene of opera. tions on the '24th ; that further reinforcements had passed through Umballah ; that the Ist Punjaub Infantry had reached Kurnaul ; that the Kumaon battalion from Rawnl Pindee had started for Lahore, which it might expect to reach on the 4th of July; that the 4th regiment of Pun. jaub Infantry, which left Bunnoo for Lahore on the 20th of May, had reached Attock on the 10th of June ; and that a wing of the 17th Irregular Cavalry, joined by a wing of the 9th Irregular Cavalry, bad left Lahore for Delhi, the latter reaching Umballah on the 25th. On the other hand, the moveable column under Brigadier• General Nicholson, at Phillour, was paralysed by the disarmament of the 33rd and 35th N.I. on the 24th of June ; whilst another moveable column, under General Van Cortlandt, was busy in pursuit of a corps of mutineers through the sandy deserts of the Bikaneer Rajah's territory. Whilst our European army is thus likely to be but feebly reinforced from the northward, and circumstances at present render aid from the southward impossible, the mutineers have gained considerable accessions of strength from all quarters. They have despatched letters in every possible direction, calling on their brother sepoys to aid them ; amongst others, one addressed to the mutineers of' Bareilly and Mooradabad was intercepted at Hauper. It runs as follows : From the officers of the army at Delhi to the officers of the Bareilly and Mtioradabad regiments. It you are corning to help us, it Is incumbent on you that if you eat your food there you wash your hands here, for here the fight is going on with the English, and by the goodness of God, even one defeat to us is ten to them, and our troops are as. sembled here in large numbers. It is now necessary for you to come here, for large rewards and high rank will be conferred by the King of Kings, the centre of prosperity, the King of Delhi. We are looking out moat anxiously tor you, like fasters watching for the call of the muezzin. Our ears are, intent on the thunder of the cannon, and our eyes, like the eyes of the are watching your road. Now, also, it is incumbent ou you, that you consider this call as very urgent and come, for our house is yours. " Come, come, for there Is no rose Without the spring of your presence. The opening bud with draught Is as an infant without milk." There is no doubt that these appeals have met with a ready response. _ - - Of the actual operations carried on before Delhi we have full particulars. The sorties appear to have been on both sides very gallant affairs. On the 9th and 10th of June two desperate assaults were re pulsed. On the 12th the rebels made a serious attack upon our position. The enemy stealthily crept up in the grey of the morning to both flanks of our position, which they simultaneously attacked, nearly turning the left. The arrangements of our outposts appear to have been defective, as the attack was in some measure a surprise : On the morning of the 12th a most determined and well-planned assault was made upon both extremities of our line at once. On the right, at Hindoo Rao's house, the attack was promptly defeated, and the troops at that post (611th Ghoorkas and Guides) slew considerable num• hers of the enemy—fifty of them in one garden, it is said. But on the left there seems to have been something of a surprise. The battery at the signal tower was surrounded, and would probably, but for the signal gallantry of a picket of the 75th, have been captured. The flank of the position was in imminent danger of being turned. But the nine pounder battery in the centre opened fire, supports were brought up rapidly, and at length, though not till after a hard fight of two hours, the enemy gave way at all points. The loss on this day fell chiefly upon the 2nd Europeans and the 75th. Captain Knox of the latter regiment was shot through the head while leading his men to the tower battery. On the day following a large inclosnre in advance of our left, known as Metcalfe-house, was occupied by our troops, and the erection of a battery of heavy guns and mortars commenced. Against this battery a sortie was directed on the 15th, but was repulsed without difficulty, as had been another earlier in the same day against our right. On the 17th an affair took place in which we were the assailants. That morning a shot from the city struck the corner of Hindoo Rao's house, and, glancing off, killed Lieutenant Wheatley, of the late 54th, attached to the Gboorkas, and (it is said) six men. Having this advanced post of ours well under fire in front, the enemy determined to attempt it also in flank, and for this purpose commenced on the 17th to throw up a battery outside the western gates of the town, at a large building known as the Eedghah. There they were attacked that same after. noon by Major Tombs' troop of Horse Artillery, some cavalry, Rifles, and Gboorkas, and beaten out of the place with the loss of the only gun they had had time to bring out, all their ammunition, and, perhaps, a hundred lives. For this achievement the major received high commenda tion from General Barnard, who rode over to his position for the purpose.—Tines cor., July It. During the 13th, 14th, and 15th the city was bom barded, and red-hot shot thrown in. The morning of the 19th revealed a new, though not alto gether unexpected, enemy. The Nusseerabad mutineers, with a battery of six guns, made their appearance in the British rear, and attacked in THE PRESS, AUGUST 22, 1857. the evecing. They were engaged by the force of the Rajah of Jbeend, attacked by Major Tombs' battery of field artillery, and charged by the 9th Lancers. Night appears to have put an end to the engage ment, which was renewed on the morning of the 20th. This time the mutineers were beaten off with great slaughter, but on our part we had the misfor tune to lose Colonel Yule, of the 9th Lancers ; Lieutenant Wheatley, of the 54th ; Lieutenant Hum phries, of the 20th N.I. ; and Lieutenant Alexander, of the 3rd N.l. Colonel Beecher, Captain Brown, Ist Fusiliers; Captain Daly, of the Guides ; and four other officers, were wounded. Although the enemy was thus repulsed, he nevertheless held his ground in the rear up to the 23rd, for the message sent to Lahore was as follows : " The enemy attacked ns in great force from the Subzee Mundee side (on our right flank and rear), and fought most desperately the whole day long. They had a strong position in a village and among the garden walls. Our loss has been great for us, but the loss of the mutineers has been very considerable." Later accounts say that the enemy's dead were counted at the close of the day by hundreds, the aggregate being estimated at not less than I,ooo.—Times cur. The 24th, 25th, and 26th appear to have passed off quietly. Upon the 27th the fight was resumed, but with what result is not stated, beyond the usual fact that the rebels behaysd with great bravery and were repulsed. The monsoon had broken at last, and had given our troops refreshing rain. The Jumna immediately rose and carried away the bridge of boats at Bhaugpul. " This accident," writes the correspondent of the Daily News," cuts off for the present the com munication between the camp at Delhi and the positions of Meerut and Agra : But the rains will have important conselnences. They must put an effectual stop to the operations of mutinous detachments, and prevent any further increase to the rebels in the besieged city. The Bareilly mutineers, who were unable to advance further than Gurmuktesur, had marched thither in hopes of passing the river by the bridge of boats. This fortunately was prevented by the destruc tion of the bridge a few days before by a party of dragoons from Meerut. The rains will have another result in Delhi itself, which, being low on the banks of the Jumna, suffers at this time of the year from miasma. This will distress the sepoys in the place, already uncomfortable from our fire and from overcrowding. The quantity of stores and ammunition in the hands of the rebels in Delhi was enormous : I now find, from excellent authority, that they have been firing two 2 t•poundera for every ;13.pountler °fours. They have the largest arsenal in .ndia, 200,00011). of powder, many millions of percussion caps, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. Their practice has been as good as ours—if not better. We have been very short of artillerymen. One day a party of the Ath Lancers attacked and took some of the enemy's guns, and worked them for the rest of the day, bringing them into the camp in the evening amid loud and welkleservedcheers.—Times cor. With respect to the rest of the country, Peshawar continues in a state of siege. No natives are allowed abroad after gun-fire, and the mutineers were being hanged or blown from guns is fast as courts-martial could condemn them : The safety of Peshawur, and its escape from the fate of Meerut and Delhi, is due to the activity of the authorities. A general rising had been determined on, and would have taken place two hours later, on the very day of the disarma ment. This fact was elicited on the trial of the jemadar, who was executed for mutiny. The death of forty of the 55th, mutineers taken at Murdan, is described as a fearful eight. The culprits were fastened by the arms and legs to the gun wheels, with their back to the muzzles. The die. charge cut the body in two. As there were only ten guns, the mutilated remains had to be removed four times. The men who thus suffered were supposed to be honoured by this kind of death, which was reserved for high caste men only. This 55th thrived badly in their mutiny. They took refuge after the defeat of Martian with the Swat tribe of hill people, who, after subjecting them to the forcible adoption of the Mahomedan religion. sold them back to us at twenty rupees a head. Two hundred and fifty prisoners of this regiment and the 51st were in gaol waiting for trial, and twelve of the 51st had been hung. The 27th Native Infantry was disarmed a second time, as it was discovered that, not content with their muskets and bayonets, each of the sepoys was in possession of swords and maces. Of these it is said that no less than 70t) were discovered. A similar process of searching seems to have been carried out successfully (June 22) at Subathoo, Dagshai, and Russowlie, nearer Lahore, 150 swords having been found at the latter place, 70 at Dagshai, and a similar number at S übathoo.—D. News cur. At Lahore everything continued quiet up to the 28th June. The mutineers of Jullundur and Phillonr, after they were dispersed at Loodhiana, divided, some 300 in number making their way to the south-west, towards the Junin& to Rajghaut , where they were attacked and beaten on the 18th of June by a force from Saharanpur° and Deyra, which killed and wounded many, and took several prisoners. The rest retreated towards the Bikaneer territory, and were pursued by General Van Cort landt, in command of the Irregulars of Jowaheer Sing, Rajah of Bhutiana, to the vicinity of Sirsa. Here the general was joined by 2,700 irregular horse, furnished by the Rajah of Bikaneer, and thus reinforced he advanced to Khyrakee, on the Sirsa road : On the 19th of June he found the insurgents, consisting of rebel sepoys and others, strongly posted in two villages, separated from each other by the road. Both villages were attacked at once, the road being commanded by artillery, and all resistance swept away in two hours. The villages were stormed, 200 rebels killed, and 18 taken prisoners. The loss on our side was slight. Jowaheer ding's force behaved admirably. The enemy having been thus destroyed, a detachment under Captain Robert• son scoured the country, and order was gradually restored. Another detachment, consisting of a considerable body of horse and foot, under Lieutenant Pearse, was pushed on to Hisser, the scene of a late frightful massacre, and Brigadier-General Van Cortlandt was to follow in the same direction. Thus the country to the north and north-west of Delhi has been entirely cleared of rebels, and we may expect to hear that Cortlsndt's column, after reducing Hansi and Hisser, has joined General Barnard, and afforded him a useful reinforcement.—lb. - - With regard to Oude, " I fear it may be said (writes the Times correspondent) that the whole of the contingent is gone—nor the contingent only, but also the 22nd Native Infantry at Fyzabad, with a company of native artillery " : These latter troops treated their officers with respectful deference, and supplied them with boats to escape down the river Gogra, which joins the Ganges at I)inapore. On the passage down the fugitives were attacked, anti several, it is feared, killed. Sir Henry Lawrence, with the 32nd and artillery, and suct► of the native portion of the Lucknow force as has remained stanch, still holds the capital. From the large civil station of Fatehpore, between Allahabad and Cawnpore, the residents fled across the Ganges to Banda, where the Nawab received and entertained them kindly. But they had not been there many days when, on the 14th of June, the detach ment of native infantry and the Nawab's troops rose toge ther, and they fled to Nagode, which all of them reached in safety. There the 50th Native Infantry is stationed, and has not yet, to our knowledge, exhibited any un pleasant symptoms. But one cannot but feel very doubt ful of its fidelity, so rapidly has the contagion spread. The important station of Saugor, with its 31st and 42nd Native Infantry and 3rd Irregular Cavalry, is gone, though the English company of artillery, with its guns, and we hope the unarmed residents also, is safe in the fort. Jubbulpore, where the 52nd Native infantry is stationed, is certain to go too. At Cawnp're, up to the 19th June, Sir Henry Wheeler with three hundred men held out bravely, though besieged by a powerful and imposing force of rebels, who, confident in their strength, upon the 17th June, made two desperate assaults upon the British position. They were repulsed with tremen dous loss, but it was feared that Sir Henry Wheeler WWI short of provisions. The history of this mutiny and its terrible massacres is as follows : At the latest dates that general was regularly besieged by the sepoys of the Ist and 56th Native Infantry, the 2nd Light Cavalry, and the 12th Native Infantry, from Jhansi. The first three named regiments rose on the sth June, between eight and nine o'clock in the evening. Two squadrons of the 2nd, fully armed and accoutred, rushed down into the civil lines, plundered the treasure, and set fire to the bungalows. it was a sultry night, a gale of wind blew, and the flames spread rapidly. An eyewitness says that " the intolerable heat of the atmosphere, the clouds of dust raised by the storm, the houses in confla gration, and the men of the 2nd Cavalry galloping about on their horses committing devastations, altogether formed a scene baffling all description." Some of the officers and several merchants were murdered during the plunder at the station, but the majority of the Europeans succeeded in assembling within the defences prepared beforehand by the care of Sir Hugh Wheeler, whilst two officers, Lafont and Christina, made good their escape to Allahabad. Jotee Persaud had sent in supplies for the use of the Europeans, but they were scanty, and fears were evidently entertained at Allahabad that hunger might be added to the list of sufferings inflicted on the British at Cawnpore. Once confined within the intrenchments, no chance of supply can have been available until relief came from Allahabad, as the mutineers, joined by the Rajah of Bithore, had encamped to the west of the walls and closed the com munications. The Rajah of Bithore has been irretrievably thrown into rebellion by one of the most dastardly deeds that have been recorded since the disasters of Delhi. Atter the mutiny of the 10th Native Infantry at Futtelighur, 132 European civilians, men, women, and children, embarked in fifty little boats on the Ganges for Cawnpore. They reached Bithore, where, by the order of Nana Sahib, the Rajah, they were fired at in these boats with cannon—the first shot striking a lady and killing her on the spot. The boats were then boarded, the people remaining in theta landed and brought to Cawnpore, where they were hacked to pieces in cold blood. Not a soul, it is said, escaped. The 12th Native Infantry, which came to Cawnpore, com• mitted cruelties almost equally great. They rose on the