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

768 tower to the Hindoo Rio house. Our troops behaved with the greatest gallantry and persevering endurance, and after facing very determined resistance, drove the enemy within the walls of Delhi. All this was accomplished by nine o'clock in the morning. Our loss has been compara• tively trifling, only one officer being killed ; but I regret to say that officer is Colonel Chester, adjutant•general to the army, who was esteemed by all for every qualification that could adorn the soldier. I have not been able to ascertain the particulars of our loss, or capture of guns, but I fear I cannot estimate the former under from forty to fifty killed, the number of guns taken to be about sixteen or eighteen. I hope to send you a fuller detail to-morrow. Our siege train is up, and 1 hope to open on the town without a moment's delay.—l have, &c., H. BARNARD, !fejor•General Commanding Field Force. To the Commander-in-Chief Four days later news bring us down to the 12th June. Delhi was then being bombarded : THE PRESS, AUGUST 8,1.85 Y. having been 'Drought down from the Punjaub on camels. The cavalry made the astonishing march of 750 miles in 128 days. It were well if the general commanding could get a few thousand men like these, for of reinforcements he is sorely in need, and for want of them he was, on the 16th, pausing in his attack. By the 21st, however, he would, it is thought, receive a considerable addition to his strength in the Euro. pear troops of the Jullundur Brigade, set free to act beyond the limits of the station by the mutiny and flight of the native portion of the brigade, the 6th Cavalry, and the 36th and 61st Infantry, who rose on the night of the Bth, and were chased out of cantonments till they dispersed. The Bth Foot, Major Olpherts' troop of Horse Artillery (first of the Ist Brigade), and the head-quarters of the Ist Battalion of Foot Artillery, are thus rendered available in whole or in part; and from Ferazepore, since the mutinies and the disarming, her Mtijestv's 61st is able to spare a wing for and two companies, I believe, of artillery. It is in the latter arm that the besieging force is especially weak, while the rebels are actually said to have no less than 150 guns in position. True, they have very few artillerymen, only one company to work them, but even in the hands of sepoys the great guns may do a good deal of mischief. Their number may be exaggerated, but it is to be remembered that the rebels have the great arsenal of Delhi in their undisputed possession. Yon will be anxious to know wl.•at number of the insurgent soldiery has collected in Delhi, while Generals Reed and Barnard I were waiting for reinforcements. On the 16th, according to the Judicial Commissioner of Lahore (the best antho rity now-a-days, for the telegraph is in working order be tween this city and the camp before Delhi), " 3,000 of the rebels were encamped outside the Ajmere•gate, and the force of the mutineers in Delhi appears not to ex• ceed a few thousand, even with the addition of the 60th Native Infantry and some others who have lately joined them." There is a vagueness in this account which, though perhaps inevitable. is un satisfactory. .The phrase " some others" is, it may he feared, an elastic one. Allowing that the mutineers of Jullundur and Phillour (where the 3rd Native Infantry has risen) are unable to reach the revolted capital, still from Allahabad and even lienarem, in the south (of which more presently ), and from the Rohilcund stations in the east, there is nothing to prevent the rebellious sepoys arriving at the point to which it is known they were tend ing. Not that I think this consideration a discouraging one. On the contrary, I regard it as highly satisfactory that the revolt has chosen for itself but one centre, for, that annihilated, it is utterly broken. Only knowing the rital importance of the conflict to which our generals are committed, the smallness of the force under their command—which even with reinforcements will hardly, I imagine, reach 6,0 /0 men—the great extent of the city ( five or six miles from north to south). its populousness, and the fact that on the eastern or river side it is now entirely open to the mutineers to receive men or supplies from the Du.ib—a e must not murmur against out chiefs if some days yet elapse before we hear that the place is taken. So much for the position of affairs at Delhi. With respect to the catalogue of mutinies and disarmings, we may state, first, that at Calcutta, on the 14th of June, Gove:nment received intelligence of the intention of the native troops t..) attempt the capture of Calcutta, and of the complicity of the King of Oude in the plot. An officer, writing from Calcutta, gives the follow. ing account : 17th, Tuesday —T went to bed late on Saturday night, and was woke up at two on Sunday morning with orders to assemble. On going to parade I found it was feared the troops at Barrackpore were going to break out, and march either on this or Dumdum. We set out imme• diately on the Barrackpore road, accompanied by 500 men of the 37th Foot, which had arrived the day before from Ceylon. We marched up the road nine miles, and there halted for the day. On Sunday afternoon the troops at Barrackpore were disarmed, as also all here. They delivered up their arms quietly. At twelve on Sunday night an express reached us from the Governor General, directing a party to be sent back to Calcutta instanter. I mounted immediately, and cantered in within the hour and went to the fort, where I found a force assembling to march to Garden Reach for the purpose of taking the King of Oude prisoner. It was to be a surprise on our part, and so it proved. We got there at four o'clock, sur rounded his grounds directly, and had the good fortune to find all at home. We were rather afraid he would get news as to what was going on, but we went down quietly, and the surprise was c..implete. I was ahead of the party with my n. Ills Prime Minister and the whole batch, papers and all, were seized. All Sunday there was a tremendous panic in Calcutta. Many people went on hoard the ships, and others had their carriages at their doors to be ready to start at a moment's warning. We have volunteer guards now, cavalry and in. fantry. They go the rounds at night and look brave. The 37th, in the short march of nine miles, the other night, suffered very much, and they had only been but six days on board ship from Ceylon. It was the death of one captain. The men hail the small forage cap, lit only for the barrack square in England—no protection whatever from the sun. They had white jackets on, I was glad to see; but even then the heat was so great that the crosabelt was wet through from perspiration. Stocks, of course. Another correspondent writes : Calcutta has been in a state of frightful consternation, and last Sunday the people were in groups about the city, rather grouped in houses here and there, instead of each family being in its own, with gates barricaded, and loaded Army Head Quarters, Delhi Cantonments, Jane It. We are now encamped on the Flagstaff hill, having dis- lodged the insurgents on the Nth. They fought most obstinately, and disputed the ground inch by inc . ,: ; but British courage and, I may add, ferocity forced all before them. In the enemy's camp was found a Eur.Tean actually laying the guns ! He was li - .erally cut to pieces by the enraged soldiery. It is suspected that there are others in the city. 300 of the mutineers tried to escape by getting into a Serae, but they were seen by some of our fellows, and a party went to dislodge them ; they fired from the windows, when our fellows burn open the doors, and, rushing in, killed everyone. Not one was left alive. We marched dawn to the lines by the Artillery bridge, the centre one having been destroyed by the enemy. We were under heavy fire till we got beyond the canal, but not a single casualty occurred. Yesterday they came out in force, but were driven back with great loss. The Guide Corps ant the 60th Rifles hail nearly all the fighting. Poor young Bettye of the Guides was mortally wounded. We have three batteries in posi tion now, and they are pitching shot and shell into the city very fast. The Ghoirkas who belong to our force are behaving splendidly. The city is hermetically sealed at present, so I can give you no news from thence. All was quiet at Lahore, and up as far as Sealkote, to the oth inst. It is supposed that the check the Delhi muti• nears have received have prevented other corps from showing their teeth • but there can be no doubt that the whole native army has been tampered with, and the will is not wanting to show their disaffection. Delhi once more in our possession things will probably quiet down again— not before. Although General Barnard " hoped to open on the town without a moment's delay," and did so, as it appears by the above letter, yet several days appear to have elapsed without the bombardment having hid any serious effect, for on the 19th of July was issued at Bomoay tbe following notification : Judicial Codhaissioner's Office, Lahore, 19th June, 1837. On the 18th up to four p.m. all was quiet before Delhi, and no fighting; 3,000 of the rebels are encamped outside the Ajmere•gate, and the force of the mutineers in Delhi appears not to exceed a few thousand, even after the addi tion of the COth N.I. and some others who have lately joined them. The 60th N.I. led a sortie on the 15th and suffered severely. Our army is awaiting reinforcements, a considerable portion of which left Umballah on the 1 nth, and proceeded by forced marches to Delhi. The Guide Corps and Ghoorkas have continued to dis- tinguish themselves as heretofore, on all occasions. In one of the late encounters, Sirdur Kanh Sing Houma, formerly a leader of great distinction amongst the Sirdars of the Punjaub, accompanied Captain Daly, commanding the Guides, chsrging ou foot with great bravery. He was unfortunately severely wounded, and has received a hand• some present from the chief commissioner, in token of his admiration, with a letter assuring him that his interests and those of his family will be carefully looked to by the British Government. -- (Signed) R. MONTGOMERY, Judicial Commissioner. It is difficult in believe the statement that there should be but a few thousand men in Delhi. The immense number of disatEicted who have doubtless marched to Delhi from various places must have swollan, not diminished, the defenders of the city, and the best proof that the defence is strong is General Barnard's determination to " wait for rein forcements." The Times correspondent, writing from Bombay, July Ist, upon the position of our troops before Delhi and of the moans of defence possessed by the mutineers, remarks : Whatever else may be uncertain, that Delhi was not taken on the 12th of last month is perfectly certain. it was still in possession of the mutineers on the 16th, the date of our latest accounts from the army. On the Kith or 11th a second sortie was made from the city, in which the mutinied 61th, late of the Uinballah garrison, took a leading part. Like that of the 9th, it was repulsed with eevete loss, and on this, as on the former occasion, the gallantry and conduct of the Corps of Guides was eminent. I find that not only, as I supposed, the cavalry of the corps, but also the infantry, arc with the army, the latter arms in every hand. The day broke with a report that the 2nd Grenadiers and the 70th had risen at Barrackpore, and were marching on Calcutta, and that the Queen's 37th had gone out to meet them. The 37th did march at one a.m., in consequence of alarming reports from Barrackpore of the intentions of the sepoys there ; they, however, made no move, and in the evening were disarmed to a man. This was performed only at Dumdum and Calcutta; the militia and bodyguard excepted. This 70th is the gallant and loyal regiment who desired to be sent to Delhi, and to thank whom tite Governor-General posted to Barrack pore the other day. Since these men were disarmed they have openly been selling everything and deserting in parties. If the Government had taken these decided steps three weeks ago, there would have been no panic in Cal- cutta ; but, after pooh.poohing all offers of assistance sa politely as possible, and affirtning no danger, and its full and sufficient powers to put it down at once if it should show itself—after all this to call for volunteers and to disarm every sepoy within reach were quite sufficient to throw the public at large into a state of consternation, par ticulatly as the Government bad shown its own ❑nmta takeable alarm by bringing in and hurrying through at one meeting a bill for putting the entire press, European and native, into the hands of the Governor General in council. On the Sunday they had in the fort, in irons, a spy belonging, as alleged, to the King of Ott le's party at Garden Reach. On Monday morning itefore daylight they had his highness and five of his principal people seized and lodged in Fort William. Of the general results of the movement, it may be briefly said that, while almost the entire Bengal army has ceased to exist, nearly the whole of the north-west provinces may be said to have gone, in cluding Ouio, across to likipootana, down away to the Bombay presidency. The Times correspondent writes : When I closed my last I calculated that, in one way or another, some 28 regiments of regular infantry bad ceased to carry arms for the Company. I now count up wards of 40—perhaps as high as 46. In Rohllcund probably all the four regiments are gone, certainly the two at Bareilly—the 18th and 68th, with the Bth Irregular Cavalry and a Company of Native Foot Artillery. Most of the officers have escaped, it is believed, to the hill station of Tynee Tal or elsewhere, but the Brigadier, Sibbald, is said to have fallen, and many civilians are missing. Cawnpore, we believe, has been saved by the arrival of the 84th and of the 64th, the latter from Bombay. But the 12th Native Infantry has mutinied in Bundlecund, and at Allahabad the 6th Native Infantry, which had been loud in its protestations of loyalty, and of its desire to be led against Delhi, rose and murdered Captain Bird, the Fort Adjutant, and all the Europeans they could lay hands upon. The rest took refuge in the fort, where they are still in safety, the mutineers having marched. for Delhi. At Benares the 37th Native Infantry mutinied on an attempt being made to disarm them. Joined by the 13th Irregular Cavalry and the Sikh Regiment of Loodhiana, they killed Captain Guise, of the cavalry, and attacked the guns of the European company of artillery, hut were repulsed by a discharge of grape ; and by the resolute attitude of a handful of the Queen's 13th and of the Madras Fusiliers. At Azinighur the 19th muti- nied, and shot their adjutant, Lieutenant Hutchinson- At Ghazeepore the 65th has been disarmed. At Jaun' pore the detachment of the Loodhiann Regiment followed the example of the head-quarters at Bermes, killed Mr. Cuppage, the civilian, and badly wounded Lieutenant Mara, their commanding officer. All this in the Benares district. The rest of the Dinapore division has been quiet, with the exception of one deplorable occurrence at Itohnee. Major Macdonald, Sir Norman Leslie, and Dr. Grant, three officers of the sth Irre gular Cavalry, were attacked one evening when sitting in the verandah of the major's house. Sir Norman was killed on the spot, and the other two severely wounded. The assassins, at first supposed to be disbanded sepoys, belonged, it now appears, to their own regiment, and have been given up for execution by their comrades. In the north-west, the mutiny of Lucknow wag most serious, but Sir Henry Lawrence had suppressed it, and was " grimly busy in hanging up mutineers." A report was, however, prevalent at Bombay that Sir Henry had been compelled to evacuate the city, and fall back upon Cawnpore. The mutiny broke out on the night of the 30th May : Every day of the week the Chief Commissioner, Sir H. Lawrence, had been informed that the regiments would certainly rise at night, between eight and nine o'clock, and as often the hours passed over without the slightest dis- turbance. When, therefore, the same story was repeated to the Chief Commissioner on Saturday, the 30th of May, he did not attach extraordinary importance to it, and merely took the ordinary precaution of doubling the sen tries and directing every officer to be on the look out. Nine o'clock struck, and the Chief Commissioner was in the act of remarking that the rumour had proved itself as unfounded as its predecessors, when shots were heard in the 71st Native Infantry lines. The Chief Commissioner immediately mounted his horse, and proceeded to the encampment of the 3'2nd Queen's, and then moved up to the corner of the Lucknow•road with two guns and a company of Europeans, to prevent the mutineers from coming down to the city. The remaining six guns re- mained in position at the encamping•ground, guarded by Europeans. Bungalows now began to blaze and the firing to become hotter, when General Handscombe was killed by a shot from the 71st lines, up to which he had ridden quite close, in the hopes that his presence and speech might have the effect of bringing the mutineers to reason.