The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

Tss death of Ilmtoox is a profound grief. It has taken the
nation by surprise, and excited the bitterest regret that our glory
should be so dearly bought. Few men have held a firmer place in the
heart of the nation. Sprung from an ancient race, his mild and un-
ulemished manners, and his sincere- religious convictions, had for
years endeared him to his friends ; but when the opportunity arrived
for him to:display greater qualities, he exhibited the rare union of high
courage with great prudence and profound experience in the art of
war. At the head of a force less formidable by its numbers than by
Its discipline and valour, like a hero, careless of his fate, conscious of
his danger, but deriving confidence from the resources of his mind, and
from the courage of his men, he advanced upon that memorable march
from Allahabad, took the first step to rescue the Indian empire
from the perils surrounding it, and sprung at once to a foremost
position before Europe Although his career has been brief, every
moment has been filled with some memorable achievement which
endeared him to his countrymen, and excited the envy and admiration
of the world. We need not here record those deeds in detail. But
rarely has a general achieved so much with means so small. In every
battle terribly outnumbered by a desperate enemy, he baffled those
superior numbers by superior skill, and defeated them by an in-
domitable daring which tore victory from their ranks at the
point of the bayonet, and under circumstances which peculiarly
marked his genius and elevated his character as a general. The rules
of war are strict ; but HAVELOCK, without breaking them, bent them to
his purpose. Without transport or tents, with little food and less
stores, he plunged into the heart of an enemy's country, and directing
all his operations to one important end, marched upon and captured
Cawnpore ; and if in the first instance he failed to reach Lucknow, he
gloriously redeemed his promise to carry relief to the beleaguered gar-
rison. After a career so brilliant, that it should be so brief excites
but one feeling. But he sank at last under the weight of an enemy
more formidable than the rebels. Overwork and over-anxiety have
stricken him down ; and the name of another, and a greater hero, is
graven on that melancholy tablet of our dead which excite the sym-
pathy and sorrow of every true heart throughout the country.

In general we are not disposed to place much reliance upon the
official telegrams received from India. They are notoriously inaccu-
rate ; they mistake dates and details, and give to figures an inordinate
disproportion ; but unhappily for the credit of the authorities these
errors, without exception, hive ever been in favour of the Government.
When, therefore, we receive bad news, we may rely upon what is stated
as being tolerably correct. There are other circumstances:connected
with the telegram this week which induce us to put some degree of
faith in its statements. It was received in London on Wednesday
afternoon. It was not given to the evening papers, but kept compara-
tively secret for many hours, and at the last moment sent round in
time for Thursday's daily journals. On the whole, therefore, we arc
disposed to accept the statements it contains. They are of a chequered
nature. The death of that hero HAVELOCK, the defeat of WirmitAia, the
retreat of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL from Lucknow, and the surprise and defeat
by him of the Gwalior rebels. The two most important items, the death
of HAvsLoos and the defeat of WINDHAM, can scarcely be inclnded in
that capacious category called " the fortune of war." Dysentery and
death, and the defeat of British troops, are rather the misfortunes
of war. True the one may be retrieved—but it takes many victories to
wipe out a defeat—yet the other is irredeemable. The defeat of
General WINDHAM, temporary as it was, and in all probability owing to
too free an exercise in the presence of an active and numerous enemy
of that daring conrage for which ho is pre-eminent, yet appears to
have been attended with a loss which must inflict a very serious in-
convenience upon the army now assembling at Cawnpore. We are
told that 3,000 of our tents were captured and burned by the enemy.
This is covering for an army of 20,000 men. The supply of tents in
Calcutta is extremely narrow ; these tents were only collected with the
greatest difficulty, and had been despatched by river to Cawnpore in
•order to be in readiness for the arrival of the troops. At one blow,
therefore, our men in the rapidly approaching hot season have been
'deprived by the enemy of that shelter so essential to Europeans in
the conduct of a campaign in India. We sincerely hope that there
may be some error here in the number, and that the same ingenuity
which magnified Sir COLIN CAMPBELL'S escort to Alumbagh from 500
to 5,000 may have been happily exercised on the present occasion.
With respect to Sir COLIN CAMPBELL'S return to Cawnporo two
opinions are expressed—one, that on hearing of WINDHAM'S misfortune
he rapidly returned alone to Cawnpore, and, assuming the command,
set matters to rights by inflicting with the garrison of Cawnpore such
a defeat on the Gwalior rebels as they will not easily forget ; the other
is that he returned with his whole force from Lucknow. This opinion
we are disposed to adopt, and for the simple reason that the fact of his
retreat from Lacknow—or at least of his intention to do so—was
known to the home authorities before last Wednesday. We cannot
but regret the step. Sir CoLiN's original plan of action we have reason
to believe was first to effect the relief of the garrison at Lucknow, and,