The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-12 00:00:00

1204 THE WEEK. OF all the telegrams which have arrived from India during this great crisis, those received within the last twenty-four hours are about the most contradictory and the most incomprehensible. Does anybody clearly understand the exact amount of force with which Sir COLIN CAMPBELL will advance from Alumbagh? Tho East India House despatch states that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL reached Cawnpore on the 4th of November, and crossed the Ganges on the 9th "with 5,000 men of all arms," Colonel GREATHED'S column having previously advanced from Cawnpore, where it arrived on the 26th of October, to Alumbagh, "reinforced by 5,000 men." The Foreign-office despatch admitting the arrival of Colonel GREATHED at Cawnpore says that, " reinforced by 5,000 men, the column advanced to Alumbagh, where it awaited the arrival of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL." Sir COLIN CAMPBELL, it proceeds to say, reached Cawnpore on the 3rd of November, " where he remained till the 9th, waiting, it is presumed, reinforcements, which must bring up the force at Almubagh, when he joins, to close on 10,000 men." And, lastly, the Times Trieste correspon dent, who in all probability is the most accurate in his numbers, states that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL crossed the Ganges on the 10th with, "it is " believed, about 1,500 men ;" and that " Colonel GREATHED'S column," under the command of Brigadier GRANT, waa at Alumbagh awaiting the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief. From these statements we may extract two facts which afford us solid satisfaction—namely, the arrival of Colonel GREATHED with his column at Alumbagh, and the advance of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL from Cawnpore. Upon these points there appears to he no reasonable doubt. The telegrams differ in dates, but we may safely assume that by the 10th of November Sir COLIN CAMPBELL had crossed the Ganges, and that Colonel GREATHED'S column, under the command of Brigadier GRANT, was at Alum bagh. But here the confusion of figures arises, and upon no unimportant point,—the exact force composing the column of Brigs- ' dier GRANT and the column which accompanied Sir COLIN CAMPBELL. Tha East India House and Foreign-office de spatches would lead us to believe that the two columns together would amount to 10,000 men. Now, this appears to be incredi ble, if we take into consideration one or two facts. Brigadier GRANT'S column, when it started from Delhi, consisted of 1,800 men in all. After marching two hundred and fifty miles and fighting two or three battles in as many weeks, it is not to be supposed that on reach ing Cawnpore its ranks would be materially increased. Then, again, the reinforcements which had arrived at Cawnpore since the advance of OUTRAM and HAVELOCK were not of any very great strength, or surely they would not in inactivity at Cawnpore have permitted HAVELOCK and OUTRAM to run this dreadful risk for an entire month, sending only 600 men and six guns as far as Alumbagh; and Sir Court CAMPBELL, we may rely upon it, arrived at Cawnpore without bringing any material addition to the force. He could not have carried with him 2,000 men, or 1,500, or 1,000, at the rate he travelled from Raneegunge ; and, lastly, we know that rein forcements from Calcutta have been despatched up country only at the rate of about 3,000 men per month. OUTRAM and HAVELOCK had been shut up for a month in the Residency, they stripped Cawnpore of every available man when they advanced, and how, therefore, can we accent these exaggerated statements of the force at the disposal of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL? For our own part, we believe that when Sir COLIN CAMP BELL crossed the Ganges he took with him not more than 1,500 men, and that these, joined to the forces at Alumbagh, will give him a force of some 6,000 men for the relief of Lucknow. The question then arises, will he be able to effect the relief of Lucknow, assuming that Lucknow holds out to be relieved. No one can doubt that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL with 6,000 men will be able to cut his way through the 60,000 rebels surrounding Lucknow ; but we must not conceal from ourselves that the rebels, since the advance of OUTRAM, are trebled in number, and animated with the most deter mined spirit of resistance. They have strongly intrenched themselves in Lucknow, and how the Oude matchlockmen fight under cover we have already learned to our terrible cost. Lucknow is a hornet's nest. that Sir COLIN with his few thousand men must penetrate and pass through to relieve the Residency at Lucknow. That he will do so we have every confidence ; but after he has reached the Residency, what then ? Six thousand men, and the majority, we fear, not British soldiers, are scarcely a match I'm 60,000 Oude matchlockmen under cover. Again we learn to deplore that fatal apathy of a Government which for a third time compels the relief of this heroic garrison to be attempted by forces scarcely equal to the occasion. What misery has not been inflicted upon England for the last few days ! And we must wait yet to be relieved of our apprehension and our dread. With respect to the rest of India, the intelligence, though meagre, is sufficiently full to show us that the rebels are active in the field at M chidpore , Robileund, Dinapere, Saugor, Bundeleund, I and n other places and districts. We appear to have beaten them in several engagements, but our losses are generally reported to severe. Of the l'unjitith and Bombay little is said. On the whole, wo think the rebellion shows remarkable signs of activity for one " dying out,' and we see every reason to believe that great and arduous work is yet in store for our army. It is always a bad sign when a Prime Minister finds it difficult to d!!-pose of a vacant Garter. Although the honour is very great, Noble Lords do not wish to lay themselves under obligations to a Minister, THE PRESS, DECEMBER 12, 1857. unless they concur in his principles, or strongly support his personal claims. Two Dukes and one Earl have certainly refused the glitter ing insignia of our highest order of chivalry, when recently tendered them by Lord PALMERSTON. They have appeared to think that such an acceptance might be interpreted as an act of infidelity to their particular connection ; yet one of these Dukes is the head of an illus trious old English race that in late years has been particularly stead fast to the Whig connection. These rejections of the Garter, with tho circumstances of Lord HARROWBY being in the Cabinet, and Lord St. GERMANS receiving a high appointment at Court, along with the fact of the Jewish Disabilities not being taken up by Government, have naturally caused much animated observation. Lord PALMERSTON'S reply on Thursday to the simple question of Sir JOHN PAKINOTON was a laboured effort at explanation of that nature which usually fulfils the old proverb—" qui s'excuse eaccuas. Sir JOHN PAKINOTON asked whether it was true that Lord STRATFORD DE RED CLIFFE had telegraphed, and when, to her Majesty's Government that he had obtained the permission of the Sultan for the passage of troops across the Isthmus of Suez. Lord PALMERSTON in his reply not only answered Sir JOHN PAKINOTON'S question in the affirmative, but with marked hesitation he entered into a lengthy explanation why the troops were not sent overland, and his explanation is remarkable : " If, for instance," he said, " we sent 5,000 men, there would be great " difficulty of transport, Sm." No one expected in July that 5,000 men should have been sent at once by this route. Besides, setting the figure of men at 5,000 is altogether too high an estimate for Ministers whose conception of the rebellion and its necessities was so mean as theirs. The point, however, is, not the difficulties which the transport of 5,000 men would have in volved, but the ease with which 500 could have been forwarded. Every argument in support of the conduct of the Government urged by Lord PALMERSTON on this occasion was felt by every one in the House, and apparently by none more so than the Premier, to be one more point against Ministers. When he urged the want of cover for the troops at Alexandria or Suez, every one recalled the fact that the roomy hulks belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company at Alexandria and Suez were as available then as now. When he referred to troops being subjected to " severe heat" while steaming down the Red Sea, what is that, may be asked, to a three weeks' calm upon the Equator ? And, lastly, the Noble Lord reached the climax when he declared that, in a national point of view, it was of importance in putting down the mutiny " that we should do it with our own means in every respect, " and that it should not be competent for any foreign nation to say " that, if it had not been for certain facilities afforded us by friendly " Powers which might have been withheld, we should not have been " able to accomplish our purpose." This argument would apply quite as forcibly to our generals as to our men. The plain history of the whole matter is that the Government underrated the crisis, and thought it much more agreeable to speculate in comparative inactivity upon our chances of success than to endeavour by a vigorous application of tho means at their disposal to place that success beyond a doubt. We are sincerely glad that Mr. DEEDES has been returned for East Kent without opposition to his claims. At the general election Mr. DEEDES was defeated on a narrow majority by Sir EDWARD DERINO. The poll stood—" For Dering, 2,858 ; for Deedes, 2,216 ;" and certain anti• Conservative politicians rejoiced loudly at the defeat of Mr. DEEDES. In any election for East Kent it would be only natural that the name of Dering (one of the most ancient of Kentish families) should command great weight. On the present occasion neither the Liberals nor the half• Liberals have been able to start a candidate for East Kent ; and although we do not concur on all points with Mr. DEEDES, we are convinced that his conduct as representative for East Kent will give ample satisfaction to his numerous Conservative sup porters. It is really extraordinary to observe how on second thoughts " the country " has reversed so many of the judgments of the last general election. The means by which the reinforcements sent from this country to India have been forwarded will, we sincerely trust, become the subject of a searching Parliamentary investigation. The question is one of the utmost importance, and one which has influenced, and will con tinue seriously to influence, the fortunes of the war. It is not with the view of insisting that this Minister or that Minister is to blame that we refer to the subject; but, for the satisfaction of the public, we think the point in dispute, whether or not the troops despatched were forwarded in the most expeditious manner at the command of the Government, should be satisfactorily cleared up. It is a question which concerns the Cabinet collectively. The responsibility does not rest upon any special Minister, but upon her Majesty's Government ; and in this view we are supported by the opinions of various members of the Cabinet who at different periods during the last session ex pressed themselves upon the point at issue. On the 6th of July last the Earl of CARDIGAN urged upon Government the necessity of despatch in►g the reinforcements by steamers instead of sailing-vessels, and what did Lord PANMURE reply? He said that after the most anxious consideration " the Government" had arrived at this conclusion— " That from the difficulty in procuring steam-vessels of the requi " site description, and the delay caused by the number of in " termediate points at which they are obliged to touch, sailing vessels " would reach their destination as soon, if not sooner, than steam-vessels." It is reasonable to suppose that if these difficulties existed on tho oth of July, they were in full force four days afterwards. Yet on the 10th we find Mr. VERNON SMITH, in reply to Captain VIVIAN, announcing that as 4,000 additional men were to be sent out to India at once, the " Government" had resolved to despatch in steamers, not the whole bib. alll