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

Tll E PltE S S, NOVEMI3ER 2l, 1857.

1126

several other officers despatched overland late in
September, bad arrived, but of that splendid fleet,
carrying with it the 30,000 men to assist our country-
men and to restore our supremacy, not a ship had
yet sighted the Indian coast. Two steamers, the
Thebes and Golden Fleece, which sailed respectively
on the 31st July and the Bth August, and having on
board in all 1,013 men of the 3-Ith, 42nd, and 38th
Regiments, had reached Ceylon ; but of the forty
and odd sailing ships which had left England,
six weeks before these steamers, not one had
arrived nor been heard of. The prospects,
therefore, of powerful reinforcements speedily reach-
ing any point in India are not cheering. The ships
have first to arrive, the men have then to disembark,
and, finally, they have to be transported from 500 to
1,200 miles up country. Of the state of our com-
missariat and transport service at Calcutta and
g -nerally throughout India the Indian papers and
Indian correspondents preserve a discreet silence.
To pass from these details to the general state of
India, we find little to calm and much to excite our
apprehensions. In the present position of the Indian
press, not the slightest reliance can be placed upon
any of the feeble statements it occasionally ventures
to put forth. It exists only by submission to the
authorities. " Government knows little, publishes
less, and the press for practical purposes is extinct,"
writes the Times correspondent, and our readers
therefore will readily comprehend the insurmount-
able difficulties of presenting a picture accurate in
every detail of the real state of affairs in India. We
can only here and there get hold of a fact, but a wide
margin must be allowed for the suppression by the
Government of all unsatisfactory circumstantial de-
tail before the bare fact is permitted to be made
public.
For instance, it is very well known by well-
informed persons that Outram is shut up in Lucknow
and cannot come out, and that he does not believe
in tie possibility of forcing his way back to Cawn-
pore. The latest Government statement published
in Calcutta is to this effect:—

Cawnpore, Oct. 7.
A native messenger who left Lucknow on the 4th
reports favourably of our progress in clearing the city.
It is difficult at all times to unite contradictions
which cannot be reconciled; but if Sir Jas. Outram on
the 4th is clearing the city with such marked success,
why on the 2nd did he telegraph in such marked dis-
tress for 5,000 additional men with 12 guns to be
instantly sent to his aid ? However, to pass to such
details as the correspondents from Calcutta and
Bombay afford us. In Calcutta matters appear more
quiet than we might have anticipated. This, perhaps,
may be attributed to the presence of four men-of-
war and four steamers anchored off the town :

The panics which for some months past have periodi-
c illy distracted the metropolis seem at last to be over.
The Shanavii, the Be/bide, the Sansparcit, and the Pearl,
with four armed steamers, are anchored off the town.
They could destroy it in two hours. That little fact is
perfectly appreciated both by native and European, and
the one is therefore quiet and the other contented. The
volunteers, 800 in number, are regularly drilled, and the
seamen and marines would like nothing so much as an
emeute. The King of Oude is in the fort, and though
Government has not proof positive of his complicity in the
insurrection, it is well aware that Calcutta would approve
his execution. At Barrackpore, the metropolitan canton-
ment, three disarmed regiments are watched by 200 Euro.
peans. They are not quiet, but they are frightened, and
well aware that the slightest movement will he the signal
for their destruction. The capital, therefore, may he con-
sidered safe, but trade has diminished at least one-half.
The money-market is unprecedentedly tight, and mer-
chants are gloomily hinting at a possibility which, having
a due respect for the libel law, I prefer reporting privately.
—Times cur.

To this latter point the writer again refers in terms
somewhat more explicit, when alluding to the diffi-
culties surrounding the Government at Calcutta,
in the second rank of which he places " Finance " :
Secrets of the Treasury are well guarded, but I send
you a notice of the amount I believe to exist in the
Treasury. Beyond this there is the revenue of Bengal
Proper, which it is not very easy to move while the country
is disturbed ; double the usual revenue from opium, and
the profit on salt. Out of this we shall have to pay and
feed 30,000 European troops, perhaps to assist Bombay,
certainly to assist the Punjaub. The expenditure for the
campaign, for an enormous commissariat, ttc., must he
supplied from the same source. The northwest can yield
but little, and loans are useless. The Five per Cents.
are at fifteen per cent. and the Fours at twenty-nine per
cent. discount. The Bank of Bengal has lent money on
Company's paper till it has only about forty lacs left, and
the notes are flowing in week..y. The shareholders of
course will make great profits, but already quiet merchants
are muttering ominously about rendering notes incon-
vertible, a measure which cannot he attempted, simply
because the natives would consider it repudiation. We
want money—specie—not permissions to draw on Govern.
meat, to be sold to men who say that it is better to hoard
their silver than take any interest whatever. Great as
our military difficulties may be, they are trifles compared
with those in which even a temporary want of cash may
involve us.

This is vastly important. A commercial crash upon
top of the war would place the Calcutta Government

in great jeopardy. With respect to the state of
affairs in Bengal, "beyond Barrackporo all becomes
vague and indefinite," writes the Times correspon-
dent, till we leach the frontier of Behar :

It is not even in some places easy to distinguish the
movement of troops. The Transgangetic portion of
Bengal Proper is still perfectly secure, there being few
sepoys, and the Mussulman population remaining suspi-
ciously quiet. In the provinces on the other side some
zeinindars, with dacoit bands, are giving trouble. Colonel
Fisher, with one wing of her Majesty's 53rd, and Colonel
Berkeley with the other, are cleansing the valley of the
Sone the best way they can. Captain Oakes, with a few
Europeans and Sikhs, holds down Puruha. Captain
Rattray, with a strong Sikh corps, is traversing the hill
tracts beyond the Sone. Colonel Grey, with 200 Euro-
peans, and 200 Mailrassees, watches Dinapore, and, though
last, not least, the Kamptee column of 3,000 Europeans
and Madrassees has on the extreme west saved Jubbulpore.
MI these bands have accomplished something in the
fortnight. Captain Oakes has defeated Koukur Cooma, a
Santhal, who now leads the prisoners released by the
Itamghur battalion ut Hazareebagh. His position, how-
ever, is still one of considerable difficulty. It is considered
probable that the Coles will rise when their harvest is
gathered in, end in that case Captain Oakes will be en-
veloped, and will require the aid of Madras troops, if not
of Europeans. The Ramgliur battalion, whose mutiny
was reported by the last niail, was pursued and defeated
by Colonel Fisher, with the loss of four guns and forty-
five cartloads of ammunition. The remnant are believed
to have joined the sth irregulars, but their subsequent
movements are still uncertain. The three regiments who
mutinied at Dinapore, or rather the remainder of them
who escaped front Major Eyre at Arrah, traversed the
liewali district, and remained in the neighbourhood of
Jubbulpore for some days. Their presence emboldened
the 52nd Native Infantry at Jubbulpore to revolt. They
left the station with their arms,intending to effect a junc-
tion with the Dinapore men, but were met on the road by
the Kamptee column, attacked, and defeated with the loss
of 125 men. A few who were taken prisoners were executed
on the spot. This saved Jubbulpore, and the victory
carries with it an indirect result of the last importance.
The 52nd was thrashed by Madrassees. The ill-feeling
between the two armies, always great, is now confirmed,
and the fidelity of the Madras army secured by victory.
In Assam there are two light infantry battalions, both of
which have exhibited a mutinous spirit. The planters
have taken refuge in Gowhatty and I tebrooghur, but the
province is totally defenceless, the only European force
being 100 policemen sent up from Calcutta. The Govern-
ment is now endeavouring to enlist the men of Cachar,
bet without much success. Passing beyond the Kur-
munassa, we find the whole of the Bundelcund territory
in a state of disorganisation, the chiefs having taken up
arms.

With the exception, however, of the Ranee of
Jhansi, these have not as yet declared against the
Europeans, and will of course, adds the writer, " ulti-
mately side with the strongest."

Of the capture of Delhi and of the march to
Lucknow we give details elsewhere. We desire
rather to give a prcis of the state of India here than
any elaborate detail of the great military operations
of the war. Passing to the Puujaub, we re-
gret to find serious symptoms manifesting them-
there : an " uneasy though undefined" feeling
exists. A number of tribes on the Gogaira and
behind the Sutlej and Itavee have risen and plun-
dered the posts on the Lahore and Moultan road
from Daboorjee to Gogaira. As another instance of
the utter worthlessness of the Indian press, the pub-
lished information as afforded by the Government
on this point is worthy of note. The following are
extracts of letters from Moultan, of the 2-Ith and
2fith September, 1857, placed at the disposal of the
press by the authorities :

On the pith inst. the predatory tribes on the Gogaira
rose, plundered the 'felled of Huruppa, Thane of Ka-
nalia, and the police posts on the Lahore and Moultan
road from l)aboorjee to Gogaira, and all the southern
police posts of the Jilting districts. The post horses were
all taken away, or the drivers fled with them.
We have now three columns moving against these
marauders—one under Major Chamberlain inuring up the
Lahore road, one on the right under Captain Troason, and
a number of foot police, and one on the right bank of the 1
Ravee, under Captain Hoskin.
Mr. Berkeley, with a few cavalry and some disciplined
police, is moving from Gogaira, and will probably effect a
junction to day with Major Chamberlain at Huruppa.
This will open the communication with Lahore, but it will
take time to re-establish the mails, as the horses must be
replaced and protected.
The Khurl insurgents, a large tribe of the Reechna
Boat), were defeated at Gogaira, by a force from Lahore
on the 21st or 22nd instant, and Ahmed Khurl, the insur-
gent leader, with his son, and a number of followers
killed.
The people of nun and Moultan are all loyal, and are
opposing the insurgents.
No one from this would conceive that simultaneous
gatherings had taken place in the Baree Doab be•
tween the Sutlej and the Ravee, and in the Reechna
DoaL between the Ravee and Chenaub ; that
Major Chamberlain, who, with ISO Irregulars of the
Ist Punjanbee Regiment., marched from Moultan to
Huruppa, fell in with a party of insurgents on the
Ravee, at Cheechawutny ; and that "an obstinate
engagement ensued, in which the numbers of the

enemy were too great for successful resistance, and
Major Chamberlain took refuge in a serai (stone
edifice) with his force, where he defended himself
successfully, though suffering much from shortness
of provisions." The marauders iu the meanwhile
crossed the Ravee and plundered Kumalia, on the
right bank. Reinforcements soon after reached
MajoriChamberlain, who " again engaged the rebels
and killed sixty of thew," with what further
result is not said :--

A second party from Moultan, consisting of 100 horse.
met.' under Major Voyle and Captain Tronson, war sent
simultaneously to the southward, struck the Sutlej between
Sahooka and Jumlera, and was attacked at the former
place by upwards of 1,000 marauders. Major Voyle soon
repulsed these disorderly masses by a steady fire from his
cavalry and levies. lie then attacked Jumlera itself,
burnt the village, and seized the mules and cattle belong.
ing to the tribe.
At Gogaira, on the Ravee, Capt. Elphinstone, deputy
commissioner, having received accurate information °litho
20th inst. that Ahmed Khan Khurl and his men had
taken refuge about twelve miles distant from that station,
a party of the Punjaub police, horse and foot, under Capt.
S. Black, a detachment of Capt. Wales's Sikh cavalry
under Lieut. the 11011. F. Chichester, and of the Gogaira
levy under Lieut. Mitchell, were forthwith ordered against
him, and the result, after a somewhat severe fight, was that
the Khurls were cut up, Ahmed Khan himself and his sun
being among the killed.
Ahmed Khan and his followers are said to have fought
stoutly, and Capt. Black and Lieut. Chichester to have
been surrounded more than once during the melee, the
country being by no means favourable fur the action of
cavalry. Our loss was rather severe considering the small
Bomber of men engaged. About ten killed, but par-
ticulars not yet received.
Another party under Mr. Leopold Berkeley, extra assis-
tant commissioner, had been detached with some cavalry,
and a party of Kutar Mookhees (3rd Police Battalion), to
try and open the communication towards Monitan, which
had been cut off by the Futtianahs, Bhurmanahs, and
other tribes. Mr. Berkeley attacked the insurgents in a
very spirited manner, but in the melee he was cut off from
the party of the Kutar Mookhees, and was overpowered.
He fell fighting manfully, and cut down five or six of the
enemy with his own hand, besides shooting Ithawul, one
of the leaders of the Futtianalts ; Moored, another of
their leaders, was killed on the same occasion, and their
tital loss is estimated at not less than 100 men.

This is but a petty outbreak to be sure, but in such
a period of excitement as exists now in India even
the passive presence of the elements of revolt aggra-
vates the tendency to insurrection, and is calculated
to produce sooner or later an outbreak of more or
less intensity. When therefore we see a combined
rising of these tribes, the chiefs of which have
clearly bided their time till the Punjaub was de-
nuded of troops, and learn also that at Peshawur on
the 10th September the hill tribes attacked the
advanced farts, we have no right to assume that
confidence the Ministers and their supporter:, would
have us accept at their hands.

The following from Murree, dated September Lith,
elpresses the general feeling in the Punjaub :
We have a tale to tell of danger near us, which it has
pleased God to avert for the present. It is the reason of
my being up here. Our general weakness in the Puojanb
was found out by these mountaineers, and general plans
for plundering Murree and throwing off our yoke were
started. But the population immediately round Murree
precipitated matters, and assaulted on the Ist inst.. before
the country was ready. These men were promised an
easy victory by some villainous Hindostanees in the can-
tonment, who offered to use in favour of the insurgents
the great opportunities they had for murdering the Eng-
lish. A woman, wife of the head of a village, however, sent
word in the evening of the Ist of September to a man of
Lady Lawrence's guard, to whose son her own daughter
was betrothed. Her husband was one of the rebels, and
knew not of her act. The intelligence, though verbal, was
believed. The 200 European soldiers and 200 Punjaubee
soldiers, who formed the sole defence of the place, were
called out. The gentlemen were armed as volunteers,
pickets were posted, and when the assault began at two
a.m., on the 2nd, the insurgents were warmly met and
repulsed from the first picket. This checked the country
generally from joining. Those who had committed them-
selves were attacked and dispersed on the 3rd, having been
driven out of a strong position they took up. I came up
on the night of the 3rd with reinforcements, and since
then we have been punishing those actually committed
and quieting the m mtitains generally—not being strong
enough to take a very high line. The ladies behaved well,
and the men excellently. The volunteers elected their
leader, and senior officers served cheerfully under him,
their junior. There is danger, but, with God's blessing,
we may hope to avert any more open revolt by vigilance
ll
and judgment. The fall of Delhi, if granted to us, wi
remove many difficulties.
This exactly hits the blot. The hill tribes have
found out that we have denuded the Punjaub of
troops. Slr John Lawrence may well be said not to
relax his "iron grasp."
Then, again, the forced inaction of our columns on
the borders of Rajpootana has given courage to
gangs of insurgents now hovering about the ramp
at !dhow ; one of which, no later than the 10th of
October, plundered and, l
the statior.s of Ithowa.
poor and Mehidpoor. "But for these troublesome
neighbours," writes the Times correspondent, " the

II 111 I I 11 NKr. -4mIIIINM I I I I I allimis

Bombay column at Mhow was on the point of ad-
vancing to Indore ":
Now, however, on the report of a movement by the
marauders to the southward, the main body of the column
holds fast, while a troop of dragoons (14th) with two guns
and a wing of the 25th Native Infantry falls down the
road to the river as far as Manpoor. 7'he "'reservation of
the line of the .lerbudda, the prevention of all disorderly
persons from crossing to its southern bank and thus
entering the Deccan or Candeish, is of great importance.
It is with this same view that a party of the 28th Madras
Native Infantry has moved down the river from Hoshting-
abad to prevent a body of loose plunderers from crossing
at Hindia, or to destroy them if they have crossed. The
column of the Hyderabad contingent from Edlabad has
also crossed the Taptee aad advanced to the Nerbudda,
and it is probable that the Bombay flying column of dra-
goons, guns, and infantry will be pushed forward to Mhow
from Aurungabad.
The insurrection of the Bheel tribes in the Bom•
bay Presidency, which commenced in the hills over-
hanging the Nerbudda's right bank and the road from
Bombay to Gwalior, has spread southwards, and threa-
tens the complete occupation of this " line of the Ner-
builda." The Meels have appeared near Mulligaum
and Dhoolia, at Seerpore, where they committed depre-
dations. They plundered a village called Pullusnir,
at no great distance from Ahmednuggur, and stopped
the post-dak between Bombay and Mhow.
They now hold a village near Nassick called Sinnur,
where they were attacked, with an insufficient force,
by Captain Henry, superintendent of police at
Ahmednuggur, on the 4th of October. Captain
Henry, unfortunately, lost his life in a most gallant
attempt against great odds. The 2601 Native
Infantry has been moved from Bombay, and some
Poona!' Horse despatched from Seroor, writes the
c•trrespondent of the Daily News, to put dowr
these predatory tribes, despicable enemies at all
times, but peculiarly annoying at this moment, when
troops are required elsewhere.
Exactly, that is the point. These petty risings are
despicable per se, but in the aggregate they paralyse
the concentration of troops, destroy any system of
combined operations, and hold in check and in
detail an army which concentrated could conquer a
province. It was this very rising of the predatory
tribes and of the inauguration of a predatory war
that Sir Charles Napier feared more than any other
event in India. These symptoms therefore are to be
watched narrowly, and every allowance to be made
fur their effect upon the contemplated operations of
the army of relief.
In the Saugor and Nerbudda territories there is great
cause for anxiety. The fort at Saugor is in a peril-
OM position, alone in a hostile country, with a
garrison of only 123 fighting men, with nearly 200
women and children and a large arsenal to protect.
The Madras colutun has been forced by the mutiny
of the 52nd at Jubbulpore to fall back for the pro-
tection of that important station. On its way it
came upon the 52nd, drawn up to oppose its passage.
"My last," writes au officer from Jubbulpore, Oct.
0, "would tell you of the mutiny of the 52nd—how
one detachment of the regiment allowed two officers to
escape, while another had made a prisoner of poor
M'Gregor; and how the two companies, with the
Kamptee column, had been quietly disarmed, that
Duinoh had been abandoned, and the column was
on its march back to Jubbulpore

On the 26th the column was at Singrampore. The
next morning the column was to march to Kuttingee
k ten miles) at daylight, but at two o'clock a.m. the Grena-
dier company of the 33rd, under Lieutenant Watson,
started with the intention of securing the boats on the
Heron river. Major Jenkins, quartermaster-general,
went with Watson. After riding about three milea they
had got about 200 yards in front of the company. Sud-
denly a bugle in front of them sounded the tire; " snick,
snick " went some muskets, then a regular volley.
" Holloa," said Jenkins, " here we are in the midst of
them." Dark though it was, they could see they were
surrounded by mepoys; they were the rebel 32nd advancing
to attack the Kamptee column. One sepoy stepped close
up to Watson and tired in his face ; the ball only gave hint
a gash under the eye. He rode the man down, but he
himself fell in doing so. He regained his feet, but fell
again and again. Somehow he managed to catch hold of
Jenkins's stirrup, and ran on; his horse trotted up to him,
and he contrived to mount. Both then cantered on, but
immediately came on the rear guard. " Ilait, who comes
there ?" called out the leading file. They gave no reply,
but tlaah,Nl through unhurt, though exposed to the fire of
the whole guard. Was it not a wonderful escape ?
Jenkins's horse had two balls in him, and Watson's boy,
carrying his rifle, was shot dead ; they bid in the jungle
till tlic column came up in the forenoon ; they were re-
ceived with shouts and cheers, for every one thought them
killed. The mutineers hail no bayonets fixed. The
Grenadier company fell back on the column in good order,
which, being wanted of the state of affairs, advanced at
daylight and soon came iu sight of the tnutineers, advanc-
ing steadily along the road in ctilutnii of sections ; whet,
within 300 yards of them our guns were unmasked, hut
just as they opened fire the mutineers wheeled backwards
right and left, and got into the jungle, which was very
thick, and came quite close to the road. It is believed
that in the course of the morning the mutineers lost about
120 men ; there were many hundred Bundelahs with
them. Our loss was trifling; a few men wounded and a
trumpeter killed.