The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 19, 1857. battle. Sure enough on the morning of the 18th they evactuterl the place, and the native teachers were liberated. Hunonian, a wealthy Hindoo zemindar, befriended them until they got to a place of safety. - With regard to the present position of affairs and the nature of the intelligence brought by this mail, Mr. Hay is decidedly of opinion that Delhi will not be taken before November or December. He has visited Delhi. The fort is built after the native fashion. Heavy guns would soon batter down its walls. Unfortunately the guns which were sent to batter them down were captured by the rebels at Phillour. When Mr. Hay left Allahabad the Eng lish troops before Delhi were scarcely able to hold their own; although always beating the mutineers in every attack they had slightly receded from their original position. It takes nearly fifty days for troops to get to Delhi from Calcutta. Mr. Hay was seventeen days getting to the latter place from Alla habad. He got down to Calcutta in a steamboat. While he was on the voyage Sir Norman Leslie and other officers were massacred near Dinapore by sepoys belonging to the very regiments the mutiny of which was announced on Monday by electric telegraph. The assassins of Sir Norman Leslie were caught, tied up from the backs of elephants to a gallows, and then swung off. The soldiers of their own regiments were made executioners, and it was boasted at the time that one of the assassins was hung by his own father, in order to show the loyalty of the regiments. Mr. Hay says that many old East Indians foretold that these troops would ulti mately mutiny, and that there could be no doubt they sympathised with the assassins of Leslie and his brother officers. Their turning executioners, _ and a father hanging his own son, were only a blind. They were bidir.g their time. Mr. Hay thinks the new s of the mutiny at Dinapore is bad news, because it shows that the communications between Calcutta and Delhi may be interrupted. He thinks also that the telegraph despatch on Monday did not contain good news generally from India. It cau hardly be said that Central India is tranquillised; it must he only small portions of it. The mutinies at Dina pore and in the Bombay Presidency are ominous of evil. He was twenty days in Calcutta before be left for England ; during that time there had been two or three panics there, and persons living in the out skirts had taken refuge in the tort and on board the ships. Confidence, however, was restored when he left, owing chiefly to 1,7)0 troops from China that were landed from the Himalaya. It was at one time fully expected that the native Mahomedan servants would rebel in Calcutta. Numbers had been saying to the European children of whom they had charge that all the houses in Calcutta would soon belong to the natives. A converted Brahmin in Calcutta had been accosted by natives who did not know of his conversion, and was told that there would be a general rising in Calcutta, and that the troops would be assisted by the native servants in driv:ng out the English. About 5,000 fresh troops had arrived, and been sent up the country since the mutiny broke out. They go up by steamers as far as Allahabad, which is situated at the junction of the Junina and the Ganges. Mr. Hay, as he was pro ceeding to Calcutta, met General Havelock and his forces going up the country. He considered that Havelock would, after leaving Cawnpore, proceed to destroy Nana Sahib at Bhitoor before he went to re lieve Lucknow, to prevent Nana from occupying the rear with any force. Mr. Hay doubts the report of the death of Nana Sahib, who, he says, is as cunning as he is cruel; and it is possible that the account of his suicide is but a ruse adopted to stave off pursuit. He states that on his passage to England he met a French officer, a Captain La Fous, who had been in the Punjaub war, and knew Nana Sahib intimately, and saw him at Cawnpore after the mutiny had broken out at Delhi. To show _ . the duplicity of this scoundrel, he lamented to Capt. La Fous the outbreak, and stated that he could hardly believe it—it was most shameful. Mr. Hay considers that Agra must have fallen by this time, unless relieved. Many of the native professors and graduates of the Government universities and schools are implicated in the present revolt. Some extra ordinary disOosures have yet to be made public on this matter. Names are mentioned in Calcutta of persons who it is expected will yet be compromised. It is expected that Sir Cohn Campbell will proceed up to Allahabad, or some such central place, where lie can best superintend the disposal of troops where they are wanted. The writer asked Mr. Hay if lie had any doubt as to the ultimate defeat of the mutineers. He said he bad not the slightest doubt of their defeat. There are about 21,1X/0 European troops now up in the north-west provinces. The Sikhs, he believes, will be faithful ; at least they have no sympathy with the Mahomedans and Hindoos. The European troops are now much impeded in proceeding up the country from Calcutta in conse quence of the camping stations having been de stroyed by the mutineers. A MISSIONARY'S ACCOUNT OF THE INDIAN REBELLION. THE Rev. Mr. Hay, the American missionary in India, who escaped from Allahabad, returned to Southampton from London on Saturday night. In London he had an interview with Sir Charles Tre velyan. The Chairman of the East India Company VMS anxious to see Mr. Hay, but his wife was so ill at Southampton that Mr. Hay could not prolong his stay in the metropolis. Being one of the first per sons who have come from the heart of the mutinous districts, and being thoroughly acquainted with the history and extent of the mutiny, and with its nature and bearings, his society has been anxiously sought after for information. His account of the rise of the mutiny is exceed. ingly interesting. He states it to have been long foreseen, and that every effort in vain was made to arouse the East Indian Government to a sense of the serious peril surrounding them. In noticing the affair of the chupattees he observes that they were traced in Allahabad to Futtehghur ; but it is firmly believed they originated in Luckeow. The secrecy and rapidity with which they were transmitted were extraordinary. They are flat, thin, unleavened cakes, of large size, made of flour, water, anti a little salt. They were conveyed by the native postmen from city to city, town to town, and village to village, and delivered by the chopadars, or native watchman—an inferior kind of police —to the head man, or zemindar of the place. He, and all concemed in the conspi racy, partook of these cakes, acknowledged their mystetious import, and then manufactured others to transmit to other places, to be eaten by those who entered into the confederacy. The native Christians of Allahabad first discovered that the chupattees were passing through the city ; but although they knew that the meaning was an important one, they were not in the secret. Still all were on the qui vivo, and they had not long to wait. The people in Allahabad knew from the natives what was going on in the country long before the Government authorities heard the news. The people heard of the death of Gene rals Anson, Wheeler, and Barnard in the bazaars of Allahabad, when the Government authorities were ignorant of these events, and, in fact, denied the truth of them through ignorance. The bazaar news is brought by the native postmen, who resemble the postrunners established by the Incas of ancient Peru. Men are stationed on a road at every few miles distant, and each man runs the few miles and hands over the message or letter to another. Allahabad contained about 100,000 inbsbitants at the time of the mutiny. There had been several panics in the city for some time before the revolt b►oke out there, and three weeks before there was any fighting the city was patrolled, and Euro pean women and children were ordered into the fort. At times the alarm died away, and the women would come out of the fort. The expectation was that the city would be attacked by mutineers from Benares. At length a chief raised the standard of insurrection. No European knew who he was; some said he was a moulvie, that is, a Mahomedan religious teacher, something like the padre of the Portuguese ; others that he was a native officer ; others that he was a weaver by trade. He, however, represented himself as a viceroy of the King of Delhi. He commanded about 4,000 of the mutineers. On the 13th of June Colonel Neill, who had arrived to the relief of Alla habad, cannonaded Daraghung, a suburb. The local chief of the mutineers was taken prisoner. He was a young man magnificently dressed, and was said to be a nephew of the moulvie, who headed the mutiny inside the walls. Major Brazier, surrounded by a few Sikh soldiers, ordered the chief to be brought before him to be interrogated. Atter being questioned he was ordered to be taken to a place of confinement. His arms were loosely fastened behind him. Before be left the presence of the major he, by a great effort, caught at a sword that was within his reach, and made a cut at one of the Sikhs. Brazier and all the Sikhs fell upon him, and the former wrested the sword from the prisoner's hand; but. the enraged Sikhs, while the chief was prostrate, placed their heels on his head and literally crushed out his brains, and the body was thrown outside the gates there. After cannonading Daraghung Colonel Neill attacked and burnt the lower part of the city on the 14th of June. The headquarters of the moulvie were in the higher part of the city at the old Mahomedan gardens. There the prisoners of the mutineers were confined, and among them were the native Christian teachers belonging to Mr. Hay's mission establishment. On the 17th of June Colonel Neill, with about rioo Europeans and 800 Sikhs, completely defeated the moulvie and his 4,000 troops. The native Christians knew, from the manner in which the mutineers returned to their headquarters, bloody, hurried, and dispirited, that they had met with a defeat, and they counselled one another and their families to keep up their spirits, for they knew that the defeated mutineers would not stand another Mr. Hay proceeds to New York in the Argo. He seems to have a most intimate knowledge of every thing relating to the mutiny, and it almost seems pity that he should leave the country without giving to the people of England the fruits of his experience and knowledge of Indian affairs. jortign aio 6olonial ptelligener. FRANCE. The Moniteur of Wednesday announces that there is no foundation for the report of the formation of a Foreign Legion in the pay of England. l'he Emperor continues at the camp at Chalons. M. de Kisseleff, the Russian Ambassador, has arrived at Paris. Great preparations are being made at the Tuileries for the reception of some distinguished stranger Various rumours are afloat in Paris. It is believeo that the Emperor of Russia will he the visitor. _ . Prince Napoleon's journey to the Isthmus of Suez, lately spoken of, has been abandoned. It appears that it was not his intention to go to the Chalons camp, but that the Emperor has commanded his presence there. The Prince Bonaparte, grandson of Jerome, who is an officer in the Spahis, and who served in the Crimea on the staff of General Morris, has arrived in Paris on leave of absence. AUSTRIA. The Augsburg Gazette says that the Emperor of Austria would leave Vienna on the 16th, to pay a visit to the Prussian monarch at Berlin. As the Emperor of Russia left Berlin on the 16th, and the Emperor Francis Joseph intended to pay a visit to the ex-Emperor Ferdinand at his summer palace before proceeding to Berlin, the two Emperors would not meet at the Prussian Court. The Ost Deutsche Post, a Ministerial organ, is of opinion that " the interview at Stuttgardt is an event which should set Germany thinking." It adds that there are many parts of the Eastern question yet unsolved, and that the military resources of England are absorbed in India. PRUSSIA. The Emperor Alexander of Russia arrived at Berlin on the 14th, and left for Weimar or Frank fort on the 16th. His Imperial Majesty was accom panied by the Princes Gortschakoff, Count Adelberg, and Count Brunnow. The Evangelical Alliance has held its meeting this week at Berlin. The King signified his inten tion of being present at the cinsing sitting, which was held on Thuriday. Lord Bloomfield entered his name on the list of the members of the conference, and subscribed twenty-five thalers towards its ex- penses, and has been present at some of the meetings. ITALY. The return of the Pope to Rome, letters tell us, was not signalised by any remarkable display of enthusiasm on the part of the people. The Marquis of Normanby and the Tuscan Minister for Foreign Affairs, according to a gossiping letter from Florence, recently had a dispute on a ques tion of etiquette while the Pope was in the Tuscan capital. The British Minister and his colleagues re ceived an invitation to dine at the Pitti Palace, but to their extreme displeasure, they were not placed at the same table with the Grand Duke and the Sovereign Pontiff. A complaint was made in due form to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, but that functionary threw the blame on the shoulders of the Gland Steward. A day or two after the diplomatists had been obliged to eat "humble pie" they received another invitation to dine at Court, and accepted it, in the expectation that reparation for the slight which had been put upon them was about to be made. The noble lord and his colleagues were, however, again obliged to seat themselves at a lower table, " and since that time," says the correspondent, "the rela tions between the diplomatic body and the Tuscan Cuurt have been extremely cool." SWEDEN AND DENMARK. The King, in virtue of the terms of the Constitu- tion, has appointed a Provisional Government, oar account of hit illness. A motion was made in the Parliament at Stockholm on the 12th that the King should nominate the Crown Prince Regent of the kingdom:— Prince Charles, Crown Prince and Duke of Scania (says a letter from Sweden, alluding to the King's retirement), who has lately been nominated to the Viceroyalty of Nor• way, will, in all probability, be appointed Regent by the estates for the small remainder of his father's lifetime, and at his death he will succeed to him. Tile character of this heir to the Swedish throne, now thirty-ono years old, is not of a nature to inspire his future subjects with great confidence or hope in the result of his reign, mince it seems to be characierised by a total want of all his father's wisdom and prudence, without as yet having had any opportunity of exhibiting any more brilliant qualities. With the people at large he is understood to be popular, from his easy, affable manners, anti the exhibition of a variety of small traits of a liberal oi•hand character, but 914