The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

Bombay column at Mhow was on the point of ad vancing to Indore ": Now, however, on the report of a movement by the marauders to the southward, the main body of the column holds fast, while a troop of dragoons (14th) with two guns and a wing of the 25th Native Infantry falls down the road to the river as far as Manpoor. 7'he "'reservation of the line of the .lerbudda, the prevention of all disorderly persons from crossing to its southern bank and thus entering the Deccan or Candeish, is of great importance. It is with this same view that a party of the 28th Madras Native Infantry has moved down the river from Hoshting abad to prevent a body of loose plunderers from crossing at Hindia, or to destroy them if they have crossed. The column of the Hyderabad contingent from Edlabad has also crossed the Taptee aad advanced to the Nerbudda, and it is probable that the Bombay flying column of dra goons, guns, and infantry will be pushed forward to Mhow from Aurungabad. The insurrection of the Bheel tribes in the Bom• bay Presidency, which commenced in the hills over hanging the Nerbudda's right bank and the road from Bombay to Gwalior, has spread southwards, and threa tens the complete occupation of this " line of the Ner builda." The Meels have appeared near Mulligaum and Dhoolia, at Seerpore, where they committed depre dations. They plundered a village called Pullusnir, at no great distance from Ahmednuggur, and stopped the post-dak between Bombay and Mhow. They now hold a village near Nassick called Sinnur, where they were attacked, with an insufficient force, by Captain Henry, superintendent of police at Ahmednuggur, on the 4th of October. Captain Henry, unfortunately, lost his life in a most gallant attempt against great odds. The 2601 Native Infantry has been moved from Bombay, and some Poona!' Horse despatched from Seroor, writes the c•trrespondent of the Daily News, to put dowr these predatory tribes, despicable enemies at all times, but peculiarly annoying at this moment, when troops are required elsewhere. Exactly, that is the point. These petty risings are despicable per se, but in the aggregate they paralyse the concentration of troops, destroy any system of combined operations, and hold in check and in detail an army which concentrated could conquer a province. It was this very rising of the predatory tribes and of the inauguration of a predatory war that Sir Charles Napier feared more than any other event in India. These symptoms therefore are to be watched narrowly, and every allowance to be made fur their effect upon the contemplated operations of the army of relief. In the Saugor and Nerbudda territories there is great cause for anxiety. The fort at Saugor is in a peril- OM position, alone in a hostile country, with a garrison of only 123 fighting men, with nearly 200 women and children and a large arsenal to protect. The Madras colutun has been forced by the mutiny of the 52nd at Jubbulpore to fall back for the pro tection of that important station. On its way it came upon the 52nd, drawn up to oppose its passage. "My last," writes au officer from Jubbulpore, Oct. 0, "would tell you of the mutiny of the 52nd—how one detachment of the regiment allowed two officers to escape, while another had made a prisoner of poor M'Gregor; and how the two companies, with the Kamptee column, had been quietly disarmed, that Duinoh had been abandoned, and the column was on its march back to Jubbulpore On the 26th the column was at Singrampore. The next morning the column was to march to Kuttingee k ten miles) at daylight, but at two o'clock a.m. the Grena dier company of the 33rd, under Lieutenant Watson, started with the intention of securing the boats on the Heron river. Major Jenkins, quartermaster-general, went with Watson. After riding about three milea they had got about 200 yards in front of the company. Sud denly a bugle in front of them sounded the tire; " snick, snick " went some muskets, then a regular volley. " Holloa," said Jenkins, " here we are in the midst of them." Dark though it was, they could see they were surrounded by mepoys; they were the rebel 32nd advancing to attack the Kamptee column. One sepoy stepped close up to Watson and tired in his face ; the ball only gave hint a gash under the eye. He rode the man down, but he himself fell in doing so. He regained his feet, but fell again and again. Somehow he managed to catch hold of Jenkins's stirrup, and ran on; his horse trotted up to him, and he contrived to mount. Both then cantered on, but immediately came on the rear guard. " Ilait, who comes there ?" called out the leading file. They gave no reply, but tlaah , Nl through unhurt, though exposed to the fire of the whole guard. Was it not a wonderful escape ? Jenkins's horse had two balls in him, and Watson's boy, carrying his rifle, was shot dead ; they bid in the jungle till tlic column came up in the forenoon ; they were re ceived with shouts and cheers, for every one thought them killed. The mutineers hail no bayonets fixed. The Grenadier company fell back on the column in good order, which, being wanted of the state of affairs, advanced at daylight and soon came iu sight of the tnutineers, advanc ing steadily along the road in ctilutnii of sections ; whet , within 300 yards of them our guns were unmasked, hut just as they opened fire the mutineers wheeled backwards right and left, and got into the jungle, which was very thick, and came quite close to the road. It is believed that in the course of the morning the mutineers lost about 120 men ; there were many hundred Bundelahs with them. Our loss was trifling; a few men wounded and a trumpeter killed. THE PRE S S, NOVEMBER 21,1857. On coming near Kuttingee the body of poor M'Gregor was found, pierced with eight or nine bayonet wounds, a shot in the neck, his arm gashed and broken ; his body was brought in and buried the next day at noon : A wounded havildar and sepoy were taken prisoners at Kuttingee and hung on the spot. After the column moved on the mutineers returned, cut down the bodies, and buried them with military honours! The column came in here on the Ist, and Colonel Millar assumed command of the station. We intended to have left this on the 7th, but on the sth the road was allowed to be un safe ; it has been unsafe any day for the last three months! Bergee, fifteen miles from this on the high road to Kamp. tee, was burnt by rebels. On the 27th or 28th a large ksfila was plundered at the Silwa Ghat, five miles further on. Sixteen mutineers of the 52nd were at Bergee on the 4th; they cut off the noses of some Bunyahs who had gone to buy ghee, and one of them, known to be the principal in the murder of poor M'Gregor, sent a message to Captain 31oxon, 52nd; they hoped to serve hint the same way; he had offered 20)) rupees for the colours ; they had intended to collect a party and attack Jubbul pore ; that they would bring the colours with them, and he might then lake them if he could ! Yesterday morning a party from this were sent to clear the road of the villains; and as Cumberlege, with the 4th Cavalry, en route here, was only three miles beyond Bergee, it was hoped that the rebels would be captured or done for. This expedition was " unsuccessful :" I hear toglay that the expedition was unsuccessful ; it is said that the rebels have retired to a hill like a natural fortress. I imagine some effort will be made to dislodge them, as the infantry have not returned and the cavalry are still on the other side of the river. Gunnesgunge, another place on the road, is also occupied by rebels— Gonda, I believe. The main body of the mutinous 52nd are gone up the Mirzapore road; we heard of them et Sehora ( twenty-five miles from this) two days ago. Our Calcutta dak has been interrupted for two or three days, but is now open, so I daresay the mutineers have kit the high road. So far, then, Jubbiepore is safe, but its position is critical, for Nana Sahib and the Dinapore and Gwalior mutineers are unpleasantly near. As to the conduct of the latter, there seems to be no authentic intelligence. The following narrative, from a young officer in India, under date " :llehidpore, Sept. 27," is ex tremely interesting as exhibiting to us the quality of the men with whom we have to fight in Central India. the nature of the rain in those districts, from which we may fairly infer what that rain leaves behind in a swampy country, and, lastly, what an invaluable gift is presence of mind : There has been a terrible inundation here ; Dart of the infantry and the whole of the artillery lines, and three bun galows were washed clean away ; 2,000 houses in the city of Mehidpore, and an equally large number in the city of Oogien, destroyed. I fortunately escaped. There are only three officers here besides myself. There is no officer with the artillery—two 12. pounders, two 24-pounders, and two 9-pounders, with the native artillery, were left to take care of themselves. There are a lot of Wilayatees and Mehwatees with eighteen pieces of artillery, at Memasor, but if they come this way we think we can get our men to pitch into them. There are of course a number of bad men in the regiment from Oude, &c., but the good men predominate, and most of the artillery may, I think, be depended on, The Wilayatees are all Mussulmans, for the most part composed of Atlghans, Beloochees, and the rascals of the north-west and Rohilcund. They are the tinest-looking men I have ever seen, and are armed to the teeth and dressed most picturesquely, but are most bloodthirsty, murderous scoundrels, and are very bitter against us. They are moreover superb swordsmen, and have no want of brute courage, so if cur men only stand true, we shall have a jolly fight. I had a very exciting, but must unplea sant ride of seventy-four miles from Mhow to this place• In addition to a very gocd chance of being murdered, the road was knee-deep in mud, and I had to swim several streams, which I found rather difficult, as they were running like mill sluices, and I had on jackboots, sword, revolver, &c. It rained fearfully nearly the whole time, and you may form some idea of the difficulty of the road, when it took me from morning to near midnight to ride twenty miles, and that too on by no means a bad horse. I had to sleep in my clothes drenched as they were, but my greatest misfortune was getting all my arms wet, and so being nearly defenceless. I had to swim a river near Oogein. It was evening, and my horse having laboured through the mud all day was very tired, so when I gained the opposite side of the river—tha bank being very steep — my horse fell backwards with me into the river, and one of the three Mahuratta horsemen who were with me was carried down the stream, horse and all, hut luckily we both escaped. When I got into the town the headman of the pl a ce would nut let me stop with him, as he was afraid of his men making an end of nu:, so I went to a lliuduo temple, where the Gosaince, the Gooroos, and other holy Brahmins received me rather well, and one of them gave me his turban to wind round my loins, another gave me a blanket, so I stripped off my wet clothes, and laid down to sleep on the cold damp flaor, and I slept like a top. In the morning I started fur ltvroghur, the fort of the Baba Huiry Narain, in order that I might deliver a message to him from the political agent, and get an escort to go with me to Mehidpore. When I got to the banks of the river l had to wait for a boat, as it was impossible for me to cross it otherwise, it was so very wide and fearfully rapid. As I was standing there ( after having given my horse to it man whose profession it is to swim horses over rivers) I was surrounded by some fifty or sixty Wilsyatees. The 1127 scoundrels favoured tne with some most unfriendly looks, and began deliberately to light the matches with which they discharge their matchlocks; there was no doubt of their intentions, and there was no possiblity for a man dressed as I was, with long heavy boots on, to escape by swimming, and my revolver and gun were so wet there was no chance of their going off ; so I put the best face I could on the matter, took out my cheroot box, and walking up to the man who looked the biggest ruffian of them all, asked him to give me a light; this he did from the very math which was fixed !n his gun. I believe I astonished them by my cool impertinence, as they stood quite still for some few minutes, and just then my escort came up with the boat from the Baba Sahib, and took me across the river in safety. I stopped with the Baba Sahib two days, dressed as a native, and he then gut five trustworthy troopers to send with tile. I started for Mehidpore, and got in here all right. We have just heard of a tight at Neemuch, and a report of the fall of Delhi. God grant it may be true; if so, the contingent will then stand firm. Only fancy my having passed through Indure ( where all Holkar's mutinous troops are) unobserved. Was I not lucky ? The following is an extract from a letter from Mr. George Palmer, of the Bengal Civil Service, dated from Camp Meeranpore in the Mozuffernuggur dis trict, shows the way in which the revenue is now collected : Wince I have been here I have not been idle; in six daps I collected and sent into the chief station 30,000 rupees, with a very small exception nearly clearing all the balances due to Government on account of the last half-year's revenue in this section of the district. On one or two occasions I had to make a demonstration of force (and once had to punish), surrounding villages be fore dawn with cavalry, driving their flocks all into one spot, placing sentinels over them, and then putting the village under an interdict until the money was forthcoming, but generally the appearance of two troopers carrying with them a bit of paper has been sufficient. It is a good instance of the effect of prestige with these people. Here, all along the river bank, all round where I am now writing for miles, fur weeks and weeks the country was at the mercy of the tioojonrs and other scoundrels, who collected in mobs of some hundreds, all well armed, stopped the roads, plun dered and burnt every village that was not in concert with them, and which did not pay down very large sums as black mail. I came down here with twenty-five troopers of an Irregu lar Cavalry Regiment, including the native cavalry officers. Thr country at this season is generally quite impracticable tor cavalry, and, as you very well know, if 100 or so of determined men, though untrained, were to make a stand in a village with mud walla, twenty-five of the best troopers in the world could not turn them out; yet, as soon as I came here nut merely dill all crime cease and the roads become open and sate, hut all the ringleaders bolted, and are still in hiding; but I am glad to find an English offi cer and handful of troopers such a sugbear. The Maharajah Scindia has certainly evinced a really stanch spirit, and shown a considerable amount of skill in keeping his mutinous contingent in hand during the siege at Delhi. The troops, discontented with the Maharajah, bad withdrawn to Moorar, at no great distance from Gwalior, taking with them treasure and guns. They were joined there by muti neers from Indore and the 23rd Bengal Native Infantry, which mutinied at Mhow. The Maharajah on his part assembled his subordinate chiefs, who seem to have had little sympathy with the contingent, and with their assistance kept a bcld front towards the mutineers, erecting, it is said, batteries of artillery to oppose those which the Moorar men had erected against him. In the meantime the Indore and Gwalior contingents (pan-elle:1, and the former moved across the Cbumbul to Dholpore. Matters became gradually worse at Delhi. The prospects of rebellion darkened, the Maharajah took advantage of all this, bore at times hard words from the contingent officers who came to the Durbar, but at last suc ceeded in enticing hack to their allegiance first one regiment, then another, and has at last reduced the whole of his army to comparative obedience. At least this is the account of a native eye-witness and resident, who writes between the Bth and 14th Sept. Another native ]Etter from Gwalior, September 25, says : The Maharajah, having assembled a considerable num ber of his riots, surrounded the mutinous troops there on all sides, and asked them either to fight or give up their arms. On which the mutineers, seeing no other alternative, laid down their arms and quietly left the Gwalior territory, and are now on their way w their homes. Captain Dennys, Lieutenants Renyon and Bannerman, late of the Kotka Contingent, have joined I3rigadierGeneall Lawrence's camp at liewar, who has a troop of horse artillery, about 2.50 of her Majesty's s3rd Regiment, two squadrons of the Ist Lancers, and 2' l o of the Mhairwarrali local battalion, to meet the Erinri ors mutineers, who are said to be in a fort at Soctjut calle d ♦ .sh ; the mutineers are said to have seven guns, and 1 ; 00 peke , ' men. With respect to the state ( f the Bombay army, very little is reported. The ce itral and southern districts of the Presidency ale q iiet, observes one writer on the 17th Oct., but Bombay itself has had se lition in its heart, and 1 as witnessed the inflic tion of capital punishment l y sentence of court martial : The day before yesterday a drill-harildar of the Marine Battalion, a 3bibbulinan; and a private of the 10th Native infantry, a high•ctate Hindoo, were blown from 8-uoundtr