The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

INDIA.

CAPTURE OF DELHI AND RELIEF
OF LUCKNOW.

THE full details brought by the last mail, though
describing superb military achievements which re-
flect everlasting honour and glory upon the British
arms, scarcely promise us results from them as im-
portant as their fame will be imperishable. The
little army at Delhi and the brigade at Cawnpore,
both opposed to antagonists whose power at one
period appeared as irresistible as it was remorseless,
have both, by an indefatigable energy which was
insensible of fatigue, and by an indomitable and
undaunted determination which overcame every im-
pediment, prevailed over every disadvantage with
desperate valour, the one to cut its way to Luck-
now, the other to storm the walls and capture the city
of Delhi. Such great deeds, performed by forces
numerically weak, and to all appearance ruinously
disproportioned to the work to be achieved, reflect
the greater honour, it is true, upon the men engaged,
but the very cause of this additional glory robs them
of :the fruit of their labours, and turns what with
adequate forces would have been a conquest into a
comparatively barren victory. In war there is ever
a complement to a conquest, in the shape of active
pursuit and the destruction in detail of the defeated
masses of the enemy, in order to render that con-
quest complete. Neither at Delhi nor at Lucknow
have our generals, from shear inadequacy of force,
been enabled to follow up the defeated enemy effec-
tively. "I warn your readers most earnestly,"
writes the Times correspondent, " not to believe that
the revolt is over. The fall of Delhi is im-
portant to our prestige, and may be injurious to
the morale of the rebel forces, but the physical
strength of the revolt is almost unimpaired. The
greater number of the mutineers in Delhi must have
escaped. There is no cavalry to send after them,
and natives under all circumstances outmarch troops
led by Europeans. The force in Delhi has been
much reduced, and cannot be very speedily rein-
forced. The battle-field will probably be transferred
to Dude." And again of Cawnpore and of the
magnificient march of Havelock to Lucknow :—" He
has saved the Europeans imprisoned there," he
writes " but he is too weak-banded to effect more.
It is doubtful even if he will succeed in reaching
Cawnpore. He is hemmed in by a force which can-
not number less than 30,000 men, with all the
communications in their hands, an amazing
number of cannon, plenty of provisions, and the
sympathy of the Muss ulman population. There
are no troops to send to his aid, and he designs, it is
said, to leave a small garrison in Lucknow, and
cut his way with the remainder back to Cawnpore.
In truth, notwithstanding the fall of Delhi, all we
can hope to do is to maintain our ground until the
English reinforcements arrive."
Here again, as at Delhi, is another of the most
glorious achievements of this terrible war com-
pletely neutralised by the inadequate forces with
which our generals had to contend against a wily,
numerous, and well-appointed enemy. It is the old
Crimean story over again. Our troops, whose actions
surpass those fabulous deeds of the heroes of an-
tiquity, are pitted against an enemy twenty times
more numerous ; and because they are always de-
feated by the valour and daring of a handful of
brave men, the inference is hastily drawn that this
result is inevitable on every occasion. That there
must exist a limit when daring cannot compensate
for inequality of force is obvious. That limit was
touched at Inkermann ; let us hope that it may not
be passed in India.
The most important point, then, in relation to
this existing state of affairs up to the dates of this
mail (Lucknow, 4th October, Delhi, 3rd October)
is the arrival of reinforcements from England.
Notwithstanding the confident assumptions of the
Ministerial journals eight weeks since that the
" army of reli of " from England was then probably
landing at Calcutta 400 men a day, literally not a
single private soldier of that army from England
had arrived in any part of India up to the latest
dates. Generals Windham and Mansfield, and