The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-13 00:00:00

250

gated, been beaten, but it in pushing up towards Jub-
bulpore. A party from Kamptee has relieved the
beleagured little garrison in the Sumbulpore jungles
to the eastward, and has returned to take part in the
coming attack upon the stronghold of the chief of
Bijrajooghur, where the enemy are said to be up-
wards of 5,000 strong.
The only other affair of importance is the capture
of Awah, in Rajpootana, by General Rohm ts' column.
Like Ratghur, Awah was evacuated on the night
previous to the day fixed for the assault :

Here a violent storm assisted the manceavre of the
rebels. Their guns, sixteen in number, however, and
ammunition and stores, were left behind, and about 176
prisoners were tsken, whose trial and execution were at
once proceeded with. The portion of the Rajpootana field
force en was that under Major Raines, of the 93th ( a
wing of is own regiment, and one of the 10th Native In-
fantry), and detachments of the 83rd, 12th Native Infantry,
Mode Horse, and Ist Bombay Lancers, from Nusseerabad,
under Colonel Holmes, who commanded the whole, with
fourteen guns.

After destroying the place, the force would return to
Nusseerabad. The 51st Light Infantry are leaving
their garrison for lisjpootana by wings. The Bth
Hussars have completed their number of horses at
Bhooj, in Cutch, and are now ready for service under
General Roberts. Sir Hugh Rose is being fed from
Bombay by means of a bullock train, which conveys
forty men a day in carts on each six-mile station
from the railway terminus at Wassind to Mhow, thus
doing good service. The head-quarters of the 88th
had gone up in this way, and the 71st Highlanders,
arrived from Suez, were to follow.
" The only disturbance in these parts is, or will
be," writes a correspondent, "at Shorapore, in the
south-western corner of the Nizaro's country, and not
far from our station of Beejapore and Sholapore ":
The petty Rajah of that plsoe—T have mentioned him
before—is levying men, and assuming • defiant attitude ;
but be will speedily be extinguished. The Nizam's troops
are moving on him from Lingasagoor, Madras troops from
Human! (left on the 2nd), and Bombay troops from
Xulludghee and Beejapore. No actual deed of violence
had taken place at Shorapore up to the Ist.

The rest of India appears tranquil. Scinde is
quiet, the Punjanb at rest, and Bombay and Madras
gradually resuming their habitual confidence in the
supremacy of our rule. In Oude, however, very
severe fighting was anticipated. An officer of high
rank in Oude writes, " There is much work still to
be done in India, and I fear the force at present in
the country is scarcely adequate to the task ":--
There is much desperate fighting still in store. These
men know well they are fighting with halters round their
necks, and there are but two alternatives left—to die like
soldiers, or to be hanged like a felon or shot like a dog.
It is easy to see which they would prefer. There are still
some 100,000 fighting men, of whom some 50,000 are, I
fancy, sepoys, regular and irregular, whom we have still to
dispose of. ls it to be supposed that these men will tamely
lay down their arms when they know the fate in store for
them ? And is it likely, on the other hand, that we should
offer pardon, or anything but unconditional surrender, to
the murderers of our countrywomen and children ? So we
are fighting with a mutual understanding: no quarter to
fighting men. It is true, most of these, in fact all, are
beaten troops, and, as such, disheartened and even more
disorganised than they were at first; but still, as long as
they have powder and shot, and food, and trenches to sit
in, and brick walls to fire from, they will be to a certain
extent a formidable enemy, and it will not be so easy a
task as the Times considers to lash these ruffians into
obedience, or sweep them from the face of the earth as a
foul blot on humanity. What, after all, are 40,000 men
to spread over a vast country like this, convulsed through-
out with the same shock? and how few remain united of
this scattered force to conquer a country like Oude, whose
whole population is inimical to our rule ? It will be done,
like everything England undertakes, under God's blessing,
but not in such a way as to preserve her prestige, unless
prompt and energetic support is given from home.
Already we have accepted assistance from some nstive
chiefs, a proceeding which, however politic and useful in
one sense, will not improve the moral weight of our
authority.

From Delhi we hear little but " growls " from the
siege soldiers who have been " cheated " out of their
lawful prize money, and rewarded in lien thereof
with a paltry six months' b*tta. l'he following is
an extract of a letter from a young officer who served
at Delhi:—

Six months' batta is only some twenty rupees for a
European soldier, and he is to get this after being in the
field in some eases for seven months—after taking Delhi
and getting prize therein to the extent of more than half a
crore of rupees—not from the private property of Euro-
peans or Government stores and guns, but aetual " loot "
dug up and taken from the houses of the murderous fiends
of Delhi. This same loot or booty would give a subaltern
some 4001. The battik gives him 701., which in moat cases
will not pay his field expenses, to say nothing about what
the force has done and suffered. . . . . . General
Wilson appointed prize agents, and in his order said the
men were to make over their booty to them, and that it
would be afterwards divided among the force, according to
the prize rules. So, as a point of honour among t'aem•
selves, all " loot " was made over to the prize agents as the
property of the field force. However, the GovernorGene-
nl's lawyers say we are not to have it. What a delightful
piece of intelligence for men who dug up bags of gold