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

An officer of rank writes from Meerut, July 17 :

A letter from Brigadier -- to Colonel —, informing
him that we were the besie tea party, and could not advance
our batteries without being annihilated in five minutes,
name ten days since, and dispelled our notions of the early
full of Delhi ; indeed of its falling at all until further re-
inforcements arrived. We have ceased to expect anything
but accounts of outside skirmishing until Wheeler or the
commander•in•chief make their appearance with fresh
forces. We cannot have anything certain regarding
Wheeler's movements ; indeed our chief reason for sup-
posing him near is the evident fright they are in at Delhi
regarding him. In the absence of bridges and boats if the
force here were to move, it would, I imagine, take the
Kurnaul route, but we are hampered with 500 women and
children, for whom we could procure no sufficient carriage,
and to give up that place, as some talk of, seems perfect
madness, the loss of prestige, the loss in barracks, and other
property enormous, so that, unless the very existence of our
hoops at Delhi was jeopardised, the abandonment of
Meerut would, I think, be a most serious evil. I only
hope it is not contemplated by those in authority. We are
still fortifying and intrenchlng to an immense extent, but
for what purpose I cannot make out—the time for such
works seems to me to be quite past.
The remarks about poor Sir H. Wheeler at that
date, three weeks alter his death, show how com-
pletely all communication is stopped between our
different detached positions.
What reinforcements are actually en route it is
very difficult to say. Lerge levies are undoubtedly
b.fing made in the eunjaub, and General Nicholson
with his flying column having destroyed the Seal-
kote mutineers, may fairly be expected to push on to
Delhi. The newly raised Sikh levies under General
Van Cortlandt should also be with the army by this
time. The general has done excellent service in
the Hurrianah district, to the northwest of Delhi,
which, in conjunction with Lieutenant Pearse and his
Ilikaneer and other irregulars, he is said to have
" completely pacified." At Hissar, where the general
joined Pearse on the 16th of July, the English offi-
cers found many melancholy traces of the massacre
that there betel. Tile survivors who had returned
with the force were able to point out several localities
where they bad seen men and women of their

938

acquaintance shot or hacked to pieces. Thus the
skull of Mr. Wedderburn, the collector, was identified
and decently interred. With it were laid such por-
tions of the remains of his wife and child, of Mrs.
Barwell, and of another lady, as were removable from
the spot, below the rampart, where they were cast
down from their little room of which the blood-
stained walls yet testified to the butchery that had
been perpetrated therein. Mrs. Smith, wife of an
assistant in the Kutcherry, took refuge with her five
children among some thick bushes in the garden of
her house. The gardener knew her retreat, but did
not disclose it, assuring the mutineers who attacked
and sacked the house that his mistress and her
family had escaped to the fort; but a chowkedar, or
policeman, who was under deep obligations to Mr.
Smith for recent kindness, found out the place where
the wife and children of his benefactor were con-
cealed, and with his own hand slaughtered every
one. Portions of bloodstained attire were still cling-
ing to the bushes when the bones of the victims were
collected and interred. Of Lieutenant Barwell's
body no traces were found. Such of the prisoners
taken by the general's force as were proved to have
been concerned in the massacre were summarily
dealt with.

AU this force is believed to be pushing down to
Delhi :

We are now promised a large addition to our little
army, by Sir .T. Lawrence (says a correspondent). In
addition to the Kemaon Battalion of Ghoorkas and Hen-
derson's regiment of Sikhs now en roule, he was sending
900 European infantry, and could push down
Beloochee and Sikh levies to the number of L 2,000, if re-
quired. Two or three thousand of these latter would, I
dare say, be very acceptable for guards, escorts, &c.; but
12,000 would be rather an encumbrance.
" Twelve thousand would be rather an encumbrance."
That is just the point, for the great question which
recurs to every mind upon reading of the introduc-
tion of so large a Sikh element into Bengal is—what
amount of reliance can we place upon these men ?
Let us see if our correspondents can help us to an
opinion. Now, it is universally allowed that the
Punjaubee is a very good fellow so long as you do
not dip your hand into his breeches-pocket. He has
a national antipathy to pay rent. His pocket is the
test of his fidelity. Our Punjaub revenue is col-
lected in November; that will be the time, therefore,
to watch keenly the disposition of our Sikh subjects.
Meanwhile, we find the tax-collector going round
already in some districts. How he is received, the
following extracts from the letter of a civil servant of
high rank will tell us :

An officer of irregular cavalry was sent out to collect
the revenue, and he had no force with him but a squadron
of his own regiment—about 120 sabres. He pitched
his camp, and rode up to the place with a small escort
to advise the men to pay quietly. They fired on him ;
he charged into the suburbs, but, getting entangled
among the houses, was obliged to retire, with the loss
of mix men.

The end of this little affair was that the suburbs of
the village were pillaged and burned by our men, one
hundred of the villagers cut down, and the revenue,
with a fine of 1,000 rupees besides, collected at the
point of the bayonet. Our civil servant continues :
I had only reached K— that day, and immediately
afterwards Captain —, the hero of the above tale,
marched away, and I bent my steps to another village,
where I expected to imitate, though I could not hope to
rival, his achievement. In this case the Kungurs had
expelled the police station, and taken possession of the
strong tower. They had refused to lay down their arms,
and, on my sending my assistant with 150 men to replace
the police, they had turned out in such numbers that be,
having discretionary powers to act according to circum•
stances, retreated. His proceedings showed so badly in
comparison with those of Captain —, and his retreat
was such a triumph to the opposition, that I expected a
sharp affair, and took measures accordingly; but, riding
up with twenty troopers to reconnoitre, I found the place
deserted, and that, although the town is so strong that a
dozen men might hold it against a host, nothing remained
then but to give up the place to plunder and fire, both
which engines of punishment were hard at work in it for
two days, and I think the Nirdhuck bitterly rue having
ousted my police, and given an armed reception to my
assistant. I don't know if any other village will oppose
me, but I fancy not. The revenue is coming ir., and
heavy fines are being paid in dogged sullenness wherever
I go.

We fear the " dogged sullenness " of these villagers
does not promise well for the future. But, it is asked,
is not their conduct in the Punjaub, hunting down the
rebels of the Bengal regiments, sufficient proof of
their fidelity ? We really believe that no more con-
fidence is felt in the Sikhs than in any other natives.
The following remarks, extracted from a letter by an
officer in the civil service, exhibit the amount of real
confidence felt by the Europeans in the Sikhs. Re-
ferring to the Sealkote mutiny, in which Sikhs and
sepoys fraternised, he remarks :
In one day we had to flog 125 men—forty lashes each.
We havo some to hang every day—from one to six in
number. A party of our levies have gone out, and are