The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-31 00:00:00

rHE PRESS, OCTOBER 31, 1857.

or nine, who, fearing that they would be discovered and
punished, deserted during the night, after having fired an
officer's bungalow close to the lines.
At other stations where mutiny has occurred, the Euro.
peans have suffered principally from the villainous trea-
chery of the sepoys only. But here all the country is up,
the Bomarlel' chiefs, of whom there is a legion, great and
small, being in arms all round us. It appears that the
Shaghur rajah has invited Koer Singh and the mutinous
regiments to assist him in taking the fort of Saugor from
the hands of Brigadier Sage, and, should they succeed in
doing so before that garrison can be relieved, you know
what will he the result. Had the Bombay moveable
column moved on Saugor, as was originally intended, after
relieving dhow, this catastrophe might have been avoided,
but now I really do not see how Saugor can be saved.
That we can defend ourselves there is little doubt, but, as
we have not force enough to attack such a large body of
men, I do not see how Jubbulpore and the cantonment
can be saved. The Thugs, too, congregated at this place
will no doubt all get free again, after having cost Govern-
ment so many lacy of rupees to catch ; and the School of
Industry, which has been twenty years rising to its pre-
sent proud position, will no doubt be among the public
buildings the miscreants will destroy.
It is, therefore, more than probable that before this
letter reaches you Jubbulpore will have been burnt and
looted, and all through the imbecility of that old woman,
General Lloyd. Little did we expect, when reading in
the columns of the L'ag/inhman of the mutiny at Dina-
pore, that it would affect this part of India; but such
seems likely to be the case, and if the rebels march this
road, six days more will bring them to our doors, to the
ruin of hundreds of inahajuns and traders, and the de•
struction of life and property.
No Calcutta (Mks have been received for several days,
but that is to be accounted for by the rebels having pos-
session of the great Deccan road.

In Behar, our prospects are not improving :
Ever since the fatal catastrophe at Arrah—a catastrophe
for which Lord Canning and Colonel Birch are alone
responsible, for they refused to order the disarming of the
native troops—the Government has withdrawn its confi-
dence from military men. The direction of the troops
was confided to Mr. Samuells, the commissienor of Patna,
and to Mr. Money, collector of Gya. It came to the
knowledge of these two officials that a large body of the
mutinous irregular cavalry had located themselves about
six miles from Gya. They at once called upon Captain
Rattray to attack them with about 200 Sikhs under his
command. Captain Rattray gave several excellent mili-
tary reasons for not attacking them in that position, but to
no purpose • his reasons were pooh-poohed, and 200 Sikhs
were ordered to attack double their number of infantry,
strongly intrenched, aided by about 200 cavalry. Of
course the attack failed. and not only so, but the cavalry
cut off the Sikhs from Gya and again plundered that town.
Encouraged by this success, Ummur Singh, brother of
the rebel Zemindar Boer Singh, marched with a large
body of well-appointed infantry to join the insurgents.
By the latest accounts he was crossing the Sone, pre-
pared, after effecting the junction, to march upon Patna,
which is garrisoned by about 150 Europeans and the de-
feated Sikhs, and in which the most disaffected population
in Bengal is swarming. We may tide over this danger as
we have over so many others, but it will not be through
the foresight or wisdom of our rulers, who on this, as on
so many occasions, have by their feeble measures played
the game of the insurgents.
•

Sir Colin Campbell has taken the effective step of
despatching an officer of rank, with 1,000 men, to
put a stop to these disturbances.
The whole of Behar (says the Bombay Iturkaru)
is in iemost disorganised state. " Koer Singh, the
rebel chieftain of Arrah, has indeed carried his
incursions into Rewah, where he was at once joined
by the troops of the Rajah who had been sent to
oppose him ; hut his brother Ummur Singh is still
in Behar, and at the head of a considerable body of
men ; no opposition has been offered to his progress."
The sth Irregular Cavalry too, from Bhagulpore,
have been joined by all the disaffected in the dis-
trict, and they are plundering and laying waste the
country in every direction.
From Rajpootana we learn, under date the 24th
September, that the Neemuch force had a brush
with the rebels, and took ten guns from them. The
number of killed and wounded is not known. The
doctor of her Majesty's 83rd Regiment and several
of the men are wounded, as also some of the 12th
Native Infantry and 2nd Cavalry. General George
Lawrence has had to fall back upon Bewar, about
thirty-two miles from Ajmere, on the Bombay road.
The Joudpore Legi.n was too strong for him—hence
the reverse. Intelligence has also been received from
Joudpore of' the death of Captain Monck Mason,
political agent at that place. It appears he had
gone ont to join the force under General G. Lawrence,
and by mistake got into the camp of the rebels, by
whom he was murdered.
" Further to the north and west, in the groat pro-
vince of Malwa, things are looking sufficiently well,"
writes the Times correspondent :
I have already alluded to the report of Scindia's raising
new levies to intercept fugitives from Delhi. A letter
from an officer at Indore, just received, lies before me.
Upon information which he considers reliable lie writes
that on the 25th, and for five days previous, Scindia and
the mutinied contingent were at Gwalior taco to face,
each seeking to coerce the other. The Maharajah had all
his guns in position, and from 17,000 to 20,000 men of
new and old levies strongly posted. lie was unwilling to