The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

INDIA.

CAWNPORE-DELHI-ARRAH.

CERTAINLY the position of affairs in India, as ex-
hibited by the ample details we have at length re-
ceived by the Calcutta mail, is fa: from reassuring.
Delhi not only yet in the hands of the rebels, but
our army —if it had not retreated —is literally
besieged within its own lines and driven
to act strictly on the defensive; Agra and Luck-
now left to their fate ; Patna and Bcnares on
the eve of revolt ; a horrible disaster at Arrah be-
falling our troops ; fresh extensions of the mutiny
throughout Southern Bengal; the stoppage of all
up country communication; and panics at Bombay and
Calcutta. Where is it all to end? LDrd Elgin had
arrived at Calcutta, followed by some 1,700 men,
and these infused fresh confidence into the hearts of
the European residents, hut a crisis at the Mohur-
rum was greatly feared. Everywhere the natives
were becoming insolent, and openly boasted that the
town befcre long would be their own. Arms were
purchased in vast quantities; the "gun trade,"
writes a correspondent, "is most active." Clever
natives "plan and sketch the fort, count the guts,
and even take their bearings ;" lead and percussion
caps are permitted a free sale, the police conniving;
and in the midst of all this the authorities " potter
and humbug," declare there is no danger, and, ex-
tsperating the European residents into a frenzy by
their indifference, introduce altogether a new element
into affairs. "If more energy is not shown," writes
a correspondent from Calcutta, August 7th, "by
next mail you will hear one of two thing-,—a vigi-
lance committee, or a mutiny among the European
troops" :

Lord Canning does not like severity ; thus he has been
implored to proclaim martial law, because all Calcutta
and the country around has been for some time openly
disaffected, and of course he refuses. Man after man is
brought to him, discovered in some treasonable corre-
spondence; he is only to be reprimanded ; his own private
moonshee was to have stabbed him after breakfast one
fine morning, and gets a severe reproof, but neither
flogging nor hanging. Two men were caught in the act
of hauling down the colours in Furt William and hoisting
the green flag of the holy Prophet; this was to have
been the signal for 13,000 nice young men to make a
dash at the fort. Nothing but fears of a mutiny among
the European troops wrung from Lord Canning the
order for their execution, which was carried into effect
this very morning.
in all this of course there is much exaggeration,
but it shows the tendency of public feeling in Cal-
cutta, both among Europeans and natives :
At Calcutta (writes another correspondent) everyone is
now alarmed at the awful position which we are placed
in, and in which we must remain until we have an army
large enough to sweep every rebel from the country. A
great many Madras sepoya arrived in the Hooghly yester-
day, but the experiment of using them for our defence
is considered very generally a dangerous one. The Go-
vernor's body-guard, numbering 200 or 300, and consist.
ing of picked fighting sepoys, delivered tip their arms
yesterday of their own accord ; but they knew that guns
would be pointed at them if they did nut.
The Calcutta inhabitants and merchants had con-
vened a meeting, and drawn up a petition to Parlia-
ment praying for a change in the Government. We
have published the petition elsewhere. Suffice it to
say here that it calls for the transfer of the govern-
ment of India to the Crown, and breathes the most
gloomy anticipations.
Nobody doubts the ultimate result, or disputes
our power to reconquer the country ; but that, we
humbly submit, is not the question. It is rather
—had we any right, to lose the country? Besides,
how many years would it take for us to reconquer
Hindostan, in the face of an army and a people op-
posed to us? Has that ever been the condition of
affairs since the days of Clive and Hastings? No
one who is intimate with the history of the rise of
British supremacy in India can fail to acknowledge
that that supremacy was obtained solely through
those dissensions of the native princes which gave
us an opportunity to interfere, and by supporting
one portion of the people and army against the other,
ultimately to overcome both. Divide et impera
that was our policy then ; but to assert that the
reconquest of India would he easy—with the native
princes and population opposed to us, as they will be
if ever we are driven to so" melancholy a position—
is to exhibit such ignorance and folly as no man
in his heart can consciously sustain.
From Bombay we have no further intelligence of
importance. Time will show whether the Kolapore
mutiny was a solitary instance of disaffection or the
commencement of the rising of Southern India.