The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

RETIREMENT OF GENERAL WILSON

Major-General A. Wilson has been compelled,
owing to the impaired state of his health, to relin-
quish the command of the Delhi field force. The
gallant general may rest upon his laurels, as his
name will be long remembered as the " Conqueror
of Delhi," and his services will be rewarded by a
grateful country. Major-General N. Penny, C. 8.,
has been nominated General Wilson's successor in
the command of the Delhi field force. This officer
served during the Nepaul war in 1814.15-16, and in
the Mahratta war of 1816-17, Gurra Kotah 1818, and
at the siege of Bhurtpore in 1825, receiving a medal
for his services, and the brevet. rank of major. Major-
General Penny was afterwards employed in the
campaign on the Sutlej, and was present at the battles
of Aliwal and Sobraon, at the latter of which he was
wounded. For his services in this campaign he
received a medal and clasp, and was made a C. 13.
Major-General Penny was likewise actively engaged
during the campaigns in the Punjaub in 1848.49,
being present at the battles of Chillianwallah and
Goojerat, and subsequent pursuit of the Sikhs and
Affghans under General Gilbert (medal and clasp).

OF THE TROOP SHIPS despatched, there have
arrived the Golden Fleece, which left Eng!and en
August Bth with 900 men,—two companies of the 42nd,
and seven companies of the 34th ; the Caledonia and
Thebes steamers, which left Kingstown on the 26th
and 31st of July, bringing 200 and 378 men and
officers ; and the Assistance, screw transport, which
left England in May, with 700 men of the 82nd,
originally intended for China. The difficulty now is
how to send these troops as fast as they are required
up country. There is no difficulty in getting them
to Raneegunge, 120 miles, where the railway termi•
nates, but beyond that there are no conveyances for
sending on more than 100 to 150 men a day, besides
what can be sent by the river stesmers, which arc
entirely at present in Government employ. It will
be some time before the last of the 20,000 men
expected here can see Allahabad ; and if anything
can open the eyes of our rulers to the necessity of
pushing on railways in India immediately, at any
cost, the delay which is occurring in moving up
troops where they are so urgently and imminently
required should have that effect.
When all the reinforcements now on their way or
under orders have reached their destination, the
total force of her Majesty's troops at the disposal of
the Indian Government will be as follows :-11
regiments of cavalry, 55 regiments of infantry,
4 troops of horse artillery, 11 companies of foot
artillery, 7 field batteries, 4 companies of engineers.
Making, together with the Company's European
regiments, a total, in round numbers, a 87,000
Europeans.

- -
LORD CANNING AND THE INDIA RELIEF
FUND.

A CORRESPONDENCE between Lord Canning, the
Governor General of India, and the India Relief
Fund Committee has been published. Lord Can-
ning replies to a request from the Lord Mayor as to
the manner in which the fund can be best applied
for the relief of the sufferers. Lord Canning's re-
commendation agrees in the main with the system
now adopted—loans, free grants, monthly allowances,
pensions for orphan children, &c., &c., forming the
principal objects for expenditure. In the course of
this reply some of the passages in Lord Canning's
letter are striking ; thus, for instance, he writes
Your lordship is aware that soon after the first outbreak of
mutiny in May last, and when the disastrous consequences
which it could not fail to bring upon individuals became
manifest, a committee, &c. &c.
And again, when alluding to the'extent to which
relief may yet be required, the Governor-General
observes :

The spirit of resistance, violence, and bloodshed, though
gradually yielding to the means which have been taken for
its suppression, and especially to the bravery and endurance
of our British troops, is not yet subdued; nor is the ex-
tent of the privation and suffering, which it has already
inflicted in distant parts of the country cut off from com-
munication with Calcutta, fully known to the Government.
It is therefore impossible to say how large may be the field
over which, eventually, it will be necessary to distribute
the funds which your lordship may transmit.
Then again he speaks of the movement as " a re-
bellion," and remarks that when the full conse-
quences of this rebellion shall have shown them-
selves," then the Calcutta Government will be in a
better position to decide upon the most advantageous
application of the fund. These expressions are
curious as indicating the light in which Lord Can-
ning not only regards the position of affairs at
present, but as showing us what were his real
opinions with respect to it in May last.

Loss OF LIFE BY INDIAN MtrrimEs.—The Calcutta
correspondent of the Nonconformist, in a letter
received by the last mail, has arrived, after much
careful inquiry, at an estimate of the loss of life
among the English and East Indian population,
during the dreadful massacres of this rebellion. In
several stations the number has been ascertained
with great exactness, a few having been killed out of
a great many, and the survivors calculating by name
each one who is missing. But in cases like Delhi,
Futtebghur, and Cawnpore, where a whole population
was cut off, it is possible only to arrive at an approxi-
mation to the truth. His list is of course at present
imperfect, intelligence . being still required from
Lucknow, Agra, Indore, and other places, before it
is possible to make it both correct and complete. It
does not include a single native, nor any persons
killed in the different battles ; it is the list only of
those massacred or of those who have died from
fever and sunstroke in striving to escape ; neverthe-
less its items make a total of 1,524 officers, civilians,
clerks, missionaries, women, children, and others.
Of this large number, the loss of military officers
amounts to 256 ; and that of women and children to
1574. If the entire story of their sufferings and those
of survivors be carefully weighed, it will surely he
found that we have passed this year through one of
the most frightful calamities ever recorded amongst
a civilised people.

Ira* mt Colonial 3nttlligtnte.

FRAN CE.

The terrible accident at Vincennes last Sunday—
the a►chway of the entrance tower giving way, and
dragging down a huge heap of masonry upon the
guard-house, killing some twenty men on the spot—
has caused vouch sensation in Paris. The Emperor
has visited the spot, and has ordered a most search-
ing inquiry to be instituted.
M. Chaix d'Est Ange has been installed as Pro-
cureur-General to the Imperial Court of Paris.
Three Republican candidates—MM. Carnot, Gond-
chaux (elected for Paris), and Herron (elected for
Lyons)—have declined to take the oath. With a
view to prevent such refusal in future it is said to be
contemplated by the Government to propose that the
present electoral law shall be so amended as that no
individual shall present himself as a candidate to the
electors without previously binding himself to take
the oaths in case of election.
SPAIN. _ _

The Queen of Spain was happily delivered of a
Prince at ten o'clock on Saturday night last.
The Spanish Government have refused to receive
M. Lafragua, the Mexican Minister.
HAMBURG. . .

A great commercial crisis is now being experi-
enced at Hamburg. Thirty or.forty.failures of the
first houses have occurred.

A gentral meeting of tho burghers of Hamburg
has been] convoked, to devise measures to stay the
panic.