The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-01 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE

THE MUTINY IN INDIA,
THE Indian despatches atj length give us
some details upon the actual state of India.
Delhi was not captured up to the leth. The
rebellion is universal throughout Bengal, the
country is becoming filled with banditti, and
the movement has commenced to show itself
among the native princes. The arrest of the
King of Oude is confirmed, and the complicity
of the old King of Delhi and of the Nawa
of Moorshedabad, with others of less

note, is certain. The forces of the
Rajah of Gwalior are in open revolt, and,
though the Rajah has protected the Euro-
peans, he prefers remaining with his troops in
the present emergency. In the Nizam's do-
minions the contingent had mutinied at
Aurungabad, and a revolt is believed to have
occurred at Hyderabad, while the conduct of
&Ladle, the Mahratta chief, was watched with
no little apprehension. The most serious
mutiny of the many which have occurred is
that of the Sikhs and Irregulars at Benares,
and of the Bhurtpore levies and Malwa con-
tingent. This is a subject for grave reflec-
tion, for these troops were in no way affected
by the cartridge question. Happily no out-
break has yet occurred at Bombay or Madras,
but a sense of uneasiness in both Presidencies
was predominant, and emissaries from the
rebels were known to be tampering with the
troops. " The empire," remarks the Bombay
Times in summing up its terrible list of muti-
nies and massacres, "is passing through a
most terrible crisis in its history, and we are
looking with much anxiety for reinforcements
of European troops."
It is worthy of noto to remark the change
which appears to have come over the Minis-
terial organs, which have hitherto ridiculed
the notion that the native princes were
leagued against us, or that the rebellion was
anything but a " mere military mutiny."
With the Post, on Monday last, the mutiny
was " without mental or moral organisation ; "
on Wednesday it was " simply a mutiny, not a
revolt; " on Thursday it was only a "rabble
rout " in Delhi, who had " not much artillery
nor munitions." They have only, we learn to-day,
150 guns and vast stores ofpowderand shot; but
on Saturday it is "a complete conspiracy; " and
"it becomes perfectly clear that the greased
cartridges have little or nothing to do with the
movement. They may have been used as a
paltry excuse ; but the real secret of the rebel-
lion is in the intrigues of the King of Oude
and some of his neighbours."
The Times, too, on Tuesday looks "in vain
for the influence of dethroned kings and
rajahs." It is a " mere affair of soldiery," and
nothing " can be found to justify the hypo-
thesis of Mr. Disraeli." To-day—" As for the
behaviour of the native princes and the various
bodies of irregulars, it is not always so good
or so satisfactory as it might be, but not worse
than was expected ;" and "as yet no leader
has appeared, and we have only to hope and
pray that none such may be found among the
native chiefs." This fear does not, at all events,
show much eonfidence in the native chiefs,
although " the influence of dethroned kings
and rajahs " is looked for " in vain."
But to return to those actual details which
testify in so remarkable a manner to the sa-
gacity of Mr. Disraeli and the blindness of his
opponents :

General Barnard arrived before Delhi on the
morning of the Ath of June, and in his despatch
gives the following account of his first engagement
with the mutineers ; _ _

Delhi Cantonments, June 8.
Six,—The foreee under my command marched from
Aliipor at 9ne dip, Ilionruge 4144 Ql/ Fe a#4744 atoms°

Serree found the enemy strongly posted in an intrenched
position, which I have the satisfaction to inform you we
carried after an engagement of about three•quarters of an
hour, and proceeded to take up our present position, which
we found to be over disputed ground the whole way, and
finally a well-defended line of defence from the signal
tower to the Hindoo Rao-house. Our troops behaved with
the greatest gallantry and persevering endurance, and
after facing very determined resistance, drove the enemy
within the walls of Delhi. Al! this was accomplished by
nine o'clock in the morning. Our loss has been compara-
tively trifling, only one officer being killed; but 1 regret to
say that officer is Colonel Chester, adjutant-general to the
army, who was esteemed by all for every qualification that
could adorn the soldier. I have not been able to ascertain
the particulars of oar loss, or capture of guns, but I fear I
cannot estimate the former under from forty to fifty
killed, the number of guns taken to be about sixteen or
eighteen.

On the following day, the 9th, as we learn by a noti-
fication issued from the Judicial Commissioner's

office at Lahore, a sortie of the mutineers took place.
They were attacked by the cavalry of the Guides,
which bad joined the army, and driven back to the
walls by a brilliant and successful charge, in which,
hOwever, the commandant, Quintin Battye, fell
mortally wounded.
The Times correspondent, writing from Bombay,
July Ist, remarks :

Whatever else may be uncertain, that Delhi was not
taken on the 12th of last month is perfectly certain. It
was still in possession of the mutineers on the 16th, the
date of our latest accounts from the army. On the 13th
or 14th a second sortie was made from the city, in which
the mutinied 60th, late of the Umballah garrison, took a
leading part. Like that of the 9th, it was repulsed with
severe loss, and on this, as on the former occasion, the
gallantry and conduct of the Corps of Guides was eminent.
I find that not only, as I supposed, the cavalry of the
corps, but also the infantry, are with the army, the latter
having been brought down from the Punjab on camels.
The cavalry made the astonishing march of 750 miles in 28
days. It were well if the general commanding could get a few
thousand men like these, for of reinforcements he is sorely
in need, and for want of them he was, on the 16th, pausing
in his attack. By the 21st, however, he would, it is thought,
receive a considerable addition to his strength in the Euro-
pean troops of the Jullundur Brigade, set free to act beyond
the limits of the station by the mutiny and flight of the
native portion of the brigade, the 6th Cavalry, and the 30th
and 61st Infantry, who rose on the night of the Bth, and
were chased out of cantonments till they dispersed. The
Bth Foot, Major Olpherts' troop of Horse Artillery (first of
the Ist Brigade), and the headquarters of the let Battalion
of Foot Artillery, are thus rendered available in whole or
in part ; and from Ferozepore, since the mutinies and the
disarming, her Majesty's 61st is able toipare a wing for
Delhi, and two companies, I believe, of artillery. It is in
the latter arm that the besieging force is especially
weak, while the rebels are actually said to have no less
than 150 guns in position. True, they have very few
artillerymen, only one company to work them, but even
in the hands of sepoys the great guns may do a good
deal of mischief. Their number may be exaggerated, but
it is to be remembered that the rebels have the great
arsenal of Delhi in their undisputed possession. You will
be anxious to know what number of the insurgent soldiery
has collected in Delhi, while Generals Reed and Barnard
were waiting for reinforcements. On the 16th. according
to the Judicial Commissioner of Lahore (the best autho-
rity now-a-days, for the telegraph is in working order be-
tween this city and the camp before Delhi), " 3,000 of the
rebels were encamped outside the Ajmere•gate, and the
force of the mutineers in Delhi appears not to ex-
ceed a few thousands, even with the addition of
the 60th Native Infantry and some others who
have lately joined them." There is a vagueness
in this account which, though perhaps inevitable, is un-
satisfactory. The phrase " some others" is, it may be
feared, an elastic one. Allowing that the mutineers of
Jullundur and Phillour (where the 3rd Native Infantry
has risen) are unable to reach the revolted capital, still
from Allahabad and even Benares, in the south (of which
more presently), and from the Rohilcund stations in the
east, there is nothing to prevent the rebellious sepoys
arriving at the point to which it is known they were tend-
ing. Not that I think this consideration a discouraging
one. On the contrary, I regard it as highly satisfactory
that the revolt has chosen for itself but one centre, for,
that annihilated, it is utterly broken. Only knowing the
vital importance of the conflict to which our generals are
committed, the smallness of the force under their
command—which even with reinforcements will hardly, I
imagine, reach 6,000 men—the great extent of the city
(five or six miles from north to south). its populousness,
and the tact that on the eastern or river side it is now
entirely open to the mutineers to receive men or supplies
from the Doab—se must not murmur against our chiefs
if some days yet elapse before we hear that the place is
taken.

So much for the position of affairs at Delhi. With
respect to the catalogue of mutinies and disarmings,
we may state, first, that at Calcutta, on the 14th of
June, upon the Government receiving intelligence of
the intention of the native troops to attempt the
capture of Calcutta, the entire native brigade were at
once disarmed. A similar measure of precaution
has been adopted at Barrackpore and Moultan. As
to the Bengal army, the Times correspondent
writes ;

When I closed my last I calculated that, in one way
cr another, some 28 regiaients of regular infantry had
ceased to carry arms for the Company. I now count up-
Wirci 0 46—perhaps as high as 46. In Bohilcund