The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

and two companies of our mutinous friends, the 6th Native Infantry, with them. I have been rushing about the country up to the present time. It' it has had its dis comforts, our life in the jungle has not been without its excitement. TILE MUTINY AT JHANST. The following extract from a letter, just received, giving a detailed account of the death of Captain Skene, Superintendent of the Jhansi District, and of his noble wife, also of Captain Gordon, Assistant- Superintendent, will be read with painful interest by all to whom those officers were known : Tt is all true About poor Frank Gordon. He, Alick Skene, his wife, and a few Peons managed to get into a small round tower when the disturbance began ; the children and all the rest were in other parts of the fort— altogether sixty. Gordon had a regular battery of guns, also revolvers ; and he and Skene picked off the rebels as fast as they could tire, Mrs. Skene loading for them. The Peons say they never missed once, and before it was all over they killed thirty-seven, besides many wounded. The rebels, after butchering all the fort, brought ladders aiainst the tower, and commenced swarming up. Frank Gordon was shot through the forehead and killed at once. Skene thensavr it was of no use going on any more, so he kissed his wife, shot her, and then himself. At Ferozepore, Mooltan, Abbotabad, Jullundur, and indeed throughout the whole Punjaub, it is re markable that of the very native regiments which in the first instant held truly to their colours and supported Sir John Lawrence, nearly every one has either revolted or been disarmed or, suspicion, so powerful is the influence of disaffection. In Scinde matters were quiet, and the ex•Ameers had offered to raise troops to suppress the rebellion. With regard to Madras and Bombay, though the latter Presidency is felt to be tolerably secure, it is now no secret that an alarming amount of disaffection exists in the former. Great fears were felt for Hyderabad when one rising had been attempted and put down, and the disturbances in the Nizam's dominions will not lessen the excitement among the Madras troops. Of this rising an officer from the 30th Madras Native Infantry writes, July 23 : I must tell you that la,t Friday evening, the 17th of July, the Resident got information that the Rohillas were assembling in large numbers for an attack. Well, in the evening, about 6.30, Georgie and myself were sitting in ' the verandah, when we heard the three alarm guns sound the signal for the troops to tall in and be off at once to the general parade. I went off to the mess of the 7th Cavalry to find out what was up, when I was met by a cavalry officer rushing home as hard as ho could go for his horse. He shouted to me, " The alarm is sounding "—magic words, as you may suppose. I turned, ran home as fast as my legs could carry me, got out the horse and carriage, dressed and put dear G— and the son in, and rattled off to the barracks, were we found all the 'Mem= out and the cavalry getting to saddle. By this titan en express came in to say that they--i e., the Rohillns—were attacking the Residency. Off galloped the Cavalry and the Horse Artillery; we remained at the barracks—all the ladies together at the adjutant's house. The whole force was out; we were all bivouacked on the parade-ground till about one a.m. About seven the report of guns told us that the work had commenced. But we were, as the saying is, one too many for them. They came on and got nine rounds of grapeshot, which knocked them over like nine pins. They then got into a house in the Bazaar, from which they kept up a fire on our fellows and the Resi dency all night. This house was so situated that the guns could not be brought to bear upon it, so it was resolved to wait till the morning and then have at them with the infantry. However, at four a.m. they walked off. We know of twenty-nine Rohillas picked up dead; how many wounded, of course, we cannot find out, but the quantity of blood on the floor of the house when taken possession of in the morning told that they must have suffered heavily. The troops turned out splendidly, so People have little fear of the Madrasees following suit with Bengal. The Residency has now been strongly fortified. It is supposed we shall have a row tomorrow again, as it is Friday (the Mussulman Sunday), on which day they think it a mark of zeal for their Prophet to try and rounder us; but, as our sepoys are stanch, they are likely to get more than they bargain for. To conclude with respect to the state of India, we have no wish to paint it in darker colours thr.n the truth would justify, and the truth unhappily can scarcely be exaggerated ; but here is the report of one of the must eminent mercantile firms in Cal cutta : _ _ - Calcutta, July 18. The country continues in a most fearful state. No salutary check to rebellion has as yet rewarded the efforts of our brave countrvinen, and the dread of their extertnina• lion in detail. overwhelmed by numbers, is a calamity that forces itself upon the minds of all. Cawnpore has fallen with frightful massacre, end Lucknow is in fearful peril. Retribution, although certain, is alas distant, and cannot be hoped for for the next four months. To the Government there is no revenue from Upper India and to the merchant no trade. The large native banking houses have ceased to operate, converting their wealth where they can into gold and silver, and secreting it. No trader is bold enough to send goods to the interior, and few can have the means of transmitting produce to the capital. Agriculture is neglected, and with prolonged rebellion the crops must suffer. Commercially viewed, therefore, we have here an accumulating stock of unsaleable British manufactures, THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 5,1857. for which no returns can be made. We have produce arriving scantily, which at this season should be coming in abundantly; and although much has yet to arrive, de- spatched before rebellion hail so widely spread, yet as the year draws to a close the scarcity will be apparent, and we may not have in Calcutta produce sufficient to load our ships—a feature in the trade of India hitherto unknown. The mighty calamity amongst our millions, however, most to be feared is famine, and its dread indications are already being shadowed forth. A " High Official in Bengal " writes to a friend in London : What you will be anxious to hear is the downfall of Delhi—but the Government has been es silent as the grave on the subject, since it announced the first attack upon the place, the success of which, it is now certain, must have been very insignificant. Could Delhi have been destroyed within any reasonable time, Cawnpore would never have fallen, nor Luckuow been in danger; it was the bead quarters of the insurgents, and its destruction would have paralysed them. Now I am afraid they will have very powerful reunions in half a dozen places before Delhi is mastered. While I am writing this the Government has heard from Delhi, but nothing more satisfactory than that stores and munitions of war were on their way from Philour ; there had been, I am told, another fight, in which we lost about fifty killed and as many wounded. May my next letter give brighter accaunts than are con tained in this one. As to the causes of the present rebellion, the public opinion of India is unanimous in favour of its having arisen from " our annexation policy " : Your annexation policy (writes one correspondent), as you facetiously enough term it, has been undoubtedly one of the causes of this rising of the natives. There is now hardly an independent prince left in all Hindustan hut feels the grasp of your " bloody hands " at his throat ; that some mean petty excuse may cheat him and his deseen• dants out of possessions held in their family for centuries and centuries—held long before even the name of England was heard, far less feared, in India. It may be—and, I believe, is said—most of the native chiefs are siding with us ; but, for once, let me entreat of you not to be deceived by any hope of this kind. Believe me, there is hardly one native prince left in India who would not raise his hand against you when he feels he can do so with safety ; they are now only biding their time—if the mutiny among the sepoys succeeds, or even gains a head, they will be up and join. Ask yourself is this not natural, is it not human nature ?—to suppose otherwise is to suppose the natives a different class of beings from all the rest of mankind. Do not fall into this fatal mistake. "The present rebellion," writes another, "has nothing to do with religion" : It is undoubtedly a political movement—a conspiracy hatched by the Mahomedans, fostered by the ex• King of Oude, the King of Delhi, and other princes, to eject and destroy the European power, and to re•cstablish the Mussulman dynasty. "Beyond all question," remarks a third, the annexation of dude roused not only hfahomedans, but Hindoos, to this conviction, that annexation would never cease while there was a biggali of territory or a rupee of revenue to be added to British acquisition. Anything ought to have been done with Dude short of denying the treaty of 1837 and confiscating its revenues, for even Provi dence can hardly have looked favourably on what we have been doing this way for the last fifteen years, for our inters have been so demented as to lessen our means of defence while rapidly piling up aggravations to resistance. As to the position of Calcutta, matters appear to be far from satisfactory. A general feeling of insecurity prevails in the city. A correspondent, writing on the 19th July, gives us some interesting details, and quite a refreshing illustration of Cal cutta red•tapeism I do not consider even Calcutta over•safe, and think all women and children should leave India in our present perilous times, although I do not apprehend any outbreak but what could be speedily put down. We have a good lot of troops in the fort; the volunteer guard amounts to 800 strong; and the seamen in the river would form another thousand—awkward customers with muskets and cutlasses. Besides, we could muster 1.5(5) more Christians who can fire a gun; and we are all more or less armed ; in the face of which I do not think our Mussulman friends would like to try it on. But that the feeling of insecurity pervades all classes may be gathered from the circumstance of the Go vernor-General turning out the other night at twelve o'clock' with his aides-de-camp and body-guard, and riding down to the Bank, when a heavy gun was tired off, supposed to be a signal for a rising, but which turned out to be a war steamer's mode of appi ising a pilot that he was getting up steam. The fact is the people have no confidence whatever in the Government, they see such a want of vigour and precaution. Thousands itf arms are sold weekly in the Calcutta bazaars ; small bodies of armed natives meet outside , the town ; and yet, although this is pointed out to the powers, they " pooh pooh" all idea of danger, as they have done in every instance, until this hydra headed conspiracy threatened to destroy them. I suppose they are fearful of hurting the feelings of the natives ! Theyought to disarm everybody but those having a licence to keep offensive weapons. One of the head Government officials, who lives in the suburbs, and has to pass through one of the principal haz.iara, sees every morning fellows bringing their tulwars (swords) to the armourers' shops to be ground and sharpened ; but" it is not in his department." It does not appear that very large reinforcements have yet reached Calcutta : 865 We have received in all, I suppose (writes a corre• spondent from Calcutta), about 5,000 men, denuding Burnell, Madras, and C,•slon of ell Europeans, and leaving those places et some risk. A wing of a regiment has come up from the Main itius, and the Government is making preparations far the reception of 24,000 men in the course of the next three months ; so that, if we can only "hold our own" for the present, there is no niti• mate fear ; but this army will not be one too many, for the next few years we shall require to hold India by a European military occupation. A letter from the hills, July 2nd, thus sums up the position of the country : If the real state of this country reaches England through the newspapers, you will know much more than I can tell you. The latest intelligence which has reached this from the plains hardly leaves a province in the whole Bengal Presidency where mutiny of the soldiers and insurrection of the populace have not broken out, and, as yet, not a blow has been struck by Government in selfdefence. Sir H. Barnard has been here for some weeks before Delhi, the headquarters of the mutineers, with all the European forces he can collect in the northwest provinces ; and this force, I fancy, does not amount to 5,000, while I suppose there ere not less than 25,000 determined, welbarmed mutineers within the walls of Delhi. These mutineers come out and attack our forces daily, and in the most determined, bold manner. Nor are their movements made without management; they are not only bold, but made with method ; so much so, one would suppose some milir tary European bead was directing. Whether we shall be able to dislodge them from Delhi is doubtful—l question it—without going through a regular siege—and how this is to he carried on at this season it is hard to say, for the rains have set in with terrible violence. To the west of Delhi, Hansi, Hisser, Neemnch, Mhow, Nuaseerabad, and even Gwalior, all is in open mutiny and rebellion. The scenes which have taken place in Rohilcund beggar all description. I fear few Europeans formerly located in that province will be found to have escaped alive. Up here, I hope, we shall be able to hold our own. If not, I believe our only means of safety will be in a retreat into the interior of the hills. Ido not think the natives of the plains would follow us there, and I believe the Puharries (i.e., hill-men) are very well disposed towards us ; we might there be in safety for some time at least. It is really dreadful to think that all this mischief has been caused by sheer dishonesty, mismanagement, and igno• ranee—the first of these three causes iu particular. How it will all end, God alone knows. Amidst the mass of perjury and faithlessness by the natives, some instances are given of good faith. The son of an old Indian officer, writing from Mhow on the 21st of July, details the events of the mutiny of the Gwalior Contingent, of his own escape, in company with two or three more, to Bhopawur, two hundred miles distant from the nearest British fort, and does justice to the efforts made by Holkar, who despatched bodies of faithful cavalry to bring the fugitives to Indore in safety. Fortunately, they were found on the road, and escorted safely to Mhow. Another instance relates to Rajah Soorut Sing, a Sikh chieftain, who was living at Benares under a slight surveillance at the time of the mutiny, used his exertions successfully to keep a company of his coun trymen steady who were on guard at the Mint, where all the ladies and children were collected, and has since proved himself so brave and true that the Europeans subscribed 1001., in order to present him with a handsome set of firearms. Again, at Agra, one of the officers in command gives a touching instance of the fidelity of the sepoys of his corps. Though they had joined the mutineers they refused to murder their officer, protected him and his wife from all violence, and escorted them for seven miles, carrying the lady on their crossed muskets, until the two were placed out of danger. INDIAN BAGGAGE. A CORRESPONDENT of a daily paper, who claims for himself a long experience of campaigns in India, suggests the following as the necessary outfit for India:— 1. Two camel boxes, each fitted with two rings. ''. A bed frame, with cane button', at each corner a hook which fits into the rings of the boxes, and forms a bed ; by this plan the boxes can never be stolen from your tent at night. 3. A lsrge piece of waterproof (that will stand heat) to cover the bed and bedding,—this is much better than the waterproof cases supplied by outfitters, which are useless in marching, the bed and bedding being covered and placed flat on the camel. _ _ . 4. A good horsehair mattress, pillow, bolster, blankets, tte., for bed. 5. A large•sizrd wooden tub for washing, the top making a table. The tub to contain a tin washing basin and tripod for same, a small filter, and a box to hold a few plates, glasses, knives and forks, &c. A regular canteen is the most useless and expensive article an officer can take out. A native will never replace the things in use in the can teen, and I have often seen among an officer's baggage a canteen perfectly empty, while the plates, glasses, Sc , were carefully packed up in an empty beer box. ti. One or more pairs of good thick-soled winter walking hoots; these are invaluable in India. The boots of the country do very well in dry weather, but with the least wtt they are like brown paper. 7. Flannel jacket and trousers, most comfortable to put on after a long march; also flannel bands. Liood flannel