The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

II

bursting of shells, and the whistling of bullets ; but
now all is still !
Well, after being for eight days in Delhi,
and knocked about from one place to an-
other, we are now stationed near the Cash-
mere Gate, and have magnificent quarters.
The whole of these eight days we have been half-
starved, and of course it has been a case of no change
of clothes day or night, and hardly a wash; but to-
day
day I got leave to come into camp, and I feel quite
like myself again. We shall get a heap of prize-
money now, or battu ; but the medal is what I want,
and I hope they will give us one!
G. J. H.

The following particulars are extracted from an
interesting letter forwarded to his father at York,
by a young man who was engaged with the 6th
Carabmeers in the assault upon Delhi :

Delhi, Sept. 27.
Delhi at last is in our possession My
last letter was dated the 24th of August, and since then
we have had arrive sixteen 18-pounders and six 24-
pounders, with six 10. inch mortars, to augment our
batteries, which were advanced from nearly a mile to
under '2OO yards from the walls, and, with the guns we took
from them, numbered about sixty playing upon the city at
one time. We lost several men in the erection of the
batteries from the musketry from off the walls. The finest
artillery officer, Captain Fagan, a gentleman who never
left the batteries since our first arrival, was shot dead at
his gun. On account of the want of artillery, we had to
assist at the batteries. We had a sergeant shot dead, and
a private wounded severely. I may mention that the
Rajah of Bareilly, with about 10,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry,
and fourteen guns, took up a strong position in our rear,
his object being to attack us in that quarter when they
attacked us in front from the city; but as soon as we were
made acquainted with it a force was despatched to engage
him. We came upon him about three in the morning,
and, after a most obstinate fight till nine, they were routed
with tremendous loss. All their guns, camp, elephants,
camels, time lacs of rupees, &c., were captured. Three
of the guns were of most beautiful make—all brass, and
the King of Delhi's private property.
And now for the siege. For three days our batteries
played incessantly upon the walls, where a alight breach
was made. It was the opinion of a great many that the
siege would go on until the walls were levelled with the
ground ; hut on the fourth morning every soldier was
ordered to the front. The Rifles and the 75th were to
enter at the Cashmere Gate ; Bth and 61st by the breach ;
Ghoorkas, Coke's Rifles, and Ist and 2nd Europeans to
scale the walls. The sepoys, seeing the Rifles and Sappers
marching on the gate, instead of allowing us to blow up
the gates, saved us the trouble by doing it themselves, and
immediately crossed bayonets with our Rifles, and owing
to their immense numbers kept their ground until the
arrival of the 75th, who poured three deadly volleys into
them, and then gave a cheer, when the sepoys turned and
ran under cover of two 24-pounders, loaded with grape, in
the centre of the street. Our fellows, seeing the flash,
dropped on their faces, and, wonderful to state, only four
were wounded. That day we held one side of Delhi, the
sepoys the other. Oar loss was very severe, but nothing
compared with that of the enemy.
General Nicholson (the " Lion of the Punjauh") was
wounded while scaling the walls, and has since died of his
wounds. Captain Rosser, of my troop, was shot in the
head. The ball remains there, and he lies in a very pre-
carious condition. A great many officers were knocked
over. During the day we took 111 guns and the remaining
two magazines. One of them had as much shot and shell
as would last an army of 51,000 for three years, and guns
of enormous calibre-68-pounders, hut all without limbers.

After the sepoys %ere beaten back, street after street, the
greater part went into the fort, where the King's palace is.
For three days we bombarded it, throwing as many as
nine shells a minute ; but so prodigious is its strength that
very little mischief was done, our fellows not venturing in
at the gate, on account of it being mined, and four l 0 inch
guns staring them in the face. At last a breach was made,
end in a short time the fort, palace, and the whole of
Delhi was in our possession, after seven days hard fight-
ing, and, I am sorry to add, a severe loss on our side.
There are several officers and soldiers here who served in
the Crimea, and declare that Sebastopol sufferings were
below their sufferings here; and when the Indian summer
monsoons and the repeated attacks fro:u the sepoys in
thousands are considered, it is not to be wondered at.
Before Sir H. Barnard's death our average loss was from
101) to 300 each attack. Since General Wilson took com-
mand (our Meerut brigadier), which is about Nix weeks
ago, we have not lost 500 up to the assault
As for a description of Delhi, if I except London, England,
Ireland, or Scotland cannot produce its equal.

The writer refers to the palace, and says :
The old King is in it, a prisoner. Two of his sons are
shot. The one who assumed the sovereignty of India has
gone with the rebels towards Lucknow. Although their
loss was tremendous, it is supposed their force gone away
was 12,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, with a few guns, and an
enormous treasury. General Havelock will talk to them,
no doubt. We have sent a moveable column of the
74th, Bth, 61st, and the 2nd Regiment of Sikhs,
with two troops of horse artillery, in pursuit.
For a description of the riches of Delhi my pen is in-
adequate. Cashmere shawls, inlaid with gold, bodices
covered with gold lace, skirts of dresses, watches, bars of
gold, beds of silk and down, such as no nobleman's house
in England could produce—you would see Sikhs carrying
out of Delhi the first day as if they were almost nothing.
A shawl which in England would fetch 1001. they were