The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 23,1858.

soldiers. A correspo

writing on the Bth

December says :
The town full of soldiers; drunkenness the order of
the day; but the peculiar features of Borne of the cases
have induced the regimental surgeons to examine into
them minutely, and use the stomach-pump. They de-
clare the men to have been either poisoned or drugged,
and the analysis 3f the contents of one Highlander's
stomach is stated to have exhibited arsenic. Any Govern•
ment would be chary of the lives of soldiers brought out,
fed, and kept at such an awful expense. Our rulers
prove their anxiety to preserve European life by wholly
neglecting to place the grog-shops under proper restric-
tion and surveillance.
With respect to the feeling of Calcutta as to the
general position of affairs, he writes that the aban-
donment of Lucknow is looked upon by the natives
as " an important triumph " :
My belief is the actual fighting part of the business
has yet to come.. All these accounts of splendid victories,
and proofs of what British valour can do, will not con-
trovert the fact that our enemies are increasing in number,
and are as well armed and found as ever, in spite of the
immense quantities of warlike stores we have destroyed ;
nor do they seem to be a bit afraid of meeting us—all their
previous thrashings have not dispirited them one bit.
The writer attributes this to the considerate treat-
ment of the rebels by the authorities :
At Delhi, the sentries have been disarmed ; they mount
guard with sticks, in the midst of a ferocious, fanatical
population thirsting for their blood; and all this to con-
ciliate the murderous thieves. In Calcutta, the horses
of the Governor-General's body-guard, about 200 of them,
have been made over to the King's Dragoon Guards ;
but to conciliate this loyal body of men, who were dis-
armed in July last, the sentries of the Queen's Dragoons
mount guard disarmed, or with sticks in their hands, be-
cause the Governor-General's body-guard pass and repass
their temporary barracks twice a day, and it might hart
their very tender and delicate feelings to see European
soldiers better treated than themselves. But you must
not suppose that our Governor-General sacrifices his love
for his own guards to the emergencies of the State. Nut
he ; a few of the horses and men are retained to escort
himself and Lady Canning on their rides and appearances
in public. The Calcutta Volunteer Cavalry were imper-
tinent enough to offer him an escort of men and horses
Queen Victoria might have been proud of. He might
now have an escort of 7th Hussars, Bays, or Dragoon
Guards; but none suit him so well as the black faces of
his beloved body-guard. English soldiers, with three and
four hard-earned medals, are made to mount guard at
such places as the Bank of Bengal and the Treasury,
with disarmed sepoys more than half suspected of treason.
The sepoy has a good room and his usual bed for the
night, but that good-for-nothing brute " John Bull " may
sleep on the stairs or in the verandahs as he can ; any
dog's kind of treatment is good enough for him. There
are at Barrackpore near 5,000 sepoys who do not work,
carry no arms, have no drill, parade, or other annoyance ;
a European regiment has every now and then to be
under arms all night, but that is a trifie—il serves to con-
ciliate the natives. Now and, again some secret depot of
arms is discovered. They are not bidden in one place,
and will be available when wanted. The sepoys are daily
making a bolt of it, we know not whither—some to Oude,
many to Chittagong and Dacca.