The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-17 00:00:00

THE RAJAH OF PUTTEEALA.

A letter this week calls attention to the fidelity of
the Rajah of I'utteeala, an independent State near
Umballah :

The territory of the Putteeala Rajah is of considerable
size—l believe as large as Yorkshire, if not larger—and he
maintains a body of troops which may almost be called an
army. About three years ago he wished to visit England
with a large retinue, and my brother was the officer
appointed by the Governor-General of India to accompany
him. Some of his attendants actually came over, and it
was one of them who is mentioned in a letter that lately
appeared in your columns as having been heard to say,
while guarding a post near Delhi against the insurgent
sepoys—" Ali ! they would know the power of England
better if they bad ever been in Vere-street, Oxford-
street." The Rajah himself did not proceed farther than
Calcutta, as, for reasons which it is not necessary now to
mention, be abandoned his intention to come to England.
In a letter which I have just received from my brother at
Umballah, he says --
" The Rajah has shown himself such a stanch and
valuable ally that I ant only doing hint justice in endea-
vouring to bring hint before the British public. It is a
well-acknowledged feet that if it had not been for the
Rajah of Putterala none of us in these Cis.Sutlej States
would now be alive.
" On the first news of the Delhi and Meerut massacres I
sent for him, and called for his aid, which he furnished in
the most prompt manner. The presence of 1,001) or 1,800
men was essential to our safety here, and he gave the men
at once. Since then he has been foremost in taking all the
onerous duty of guarding the out stations, furnishing escorts
for convoys of stores, protecting the country, cutting off
stragglers, and even in recovering districts which had
fallen into the hands of the rebels. Moreover, he has
lent us 40,0001., and will give more as we require it. His
princely generosity to the survivors of the Hansi and
Hisser massacres deserves to be publicly known. He not
only sent out men to hunt for fugitives, and cover their
retreat, but on their arrival in his territory he furnished
them with everything—money, food, clothing, &e.—and
gave a general order that whatever they should call for was
to be at once supplied gratis. Common gratitude would
make ua anxious to do anything to serve our ally, and I
very willingly now take up his cause. He has no grievance
to be redressed, but, as in these days people are ton apt to
suspect every native of hostility to us, it is not surprising
that disparaging remarks should now and then be made,
and one or two suspicions of his fidelity have found their
way into print, and greatly disquieted the Rajah. He is
most anxious to show his friendliness and to have it believed.
He has been conferring with me, and expressed great fear
lest through the representations of his enemies he should
suffer I have done my utmost to reassure him, and
have promised to do my utmost to place before the British
public a statement of his services."

The writer also refers to the conduct of the Rajah of
dimend, a relative and neighbour of the Rajah of Putteeala,
in terms of high praise. He says :—" This chief, though
of lesser note, has done his duty well and nobly, and held
the country to the rear of our camp from the commence-
ment of our attack on Delhi." He, like the Putteeala
Rajah, is a Sikh ; but their territories are at the eastern
extremity of the Cis Sntlej States, and therefore they are
peculiarly accessible to the influences at work in the north-
west provinces, from which, indeed, the Putteeala Rajah
is divided by a merely imaginary line.

Altogether, the news by this mail, though satis-
factory so far that it does not contain intelligence of
any fresh massacres or serious defections, is by no
means of a nature to increase our sense of security.

MINISTERS ON INDIA.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—lt is pitiable for us to read the Ministerial
speeches on the present Indian question—how the
rulers of England are resorting to every shift to
delude the people into a belief that India is not in
very great danger. Situated as we arc, we are the
best judges of the matter. Either the Ministers are
ignorant of the facts or are wilfully lying. Both ways
considered, they are unfit to exercise power at this
trying crisis. Lord Ellenborough and Mr. Disraeli,
accused of exaggerating the danger to serve the in-
tereats of party, are the only men who comprehend