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

THE WEEK.

TEM intelligence brought by this mail is the most serious that wt,
have received since the outbreak at Meerut and the seizure of Delhi.
We not only have to bear the sad news of the retreat of General
HAVELOCK, upon whom every hope, alas ! rested for the relief of Luck
now, but the more alarming statement that the army befoio Delhi,
weakened by losses and disease, has been compelled to relinquish its
position and retreat before the rebels. At present this is a mere
report, but, coupled with the fact that councils of war to discuss the ne-
cessity of such a measure have been held by our generals in camp,
it bears an ominous significance. We do not wish unreasonably to excite
the fears of our readers, but we warn them to prepare for the worst. On
the other hand, if we turn to Bombay, there, jerked, are our worst
fears confirmed. The first regiment of the Bombay army has broken
out in open mutiny. Two more regiments stationed in its immediate
neighbourhood are believed to have joined them, and to have raised
the standard of revolt upon the confines of the Mahratta country.
A vast conspiracy, having for its object the massacre of all Euro-
peans at Poonah, and in which the Rajah of SATTABA and many
natives of influence and rank are deeply implicated, has been
discovered. The attitude of Seindia and of the Southern Mahrattas is
most suspicious ; and the Mahoinedan fete on the 22nd of August, we
fear, will prove to have roused the whole country against us. and to
show that a general spread of the rebellion, from Cape Comorin to the
Himalayas, so often ridiculed, at length has become a terrible fact.
On the banks of the Gauges a most serious mutiny has occurred in
four regiments of Bengal Sepoys hitherto implicitly relied on, but
who, at a moment of vital importance to us, have thrown aside the
mask they wore for weeks, and have marched direct upon Benares, in
which city the seeds of revolt are full ripe. But the mutiny
of these regiments, serious as it is, is yet marked by an
incident of far more grave importance. Stopping to
plunder the small town of Arrah, they were attacked on the
banks of the Ganges by a force of 400 men of the 10th Regiment,
who had been despatched in pursuit in two steamers. One vessel
grounded in the Ganges, the other unhappily landed the men ; they
fell into an ambuscade, and were driven back with the loss of
147 men and nine officers killed and wounded. Like the capture
of Cawnpore, this transient success of the rebels will be magnified by
their emissaries into a great victory. Occurring on the eve of
the Mohurrum, and coupled with our inaction at Delhi, with
the retreat of General HAVELOCK, and with the too probable
fall of Lucknow, it is a matter for the most serious apprehension. It
will obliterate all recollection of the successive defeats of
NANA SAHIB, it will stimulate the waverers into action against
us, and will have a sweeping effect against our prestige
throughout the country. These details are of far too much importance
to be passed over with the slighting indifference displayed
by the Ministerial journals. We have arrived at that moment when
flattery and falsehood can no longer deceive, and simplicity itself be
no longer misled. Let the country beware. The contest is assuming
gigantic proportions, and we cannot too seriously impress upon our
readers that it demands all the strength and resources of the empire
to master it with success. Encouraged by the Government, the
public have too long treated this rebellion as a mere topic of conver-
sation. If they continue to gaze at it as some strange phenome-
non, they will soon have to regard it as a terrible peril.
Every succeeding mail exposes to us now the lamentable position to
which our struggling fellow-countrymen are reduced by the
inadequate resources at their command. Communication is every-
where cut off, their hard-bought victories are neutralised, and their
bravest efforts of no avail, though the plains of Hindostan are soddened
with their blood. This is the position to which we are reduced by
the sagacity of a vigorous Government. Who shall say what a day may
bring forth ? We tell them now, as we have told them for weeks past,
that the time for great and united action has arrived, and is passing.
We must no longer speculate in inactivity upon our chances of
success, for before the " Army of Retribution," as it is pompously called,
reaches Calcutta, the relative position of the rebels and our-
selves may be materially changed, and we had better prepare
at once for the complete reconquest of the country. This
as no time to deal in petty schemes and contemptible expedients which
dishonour a country if they fail, and confer no credit upon it if they
succeed. If we wish to maintain any hold of India, we must accept
the present movement in its true light : not as a " Mahomedan" con-
spiracy, but as a vast insurrection favoured by the mass of the popu-
lation. The policy to be pursued is obvious ; we must separate the
cause of the people from the insurrectionists, and we must take
more comprehensive measures than are proposed for the sup-
pression of the revolt.

No praise of ours can do justice to the gallantry of General
HATELocx and his heroic soldiers ; but his retreat is pitiable.
Weakened by his victories, and overcome by disease, he is reported to
have been compelled to retire before achieving the relief of Lucknow
some sanguine minds doubt the truth of his retreat. It is possible
that his return to Cawnpore after the capture of Bilitoor, in order to
deposit the sixteen guns taken in that stronghold, may have been con
fumed with his ultimate movemcntQ. but the telegraphic despatch
appeare clear upon the point. "General HAVELOCK, after having