The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 19,1857.

1222

gaum, between Ankjee and Ammewar. The 28th Native
Infantry was sent after him, and marched from Rnjahpoor
on the 2nd. We have no news as yet of their success in
bringing the Bhee:s to battle. Such depredators as C.;.se
are a greater pest than a regular enemy. Bands of them
now roam in many parts of the country, some of them
having had the boldness to appear even in the vicinity of
the More Ghat. It has been found necessary to send
out 200 of the 4th Native Rifles against the band lately
disperse at Sinnur.
- - •

It seems, writes the Times correspondent, to be
thought in England that we shall have almost too
many men for the work before us :
It is forgotten that the territory to be recongnered is
larger than France, Austria, Prussia, and Spain all put
together, with no means of communication, and a popula-
tion at best passive. At the present moment, Oude, with
its forts, its chiefs, and its armed populace, is in open in-
surrection. In several districts of the north-west the
authority of the British is limited to the ground they
stand on; Central India is in horrible anarchy, anarchy
such as Englishmen will, I hope, always fail to realise.
Anarchy in India is not merely the absence of the con•
stable. It means the rule of banditti springing in every
direction out of the ground, the subjugation of the mer-
chant, the artisan, and the cultivator to the classes who
live by plunder, and who in their hour of triumph invari-
ably display the cruelty innate in the Asiatic. In Bengal
Proper, the richest of our provinces, there is not out of
Calcutta a disposable European. Assam, a province as
large as Wales, is guarded by 100 sailors. Dacca, a
country the exports of which alone last year were worth
2,00,0001. sterling, has another hundred. Dinagepore
and ltungpore, districts about the size of Yorkshire, have
not a man. The troops are wanted in fifty points at once,
and until the north-west is subjugated they cannot be
spared. The number of deaths, too, will be very great both
from battle and exposure, and reinforcements ought to be
poured in to the extent of at least thirty per cent. of the
original force.
If the Gwalior Contingent, 7,000 strong, cavalry,
infantry, and artillery, and now at Calpee, turn south-
ward towards the valley of the Nerbudda, a central
campaign will open, and the real battle will have to be
fought in Central India. These men possess those
elements of discipline which form such a dangerous
nucleus for the disaffected To them we have at
present to oppose but the merest handful of men.
" A glance at the map," writes one correspondent who
enters fully into the position of affairs, " and a slight
knowledge of the positions and numbers of the
English garrisons will suffice to show what a grand
game Nana Sahib might have played had he been
a man as bold and able as he is cruel and trea-
cherous "

Placing himself at the head of these Gwalior mutineers,
he might have moved through Bundelcund, swelling his
numbers by any quantity of marauding Bundelas, upon
the Saugor and Nerbudda territories. These districts
could not have been held against him, the small Madras
column, abandoning S.iugor and Jubbulpore, must have
fallen back across the Nerbudda, the Nana with ever
increasing forces might have followed in pursuit, and pro-
claiming the restoration of the Peishwa's rule might have
entered the Deccan with 50,000 men at his heels, with
no European regiment to oppose him nearer than at
Hyderabad. Does this scheme read a wild one ? Hyder
Ali would not have thought so, nor any man who, having
sinned against us so deeply as the Nana has done, possessed
even an average amount of determination and ingenuity
with which to back his hatred of the English name.

"To meet a hostile force in this direction," adds
another writer, " we have as yet no column formed
at Nagpore, from whence we have hitherto been
unable even to send the necessary force for the
relief of Saugor ; the greater part of the Nizam's
contingent under Major Orr was already at Hindia
last month, and the remainder went at the same
time to Mhow or to Aurungabad. From the latter
place the Deccan field force was ordered also to
Mliow in the early part of this month : so for some
time to come the mutineers in Central India may
lake their pleasure undisturbed on the borders of
North Berar and Khandeish, leaving the cotton
growers to raise fresh malcontents against us."
We have said that anarchy is supreme in these
districts, and the po'ition of affairs there as exhi
bited to us by this last mail supports this view.
The Mehidpore Contingent were attacked on the
Hth Nov. by a large body of rebels. The greater
part of' the contingent killed several of their British
officers, and went over to the rebels. Mehidpore was
plundered, and the rebels started off for Mandesor.
The Mhow column, under Brigadier Stuart, attacked
and defeated their vanguard on 13th November, but
nothing further was known. More than two months
have elapsed since we first learnt that Mundesor had
been occupied by a band of rebels, under the standard
of some moulvie (priest). The Rajah of Rutlam is
also reported to have been killed by his own contin-
gent (about 800 strong). This part of Malwa is
populous, and Rutlam alone was once able to yield
a force of 1,200 horse at a moment's notice. Mun-
desor is also an important town, thickly inhabited.
Between it and Neemuch there are almost as many
hill forts as villages, ail of which are occupied by
rebels ; and these Brigadier Stuart is vainly at-
tempting to reduce. He has one regiment, when he
wants twenty, for the work on hand.

As an instance of the nature of the fort fighting in
this district, the attack made by a small force under
Colonel Lawrence, despatched on 22nd Oct. to
capture the fort of Jeerun—a small, compact place
built on the top of a steep hill studded with rocks
and jungle, and having only.one road of access—
offers a very fair example of what is yet
to be achieved in India. Jeerun, as we have said, is
a paltry fort on the top of a hill, but by nature in
that very defensible position usually selected by the
natives for the erection of these forts. This place
lies twelve miles south of Neemueli, on the road to
Baroda, and notice was given to Captain Lloyd, the
political agent, that 500 rebels there intended to move
round to Jawud, and other villages, for purposes of
plunder. Three parties were sent out the same day
to reconnoitre, and on the 23rd one of them returned
with the intelligence that the enemy ',chiefly
Affghans) were at rest in the fort, and that no other
body of rebels was in the vicinity. Fifty men from
her Majesty's 83rd were at once told off to accom-
pany 225 of the 2nd Bombay Light Cavalry (lately
deprived of their firearms for disaffection), 100 of the
12th Bombay Native Infantry, two field pieces,
manned by the 2nd Cavalry, and some European
sergeants of Artillery, and a mortar. This force
moved out, and after a march of three miles, and an
engagement with an advanced guard of the rebels,
the fort was reached, the guns and mortar were
placed in position, and the bombardment opened.
The rebels made several sorties, drove our men
back, captured the mortar ammunition and instru-
ments, being unable apparently to carry off the
mortar itself, and ultimately, after a whole day's
fighting, compelled our force to retreat, with the loss
of two gallant officers and three men killed, and five
officers and twelve men wounded—a dear price to pay
for one petty fort held by fifty ruffians. The effect of
this defeat, besides being most depressing upon our
men, raised the spirits of the rebels to the highest
pitch. Upon every defensible rock that some native,
ambitious of command and hopeful of plunder, chose
to hoist a red rag for his flag, fifty followers were to
be found in an hour. The whole country now is a
nest of these hornets. What the result will be, time
will prove.

With respect to the rest of India there is nothing
of very great importance to relate. At "putrid
Delhi" matters are tolerably quiet, but unfortunately
our troops are fast falling sick. "Our soldiers;'
writes a medical officer on :28th September, " now
that the terrible excitement is over, are fast filling
the hospitals, with fever cases for the most part."
l'his, unhappily, is what usually happens to an
army in India, and indeed everywhere else, after the
exhausting labours of such a siege, and the riot and
the debauchery which inevitably follow the cap-
ture of an assaulted city.
The shooting of the King's sons, it is probable,
will yet give rise to some discussion. A private letter
from an engineer officer, dated Delhi, Oct. 12, gives
a different version to any yet received, and one
which places Captain Hodson's conduct in a rather
questionable light. He writes :

Hodson went out next day ( Sent. 221 with 120 cavalry.
He found a great number of Pandies, &c., about 4,000 I
believe, some unarmed, some armed, some throwing away
their arms. He found two sons and a grandson of the
King. They were in a carriage, and gave themselves up.
Well, Hodson went with eighty of his men to play about
the mass of Pandies, and sent the remaining forty with
the carriage and prisoners towards Delhi. When they had
got some distance (two or three miles) he left the Pandiea
and overtook the carnage. When about two miles from
Delhi, he halted, made the three princes get out, strip all
except their drawers, and then get into the carriage again.
He than shot two himself, and his subaltern shot the other.
The reason that he shot them in the carriage was that, if
he had shot them on the ground, no one (native) would
have lifted the corpses into the carriage. The bodies were
brought to Delhi and exposed at the Kotswallie,that is, the
place where the native city authorities used to live.
- -

Another writer, after detailing the capture of the
King on the :21st—who, when he was brought into
Delhi, thought to enter the palace, where head-
quarters are; but "the general hunted him cff," and
he was eveutuall) " stowed away in a pokey hole off
the Chandny Choke,' or Regent.street of Delhi,
under a sergeant's guard"—goes on to describe the
capture of the princes :
Next day three of the princes, the Shalizada gentlemen,
who with their fowling•pieces, and sitting ou handsome
chairs, '• drew the first blood" from the crowds of our
captured countrymen, women, and children, on the 1 lth of
May last and following days, by firing in amongst them,
anti then leaving the sepo)s, butchers, and other villains to
complete the massacre, met their just punishment and the
fate decreed for them—the Mussulman are fund of predes-
-1 tination !—by a just and avenging Providence. These
blood-dyed villains, no doubt, encouraged by the tempo-
rary escape of the King, expected the same leniency; but
they were mistaken ; for being taken by the same officer
who captured the old murderer, they attempted to put
rather a light and bewildered face upon matters, as if quite
innocent, and asked, " What, Sahib, what's your order?
The order was to " strip," and it was scarce complied with
by the amazed and terrified wretches when they were shot
dead, and their bodies being brought into the city in a

common hackery, were thrown in the kennel near the
Kotawallie, for every one to look at and learn a lesson from
that liked—n ghastly and very suggestive spectacle as I
can assure yoLt.

Another of the princes since captured has escaped
for tho time. With the two princes who were shot
was captured an English sergeant-major, one Gordon,
formerly belonging to the 28th Native Infantry. This
man had been in the pay and service of the rebels
throughout the siege. He was to be tried by court-
martial.

A private letter from Delhi states that a crore of
rupees has been demanded of the inhabitants as the
ransom of the city, and that they have already
offered eighty lacs. The trial of the King is not
yet concluded, but it is believed his life will be
spared, and that he will be sent to Allahabad. Bri-
gadier Showers' flying column was sweeping the
country around Delhi, and 'had succeeded in cap-
turing the important fort of Kanoud, and in recover-
ing upwards of 70,000/. of treasure. The column
would return to Muttra after it had cleared oat the
country around Taone and Sonuth.
High up the 1)oab the country seems to have
been quiet, but on the other side of the Ganges the
hill station of Nynee Tal has been visited a second
time by a large force from Bareilly, which now
occupies a permanent position. This body of rebels
appeared at Kat Godown (foot of the Nynee Tel
hills) on the oth of October, gradually increased in
numbers till it mus►ered 5,000 strong, with artillery,
and then took possession of Huldwanee and Kalla-
doongee, thus blockading both passes to the English
position. At the same time 3,000 men are at the
Nuggurghaut near Roorkee ; and Walleedad Khan,
the fugitive Malaghur raja, is roaming about Robil-
cund with several regiments and some artillery
for the collection of revenue. l3elaspore, on the
extreme north-east of our frontier, is firmly hold by
a small band under one of the Skinners, who
keeps the fort and is well supplied with guns and
ammunition.
The details which have reached us of the murder
of Major Burton and his sons at Kotah, on 18th
October, show it to have been a much► more delibe-
rate murder than at first appeared. For five hours
Major Burton and his two sons withstood the attacks
of the rabble of the town, and neither the Rajah
nor a single man of his contingent, nor a single
citizen of the town, made an effort to relieve the
Resident and his sons standing at bay on the roof
of the Residency. 140 Sikh soldiers were standing
round the Residenc,y but refused to interfere for
" want of orders," and at last saw the gallant major
and his boys butchered without lifting an arm to save
them.
A " Civilian," who has not been " long " in the
country, writing from Allahabad this week, gives an
interesting description of the state of the country
about that district; but the most valuable portion of
his letter relates more particularly to the causes of
the insurrection, and, as his views entirely support
the arguments from time to time urged in this
journal, we take the liberty of calling the attention
of our readers particularly to the following para-
graph :
Whatever popular opposition there is in our own older
districts, besides the mere freebooting of the plundering
tribes, may be traced almost exclusively to one great source
of hostility, which bas raised many people against us—l
mean the very general transfer of landed rights which has
taken place under our system, especially by the action of
the civil courts, and the unlimited and summary sale of
landed rights in satisfaction of decrees. These transfers
are for the most part mere piper transfers. The old pro-
prietors 'still reside on the spot —most frequently in the
character of tenan•s they retain the land —but by paper
transfer in the collector's office their rights, dues, privi-
leges, and emoluments are given to another; and there
they are, discontented, angry men, still looking on them-
selves, and looked to by others, as the real proprietors,
oppressed and in abeyance. We suddenly imposed with-
out check a system to which the people were altogether
strangers, and the consequence has been so general a
transfer of landed rights as has, perhaps, neverbeen known
in any age or country. Well, our Government being to
all intents and purposes overthrown and swept away from
these provinces, these old proprietors have, as a matter of
course, resumed their own again. The auction purchaser
disappears with our system just as much es our collectors
of revenue and police officers do. No native would dream
of supposing that this admitted of argument ; but the re-
sult is that the old proprietors, the popular men, are com-
mitted to hostility to us. I hope that, under the circum-
stances, the past will be treated indulgently. Of course,
right or wrong, what has been done by us must be reas-
serted ; but surely we must take warning—surely we shall
not thus rudely destroy the remaining tenures, and render
hostile the remaining provinces. If the land of the Pun-
jaub had been transferred as that of the north-west pro-
vinces, it is quite certain that we should not now be here ;
that we should hold nothing of India beyond the guns of our
ships; we should neither have taken Delhi nor saved
Allahabad. The Sikhs would have been against us to a
man, and General Havelock would probably have been
now defending Calcutta.

THE REINFORCEMENTS AT CALCUTTA.
It appears, from a tabular summary compiled for
the Calcutta EngliBhntan, that between March 10th