The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-10 00:00:00

SIR COLIN CAMPBELL AT CALCUTTA.

From letters received in Glasgow dated Calcutta,
August 22, Sir Cohn Campbell, who arrived there
on the 14th of August, was in perfect health at
that time, and had taken the command of the army.
On the 17th of that month he issued the following
order of the day to the troops in India :

BY THE COMMANDER IN•CRIEF.
Her Majesty having been graciously pleased to appoint
me Commanderin•Chief of the Forces in India, in the room
of the late lamented General the Honourable George Anson,
and her Majesty having also been graciously pleased to
confer upon me the rank of General in the East Indies, I
now assume the command of the army in India.
In doing so it affords me the highest satisfaction to find
under my orders troops who have so fully proved them.
selves, in the recent arduous operations in the field, to be
what I have ever known British soldiers in every quarter
of the globe—courageous, faithful, obedient, and en-
during.
In former years I have commanded native troops of
India, and by their side I have been present in many battles
and victories in which they have nobly borne their part ;
and it is to me a subject of deep concern to learn that sot. August 5.
there of whom I have been accustomed to think so favour- Since I wrote yesterday, news has come that the Hin-
ably should now be arrayed in open and defiant mutiny does have risen against the Mahomedans and seized More-
against a Government proverbial for the liberality and dabad and the guns there, and that they have also split and
paternal consideration with which it has ever treated its are ready to go at one another's throats in Bareilly. The
servants of every denomination. Mahomedans have been oppressing the Ilindoos terribly,
When I join the none now in the field restoring order to and the worm has turned. The Hindoos are numerous
the district disturbed by the disaffection of the army of enough to win the day if they are stanch.
Bengal, I shall, at the head of the British troops, and of They are also very well affected to us (at least in this
those native soldiers who, though few in number, have not neighbourhood), and have been sending us constant mes-
feared to separate themselves from their faithless comrades, sages to come back again, which we should have done if
and to adhere to their duty, feel my old confidence that they we had had any force here at all—l mean even two avail.
will march to certain victory. able field-guns and 200 or 300 cavalry to go with the
1 shall not fail to notice, and the powerful Government Ghoorkas and us. The Hindoos really seem to mean
which I have the honour to serve will not fail to reward, fighting now.
every instance of fidelity and valour shown by the troops This is the best news we have heard for a long time.
nude- my command. The religious split will spread everywhere like wildfire—
I call upon the officers and men of both European and into Delhi itself, in all probability—and whichever loses,
native troops zealously to assist in the task before us; and, Hindoo or Mahomedan, we ought to win. I t also makes
by the blessing of God, we shall soon again see India tran- us at Nynee Tal quite secure from any attack, for some
quit and prosperous. time to come at any rate. I have sent a copy of this letter
(Signed) CoLIN CAMMIELL. to my mother.
This statement has not been supported by official
DELHI. intelligence of the fact.
An officer of the Bengal Artillery, writing from
The Punjaub scarcely appears to be in a satis-
Do.lhi, August 13, expresses an opinion that the
We are armin
factory or a safe position. g and
seizure of Delhi by the rebels, and our long siege,
training huge bodies of natives, and placing implicit
has been entirely in our favour. It concentrated
the main force of the rebels on one spot :
confidence in native chiefs who have hitherto been
under the strictest surveillance. A writer remarks
The mere fact of our being here in front of Delhi has
attracted all the mutineers to this one spot, without on the 15th August :
which loadstone they would certainly have wandered all The Sikhs fight well, being enraged against the sepoys,
over the country. Our communication with the Punjaub who, by proclamation of the King of Delhi, massacre them
would have been cut off by their getting round to the rear. without mercy, if caught. This, I suppose, is the reason
We should have had the greatest difficulty in getting sup• which has induced Government to adopt a policy which, to
plies, as with the numbers their army has swelled to, they me at least, appears hazardous. With a thin line of Sikhs
could have surrounded the whole city and rendered our already running through the country, they are raising a
foraging a work of great danger ; instead of which, we further force of about 20,000 of this recently conquered race,
have had a daily post in from the north-west, and, after and have granted a commission to some of their captive
the first few days, supplies of every description have been chiefs here. It is true there is hatred between the Sikhs
plentiful. Besides this, had a repot t been spread that the and sepoys, but that does not prove that the former have
mutineers were on their way to Umballah and the Pun• any love for us. We, ourselves, are rearming an army of
janb, the people would have risen universally with them. the most formidable anti most recent of all the foes we ever
Even now it is generally believed that the l'utteeala Rajah, encountered, and can we wonder it' this should induce them
as well as several Sirdars in the Jullundur, and other to attempt to regain the independence they so recently lost?
Doan of the Punjaub, are greatly inclined to join the If they keep true to us no doubt they will be valuable auxi.
rebels ; but, seeing all work anti business carried on as liaries, but is not the experiment too great a temptation for
usual, they have sense enough to feel that our Govern- humanity? If the Russians had conquered England, and
ment is not quite at an end, although there is no doubt it then, after ten years or so, found themselves likely to
has received a great shock. succumb before a powerful insurrection in Scotland, what do
think would happen it' they enlisted and trained a large
Exactly so; but what will be the effect of the Pan- 3a.ormu y
of Englishmen ? I think the Russians would be
dies when they leave Delhi, and disperse themselves wiser than to try any such experiment, but would prefer
over the country? Nobody believes for a moment taking their chance, anl waiting until they could
receive reinforcements from home. I fear these new
that they will wait to be caught in their own trap ; levies may give us eventually mote trouble titan our present
at least no one in the British camp believes it. This enemies.
writer, among the others, has his doubts:— Then, again, the elements of rebellion exist in the
shape of several disarmed Bengal regiments. A letter
It will be an extraordinary day for those that see the
end of it, if the Pandits only wait to fight; hut I some- from Peshawur this week says :
limes think the greater part will he off with the plunder We have a very large native force here, although without
they have got, and we shall have to follow them up some- arms; and nothing but unremitting vigilance can save us.
whine else. Three regiments are armed, and would doubtless turn
The rebels, ho remarks, ate well handled, and to against us, and five regiments are unarmed. I cannot
repel their attacks it takes " almost every available conceal from myself that we are by no means strong, inas-
much as we have the whole of this large cantonment to
man" in our camp. They are numerous, too, at protect, and the fort also; and thus the Europeans are
Delhi : parcelled out in guards, and not concentrated.
At a moderate calculation the enemy must muster now Besides them, we have Pathan levies, not yet equal to
nearly 40,00 men, besides guns unlimited, and they cm, their work, and sonic Sikhs, together with a good numbea
tainly work them well; their infantry also fight well, but of Mooltani horse, who will stand by us. So we must
their cavalry, both regular and irregular, are not worth hope for the best; but we have sent away a troop of
one sixpence, they do nothing but run away. European horse artillery, a horse field battery, and sixty-
three European foot artillerymen. This has weakened us,
Having waited so long (sums up this writer on our anti we are making shift by using the officers of the dis•
prospects of capture) it is better, perhaps, to finish i armed regiments partly to man the artillery division.

Besides these, " several have died from disease.'
The sick and wounded on the 10th of August
amounted to 54 British officers and 804 of their men,
with 12 native officers anc 289 men. The great dis-
proportion between the European and native killed
and sick must strike every one.

A letter from Nynee Tal gives a report of a reli-
gious split between the rebels .

983

It is so curious to observe these writers, who place
implicit faith in the native Sikh, protesting against
the blindness of the Government in having relied
upon the Ifindoo and the Mussulinan. The same
writer remarks:—

Nothing can prove in a stronger light the folly of our
Government intimating to Mussulmans and Himloos any
authority in the country. Those very people, our own
servants, educated by us and placed in situations of trust,
have turned against us at this crisis. Such treason has
rarely been witnessed.
Well, but are we not doing exactly the same now
with the Sikhs? This is curious, too, as coming
from a writer who was aware that Gholab Singh
of Cashmere, just previous to his death, had
placed his frontier forts in condition, and had lent
our Government 500,0001. to arm and train the Sikh
levies, of course without any view o future emer-
gencies.

An officer at Moradabad writes (August 16th) a
very sensible letter upon the state of affairs. After
detailing his duties for the last few weeks—heading
a body of Ghoorkas, and attacking the rebels wher-
ever he has met them, and they are numerous
enough, for he writes, " The astonishing thing is
where all these well-armed and mounted men, with
guns, spring from—he sums up our position as fel-
lows :

My information is probably more correct than any you
will get in the newspapers. The force before Delhi con-
slats of under 2,70:) Europeans, with 31)0 Ghoorkas as
good as Europeans, and about 4,000 Sikhs, who will tarn
against us if European reinforcements do not rapidly make
their appearance. Thus we have about 7,000 men, against
whom are opposed about 25,000 mutineer troops within
Delhi, and they are daily receiving reinforcements. With
our small force, part of which cannot be depended on, an
attack on the ci:y, with its narrow streets and high houses,
would be madness, as one failure would insure the loss of
India, by turtling the Sikh troops and native States against
us. Moreover, sepoya always fight well behind walls,
while those in Delhi have the advantage of one of our
largest arsenals, fortified by our own engineers, added to
the desperation of a halter round their necks. The only
reinforcements we can for some time expect are 1,200
Europeans, 600 Ghoorkas (Kamm Battalion), and 3,000
Sikhs from the Punjaub, while 2,500 more Europeans aro
advancing from Agra—in all 6,700 men, which, united to
the force at present before Delhi, will make up our force
to 13,000 men, a large enough force :o capture Delhi, if
the Sikhs remain true and the cholera does not make its
appearance in the camp—August being the worst month
for this disease in our provinces. In the meantime the
whole of Ilohilcund and Bundelcund, with the major por-
tion of Oude, and the district east, west, and south of
Delhi are in the hands of the mutineers, and will require
a considerable force to reconquer them ; in fact, we will
be able to do little more than hold our own till reinforce•
ments arrive from England to the amount of at least
.20,000 men ; and if the Ministry have not sent these out
at once, they deserve to be hung.