The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 5,1857.

for which no returns can be made. We have produce
arriving scantily, which at this season should be coming in
abundantly; and although much has yet to arrive, de-
spatched before rebellion hail so widely spread, yet as the
year draws to a close the scarcity will be apparent, and we
may not have in Calcutta produce sufficient to load our
ships—a feature in the trade of India hitherto unknown.
The mighty calamity amongst our millions, however, most
to be feared is famine, and its dread indications are already
being shadowed forth.
A " High Official in Bengal " writes to a friend in
London :

What you will be anxious to hear is the downfall of
Delhi—but the Government has been es silent as the grave
on the subject, since it announced the first attack upon the
place, the success of which, it is now certain, must have
been very insignificant. Could Delhi have been destroyed
within any reasonable time, Cawnpore would never have
fallen, nor Luckuow been in danger; it was the bead-
quarters of the insurgents, and its destruction would have
paralysed them. Now I am afraid they will have very
powerful reunions in half a dozen places before Delhi is
mastered. While I am writing this the Government has
heard from Delhi, but nothing more satisfactory than that
stores and munitions of war were on their way from
Philour ; there had been, I am told, another fight, in which
we lost about fifty killed and as many wounded.
May my next letter give brighter accaunts than are con-
tained in this one.

As to the causes of the present rebellion, the public
opinion of India is unanimous in favour of its having
arisen from " our annexation policy " :
Your annexation policy (writes one correspondent), as
you facetiously enough term it, has been undoubtedly one
of the causes of this rising of the natives. There is now
hardly an independent prince left in all Hindustan hut
feels the grasp of your " bloody hands " at his throat ; that
some mean petty excuse may cheat him and his deseen•
dants out of possessions held in their family for centuries
and centuries—held long before even the name of England
was heard, far less feared, in India. It may be—and, I
believe, is said—most of the native chiefs are siding with
us ; but, for once, let me entreat of you not to be deceived
by any hope of this kind. Believe me, there is hardly one
native prince left in India who would not raise his hand
against you when he feels he can do so with safety ; they
are now only biding their time—if the mutiny among the
sepoys succeeds, or even gains a head, they will be up and
join. Ask yourself is this not natural, is it not human
nature ?—to suppose otherwise is to suppose the natives a
different class of beings from all the rest of mankind. Do
not fall into this fatal mistake.

"The present rebellion," writes another, "has
nothing to do with religion" :

It is undoubtedly a political movement—a conspiracy
hatched by the Mahomedans, fostered by the ex• King of
Oude, the King of Delhi, and other princes, to eject and
destroy the European power, and to re•cstablish the
Mussulman dynasty.

"Beyond all question," remarks a third,

the annexation of dude roused not only hfahomedans,
but Hindoos, to this conviction, that annexation would
never cease while there was a biggali of territory or a rupee
of revenue to be added to British acquisition. Anything
ought to have been done with Dude short of denying the
treaty of 1837 and confiscating its revenues, for even Provi-
dence can hardly have looked favourably on what we have
been doing this way for the last fifteen years, for our inters
have been so demented as to lessen our means of defence
while rapidly piling up aggravations to resistance.
As to the position of Calcutta, matters appear
to be far from satisfactory. A general feeling
of insecurity prevails in the city. A correspondent,
writing on the 19th July, gives us some interesting
details, and quite a refreshing illustration of Cal-
cutta red•tapeism
I do not consider even Calcutta over•safe, and think all
women and children should leave India in our present
perilous times, although I do not apprehend any outbreak
but what could be speedily put down. We have a good lot
of troops in the fort; the volunteer guard amounts to 800
strong; and the seamen in the river would form another
thousand—awkward customers with muskets and cutlasses.
Besides, we could muster 1.5(5) more Christians who can
fire a gun; and we are all more or less armed ; in the face
of which I do not think our Mussulman friends would like
to try it on. But that the feeling of insecurity pervades all
classes may be gathered from the circumstance of the Go-
vernor-General turning out the other night at twelve o'clock'
with his aides-de-camp and body-guard, and riding down to
the Bank, when a heavy gun was tired off, supposed to be a
signal for a rising, but which turned out to be a war
steamer's mode of appi ising a pilot that he was getting up
steam. The fact is the people have no confidence whatever
in the Government, they see such a want of vigour and
precaution. Thousands itf arms are sold weekly in the
Calcutta bazaars ; small bodies of armed natives meet outside,
the town ; and yet, although this is pointed out to the
powers, they " pooh pooh" all idea of danger, as they have
done in every instance, until this hydra headed conspiracy
threatened to destroy them. I suppose they are fearful of
hurting the feelings of the natives ! Theyought to disarm
everybody but those having a licence to keep offensive
weapons. One of the head Government officials, who lives
in the suburbs, and has to pass through one of the principal
haz.iara, sees every morning fellows bringing their tulwars
(swords) to the armourers' shops to be ground and
sharpened ; but" it is not in his department."
It does not appear that very large reinforcements
have yet reached Calcutta :