The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

THE PRE S S, NOVEMBER 21,1857.

On coming near Kuttingee the body of poor
M'Gregor was found, pierced with eight or nine
bayonet wounds, a shot in the neck, his arm gashed
and broken ; his body was brought in and buried the
next day at noon :
A wounded havildar and sepoy were taken prisoners at
Kuttingee and hung on the spot. After the column
moved on the mutineers returned, cut down the bodies,
and buried them with military honours! The column
came in here on the Ist, and Colonel Millar assumed
command of the station. We intended to have left this
on the 7th, but on the sth the road was allowed to be un-
safe ; it has been unsafe any day for the last three months!
Bergee, fifteen miles from this on the high road to Kamp.
tee, was burnt by rebels. On the 27th or 28th a large
ksfila was plundered at the Silwa Ghat, five miles further
on. Sixteen mutineers of the 52nd were at Bergee on the
4th; they cut off the noses of some Bunyahs who had
gone to buy ghee, and one of them, known to be the
principal in the murder of poor M'Gregor, sent a message
to Captain 31oxon, 52nd; they hoped to serve hint the
same way; he had offered 20)) rupees for the colours ;
they had intended to collect a party and attack Jubbul-
pore ; that they would bring the colours with them, and he
might then lake them if he could ! Yesterday morning a
party from this were sent to clear the road of the villains;
and as Cumberlege, with the 4th Cavalry, en route here,
was only three miles beyond Bergee, it was hoped that the
rebels would be captured or done for.

This expedition was " unsuccessful :"
I hear toglay that the expedition was unsuccessful ; it
is said that the rebels have retired to a hill like a natural
fortress. I imagine some effort will be made to dislodge
them, as the infantry have not returned and the cavalry
are still on the other side of the river. Gunnesgunge,
another place on the road, is also occupied by rebels—
Gonda, I believe. The main body of the mutinous 52nd
are gone up the Mirzapore road; we heard of them et
Sehora ( twenty-five miles from this) two days ago. Our
Calcutta dak has been interrupted for two or three days, but
is now open, so I daresay the mutineers have kit the high
road.

So far, then, Jubbiepore is safe, but its position is
critical, for Nana Sahib and the Dinapore and
Gwalior mutineers are unpleasantly near. As to the
conduct of the latter, there seems to be no authentic
intelligence.
The following narrative, from a young officer in
India, under date " :llehidpore, Sept. 27," is ex-
tremely interesting as exhibiting to us the quality of
the men with whom we have to fight in Central
India. the nature of the rain in those districts, from
which we may fairly infer what that rain leaves
behind in a swampy country, and, lastly, what an
invaluable gift is presence of mind :

There has been a terrible inundation here ; Dart of the
infantry and the whole of the artillery lines, and three bun-
galows were washed clean away ; 2,000 houses in the city of
Mehidpore, and an equally large number in the city of
Oogien, destroyed. I fortunately escaped. There are only
three officers here besides myself. There is no officer with
the artillery—two 12. pounders, two 24-pounders, and two
9-pounders, with the native artillery, were left to take care of
themselves. There are a lot of Wilayatees and Mehwatees
with eighteen pieces of artillery, at Memasor, but if they
come this way we think we can get our men to pitch into
them. There are of course a number of bad men in the
regiment from Oude, &c., but the good men predominate,
and most of the artillery may, I think, be depended on,
The Wilayatees are all Mussulmans, for the most part
composed of Atlghans, Beloochees, and the rascals of the
north-west and Rohilcund. They are the tinest-looking
men I have ever seen, and are armed to the teeth and
dressed most picturesquely, but are most bloodthirsty,
murderous scoundrels, and are very bitter against us.
They are moreover superb swordsmen, and have no want
of brute courage, so if cur men only stand true, we shall
have a jolly fight. I had a very exciting, but must unplea-
sant ride of seventy-four miles from Mhow to this place•
In addition to a very gocd chance of being murdered, the
road was knee-deep in mud, and I had to swim several
streams, which I found rather difficult, as they were
running like mill sluices, and I had on jackboots, sword,
revolver, &c. It rained fearfully nearly the whole time,
and you may form some idea of the difficulty of the road,
when it took me from morning to near midnight to ride
twenty miles, and that too on by no means a bad horse.
I had to sleep in my clothes drenched as they were, but my
greatest misfortune was getting all my arms wet, and so
being nearly defenceless. I had to swim a river near
Oogein. It was evening, and my horse having laboured
through the mud all day was very tired, so when I gained
the opposite side of the river—tha bank being very steep—
my horse fell backwards with me into the river, and one
of the three Mahuratta horsemen who were with me was
carried down the stream, horse and all, hut luckily we both
escaped. When I got into the town the headman of the
place would nut let me stop with him, as he was afraid of
his men making an end of nu:, so I went to a lliuduo
temple, where the Gosaince, the Gooroos, and other holy
Brahmins received me rather well, and one of them gave
me his turban to wind round my loins, another gave me
a blanket, so I stripped off my wet clothes, and laid down
to sleep on the cold damp flaor, and I slept like a top.
In the morning I started fur ltvroghur, the fort of the
Baba Huiry Narain, in order that I might deliver a message
to him from the political agent, and get an escort to go
with me to Mehidpore. When I got to the banks of the
river l had to wait for a boat, as it was impossible for me
to cross it otherwise, it was so very wide and fearfully rapid.
As I was standing there ( after having given my horse to it
man whose profession it is to swim horses over rivers) I
was surrounded by some fifty or sixty Wilsyatees. The