The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-19 00:00:00

days ago, under an escort, en route to Bombay. The
fort was being garrisoned and provisioned. Many
more places will follow their example, if wise, and
you may shortly expect arrivals of successive batches
of ladies and children in England, where they ought
all to be now.

Although, since the departure of the last mail, we.
have been successful, I hope you will not allow the
sanguine tone of the Indian press, which is prover-
bially wrong in its views, to influence you, nor yet
the official stereotyped commonplace gloss of the
Government. The European community in India
now know and feel that on them devolves the duty
of saving the country; nor do they quail before the
difficulty; their hearts are as true as of old, and the
desire of revenge for the wrongs of English ladies
and children animates them. Our position at Delhi
is a critical one ; although invariably successful, the
losses we suffer cripple cur force. I believe that,
after weighing all things, we shall succeed, though
it will be more on account of the dissensions and
troubles of our enemy than our own immediate
strength. We hme a large number of our country-
men shut up at Agra ; they are in a dangerous posi-
tion. Then General Havelock, brilliant as have
been his successes, cannot be looked upon as secure ;
his small force has suffered heavy losses, he has no
cavalry and consequently cannot render his victories
complete, the season of the year is deadly, and he
is surrounded on all sides by hosts of enemies. A.
reverse at Delhi now would be mcst disastrous ; the
probability is that if such a thing happened (and we
must look the worst in the face), the whole Bombay
army would rise as well as the Nizam's Contingent.
The consequence might be judged when you consider
that we have now only six European infantry regi-
ments in the Presidency, and that they are scattered
in small detachments all over the country; in no
one instance is a regiment entire. Although I sincerely
hope all this will not happen, I do not trust a single
Bombay regiment should an opportunity occur for a
successful rise.

The people of the country, so far, are not entirely
against us, except in some districts where special
grievances have caused a bad feeling, such as the
Inam commission at Sattara, the withholding of the
Kolapore raj from its owner, the Nagpore annexa-
tion, &c. Large bodies of robbers and hill-men are,
however, abroad, and two months hence, the time at
which they usually commence their excursions, many
more will he in the field.

From the commencement of these disturbances,
the Government have taken no measures to estab-
lish secret postal communications where the regular
post was cut off, nor have spies been employed to
give information, nor the scrutiny of native letters
been sanctioned passing through tl e post. Our
rulers seem to have been too busy hiding their heads
in the sand, and endeavouring to persuade their
countrymen to do the same, to organise any of these
ordinary and simple precautions. You may not
know at home that at this moment the mails between
Bombay and Calcutta are carried over the most exe-
crable road it is possible to conceive ; wheeled carts
cannot travel on it at this season, and on some por-
tions the rivers are almost impassable; the bags are
carried on packhorses.
The Home Government will doubtless be glad to
hear of our having taken up the troops destined for
China. The 90th and sth, I believe, have arrived
at Calcutta. We have the 33rd at Bombay, from the
Mauritius, as well as a company of Royal Artillery.
India would have been in poor plight indeed with-
out these reinforcements. Aden is now left entirely
destitute of European troops, and is by no means
safe ;it should be garrisoned immediately. The
wing of her Majesty's 80th Foot, from that place,
have been sent down here. I have just seen a cap-
tain of a New York steamer, who reports that several
vessels with troops for China were at the Cape when
he touched there. I have not papers yet, so cannot
give further particulars. They would doubtless be
detained in the Straits and sent to Calcutta, the
order for all troops to be sent to India not having at
that time reached the Cape. Fifteen ships have
just been chartered, and will sail immediately, to con-
vey horses from the Cape. They have contracted
for three months. The horses are required for the
dragoon regiments expected from England, and for
the new horse artillery to be raised.
Mr. Lumsden, our senior member of Council, pro-
ceeds home by the mail of to day. He has been a
retired man here, but his wisdom in council is of
high order, and he will be able to give some sound
advice on the present state of matters to the Home
Government; unfortunately he has not hardihood
enough to press home his own views, and allows
himself to be overruled. He retires from the service
beloved by all who knew him. His place in council
will be filled by Mr. Reeves, late Revenue Commis-
sioner for the southern districts.

Yesterday, having been set aside as a day of humi-
liation, was generally observed; business was stopped,
and all classes of the native community attend.. 3
their different places of worship to offer up prayera
for the restoration of peals.