The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 34,1857.

missariat and transport arrangements at Cal-
cutta are very greatly improved within the last
month. Nor is it very easy to see how, if the
road between Cawnpore and Lucknow has
been closed by the rebels, the additional force
there is to be fed. The difficulty at Lucknow,
as at Cawnpore, throughout, has been to
supply the garrison with food ; and this, if the
whole country be so completely in the hands
of the rebels us it would seem to be, will be a
very much greater task, owing to the addi •
tional number of the garrison, than it was
before. However, we can only hope for the
best, and trust to PROVIDENCE for theirultimate
relief. But we cannot help thinking how dif-
ferent might have been the state of things if
an Ellenborough had been on the spot—one
who not only knows how to raise the spirit of
the soldiers to enthusiasm, but who is so fami•
liar with all the details of Indian warfare as to
be able to foresee at once, and to provide for,
every possible event. We may. to be sure,
come out of the contest gloriously as it is ; but
it will be the merest chance if we do. And all
who know anything of war know how senora
Fortune smiles on those who make success
dependent on her smiles alone.
While such is the news from the two most
important points in India, that which comes
from the other provinces is far from good.
The Bombay Presidency would appear to be in
a state of great agitation, and if Delhi had not
fallen there seems to have been every proba-
bility of fresh mutinies there. As it is, a
native officer and a sepoy have been blown
away from guns. Then, again, we are told that
there has been a rising among the predatory
tribes of the Punjaub, and that the frontier of
Scinde is in a very disturbed state. That
Dhar and Mundesore, and Amjheera are dis-
affected, and that Bhopawur has been burnt.
That the Dinapore mutineers are marching in
the direction of Banda, and that NANA SAIIIB
is in the neighbourhood of Gwalior trying to
effect a junction with the mutineers. That
there has been a rise among the Bheels of
Candeish ; that there has been an outbreak at
Nassick, in which Captain HENRY, Superin-
tendent of Police, was killed; and that the
garrison of Saugor is in a most critical posi-
tion, in which many European women and
children are shut up. In short, that a state of
things exists everywhere in India as different
as possible from that which Lord PALMERSTON
at the dinner at the Mansion-house pro-
claimed.

•i

How long, we ask again and ag,ain, is this
state of things to be allowed to go on ? How
long is the guidance of the nation's efforts
during the crisis to be left to the hands of
those whose ignorance and mismanagement
occasioned it in the outset, and whose incom-
petence to deal with it is best shown by the
proportions which it has now assumed ?
There is the best part of India to reconquer,
and we have not yet got through the two
introductory operations of Delhi and Luck-
now. One alone of these cities has fallen ; and
our check before the second will most probably
lose for us almost as much in prestige as we
have gained by the capture of the first. Mean-
time our generals and soldiers are fast sue-
cumbing before the almost superhuman
labours that they have to undergo. Some of
the best of the for►ner—Bertr&RD, and I.Aw-
REN.E, and NICHOLSON, and NElLL—have gone
to that bourne whence they will return no
more. Others have fallen into a state from
wounds and sickness that will render their