The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 23, 1853.

OFFICIAL DESPATCHES.
Another supplement to the London Gazette was
issued on Saturday evening with further despatches
from India. This supplement contains the de•
spatchea respecting Lucknow and the operations of
Sir Colin Campbell that have already been printed.
These are followed by an account of the defeat of
the insurgents at Bulleh, in the Kurnaul district.
Lieutenant Hughes says :
-

Nothing could exceed the gallantry with which the
sowers tore down the barricade and attacked its defenders ;
and I have since had the satisfaction of hearing, from the
villagers themselves, that twenty of the insurgents were
killed, and twenty-two wounded, in our charge through the
suburbs.
After a short cannonade, the town was carried by the
Infantry and a party of the Ist Punjaub Cavalry. The
pukka-built houses I could not easily fire, but the suburbs,
containing large quantities of stacked forage, were com-
pletely destroyed. Large stores of grain, ghee, Sze., which
were found in the town itself, were confiscated to Govern-
ment, and made over to the Tehseeldar of Gurroundah.
Four of the Lumburdars, and some other influential men
of the place, who are prisoners in my camp, have begtred
to be allowed to redeem the confiscated property, and I
have agreed to their doing so, on payment of 1.000 rupees
over and above the balance of revenue due. I fully expect
this money to be paid in the course of to-day.
The destruction of this place—the most important town
in the neighbourhood—has had a very salutary effect ; so
much so, that two adjacent villages ( against which M Le
Bas had requested me to proceed) this morning brought
in their revenue, as also did the Lumburdar of Dhurrum-
ghur, in the Paneeput district.
The loss of the insurgents cannot be estimated at less
than 130 or 140, and of these, I should say, some 70 or 80
were cut up by the troop under Lieutenant Millett.
Despatches and returns follow relative to the
operations carried on during the siege of Delhi, re-
ceived at irregular intervals, accompanied by a
general order, in which we have recorded our apuro.
bation and thanks to the officers in command, and
to those who have specially distinguished themselves,
and to the troops by whom they were supported in
the frequent engagements in which they were op-
posed to the enemy. These despatches contain the
reports of the officers commanding in the first
actions with the mutineers at Ghazeeoodeen Nuggur,
where the gallant conduct of her Majesty's 60th
Regiment, of the Carabineers, and of the Bengal
Artillery, was conspicuous, and at Budlee ka Serai ;
as well as the accounts of other contests in which
the British troops have been engaged, always suc-
cessfully, with the enemy; each occasion furnishing
examples of the undaunted courage, determination,
and endurance by which the last crowing success
was subsequently achieved. The Governor-General
in council speaks of the services rendered in the
operations connected with Delhi in terms of high
commendation. Returns of killed and wounded
follow, but not to any large extent.

administered the government in India that the heads ---of
states and the people had remained true to the Company.,
rule. The Court of Directors expressed their conviction
that a change so important would be misunderstood by
the people of India, and submitted that if any such change
should be really thought desirable, it should be introduced
at a time of tranquillity, when the circumstances of India
could be regarded without prejudice, and when the changr,
could not, in the eyes of the natives, be connected with
the late calamitous events. The court remarked that
they had always shown themselves ready to acquiesce in
any change that would prove useful to the general interests.
The directors would not object to relinquish their trusts if
a better system could be devised for India; but in 1853
the question was thoroughly investigated and exhausted,
and the present system was the result. The directors
thought the present system a good one, though doubtless
capable of some improvement, and the objections to the
" double government " were rather nmninal than real, as
the duties of the Board of Directors were of an executive
rather than of a deliberative character. They abstained,
however, from offering observations in the absence of the
bill, which they trusted might be communicated at the
earliest possible period.

The SECRETARY next read the following reply of
the Prime Minister :

Piccadilly, January IS, ISA
Gentlemen,—l have had the honour to receive your
joint-letter of the 31st December, 18.57, on the subject of
the measure it is the intention of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to propose to Parliament, in reference to the future
system on which the government of India is to be con.
ducted .

I beg to assure you that the observations and opinions
therein expressed will be duly considered by her Majesty's
Government.

I forbear entering at present into any examination of
those observations and opinions. First, because any cor-
respondence on this matter would be most conveniently
carried on through the usual official channel, the President
of the India Board; and, secondly, because the detailed
arrangements of the measure which her Majesty's Govern-
ment mean to propose will be best explained when that
measure shell be submitted to the consideration of Paula.
ment.—l PALMERSTON.
. _

To the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board of
Directors, &c.

The SECRETARY then read the petition which it is
proposed to present to Parliament from the Company
against the proposed change of Government accord-
ingly. It was a most voluminous document, and
nearly an hour was occupieJ in the reading.
The following are some of the most important
passages:

That your petitioners have net been informed of the
reasons which have induced her Majesty's Ministers, with-
out any previous inquiry, to come to the resolution of
putting an end to a system of administration which Par-
liament, after inquiry, delitentely confirmed and sanc-
tioned less than five years ago, and which in its modified
form has not been in operation quite four years, and can-
not be cmsidered to have undergone a sufficient trial
during that short period.
That your petitioners challenge the most searching inves-
tigation into the mutiny of the Bengal army, and the
causes, whether remote or immediate, which produced that
mutiny. They have instructed the Government of India
to appoint a commission for conducting such an inquiry on
the spot; and it is their most anxious wish that a similar
inquiry may be instituted in this country by your honour-
able house in order that it may be ascertained whether
anything, either in the constitution of the Home Govern-
ment of India, or in the conduct of those by whom it has
been administered, has had any share in producing the
mutiny, or has in any way impeded the measures for its
suppression ; and whether the mutiny itself, or any cir-
cumstance connected aRh it., affords any evidence of the
failure of the arrangemen:a under which India is at present
administered.

That, if the administration of India had been a failure,
it would, your petitioners submit, have been somewhat un-
reasonable to expect that a remedy would be found in
annihilating the branch of the ruling authority which
could not be the one principally in fault, and might be
altogether blameless, in order to concentrate all powers in
the branch which had necessarily the decisive share in
every error real or supposed. To believe that the ad-
ministration of India would have been more free from
error, had it been conducted by a Minister of the Crown,
without the aid of the Court of Directors, would be to be-
lieve that the Minister, with full power to govern India as
he pleased, has governed ill, because he has had the assis-
tance of experienced and responsible advisers.
That the more attention is bestowed, and the more light
thrown upon India and its administration, the more evi-
dent it will become that the Government in which they
have borne a part has been not only one of the purest in
intention, but one of the most beneficent in act, ever known
among mankind ; that during the last and present genera-
tion in particular it has been in all departments one of
the most rapidly improving Governments in the world ; and
that, at the time when this change is proposed, a greater
number of important improvements are in a state of more
rapid progress than at any former period.

That your petitioners most earnestly represent to your
honourable house that, even if the contemplated change
could be proved to be in itself advisable, the present is a
most unsuitable time for entertaining it; and they most
strongly and respectfully urge on your honourable house
the expediency of at least deferring any inch change until
it can be effected at a period when it would not be, in
the minds of the people of India, directly connected with
the recent calamitous events, and with the feelings to
which those events have either given rise, or have afforded
an opportunity of manifestation.