The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-19 00:00:00

BENARES

The following is an extract of a letter from the Rev.
James Kennedy, dated Benares, December 5 :
" All is quiet at Juanpore. The Oude rebels have
not followed the Ghoorkas, as it was supposed they
would have done. They remained on the frontier.
Thisis rather strange considering their strength, and the
enconragernemt to advance by the retirement of the
Ghoorkas. This backward move of our allies is said to
have excited in our enemies the suspicion that we
were laying a trap for them, and therefore they feared
to come on. Long may their fears continue I There are
now at Juanpore 500 European soldiers, 500 Madras
Bepoys, and 2,000 Ghoorkas, with artillery—a force
deemed sufficient to inset any number coming from
Oude. We have no reason for apprehension at Benares.
If you see any statement to the contrary you may for
one safely disbelieve it. I have seen in Calcutta news-
papers' statements about our danger, which have no
foundation in fact, or rather no foundation equal
to their support. The order for the formation of
an army here is suspended, partly, I believe, be-
cause the authorities are satisfied that the danger
of Bemires being attacked from Oude has been
generally overrated, and they deem the force at Juan-
pore quite sufficient for our defence (we always have
here a garrison of MO or 400 inen) ;and partly because
the demand for troops further up the country is very
urgent. As English soldiers are passing through daily,
in the event of any imergenay a large body may be very
soon concentrated in this city."

OPERATIONS IN LUCKNOW. - RETIREMENT
OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL ON CAWNPORE.

In our last account from Luaknow we described
its successful relief, and the memorable interview
between Sir Colin Campbell and Havelock. This
occurred on the seventeenth of Noveinber. On the
18th, 19th, and 20th our guns were employed in
firing
i
at and shelling the palace, preparatory, it was su
posed, to an attack on the city, n which the enemy still
clustered
in swarms. But it was soon found that,
although Sir Colin had a 'efficient force perhaps to
execute this manceuver with success, yet in &tempting
it he must lose an enormous proportion of his army, and
possibly be unable to escort the ladies and wounded to
Cawnpore. Every consideration gave way to this most
paramount one. It was by no means an easy matter to
move the ladies out of the place. The *ace was not
taken; the enemy were still pouring in • musketry fire I
from all directions; and one of their gime firing round I
shot proved very troublesome. However, the operation ,
commenced on the 21st, was oompleted on the 22nd, and
on the evening of that day the form retired. The rear-
guard was formed by the LUOIMOW defenders, under the
command of General Outram.
On the 24th, without being in the slightest degree
molested, the force retired on Alumbagh, whence the
road to Cawnpore was open. On the day following Out-
rain's rear guard rejoined them and—Havelock died.
At the 27th Sir Colin set out from Alumbagh, on his
return to Cawnpore, leaving Sir James Outram with •
thousand men to hold the former place. The line of
march, including besides the troops, ladies, wounded,
and camp followers, extended over eight miles, and the
rear guard never came up till the following morning.
On the 27th they marched 14 miles, and on the 28th
they left their ground at 7 a.m., marched for 12 hours—
thirty miles—without intermission. The troops tired
and hungry, were delighted at the approach of food and
rest; but many got none. Sir Colin Campell had heard
heavy firing in the direction of Cawnpore, and ordered
the artillery and cavalry to push on without delay. A
message too had reached him to the effect that the
Gwalior troops had attacked the elem.
Cawnpore had been left under the command of Gene-
ral Windham, the "hero of the Redan." He had
with him about 3,000 men, consisting of portions of the
34th, 64th, 82nd, and 88th regiments, besides artillery.
It is said that his orders from Sir Colin were on no
account to risk an engament. However that may be, he
heard on the 20th that the Gwalior rebels were advanc-
ing on Cawnpore. On the 26th information reached
him that the advanced guard had arrived at Pandoo
Naddy, about eight miles from Cawnpore. Them were
not the Gwalior troops; they were Koor Singh's rabble,
who, having been beaten out of Behar in August by
Vincent Eyre, had since joined the Gwalior disciplined
troops, and had come on as their advanced guard.
General Windham, thinking they were the Gwalior
troops, went on the 26th to attack them, and after a
contest of an hour and half's duration beat them. He
thought most probably that this defeat had disorganised
the rebels. At all events, all accounts agree that no
precautions were taken against • surprise, and that our
standing camp remained as though we were in a peace-
ful cantonment. But it would appear that the Gwalior
men were rather earaged than discomfited. They had
sent out Koor Singh 's rabble as a "feeler," both to
deceive Windham and to mask their own movements.
They were near being successful. Finding from Wind-
ham's attack on Koor Singh that he was prepared to
expect them from the east aide of Cawnpore, they made
a circuit, and on the morning of the 27th marched on
the station from the westward. Instead, however, of
attacking with promptitude, they contented themselves
with assuming a threatening attitude at Nawabunge, a
suburb two miles from our camp. This enabled Wind-
ham to make preparation. He ordered out the
troops, and marched to attack the rebels with a
larger number of Europeans than the lamented
Havelock ever had under his command. Our
troops, accustomed to be led to victory, went on with
their usual dash, the 64th, one of Havelock's victorious
regiments, leading. They charged a battery, in the left
centre of the enemy's line, and gained it, the enemy
yielding to them at every step. "B 7 advancing the
other regiments to support the 64th, says our autho-
rity, "the victory would have been assured; but they
were left alone, and the enemy Closing on them with
their left wing, they suffered very severely; they were
compelled to abandon the guns they had gained. The
want of a General was every where conspicuous; con-
fusion reigned on all sides; no distinct orders were
issued, and our troops beat a hasty, it may be called a
disgraceful retreat, into the entrenchments, leaving
standing camp, stores, camp equipage, and the entire
station of Cawnpore to the west of the canal in the
hands of the enemy. Our loss was proportionately
heavy, and some of our men, and even some officers, fell
alive into the hands of the enemy. It is stated in pri-
vate letters that one of these were forthwith hanged,
• sowed beaten to death with shoes, and • third tied to
a cart-wheel, which in • few successive revolutions
crashed him to death. Our camp and stores they
burned, and that same evening, advancing *lose to our
entrenchment, they took possession of and burned the
whole of the sold weather clothing for our men, which
had been stored up at Cawnpore."
On the following day the rebels attacked the entrench-
ments, commencing with a very heavy mooned° from
the right and left of their line. Windham attempted •
sortie, in which, after some hard fighting, the Rifles
managed to capture two guns, but our right were driven
beck with much loss. It was the sound of the firing on
this day which reached the ears of Sir Colin Campbell:
• messenger at the same time arrived with accounts of
the critical state of Windham's party. Had the rebels
at this time cut the bridge of boats, which affords the
only communication with Oade, Sir Colin would have
found it • difficult matter to cross the Ganges, but they
let it remain, and by so doing were lost. The move-
ments of the favourite lieutenant of Sir Charles Napier
were too prompt for them. With his artillery and
cavalry, he marched 38 miles in 15 hours, crossed the
Ganges by the bridge of boats on the night of the 28th;
on the next day fell upon the rebels, drove them back
(in a way which made the troops feel that they once
more had a General at their head) into the town, and
then returned to escort the ladies and wounded across
the river. Although harassed in this operation by the
rebels, who poured in a desultory fire from the town, and
threatened on the left bank by the Oude insurgents, he
in the space of two days successfully effected this very
delicate operation. He did not at once attack the
enemy. Commanding from the entrenchment, the
head of the road to Allaliabail, he made arrangements
for • safe escort for the ladies, sick, and wounded, as
far as that station, remaining meanwhile on the defen-
sive. On the morning of the 6th, the last wounded man
having left the entrenchment, he turned his attention to
the rebels, and at 11 o'clock moved out to attack
them.

A report has reached us—we regret to add, from a
reliable source—that as soon as Mann Sing's adhesion to
the insurgent cause in Oude became known, al line small
Talookdars, who had hitherto stood aloof, hastened to
make the best terms they could for themselves with the
rebels. It is stated that, with a view to make their ac-
cession the more acceptable, such of them as had previ-
ously concealed and protected European fugitives, de-
livered them up to the enemy, and that all our unfortu-
nate countrymen and countrywomen thus surrendered
have been butchered.—Daily News.

Brigadier James Hope Grant, C. 8., of the 9th Lan-
oars, who defeated the Owalior mutineers at Seraighaut,
on the Ganges, has been in the army about 30 years and
is well accustomed to Indian warfare, having been in
India since 1842, when he accompanied his regiment
there. He served during the war in China as Brigade-
Major to General Lord Saltoun, and was present at the
assault and capture of Chin Kiang Foo, and at the land-
ing before Nankin. As Major of his regiment he served
with distinction at ;Sobraon in 1846, and in the second
war in 1848 and 49 he commanded his regiment in those
campaigns, including the passage of the Chenab at Ram-
nuggur, where the gallant Havelock, brother of the
brave hero, whom the nation now deplores, fell. He
also took part at Chillianwallah, and was present at the
battle of Goojerat. At the outbreak of the mutiny Colo-
nel Grant was stationed with the head-quarters of the
9th Lancers at Umballah, and, when the focus of the
revolt appeared at Delhi, he was ordered down with his
regiment. At the assault on that city he commanded
the Cavalry Brigade in the column selected by General
Sir A. Wilson to attack Kissengunge. After the moult
and capture of the city Brigadier Grant pursued the re-
bate to Ca ampere. He obtained his eornetcy in August,
1826; was gloated as Lieutenant on the 26th of Feb-
ruary, 1829; Captain on the 29th of May, IKIS • Major
on the 22nd of April, 1842; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
on the 7th of June, 1849; Lieutenant-Colonel on the
29th of April, 1850; and Colonel on the 28th of No-
vember, 1854.

THIL Ktwo OP DittErL—We understand that the
Government of India has ordered an inquiry for the
purpose of ascertaining whether the statementa made by
the !Friend of hulk as to the treatment of the King of
Delhi and his son are true.

WHAT A DISAPPOINTICHNT !—The Indian correspon-
dent of the Daily News says - -General Windham came
out, to use his own expression, "in order to take
ipelhi," and expressed great disappointment on learning

that what he considered his special work had been done
by General Wilson. He almost quarrelled with Sir
Cohn Campbell, because he would not suffer him to go
up to Lucknow to supersede Havelock. Knowing the
calibre of the man, the Commander-in-Chief replied
that he intended to command at Lucknow himself, and
gave General Windham the easiest post of all, that of
Cawnpo e
THE INDIAN NATIVE CHARACTER. Nothing SO
thoroughly manifests the generous credulity of English-
men as the extent to which the cruelties practiced
throughout the Bengal insurrection everywhere filled
them with astonishment or took them by surprise.
Kindly and cordially by nature, irascible and violent at
times, but never cruel or vindictive, the Englishman
forgot the lessons Oriental history had taught him, or
believed that, if such barbarities as we have just seen
had once prevailed, they had long since ceased to be pos-
sible. Toldlhourly by the native that Hindooism was un-
changeable, himself continually in the habit of assert-
ing that the Bhahmin must remain through all time that
through which all time had been, he forgot that the fun-
diniental feature of the Bralnnin character had been
that very peculiarity which be now imagined to have
disappeared. The frigntful change of relations that haa
within the last six months, occurred betwixt the native
and the Englishman arises from this—that we now for
the first time, perceive what we all along ought to have
known, that cruelty and caste are synonymous, and that
the one must remain so long as the other endures The
native, too, feels that he has been found out; that he
has heretofore got credit for virtues to which he could
lay no claim; and that what were wished to be con-
sidered venerable prejudices or harmless penal/Atka
furnished the rudiments or the elements of the darkest
and foulest crimes. We have now the key to the domestic
slavery, thetorture, thesuttee, andinfanticide, the widow
and child murder—for these are the names by which they
ought to be called—which for 20 centuries at least, have
been native usages. We suppressed by the strong arm of
authority the external embodiment, and fancied that
when we had plucked the leaves or struck down the
twigs the tree was dead. The summer of its strength
returned, and its luxuriant shoots sprang out in their
freshest vigour at Meerut, Delhi, and Cawnpore.

LORD SHAFTESBURY ON CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.—
A public meeting was held on Tuesday week in Exeter-
hall to consider the future relation of the British
Government to religion in India. The Chairman, in
introducing the business, said that this appeared to him
to be • great dsy for the cause of missionary enterprise.
There were none who could say the missionaries had
done too mush in that sphere, and he did not mind oil-
ing that the missionaries had done too little. He would
ask where the mutinies first appeared? Was it in the
presidency of Bombay, where, as the Rev. Mr. Wilson
had told him, there were the greatest number of faithful
Christians, and where Christianity had been encouraged?
It wee not in that portion of our Indian empire, but it
was in the Bengal district where they appeared ;
where everything was done to prevent the opening of
the Word, and where the Government had used, and
still exercised, that baneful and pernicious practise of
not introducing and encouraging the spirit of Chris-
tianity. He had said before that this was a great time for
missionary operations, and he thought that had it not
been for the suppression of the Word of God in the
Bengal presidency they might now have had there a
harvest of faithful believers. They had not met there
to discuss the tale of the mutinies, but to call public at-
tention to what had not been done, and to tell the pub-
lic that it must be the business as well as the duty of
the Government openly to declare that the Government
of India is a Christian government, with Christian pur-
poses, and intending to pursue a Christian course of
conduct; that it will put before the people of India the
truth as it is, and that it will allow no impediment to
the operations of the missionaries; that they will not
give the slightest encouragement to anything like idola-
trous worship. The Government must also declare
that if they chose to maintain the schools and
colleges, and they had no occasion to maintain them
unless they choose, they must introduce the Bible into
the whole of them. It was perfectly monstrous that
the Government supported these schools and colleges,
and used the funds, and yet allowed the people to
believe that the Bible was not the right book to use,
The Government must adopt one of two courses. They
must either give up their connection with the schools
and colleges, or they must introduce the Bible into them.
In fact, they must act in accordance with what that
great man Sir J. Lawrence said, and be no longer trai-
tors to their God. The Government must allow all to
stand up boldly and declare what their relgion is, and
they must abstain from continuing that abominable
course of conduct of saying that because • man gives up
that religion he was born with he must be branded and
declared unfit to hold any position in the public service.
They must be careful that by no direct or indirect
means must they cause or induce the natives to quit the
religion of their fathers. Let the Government in any
act of proselytism only act in one way, and that by
giving to the natives a pure model of Christian religion.
The Government must also, say that the whole of the
officers shall behave with greater courtesy towards the
natives than they hitherto have done. And he must
say this, that the prejudices of the natives must be
respected, for we too had ours, and we wished them
respected. But the natives of India had prejudices in
favour of most improper things, while our prejudices
were in favour of public decency; they had prejudices
in favour of Vishnu, and we had ours in favour of
Christ. Let there be an equality, and let them exact a
promise from the natives that they shall not interfere
with our prejudices. Referring to the question of caste,
the noble chairman condemned it as being most disgust-
ing, and expressing a strong conviction that it ought to
be entirely swept away. The best thing to do would be
to ahoy them that we did not like it, and they would
soon get rid of it themselves. There was one class in
India, and they were those without caste, that should
first be turned to, and it would be found from that clan
there could be obtained a sufficient number of recruits
to hold the whole of our Indian empire. He ventured
to forewarn the Government that there was a strong,
deeply rooted feeling on this question, and he ventured
to forewarn them not to run counter to that feeling.

HAVELOCK.
(From Punch.)

He is gone. Heaven's will is best:
Indian turf o'erlies his breast.

Ghoul in black, nor fool in gold
Laid him in you hallowed mould.
Guarded to a soldier's grave
By the bravest of the brave,
He bath gained a nobler tomb
Than in old cathedral gloom,
Nobler mourners paid the rite
Than the crowd that craves a eight,
England's banners o'er him waved—
Dead, he keeps the realm he saved.
Strew not on the hero's hearse
Garlands of a herald's verse:

Let us hear no words of Fame

Sounding loud a deathless name:
Tell no of no vauntful Glory
Shouting forth her haughty story.
All life long his homage rose
To far other shrine than those.
_ _

Olt; Hoc Signo," pale nor dun,
Lit the battle-field for him,
And the prize he sought and won,
Was the Crown for Duty done.