The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-06 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 6, 1858.

rooms as full of the modern ki nd--dinner,tes, and breakfast
services, and flower vases richly gilt and figured, belonging
to the King of Oude, with the royal arms in the centre of
the plates, Sze. These were evidently of English manu-
facture. I secured a few of those, hut china is not a safe
thing to carry about in a march, and I doubt much whether
it will survive to the end of the campaign. The rooms
were so full that you could not take a step without
smashing something under foot, and before the prize•
agent came down you never saw such a wreck of vases,
soup tureens, dishes, plates, ,cups and saucers, as was
presented there.
He tells of some curious escapes :
You would scarcely credit the many wonderful escapes
that people had. One man had his pillow torn in two
while asleep by a round shot, which came through the
wall of his sleeping room, without being hurt. Another
round shot came into a room where several officers were
sitting down at dinner, went betweeu them down the
length of the table without touching anybody, and out at
the other side. Another shot, after having taken eff a leg
of one of the party, grazed an officer's sleeve, leaving its
bloody mark behind it. It was not at all an unusual
sight—a hat and coat perforated, or a pistol and a sword
indented by a bullet. The wonder was, that after going
through such fire as we did so many escaped, and not that
so many were hit. God was with us, and he saved us.. .
I sent in an application yesterday, according to form, for
compensatioo for my horse shot under me on the ,:sth of
September. What an escape that was for me I The round
shot must have entered the poor brute's shoulder just in
front of my left leg, and come nut behind my right. A
little more—half another step in advance of my horse, and
both my legs would have beer, carred off! What a mer-
ciful Providence there is in everything! Then, again,
when the bullet passed through my riding boots without
hurting me, another eighth of an inch and my bone would
have been crushed. Often men have been knocked over
right and lett or in front of me, sometimes while con-
versing with them or being engaged in the same service,
and yet I have been miraculously saved. I heard of a
wondetful escape this morning at breakfast. Brigadier
Russell was riding about, when an ISlb. round shot struck
the collar of his coat, carried it away, and his shirt collar
and neckerchief, without inflicting further damage than a
contusion. He was knocked down of course senseless,
bat I believe is now all right again.
He describes the general feeling of the villagers of
Oude, so far as they can be accepted, to be in favour
of our rule and against the rebels :

My duties consist principally in talking to the ryots—
villagers around—and endeavouring to persuade them to
continue their avocations as usual, under our protection,
and not desert their homes and villages from fear of us
or our enemies. They say they wish to return, and feel
quite safe under us, but that the sepoys and budruashes
( bad characters, not sepoys, who take up arms against us
in different towns and villages) seize them and their goods
by force, and detain them for taking their corn, &c., to us
for sale, with threats of death and torture. Those I have
spoken to, lay all their losses at the doors of the sepoys.
At least so they declare before me, but I don't believe in
their sincerity altogeiher. If they really wished to return
and reopen dealings with us, and du as they say, confide
in the strength of our protection, what is to prevent them ?
When all returned they would be comparatively safe; but
they are timid creatures, and until they see a force large
enough to back our promises, will not venture to run away
from their oppressors, in case of reverses on our side.
Writing from the fort of Jellalahad, which we hold
as an advanced post, he remarks :
The crops, I am glad to see, are getting on very well,
and cultivation is going on in must places, so I do not
think there will be such a dearth as many anticipate. It
is as much, or indeed far more, for the interest of all classes
of the natives to preserve their crops, as fur ours
At present there is hardly an enemy to be seen for miles
round this place ; but villagers are picking their crops and
attending to cultivation. They are returning by degrees
to their burnt and plundered homes, and 1 never lose an
opportunity in my morring walks through the neighbour-
ing villages to encourage them to return and reopen their
bazaars, assuring them they will be well treated, and will
receive the value of the articles they sell. They believe
in our just dealing, I think. Their experience of us
proves that we pay for what we get, and that Government
sanctions no frauds in pillaging, and that if any complaint
of wrong be brought before the proper authorities it will
always be attended to. . . . In many cases we have been
unavoidably obliged to burn and destroy villages en route
of the army, and as unavoidably in such cases innocent
and guilty both suffer; fir instance, any village concealing
the enemy, providing supplies to the enemy, or where re-
sistance has been made to our troops, is sacrificed.
Upon the whole, only one inference can be drawn
from all this, and that is that the villagers are at the
best passive, and supply either party with provisions
and information as the case may be.
The manner in which the gallant Neill met his
death may not be generally known. He was riding
through a narrow street urging on the troops, when
he halted for a moment under a portico to listen to
the shout of the 78th Highlanders as they gained
the Residency. At this moment an officer passed by
faint with his exertions. Neill pulled out a flask
and handed it to him. While he was thus engaged
a eunuch leaning over from the portico discharged
his matchlock into the gallant hero's skull; he fell
dead at once, the most daring, dashing spirit in the
army.
Among the passengers who arrived at Southamp-
ton on Tuesday morning, in the India mail.packet
Cartsbol was a widow lady with her two ohildroof

Her husband was killed by the mutineers in India.
She and others were saved by a friendly rajah, and
through his connivance they passed through Oude
on their way to Calcutta disguised as a native wed.
ding party, and were completely shrouded from view
by veils and other coverings, and travelled in a cart,
according to the customs of such parties. One of
this lady's children was born about the time of her
escape. The rajah has since joined the mutineers.
He protected the lady and children, as well as other
refugees, for some time before he was able to pro.
vide for their escape in the disguise they assurnhl.
Another of the lady passengers on board the Colombo
had a narrow escape. She and her husband, while
flying from the upper country, were fired at re-
peatedly. The driver of the vehicle in which they
escaped was killed, and a ball fired at them grazed
the lady's finger; but although whole volleys of mus-
ketry were aimed at them, they received no serious
injury. At one time the danger was so imminent
that they were obliged to rush out of the vehicle and
hide away. She left her husband iu India, fighting.
Calcutta is very crowded with refugees, owing to the
unwillingness of the wives of officers and others to
come to England and leave their husbands iu danger
in India. Many of the* ladies are almost forced
out of India by their Irolibands. The passengers
from Calcutta say that troops are very much wanted
in India. Although a large number of soldiers are
gone out, they are scattered about, and are at uo
part in very great force. .

- The. cotillion of the fugitives who are now coming
into Calcutta appears to be most deplorable. A lady
writing home, December 24th, says :

There is a committee of ladies appointed to receive
and look after distressed ladies and women from the Mo-
fussil. We have had ten large houses prepare.' fur them,
and they have been constantly full. We have had to supply
them with clothing and every requisite for comfort. Many
come to Calcutta with only the rata they have on, and
some in men's clothes, lent them on their way down.
Some of these ladies ore in the most deplorable state of
health, with constitutions ruined for life from their suffer-
ings. We have hail large supplies of beautiful new cloth-
ing sent out from England fit distribution among them.
The ladies and women from Lucknuw are daily expected,
and we have prepared everythiiig for their comfortable
reception. The storiea circulating about the garrison
during their long and terrible trial ate most extraordinary.
The sense of danger was so inten-e that after a titne they
became callous to death. For 120 days they were con-
stantly under fire, and only four days passed without the
loss of some of their number. More than half the Frith-
son were killed. The ladies now write down from Allah-
abed that the reaction and quiet of their present condition
is almost as painful as the siege itself. The torpor of
death seems to have crept over them, and all are giving
way under it. Young brides of a few weeks are grown into
aged, grey-haired widows, not to be recognised by those
who saw them a few months ago. It seems that some of
the men even, who went through the siege without
suffering materially in health, have since sunk from the
reaction.

A Calcutta correspondent writes, on the 23rd of
Dec,mber, that the sufferings of the Lucknow re-
fugees were especially painlul :

I have just seen a letter from a lady delicately born and
nurtured, accustomed to the highest society 01 England,
who with her children endured the frightful time in Luck-
now. She writes :—" It was very hard work. I often lay
down feeling as if nothing could rouse me again. We
were literally starving—sometimes to make the others eat
who could not swa►low the nau• eous food set f ire them.
Our family allowance latierly was a teacuplul of rice, a few
pounds of wheat, a little salt, and six ounces of gun bullock.
Nothing was allowed for the children. I lost all sense of
fe.r—death was so familiar—it was such rest to many
weary souls. It was sad to see the poor children pining
and ding, sometimes seven or eight buried in a single
night."

At a dinner of welcome given by the wealthy na•
lives of Bombay to the European soldiers recently
landed from England, Lord Elphinstone took the
opportunity of reading something in the shape of a
lesson to those who confound in one common ,dislike
all classes of Indians. He affirmed " that, with very
few exceptions, the revolt had been purely military,
and that the great body of the people had nothing
to do with it ;" that in Oude only had there been
anything like a popular adhesion to their cause,
whilst in Ruhilcund the feeling had been decidedly
in our favour. He added that in Scinde, where those
who owed us no good will, whose greatness had been
extinguished by us, and whose power bad been re-
duced or nullified by our successes, the conduct of
the mutineers and their associates had been viewed
with disgust and indignation ; and he quoted words
spoken by Shere Maliomed, one of the ex-Ameers
of Scinde, to the effect " that this was not like
meeting the English in the field, and that the fiends
who murdered women and children deserved the
punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah :
These expressions Lord Elphitistone dwelt on with
pleasure, because lie said he had heard that the professions
now made by the natives of Bombay were considered in.
sincere and hollow by some who believed that they should
have been publioly made at an earlier period, when the
symptoms of the re•estsidishment of our rule were less
decided than they had sine. lissome. Against snob sew
tintlati Lord filphilletollePQßSideTad ti hw duty to protest,