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

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 26,1857.

and some of Mr. P—'s horses, which most likely, if they
are alive, ran away. They fired the coal heap, and threw
the sheep, &c., on the top. Out of all the houses and
immense works and materials collected fur the bridge, not
a stick is left. What the sepoys could not take or destroy,
the villagers made up fur.
We had no time to get the treasury from the Knocker-
house, and it of course is gone. It is a sad thing, the work
of years, and property to an enormous extent. All our
European inspectors escaped, mostly without a single thing
save what was on their backs, except one, a fine young man;
poor fellow he was butchered—was too late to get into the
boats.

There have been dreadful accounts from upcountry;
official reports of engineers' deaths—wives and all, in some
cases. The country is in a fearful state all over. Patna
expected to go next. What we shall do or where to go I
know not; the steamers going down are too full of up-
country refugees to leave room fur us. Dinapore is so full
that for any amount we could not get a single room. We
have no help but to live as we have been doing, which is, I
must confess, very wretched—tive of us in an open boat,
with a thatched bamboo chopper over part of it to keep off
the sun. I need not tell you we are very harassed both in
body and mind, but if God gives us health we shall be very
thankful.

It' we are spared to come home, what scenes shall we
have to talk over and tell you! Our turn has come at last
to suffer, but our lives, so far, are spared, so we should
turn to Him with grateful hearts, and not murmur.
I can scarcely realise the narrow escape we have had—
one ten minutes more, and we could have had no hope.
Our beautiful Guards all fled like wild things, and the
Santhal men, so it is well we had no real trust In them.
All said they would not fight armed sepoys; not one servant
has turned up, so we suppose they Save joined the rebels.
My poor dogs ! I could fret myself sick it' I thought much,
but we saved Bobby quite by good luck ; he was put in the
boat when we had no tear early in the morning, and we did
not take him out again. I have a few clothes and a little
box with our silver, my watch and " Graham " are all we
have left—not a pin's worth besides, to the best of my
belief. I rushed at Graham, for I thought it might be
useful if we were sick in the boat; all our other books,—
everything we had in the world is gone. Oh, those vile
wretches ! I could shoot at them myself. From the petty
revengeful things they did with our property we can
imagine how we should have fared. The details, if I could
only give them, would disgust you. Please God all goes
well, I will write again this mail. Excuse this (1 am
afraid) not very legible scrawl. lam writing at the bottom
of the boat on my knees, half eaten by niusquitoes, flies,
Sm., and grilled with the best. We have plenty to eat and
drink, but everything is frightfully dear.

Of all the letters published, we have not read one
which so clearly pictures the miserable plight to
which our people are exposed, and at times suddenly
reduced.

Matters looked black for the gallant little garrison
of Arrah, but they held out bravely, and r n the 3rd
of August Colonel F,yte reached them from Buxar,
anti, thrashing the rebels, relieved the Europeans
and Sikhs.

The following is a copy of a letter from one of the
little band who defended themselves so gallantly at
Arial), and were at length relieved by Colonel
Vincent Eyre from 13uxar

Arrah, August 3, 10.90 a.m.
I received your letter this morning just after a couple
of men came in to tell us relief was at hand. Yesterday
the troops had an engagement with the enemy, some 2,0 00
in number, and beat them back in charging. On Tuesday
night we expected relief from Dinapore, as we heard heavy
tiring, but our men got caught among some topes and
were so mauled that they had to retire.
They had no guns with them, We have kept this
house with forty six Sikhs—splendid fellows, and fifteen
Europeans and half castes; not a man on our side killed,
and only one wounded dangerously, notwithstanding the
enemy brought small guns against us ; we wete very nearly
undermined, but we ran a counter one. hank God, for
sending us well and in safety out of this, fur I never
expected to leave the house alive. We must have killed
and wounded more than fifty of the enemy.
They expected to starve us I fancy, but one have enough
for another four or five days, having got in a sortie some
sheep, and we dug a well inside. I write in an awful
strte of dirt and confusion, as the Goralog (Europeans)
are expected every minute.
P.S.—Of course we have nothing left in the world ; but
we must not mind as we have our lives.

To return now' to that portion of the Dina-
pore rebels which marched upon Gayah, fifty
five miles to the south. Twenty miles still to the
south of Gayah is Sherghotty, a town through which
the Great Trunk Road from Calcutta t Benares
passes, and where on the 30th a rising was
imminent. Sherghotty (says a writer in the
Daily News) is connected with Patna and
Dinapore by a branch of the Great Trunk Road
wllich passes through Gayah. The distance from
Calcutta to Benares by the Great Trunk Road is
about 430 miles. About 240 miles from Calcutta
and 100 from Benares, a branch, twenty miles in
length, leads southward from the Great Trunk Road
to the military station at Hazareebagh. Two corn-
panics of one of the regiments which mutinied at
Dinapore were stationed at Hazareebagh, and as
soon as these received intelligence of the mutiny,
they rose also.

The following letter is from one who bore a part
in the scenes he describes. The writer was one who

endeavoured to make his way up country, but was
forced to return :

I When we got information of the Hazareebaeh outbreak,
and of the liberation of the desperadoes cotifi::ed there,
with the chance in prospect of hating the enemy in front
' and on both flanks, it was determined to retreat on Sher-
ghotty, and off we went. That place was reached on the
evening of the 31st; and here we were joined by Messrs.
Solana, Landelle and family, Campbell, senior awl junior,
and family, two railway guarrys-men, and several indigo
planters, assistants from the N.W. bank of the Sone.
These brought intelligence of the rise of the Shaballid
districts and its concomitant horrors—arson, murder, and
plunder. During the day news reached us that the Euro-
peans at Gayah had retreated on Dinapore, taking with them
the detachment of her Majesty's 04th Regiment, and
leaving the treasure behind. In the evening came a Mr.
Winkle, from Gayah, in a pink coat and high state of funk
and fever, caused by an idea of his that he had been chased
by hordes of the mutineers; end shortly after came more
bad news, that the detachment of Sikhs and Europeans
sent against Arrah had been defeated with heavy loss by
the mutineers, aided by the guns (21) and hordes of Koour
Singh, Mr. Halliday's ei-devant pet.
Retreat on Calcutta was the order of the day. The
magistrate left his cutcherry and the telegraph people their
" needles ;" the postmaster pitched his responsibility to the
winds, and " devil take the hindmost " was the cry, lint
when everybody wanted to start it was discovered that the
waggons had been left on the other side of the river at
Sherghotty, and the bullocks allowed to " roam at large,"
all of which was owing to the clear foresight and excellent
arrangement of that " forcibly feeble" officer, Lieutenant
L—. The uproar and confusion at the different rivers
we crossed was immense. However, soldiers and fugitives
reached Marra, fifteen miles east of Sberghotty, on the
following day, and here we halted.
It. is seen that those who reached Sherghotty found
the Europeans there paralysed by consternation at
learning that they themselves were surrounded by
insurgents—at Hazareebagh, at Gayah, and through.
out the district of Shaliabad. At Sherghotty there
was only a small force of some eighty Europeans,
and with these it was proposed to march and arrest
the progress of the mutineers at Gayah. A detach-
ment of 130 Europeans had been stopped on their
way up the river at Gbazeeporo, and sent hack to
Buxar, with a view to check the advance of the
mutineers upon Benares; it might prevent them
front advancing, but could not well do more. At
the time when the last mail was despatched, not
only the whole of the Great Trunk Road between
Hazareebagh and the meridian of Buxar, a distance
of J4O miles, but the whole of the surrounding dis-
tricts, was in the possession of the insurgents. One
route, therefore, by which reinforcements could be
forwarded to General Havelock was, for the time,
effectually closed.
If we cross the Ganges, we hear of the mutiny
at Segowlie, which the following extracts from
letters in the Englishman fully detail :
You have heard of the mutiny of the 12th Irregular
Cavalry at Segowlie on the night of the 23rd, and the
massacre of their officers and of their wives and children.
The rascals proceeded to Sewsn, a subdivision of Cinue,
whence Mr. Itl'Dontiell, the sub deputy opium agent, and
Mr. Lynch, the deputy magistrate, have miraculously es
owed. They left the place at eight o'clock on the 26th,
and reached Dinapore at nine last night. I suppose the
('hupra folks must come in now unless their little band of
fifty Sikhs, fifty sepoys of the 40th N.I. who did not join the
mutineers, and about a dozen sth Irregular Cavalry men,
will fight well.

The toilowing is an extract of a letter from Meer-
pore Factory, dated July 25 :

When about to write to you yesterday with my reports,
we w ere obliged to fly for safety. The irregulars at
Segowlie mutinied on the evening of the 25th inst., and
killed all their officers' wives and children, except one
little girl of Dr. Garner's. This news came to ltaikes
shout nine a.m. yesterday morning, and the scoundrels
were expected immediately, but we all left the station and
came on here immediately we could get our conveyances,
and should have gone on to Kunabuna, in Nepaul, about
ten coss from this, but we have information that the
scoundrels, after doing all the mischief, and destroying
what they could, went off in the direction of Govingunge,
though after we left the station some troopers came there,
and we are not sure where they went to. I left the factory
in the hands of the servants entirely; made over the cash
and facto?), pipers, tOr fear of the bungalows being set tire
to. T hope, please God, we shall soon be able to retain the
magistrate and shall return as soon as we hear the troopers
have left this aide of the Gunduck.

Now let us contemplate for a moment the effect of this
mutiny. That cantonment is situated near the Nepaul
frontier, about 1:20 miles north of Dinapore. Chupra
is situated cn the north bank of the Ganges, about
twenty four miles to the west of Dinapore. The
Segowlie t mutineers, after cros,ing the Gunduck,
had advanced to within twenty miles of Chupra,
and threatened it with an assault ; and by this►
movement they thad brought themselves into the
immediate vicinity of the mutineers and insurgents
in the British districts of Azinighur and Jautipore
in Oude. On the north of the Ganges, there-
fore, as well as on the south, any land routes that
might exist for the advance of troops from Calcutta
to the north-west were for the time closed against the
English.

- -- -----
Add to all this the unprotected condition of the
great towns—Benares, Patna, and others—along the
banks of the Ganges, none with more than a detach-
ment or so of Elitist) troops, and all swarming with
ix population deeply implicated in the conspiracy
against us, and it must be admitted that the effect of
the mutiny at Dinapore and Segowiie is likely to
prove more grave than the authorities of Calcutta,
who for weeks had been warned of it, ever anti•
cipated.

DELHI.
On the real position of affairs before Delhi the
Ministerial papers preserve either a discreet silence,

- -
or endeavour to propagate the most ridiouloua misre-

presentations. Our army has suffered such severe
losses that it is now compelled to act strictly on the
defensive. There is no doubt that, up to the last
dace, our force was so weakened by disease a•id

losses that General Wilsoa's position had become
extremely critical. The rebels were receiving con-
stant reinforcements. We had received none, and
the necessity of abandoning our position before the
city and of retreating upon Kurnaul was discussed
at a council of war. The result of the discussion is
believed t, have been a determination to hold out at
all hazards a week or two longer, and if possible to

maintain the position. ltsinforcements were being
pushed down from the Punjaub, but up to the latest
intelligence none had reached the camp. An artillery

officer, writing on the 23th, says :
We know of the China troops being on their way up, but
we can't ascertain where. I don't think abything decisive
can be done for the next month. We could go into the
city any time we liked with but little more loss than we
have every time we get under the walls, but then what are
we to do when we are there? We have not men enough
to hold it and defend our camp here. They have latterly
been trying hard to get at us again in the rear, but we have
blown up all their bridges, and effectually stopped them.
Gholab Singh is going to send us a lot of his rabble. I
would much sooner be without them. However, they
hate the Pandies. We aro acting now merely on the de-
fensive, and fire as little as possible, only now and then, to
induce them to waste their ammlnition.

" Gholab Singh is going to send us a lot of his
rabble" is a very ominJus sentence, if true. He
continues :

We have had eight or ten small engagements with the
Pandies, but most of them very unsatisfactory ones. It
generally ends in our troops finding themselves under the
walls of the city and coming under the grape of their heavy
guns. On the whole, I think at present we have lost
thirty-two officers either killed or died of cholera, which
has carried off several lately—one or two friends of mine,
poor fellows (it is a wretched graveyard to lie in)—the
victims of these accursed traitors. Before long I hope
I'rovidence will avenge the loss of some of our bravest and
our best. The men 1 think look well, much more so than
I have often seen them look at this season of the year in
cantonments, and I hope they will continue so ; the
excitement, of course, keeps them up, but they get very
tired of this bush•ti;hting, the jungle is so very thick
►hat it is most unsatisfactory work, and they dread so
being left behind, poor fellows; one or two have been, un-
fortunately, and their heads are cut off and paraded through
the city.

Another officer writes, giving some details of

interest :

Since I last wrote, just the same kind of thing has been
going on as before ; attacks on our position every third or
fourth day or so, always terminating in the same result—
the entire repulse altd discomfiture of the enemy, and
often with great loss, but never without a greater number
of casualties on our side than with our small force we can
well afford.
You will hardly be prepared, T dare say, at home to hear
of our still remaining ou the defensive ; we are the besieged,
in fact, instead of the besiegers ; but so it happens. I Lucy
say from the day of our arrival here it has been so, and
when the strength of our little army is known, people will
be the less surprised to find such to be the case. It looks
mighty well on paper—sis regiments of European in
fantry and four of native infantry (Sikhs and Ghoorkas).
and I have no doubt the number is set down at 10,000,
men, but the real strength is probably under 4,ooo—say
2,100 Europeans, and the remainder natives. I have nut
seen the returns lately, but I think I must be above the
mark in saying we have 4,000 infantry. In artillery we
are, fortunately, tolerably well off, but in cavalry the
enemy perhaps outnumber us by five to one. It is as well
that they are a most unenterprising set of scoundrels, the
cavalry, or they might do us infinite damage in cutting off
our supplies. As it is, our rear is perfectly open, and
supplies are as plentiful and cheap as they would be in the
best regulated cantonments. You will ask impatiently
what wo are going to do, and how long we are to remain
In our present position. lam not in the general's secrets,
but I fancy there is no doubt that we shall do nothing
towards attacking the place until we receive considerable
reinforcements. Matters are in such a distracted state
below that, though troops are known to have marched
from Allahabad on the 4th of this month, they may have
so much to do at Cawnpore, Lucknow, and elsewhere, that
we almost give up the hope of theit reaching us in reason-
able time, and we therefore look forward to the large force
now on its way -rani the runjaub to join tie. All ought