The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

JANUARY 16, 1858.

FROM THE LIEUT:GOVERNOR, CENTRAL PROVINCES, TO
MR. C. BEADON, CALCUTTA.
Benares, December 1, 0 p.m.
The following message from Futtehpore at 7.15 p.m. is
forwarded for your information :—" I have just received
one line from Captain Bruce. He says the chief has
reached, and we are all right now, November :10, 4 p.m.
The bearer, who seems to Be speaking the truth, says that
we have driven the enemy out of Cawnpore, and we have
taken sixteen guns, and are still following them up to the
west. The ladies and children arrived on the morning of
Nov. 20. Baboo Rambuksh and Rugonauth Singh, Oude
zemindars, are, I expect, up to mischief; they have closed
the ghauts."
" The commander-in-chief," adds the Times cor-
respondent, " holds the lives of his soldiers dear,
and never expends a man where a bullet will serve

his turn":—
The victory is the most decisive of the war. Ten thou-
sand men must have escaped, but without guns they are
paralysed, and the loss of the baggage will irritate the
armed, half-disciplined scoundrels, who form the bulk of
the force, against each other. It completely clears the
road up to Cawnpore, and leaves Sir Colin Campbell time
and means to reorganise his force.
But what is the force Sir Colin Campbell will have
to reorganise? " I fear," observes the Times cor-
respondent on this head, " I fenr there is some
delusion at home as to the actual strength of the

European army" :-
We have, no doubt, a splendid force on paper-no less
than thirty-six regiments of infantry, four of cavalry, and
most of the Royal Artillery-but the entire force, rely ou
it, does not represent more than 25,00() effective men.
Thus, we have the 82nd, 34th, 88th, 93rd, 10th, 37th,
35th, 97th, 53rd, 29th, 38th, 42nd, 54th, 72nd, 19th,
20th, 27rh, 70th, 87th, 24th, 52nd, Bth, 75th, 6lst, 84th,
64th, 78th, sth, 00th, 23rd, Ist Company's Bengal Euro-
peans, 2nd Company's Bengal Europeans, 3rd Company's
Bengal Europeans, Ist Madras Fusiliers, and the 2nd, 6th,
Bth, and 9th Cavalry; but the 27th, 70th, and 87th at
Peshawur have been reduced by sickness to about 900
effectives; the 24th, at Umritsur, is not 350 strong ; the
Bth, 52nd, 75th, 61st, 60th, and two Bengal Europeans
passed through the siege of Pelhi, and do not average 300
men a regiment; the 3rd Bengal Enropeana, at Agra, are
reduced onelalf. The 32nd, 84th, 6 fth, 78th, and Madras
Fusiliers were in Lucknow, and cannot average 300 men ;
the Fusiliers at one time had not an unwounded man.
The sth and 00th, which advanced with Sir H. Havelock,
suffered awfully, the sth in particular. The 23rd, B.2nd,
34th, 88th, 64th, 93rd, 37th, and 61th have suffered more
or less, three of them very severely indeed. There are
only about 5,000 more to arrive, so that if we can collect
28,000 men in Bengal it will be as much as we can do.
" This force," he adds, with peculiar emphasis,
"supposing even that Sir John Lawrence holds his
own kingdom with the forces at Kurrachee, has to
do work which I may thus summarise :-
It has to conquer Oude, defended by 60,000 soldiers,
aided by the armed " buds:lashes " or bravoes, numbering
200,000 more. ;t has to reconquer the north-west, now
overrun by armed ruffians animated by the bitterest hate.
It has to garrison a country as large as Austria, filled with
armed men. It has to protect Bengal, a country 10,000
square miles larger than Great Britain. It has to gar-
rison Calcutta. It has to watch 20,000 disarmed but un-
punished sepoys. It has to restore our authority in Eas-
tern Bengal, lost by events lam about to narrate. And
all this time it is losing numbers at the rate of 150 per
battle, or about 300 a week, exclusive of the losses caused
by sickness and drinking, which in Calcutta at least are
fearful.
" Supposing even that Sir John Lawrence holds his
own kingdom with the forces at Kurrachee." Is there
any doubt, then, about the tranquillity of the
Punjaub
We are still engaged in a " tremendous struggle,"
writes another correspondent from Calcutta, for
which we require " a most powerful force " :-
For some time after my arrival here the daily and cheer-
ful
occupation of a morning was to see the troops landing
from the shipping in the Hooghly. At one time they
seemed inexhaustible; but now they are well-nigh ex-
hausted. There is a succession of blank days, and we are
not clear that we have got enough soldiers. In fact, the
force which has landed is not so overwhelming when we
consider the work before them, and the fact that the regi.
menta previously in India may almost without exception
he considered to be nearly used up. There have landed
in Calcutta just ten infantry battalions (I except another
battalion of the 60th Rifles which is sent back to Madras)
sent from England since the news of the mutinies was
received. Then, the five regiments destined for China
have all come here, and one from Ceylon, making sixteen
in all added to the Indian establishment, which, with the
two Bombay regiments from Persia and two from Bunnell,
make a total of twenty battalions landed from the first. Of
these, the Madras Fusiliers, 84th, 78th, 64th, 37th, Mb,
and 90th have been nearly used up, and Sir Colin Camp-
bell may be considered to have commenced the campaign
with the command of about thirteen fresh regiments, the
greater part of which have been rapidly pushed np ccuntry.
Of these, again, the 93rd and 23rd accompanied Sir Colin
to Lucknow, and the 88th, 82nd, and Rifle Brigade appear
to have been engaged with General Windham ; so that
there ere five more regiments in which we may fear that a
hole has alvaely been made. We trust and believe that
the work. will be done effectually, but still it is just as well
to bear in mind the possibility that desperate men, hard
pressed, may fight better than they have hitherto fought,
and to acknowledge that possibly further reinforcements
may yet be necessary.

57

In the present state of onr information respecting
our forces at Cawnpore every scrap of news is valu-
able. The following extracts—written, as will
be seen, on the eve of going into action—though
brief, says the Daily News, have this recommenda-
tion, that they are written by one of the best officers
in the Indian army, and by one whose position
affords him access to the best intelligence. The

letter is.dated Camp, Cawnpore, Dec. 2 :
We have got back in time to save Cawnpore from falling
into the hands of the rebels. The Gwalior force, with the
Baiza Bhaie (widow of the late Maharajah) at their head,
and that scoundrel Nana Sahib, with all his forces, united
and attacked the cantonments five days ago, and are at the
present moment in possession of one-half. They have just
opened a cannonade, and we are under orders to move ;
and ere long, in all probability, something deciaive will
happen. We are strong in the hands of Him whom we
serve, and who is able V 3 give the victory to the many or
the few. It is a solemn moment.
-

Of the previous operations of his force under Sir
Cohn, the writersmerely says :
We have accomplished the relief of the garrison of
Lucknow, and brought off all the ladies, women, and chil-
dren to this place, leaving a strong force in position mar
that city. We had some very hard fighting ; and Sir
Colin allows that even Crimean heroes will acknowledge it
some of the very heaviest fire they have ever been ucder.
He is warm in his praise of the Bengal Artillery.
Recollecting that Sir Colin effected the relief of
Lucknow with less than 5,000 men, and that, with
the garrison at the Residency and the forces collected
at Cawnpore, he can barely muster 8,000 men—fot
1 we must not estimate his forces according to the
1 number of his regiments—his position with so
1 numerous an enemy on his flank cannot be regarded
without apprehension. It is quite possible that cir-
cumstances may compel him to fall back upon
Allahabad.
A report has reached ns (writes the Daily News)
—we regret to add, from a reliable source—that as
soon as Mann Singh's adhesion to the insurgent
cause in Oude became known, all the small Talook-
dars, who had hitherto stood aloof, hastened to make
the best terms they could for themselves with the
rebels. It is stated that, with a view to make their
accession the more acceptable, such of them as had
previously concealed and protected European fugi-
tives, delivered them up to the enemy, and that all
our unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen thus
surrendered have been butchered.
To pass on to the rest of Bengal. The news from
the Benares district is scarcely so favourable as that
from Cawnpore. It will be remembered tl at our
frontier posts immediately in advance of Jsunpore
and Azimghur were held by Ghoorkas sent to our
aid by Jung Bahedoor. Against these a strong force
of Oude rebels-20,000 with forty guns, it is said—
have advanced, and the Ghoorkas have been com-
pelled to fall back towards Benares, which is in a
state of great excitement. At Allahabad it was
reported that from 8,000 to 10,000 rebels were ad-
vancing in between that city and Cawnpore. "The
force ahead of us here," says a writer, Dec. 2nd
(Allahabad), "is about 8,000 to 10,000. The Futteb-
pore Brigade has been engaged, as firing was heard
in that direction, but no information has yet been
received." What will be the result of this advance
of the rebels we shall learn probably by the next
mail. Meanwhile Jung Bahadoor has descended
from his mountains with 9,000 picked men. He has
passed Segowlee, and is marching straight for
Goruckpore. His men are much more than a match
for sepoys, and it is hoped that after clearing that
district he will probably turn southward and attack
the rebels who have flooded Azimghur. In Bengal
Proper the mutiny on the 18th Nov. of the three
companies of the 31th at Chittagong, and who
escaped northward to Tipperab, has been followed
by an emeute at Dacca, at which place two
companies of the 73rd Native Infantry were
stationed. An attempt to disarm a detachment of
the 73rd was followed by an outbreak, and now we
hoar (writes a correspondent from Calcutta, Dee. 0)
that at the head-quarters of that regiment the Irre
gular Cavalry have gone off. To-day it is rumoured
that the sepoys have also gone. The only comfort is
that this is the last of the Bengal army, and we hope
that the Sylhet and Assam local battalions will not
be drawn into the vortex, though there is anxiety
about them. Connected with this very affair is
a singular statement given by the Times Calcutta
correspondent of the apathy of the authorities in
Calcutta—viz., that Lord Canning, though earnestly
reqnested a month before to send a small force to
Chittagong, refused to do so, on the plea that no
danger of an outbreak was to be apprehended i
With respect to the rest of India, communication is
so interrupted, and hence the intelligence so scanty,
that little is really known :
It is every day more and more • subject of regret that
when the moveable column came down from Delhi, Flit-
telighur was not occupied, and our communication with
the upper country restored. People below would then
have believed the tall of Delhi, and people above would
have believed in the arrival of English troops. As. yet
neither fully believe anything; and we are nut soul a

II

1

58

Letter, Dec. 9.

dente with Agra and

Communication between Bombay and Calcutta had
been stopped for a fortnight; and the intelligence
from the Punjaub was scanty and unsatisfactory.
" Rohilcund," says a writer from the Punjaub, N3v.
30, " we have not yet attempted to recover":—
Around Delhi a moveable column is still engaged in
putting down rebellion; but intimation has just been
received of the Joudpore Legion and their confederates
having been signally defeated near Narnotil, so that we
may hope ezaitement in that quarter will gradually subside,
and all to the northward of that is perfectly tranquil. The
disturbances in Gogairah, between Lahore and Mooltan,
have been very harassing and vexatious, and had the fall
of Delhi been delayed they would undoubtedly have spread
and put the whole country in a flame. Indeed, the
Jakrani chief, who has been seized and imprisoned in
&lode, has confessed that a rising had been organised
from Kurrachee to Lahore, and was on the point of break-
ing out. All this, however, thanks be to God, is now at an
and; and seeing that ►he political atmosphere is now so
greatly changed for the better, I trust we are now justified
in considering that there is no farther ground for solicitude
in that quarter. It appears strange, however, and is to be
regretted, that not a single arrival of troops from England,
at either Kurrachee or Bombay, has been as yet reported,
save a few engineers, who have been brought by the over-
land steamer.

From Delhi a great convoy of stores and cattle
was to start for Cawnpore very shortly. It is to be
sincerely hoped that ere this they have reached Sir
Colin Campbell safely, but their escort would appear
injudiciously weak. "We are about to start an
immense convoy," writes an officer, Dec. 1, from
Delhi, " collected here, and by the Commissary at
Meerut, far the force at Cawnpore ":

We have conjointly assembled 100 elephants, 2,000
camels, and 20,000 bullocks—a nice collection of animals
to escort safely, with all their attendants, nearly 10,000
men, down the road 250 miles to Cawnpore, with Futteh-
ghur only 20 miles to the left of that road, and Calpee to
the right, both held by a strong force of the rebels. We
can only afford as escort for this string of animals, which
will occupy nearly 10 miles of road, one European regi-
ment, reduced or weak in numbers, oue troop of horse
artillery, a squadron of Carabineers, and a corps of Sikh
cavalry.

The following few words afford a glimpse into the
state of the Doab

My last intelligence from Kussowlee was dated 9th
November; since that our communications with the
provinces above have been interrupted.
The road between Meerut and Agra was declared
by the Chief Commissioner, on the 30th November,
to be unsafe for travellers. " In the direction towards
Mynpoorie and in the Etawah district," says the
writer, " the country is disorganised beyond former
times, ani onr communication with it is very un-
certain."
Sir Hugh Rose has assumed command of the Net.-
budda Field Force, of which the Mhow and Malwa
columns form the nucleus. His army will operate
in the east of Rajpootana, clearing the country from
Mhow to Ajmere, and from Ajmere to Gwalior. The
army of General Roberta assembling at Deesa will
enter Rajpootana vii Palhanpoor, to drive before it
the insurgents of Meywar, Marwar, Joudpore, Jey.
suimeer and Bikaneer. Sir Hugh by the latest
dates had reached Indora with the Malwa column,
and had succeeded in disarming Holkar's disaffected
regiments stationed there.
The Mhow column has advanced upon Bhopal.
Neemuch, so lately reduced by this column, is now
in safety, " but," adds the Bombay Telegraph," the
garrison want reinforcements, ammunition, and
provisions." The garrison therefore would not
appear to have been materially benefited by their
relief. Connected with the relief of this place tare
some details of an action fought near Mundesore,
which certainly proves that if they think proper the
rebels can fight with surprising valour. The rebels
were posted in advance of the village of Ghario.
Brigadier Stuart attacked and drove them into the
village, and here they held their ground with un•
equalled courage :
Ghario in the meanwhile obstinately resisted. Captain
Rungerford battered it on the north of our line, Captain
Woolcombe on the south. The 80th, with the Enfield,
dealt deadly destruction on the rebels, and vast numbers
fell in the village without inducing the remainder to yield.
Night came, and the rebels still held out. It was not till
morning that 150 men, the remnant of upwards of 2,000,
who had been surrounded, gave themselves up as prisoners.

In Khandeish the Bheels, who six weeks ago we
were assured were "completely dispersed" and
" thoroughly crushed," have again risen near Nal-
sick, and plundered villages in the district of Peint,
a part of them taking up a final position in the
Snttergbaut, whilst another band robbed and burnt
Burma and Elonja. In Guzerat bands of Holies
and Grassing have also been committing depreda-
tions, the latter burning and plundering the town of
Metier, near Surat, on the 10th inst. But the mo-t
daring efforts of these petty, but harassing, Mut...
g n's are those made in the South Mabratta country,
where the chronic disaffection has suddenly broiso
out into open violence near Kolapore. These men