The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 2,1858.

Goomtee two miles east of the Martimere, then ad-
vancin in a north-west direction towards the p arade
ground,' then turning to the south and recrossing the
Goomtee by the stone and iron bridges before
referred to, and debauching on the Residency. But
the information that the bridges were broken down,
and that facilities did not exist for a double passage
of the Goomtee, probably induced the commander-
in-chief to take a less circuitous route—to avoid, in
fact, crossing the Goomtee at all, but fixing himself
firmly near the point where it is met by the canal, to
batter down the obstacles between that point and the
Residency. The Martiniere seemed to present all
the advantages he wished for in such post, and ac-
cordingly, leaving a garrison in the Alumbagh, he set
out on the morning of the 15th.

Sir Colin, having reduced Jellalabad and cleared
the ground about Alumbagh up to the canal, moved
eastward on the 15th, and occupied the Dilkhoosha
and Martiniere after a running fight of two hours.
By noon he held those points in strength, but the rebels,
recovering from their surprise, in the afternoon ad•
advanced to attack him. They were repulsed heavily,
Sir Cohn driving them across the canal, where he
bivo►►acked for the night. On the 16th the commander-
in-chief took the whole of his farce across the canal,
and occupied Secunderbagh after a severe struggle,
in which the enemy suffered enormously. Nothing
could resist the impetuosity of our troops. The
Secunderbagh was carried after a very severe
struggle, and the Samuch, after having been can-
nonaded for three hours, was carried by assault also,
" after one of the severest struggles ever witnessed."
It was at this attack that the commander•in-chief
himself was slightly wounded, but be did not for a
moment think of leaving the field, hut continued per-
sonally to direct the assault. The Samuch waa
carried at dusk :

Early on the 17th a communication was opened
with the Residency to the left rear of the canal, i.e., west
of the Residency. A vigorous cannonade was at the same
time kept up on the Mess-house, and at three o'clock iu
the afternoon that very strong position was carried by
storm, the troops pushing rapidly on to sieze the Motea
Mahal (largest of the palaces), which they did before
dark. These important operations had the effect of open-
ing communications to the Residency, and in the dusk of
evening, on the bloody and hard won field, Sir James
Outram, Sir Henry Havelock, and Sir Cohn Campbell
met. The latter had been slightly wounded during the
day, but had not been incapacitated from duty. On the
21Itli the garrison, which hail so long held the Residency,
was removed, the women and wounded being taken to the
rear. On the 21st, operations for the reduction of the
western part of the city were resumed, and a severe action
ensued, of which we have not the particulars. The 93rd
and Naval Brigade are described as having suffered much
loss, but our casualties, considering the time expended in
this capital operation, seem not to have been more than
usually severe. The women, children, and wounded, were
escorted safely to Cawnpore, where those hitherto con-
fined in Alumbagh bad al*eady arrived.—D .News cor.
The assault of Sir Colin was unhappily preceded
by, on the part of the rebels, the last, let us hope, of
those horrible butcheries :

The very day before the commander-in•chief made his suc-
cessful attlick, nineteen of our countrymen and women,
who ever since the insurrection in June had been hidden
by a faithful zemindar, one loyal amongst a thousand
traitors, were brought into Lucknow. Every one of them
was inhumanly butchered.-1). News ear.
Beyond this date we have no further accounts, and the
above only arrived by telegraph from Alumbagh, the
assistants of which were attacked and murdered-by
the rebels on the ,21st—an important fact, which would
seem to prove that communication IyAween Cawnpore
and L icknow was not yet thoroughly establishol.

Nothing is known of our or the enemy's losses
or at least no details upon the point had been mad,'
public at Calcutta. 'tile loss of the rebels is re-
ported to be 7,000, and while the Englishman says
that our own was "small," the Ifurkarzi declares
it to have been " very heavy." "No details of his
loss," writes the Times correspondent, " have yet
transpired, but it must have been very consider-
able "

The enemy fought splendidly, as they always do under
cover, or on ground where shiflinesa is more valuable than
stealy valour. The list of officers killed and wounded is a
heavy one in proportion to the force. Sir Cnlin appears
to have taken himself and his staff into the thick of it,
forgetting that his death at this moment would be as dis-
astrous as a detest.

That the rebel.i fight well, we may anticipate. A
letter from Allahabad says :

The intelligence of the victory which the British banners
have obtained over those of the insurgent sepoys and other
rebels at the ancient seat of the Mogul empire, has no
doubt reached tne ears of the Onde people, but instead of
weakening their courage. it has had the effect of making
them desperate. They ore all well convinced in mind that,
in the ever.t of their being defeated, they would either be
hanged or blown up by guns. Unlike thoso of Bengal,
the nutives of Oude alight death, and when desperate,
fight like devils. The fear, therefore, of the condign
punishment that awaits them has caused the Oude chiefs
to withd7aw themselves from the different places where
they were scattered, and to concentrate themselves at

once. Hence I should believe the restoration of tran-
quililty in the districts around this locality. The rebels,
with Mann Singh, it is said, at their head, have made
Fyzabad their head-quarters, and are employed, as reported,
in intrenching and fortifying the place. _ _ .

The actual position of Sir Culin Campbell at Luck-
now would scarcely seem to justify those extravagant
expectations prevalent in certain quarters at home.
At Calcutta the reverse of confidence would seem to
be felt. "It is not absolutely impossible," writes the
Times correspondent, " that Sir Colin may be shut
up as Sir Henry Havelock was "

Ire wants reinforcements bitterly, the semis swarming in
the city and,fighting as desperate Asiatics always fight. Where
are the reinforcements to come from Ten thousand men have
arrived in Calcutta in the past fortnight, but there are no
means of carriage.

" No means of carriage," after six months for pre-
paration !

The means of carriage--the great want of Government
—do not improve. The siz little steamers, with locomo-
tives for engines, are ready, but they can tow nothing. if
they can get themselves to Allahabad, the feat will not be
a slight one. The two dozen little river steamers I men-
tioned a month ago would be simply invaluable. It takes
just a month to get 3,000 men to Allahabad. The troops,
consequently, drop into the north-west by driblets, and we
are not yet strong enough to strike those terrible blows
which, by appealing to the imagination, crush ten rebels
for every one slain.—Calcutta Letter.

It would appear really quite possible that Sir Colin
Campbell may be paralysed for want of troops :

Though the sth, 00th, 03rd, and artillery of the China
expedition are now either with Gentral Havelock or Sir
James Outrun, yet the 82nd and 23rd belonging to the
same expedition are only on their way up. But the wonder
is, not that these are behind, but how the forces with Sir
James Outram and Sir Cohn Campbell ever managed to
reach Cawnpore. We are only now building boats, making
carts, and sending (or elephants. Preparations should
have commenced months ago, and should have been com-
plete by the middle of September. The sth Fusiliers ar-
rived on the sth of Ju:y, and reached Allahabad on the
Ist of September! And thus it has been with other regi-
ments. It is, of course, easy to excuse ourselves—nobody,
of course, could have foretold that the rebellion would
not die away as suddenly as it broke out—but the great
fact remains the same. The insurrection commenced in
May. and in November we can only send 3,000 men a
month up the country, and have neither elephants fur the
guns nor horses for the cavalry.—Friend of India.
Coupled with this possibility, if we consider the
slight effect the capture of Lucknow will have upon
the native mind—for the tall of Delhi is to this
moment disbelieved by the mass of the population—
we may very safely inter that the rebels are still very
" stiff necked," and will give us occupation for months
to come. " Although the commander-in-chiefs suc-
cess is highly imdorumt, and will greatly discourage
the insurgents "—says the paper at Calcutta, the
Englishman, which all along has taken the cheeriest
views of attiiirs—" it must not be hastily concluded
that the work is done. The whole of Oude is in
arms, and the adjoining district of Rohilcund is also
disaffected and disturbed, so that, even if no large
body should still contend for Lucknow or concen-
trate themselves elsewhere, it will regain a consider-
able time to put down all resistance, to punish
marauders and plunderers, and to restore obedience."

" Although Lucicnow has fallen," writes the cor-
respondent of the Daily News, "every spot of ground
yet remains to be conquered in Oude "

Imagine the Lustdans, 10,000 strong, making a descent
upon Loudon and seizing it. England would not then be
cenquered; every castle, every mansion would be con-
verted into a place of defence. And yet Oude is larger
than England; her people, though defeated, iste UR with
an intensity of hatred scarcely to be accounted for. Every
class has turned against us—from Mann Singh, the Prince
of Zemindars, down to the poorest ryot who cultivates
the soil.

"It is now acknowledged on all hands that we are
fif;hting, not only the sepoys, but the class from
whom the sepoym are drawn," writes the Times cor-
respondent, in corroboration :

The cultivators and artisans are with ns, but the armed
classes, the feudal retainers, bad characters—technically
called " buttmashes "—the durwans, clubmen, and police
are against us to a man. They are 3,000,1X10 strong, and
supply all deficiencies in the insurgent ranks. They have
nothing to lose, are fighters front boyhood, and detest the
English, who prohibit plunder.
In the face of these deliberate statements by writers
on tha spot, can it honestly he said that the rebellion
is " suppressed," and that " India is tranquil.from
the Himalaya to Cape Comorin ?"
" Glancing from Oude over the remoinder of the
north-west," writes the Times correspondent, " we
find scarzely a vestige of authority ".
In Bpreilly, a Mussulman named Mahommed Khan
reigns supreme. His forces comprise three regiments of
infantry, a thousand cavalry, some artillery, and an irre-
gular corps of 300 butchers. They were recently threaten-
ing Nynee Tal, but the iihoorkas there were ready for
them, and Mahommed Khan disappeared into a less dan-
gerous neighbourhood. Lioruckpure and Jaunpore are
still in disorder. Allithabad is menaced every now and

then by great bodies of men, who advance, create a panic,
and retire. Mirzepore was threatenei on the night of the
10th of November by the mutinous companies of the 3'2nd,
and as there was a disarmed regiment in the city itself,
the inhabitants were collected fur security.
Where do these "great bodies of men" spring
from ? We hear constantly of nothing but the
defeat and dispersion and slaughter of the rebels,
and nowhere more effectually has it been declared
than in Southern Bengal ; and yet within a few
hundred miles of Calcutta wo find Allahabad,
Benares—for at Benares, too, mischief is brewing—
and .Thrzapore, constantly threatened by " Brea
bodies of men " !

Of the intentions of the Oude rebels little is
known :

Speculation is rife as to the future policy of the rebels.
According to one opinion they will, on tile fall of Luck-
now, disperse, seek shelter in the 400 forts with which
Oudo is studded, and there maintain a desultory war. Ac-
cording to another, they will disperse, outmarch us, as they
have always done, and penetrate by detachments into
Central India. In that pestilent nest of rsjahling.,
nawabs, chiefs, independent zemindars, and titled vaga-
bonds of every kind, the materials of insurrection are
ready to their hands. They will be able, too, to raise the
Bombay army should it he at heart disloyal, and in the
very heart of the continent, protected by thousands of
square miles of jungle, by the absence of roads, and by
their distance from our true base—the sea—they rcay
maintain themselves for months.

One thing is certain; the majority of the sepoys
disbelieve the fall of Delhi. The Kotah regiments
mutinied in consequence of that belief. The :32nd
Native Infantry considered the story an invention.
The sepoys at Lahore laugh at the assertions of
Government. Even the men at Barrackpore doubt
and ask travellers.
" Lucknow has been relieved," writes a correspon-
dent, " but not taken possession of; indeed, the
latest news only places us in one of its outskirts,
which was not gained until after some very severe
fighting ":

My opinion is that there will yet be very serious opposi-
tion in Owle ; and where the news of the fall of Delhi is
believed, it does not seem to have had the anticipated
effect. But you will he surprised to learn that it is very
generally disbelieved by Malloinedims; and here, in
Calcutta, it is a fact that up to this dsy they believe that
we land a regiment and send it down the river again and
re-land it, as a means of impressing the people with an
ides of the rapidity with which large reinforcements are
arriving. This seems incredible, but I repeat that it
is a fact.

The following, from a letter from Cawnpore, dated
Nov. 14, speaks confidently of the speedy arrival of

as .

Troops have been arriving here nearly every day since
the commander-in-chief left, and have been sent after him
with all possible despatch. I hear that his excellency
reviewed his men on the II th instant, and that all ex-
pected to be busily employed soon. The Post-office
people have just told me that two mails have been plun-
dered between this and Agra. I hope this will induce the
powers that be to send a small force upwards, to clear
the road and quiet the disturbed districts. From Ilhow-
Kong upwards, all is, I believe, tranquil ; hut from that
place down to this, the rebels are keeping up the fun,
anti will not give in, I suppose, till a score or two are
strung up or shot. I should say that the force already in
Gude is sufficient to smother the rebellion there ; it con-
sists of Ist Madras Fosil:era, Queen's Oth, tith, 9th,
( Lancers), f 12.1. 23t1,:53d, 04th, 75th, 8.23, 84th, 90th, 78th,
a splendid force of artillery, some of the Rifle Brigade,
Royal Sappers, Native Sappers, Sikh Cavalry and Infantry,
altoge'•her amounting to about 12,000 men. More troops
are on the road up, and most of them will, I suppose, be
stationed here to frighten or beat off the Gwalior rascals,
who are said to be at Calpee threatening to come here anti
try our metal, but I expect they will find and look out for
' metal " more attractive in the treasury of some station
not so well protected as this.

This would appear to be satisfactory ; but then a
day's later intelli:zence from Cawnpore received at
Bombay states that these vory troops despatched to
Sir Colin's aid had been recalled f(r the protection
of Cawnpore, threatened by the Gwalior rebels :

These men, formidable from their numbers (between
SAM and 11.,0110 strong ), their discipline, and their power-
fill field and siege artillery, were, when last I wrote of
them, supposed to be at Cal pee, on the Jumna, bound for
Oude. It now appears that in the earlier days of last
month they crossed the river into the Doab, and on the
lath were within thirty-five miles of Cawnpore. This
distance they afterwards, as we hear, reduced to &teen.
and General Windham, commanding at Cavrnpore, is stated
to have even le t the station to give theni battle ; but, with
that irresolution and want of purpose that have marked
all their proceedings as compared with those of other
mutineers, they suddenly turned back to the Jumna, re-
crossed it, soil again encamped at Calpee. What they now
intend to do we cantiot di►ine. Strength they have in
abundance. The majority of the Dinapore mutineers from
Banda are said to have joined them. Nana Sahib is still
urging them to more active measures, and it is quite pos-
sible that I may have to write in my next of an irruption
into liundelenntl or a march upon Sancti-. Some think
that they do not want to fight ; but sooner or later they
will have to fight, for, if sluggish in their movements now,
they were active enough in murder and mutiny four
months ago, and they must be attacked and punished ac-