The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 20, 1858.

In the Bombay I'residency and in Central India
matters were ranch in the same state. Lieutenant
Osborne, the hero of Rewab, was clearing the road
between 3lirzapore and Bombay, and one of the
gajpootana columns hail at last moved northwards.
The only news from Indore is that the Ameer of
Mebidpore, who was deeply concerned in the mutiny
there of the Malwa Contingent, who killed their two
officers and two sergeants, had been tried by drum-
head court-martial, and blown away from a gun.
There bad been many executions, both by hanging
and blowing from guns, of the Maharajah's muti-
neers, and other trials were going on daily. Sir H.
Ro-e, it was reported, had of dered 149 of the Malwa
mutineers to be hanged in a single day. The Malwa
geld force returned to Mhow on the 19th of Decem-
ber, preparatory to an advance for the relief of
Sangor.
From either of the seats of Government there is
little news of importance. At Calcutta the Lucknow
refugees bad at length arrived. They had been re-
ceived with a royal salute from the ships and bat-
teries, and, on landing, were welcomed by nearly all the
European inhabitants in Calcutta, except the Gover-
nor-General, and Lady Canning. A writer, describing
the event, says :—" The black dresses of most of the
ladies told the tale of their bereavement, whilst the
pallid faces, the downcast look, and the slow walk,
bare evidence of the great sufferings they must have
undergone both in mind and body."
The Indian mail-packet Pera, which is due at
Southampton on the 6th proximo, will, it is expected,
bring to England many of the women and children
belonging to the famous Lucknow garrison.

The next Indian telegram is due in London on
the 22nd instant. It will contain news from Cal-
cutta up to the 24th ult.

CHINA.
OPERATIONS AT CANTON.

After a year's inactivity, Canton has been again
bombarded by our forces, and this time with a more
definite result. The city was strongly garrisoned
and defended by a powerful Tartar force, but some
.5,000 English and French sailors and marines were
found sufficient to capture the outer defences of the
city on the 28th and 29th Dec. last. For some time
past the prepartions for enforcing Sir John Bowring's
demands upon the Chinese hare been gradually
arriving at perfection. Soldiers, sailors, and marines
have been collected together, the British and French
squadrons, and the British and French Envoys have
joined company, and, finally, a letter was despatched
to Commissioner Yell, giving him ten days for con
sideration. The terms offered in that ultimatum be
rejected; the troops were moved up and occupied
Boum An ultimatum was sent to Yeh on the 21st
Dec. that be rejected ; and all efforts, observes Sir
Michael Seymour in his despatch of 28th Dec., "to
avert the evils of war having failed through the
obstinate determination which has characterised the
proceedings of the Imperial Commissioner from
October 21, 1650, nothing remained for the com-
manders of the allied forces but to address the
Imperial Commissioner, and to carry into execution
the painful alternative of attaclsing Canton, which
was commenced at daylight this morning." A further
despatch from General Straubenzee, Dec. 29, states
as follows :--

3l Lord,—l have great satisfaction in reporting that
Canton city was escaladed and captured this day at nine
o'clock, with a more trifling loss than could have been ex-
pected. Great emulation was displayed by the whole
allied force, among whom the greatest cordiality and good
feeling exists.
We have to deplore the loss of Captain Bate, of the
Royal Navy ; also of Lieutenant Hackett, of the 59th
Regiment. Lieutenant Bowen, of the same regiment, has
been seriously wounded.
All is still in confusion, and the mail leaving; I must,
therefore, defer further details till the next opportu-
nity.—l have, &c.,

C. T. VAN STRAUEENZEE, Major-General,
Commanding Troops in China.
Fort Gough is now being occupied.
The Right Hon. the Secretary• of State for War, &c.
"Our gratification," adds Sir M. Seymour, in his
official despatch, Dee. 29, " at this quick success with
trifling loss has been damped by a great calamity, in
the death of Captain William Thoniton Bate, of her
Majesty's ship Acton, who was killed by a gingall
ball while reconnoitring a suitable spot for placing
our scaling ladders."

The details of the operations may be briefly
summed up. After several careful reconnaissances,
end after the rejection by the Chinese of the ulti-
matum of the allied powers, the bombardment opened
on the 28th December from the steamers and gunboats
of the two fleets. At noon the troops landed at
Kuper Creek, and advanced at once to the attack of
L, in Fort, which was carried without any great difficulty.
Ibe capture of this fort closed the operations of the
day. On the 29th Magazine•bill and Gough Fort
were both carried without much loss. At the moment
the mail left the whole of the derenceS pr Canton
!Min possession of our troors,

THE IELIEF OF LCCKNOW.

A Gazette Extraordinary published on Wednesday
contains a series of despatches received at the India-
house on the 15th inst., detailing the operations fur
the relief of the garrison of Lucknow by the force
under General Havelock and Sir J. Outram, with
the reports of the commander and officers of the
garrison, describing the incidents of the defence of
the place before it was relieved. They are dated
from the 30th of September to the end of Decem-
ber last.

On the 30th of September Sir J. Outram reports
to Sir Colin Campbell, the commander-in-chief, that
General Havelock had effected his junction with the
garrison of Lucknow on the evening of the 25th.
Sir J. Outran took the command on the following
day. The commandant of the garrison, Brigadier
Inglis, had been warned by Sir James Outran of the
approach of the relief, and ordered not to weaken his
small force by detaching any part of it to support the
advancing troops if they became engaged in the city,
lest the enemy should take the opportunity to assault
his position. Sir J. Outram's despatch of the 30th
of September describes the mining operations of the
mutineers, by which they attacked the exterior and
intrenchments of Lucknow, as having been carried
on in the most scientific manner. Six mines had
been completed, one of them from a distance of 200
feet under the principal defensive works. The mines
were quite ready for loading ; had they been fired
the garrison would have been entirely at the mercy
of the assailants. The delay of the relief for another
twenty-four hours might have sealed the fate of all
the defenders. In the advance of the relieving
force the enemy was beaten in the open field with-
out difficulty. In the suburbs of Lucknow the
resistance was more obstinate, and the troops, under
General Havelock, forced their way to the garrison
at a great sacrifice. The difficulty of fighting a way
through five miles of disputed suburb, and want of
carriage, rendered it impossible to cany off the sick
and wounded of the garrison, the women and children,
the whole numbering in both forces 1,500 souls.
The rescue was therefore deferred till the arrival of
reinforceme.nts.

The operation is described more fully in the fol-
lowing despatch from General Havelock, addressed
to the adjutant•general of the commander-in-chief.
General Havelock states that he crossed the Sye on
the 2nd of September, and engaged and defeated
the enemy on the 23rd in front of Alumbagh, in spite
of his rear being attacked by 1,500 cavalry who
crept round unperceived :
The troops bad been marching for three days under'
perfect deluge of rain, irregularly fed, and bsdly housed in
villages. It was thought necessary to pitch tents, and per.
mit them to halt on the 24th. The assault on the city
was deferred until the 25th. That morning our baggage
and tents were deposited in the Alumbagh under an escort,
and we advanced. The first brigade, under Sir James
Outram's personal leading, drove the enemy from a suc-
cession of gardens and walled inclosures, supported by the
second brigade, which I accompanied. Both brigades
were established on the canal at the bridge of Charbagh.
From this point the direct road to the Residency was
something less than two miles; but it was known to have
been cut by trenches and crossed by palisades at short
intervals, the houses also being all loopholed. Progress
in this direction was impossible; so the united column
pushed on, detounng along the narrow road which skirts
the left bank of the canaL Its advance was not seriously
interrupted until it had come opposite the King's palace,
or the Kaiser Bagh, where two guns and a body of mer-
cenary troops were intrenched. From this intrenchment
a fire of grape and musketry was opened under which
nothing could live. The artillery and troops had to pass
a bridge partially under its influence, but were then
shrouded by the buildings adjacent to the palace of Fureed
Buksh. Darkness was coming on, and Sir James Out-
ram at first proposed to halt within the courts of the
Mehal for the night ; but I esteemed it to be of such im-
portance to let the beleaguered garrison know that succour
was at band, that, with his ultimate sanction, I directed
the main body of the 78th Highlanders and Regiment of
Ferozepore to advance. This column rushed on with
dest.,erate gallantry, led by Sir James Outram and myself,
and Lieutenants Hudson and Hargood of my staff, through
streets of flat-roofed loopholed houses, from which a per-
petual fire was kept up, and, overcoming every obstacle,
established itself within the inclosure of the Residency.
The joy of the garrison may be more easily conceived than
described; but it was not till the next evening that the
whole of my troops, guns, tumbrils, and sick and wounded,
continually exposed to the attacks of the enemy, could be
brought step by step within this enceinte and the adjacent
palace of the Fnreed Buksh. To form an adeinate idea
of the obstacles overcome, reference must be made to the
events that are known to have occurred at Buenos Ayres
and Saragossa. Our advance was through streets of
houses such as I have described, and thus each forming a
separate fortress. lam filled with surprise at the success
of the operation, which demanded the efforts of 10,000
good troops.
The total of casualties appended to the despatch is
110 officers and men killed, 330 officers and men
wounded, 77 men missing.
Another despatch from General Havelock, dated
November 16, addressed to Colonel Napier, chief
of the staff of General Sir J. Outram, that officer
having then taken the command, describes a minor
Operatiou conducted by General Havelock, It is

179

short, but interesting, as it must be one of the
last the lumented general ever wrote :

Lucknow, Nov. 16, 1R57.
Sir,—l beg to report, for the information of Major.
General Sir James Outram, G.C.8., the complete success
of the operations in which the troops of my division were
employed under his own eye this evening in capturing •
succession of houses in advance of the palace of Fumed
Buksh. I have given iu the margin the details of detach-
ments employed.
The nature of the enterprise may be shortly described
as follows :—The progress of the relieving force under
his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief was anxiously
watched, and it was determined that as soon as he should
reach the Sikunder Bagh, about three miles from the Re-
sidency, the outer will of the advance garden of the
palace, in which the enemy had before made several
breaches, should be blown in by mines previously prepared;
that two powerful batteries erected in the inclosure should
then open on the insurgent's defences in front, and, after
the desired effect had been produced, that the troops
should storm two buildings known by the names of the
Hern lihana, or Deer•honse, and the steam-engine house.
Under these also three mines had been driven.
It was ascertained about eleven a.m. that Sir Colin
Campbell was operating against the Sikunder Bagh. The
explosion of the mines in the garden was therefore
ordered. Their action was, however, comparatively feeble,
so the batteries had the double task of completing the de•
molition of the wall and prostrating and breaching the
works and the buildings beyond it. Brigadier Eyre cern-
minded in the left battery, Captain Olpherts in the right ;
Captain Maude shelled from six mortars in a more retired
quadrangle of the palace. The troops were formed in
the square of the Chuttur Manzi', and brought up in suc-
cession through the approaches, which in every direction
intersected the advance garden. At a quarter past three
two of the mines at the Hera lihana exploded with good
effect. At half-past three the edvance sounded. It is im-
possible to describe the enthusiasm with which this signal
was received by the troops. Pent up in inaction for up-
wards of six weeks, and subjected to constant attacks,
they felt that the hour of retribution and glorious exertion
had returned. Their cheers echoed through the courts of
the palace, responsive to the bugle sound, and on they
rushed to assured victory. The enemy could nowhere
withstand them. In a few minutes the whole of the
buildings were in our possession, and have since been
armed with cannon, and steadily held against all attack.
It will he seen by the inclosed return that the loss has
been small.

An account of the proceedings of the relieving
force down to the 25th of November is given in a
second despatch from Sir J. Outram to Major-General
Mansfield, chief of the staff, hearing the above date.
Sir J. Outran' pays the highest compliments to all
the officers and men engaged in the defence of the
garrison during that period. " Never," he says,
" could there have been a force more free from
grumblers, more cheerful, more willing, or more
earnest." The operations of the engineers in Lucknow,
under the command of Captain Cromachie, he
declares to have been without parallel in the history
of war :

Twenty-one shafts, aggregating 200 feet in depth, and
3.291 feet of gallery, have been executed. The enemy
advanced 20 mines against the pvlaces and outposts ; of
these they exploded three, which caused us loss of life, and
two which did no injury; seven have been blown in ; and
out of seven others the enemy have been driven, and their
galleries taken possession of by our miners—results of
which the Engineer Department may well be proud. The
reports and plans forwarded by Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.8.,
and now submitted to his Excellency, will explain how a
line of gardens, courts, and dwelling-houses, without for-
tified enceinte, without flanking defences, and closely con-
nected with the buildings of a city, has been maintained
for eight weeks in a certain degree of security ; bat not-
withstanding the close and constant musketrytire from loop-
holed walls and windows, often within 30 yards, and from
every lofty building within ride-range, and notwithstand-
ing a frequent though desultory fire of round shot sod
grape from guns posted at various distances, from 70 t)
50U yards.
The remainder of the despatch contains Sir J.
Outram's acknowledgments of the services of the
officers under his command.

A report from Brigadier Inglis to Sir J. Outram
details the measures taken subsegnent to the relief
to remodel the garrison, exhausted by privatirns and
fatigue, and to restore order in the place. He states
that the buried treasure, amounting to nearly twenty-
live lass of rupee, had been exhumed and placed
again in charge of the civil anthorities.

-The remaining despatches are the reports from offi.
cers of the garrison, giving the particulars of operations
incident to the defence, by detached parties, in sorties
and attacks on different positions held by the enemy,
and the details of the work of the mines requited to
check those of the assailants.
A general order of the Governor-General of India
in council, dated Fort William, Dec. 22, 1837 (No.
1025), sums up the recommendations in the de-
spatches of the generals, and acknowledges in a
handsome manner the distinguished services of the
noncommissioned officers and privates engaged in
the defence of Lncknow, " for the valour they have
displayed in the field, for the firmness with which
they have maintained their position in the city, and
for th,t cheerful, willing, and earnest manner in which
they have discharged all the various duties and borne
the privations imposed upon them, under circume
stances of extraordinary difslioulty and bardsbir