The Express.
London, England, 1848-07-25 00:00:00

the walls of the city. The chief conspirators were the ranee,
through her moonshee, Gunge Ram, at the capital ; General
Khan Singh. formerly discharged from the Sikh army for
bad behaviour ; and two inferior person., named Oolabab and
Toolsee Ram. Their plan of operations was to tamper with
our native soldiers, for which purpose meetings were
held by !hem every night in the city, and native religious
mendicants, called gosaens, were sent into the sepoys' Hoes,
presence stldom occasioning suspicion. It wou:d
appear they so far succeeded as to induce about 22 sepoys,
out of an entire force of probably 10,000. to ateend their
meetings. But who can tell the influence these 22 might
have t xereised on their comrades, had the matter not been
brought to light as speedily as it was? It was to have been
in managed that some of the: traitorous sepoys were to have
been on duty over the Delhi gate. But I think the follow-
ing extract will beat explain the plans of the intended
11/IWII,III

[Extract of a letter to the Delhi (in, lee dated Labors., 15th May.]
The startling dinalosure of a plot to massacre all the Ilritish
offlc is and them Camille. at Lahore, has indeed, . you May well
suppose, caused a fearful commotion and excitement amongst UN the
more especially when it appears evident beyond • doubt that, not only
had it been well organised and matured, but that it bad been hatching
for more than two months; that several of our own sepore are impli-
cated, and that It wee only discovered and prevented by one of the
conspirators' own party, barely a week before the time fixed for the
carrying out their fearful tragedy. It appears that the conspirator
had met nearly every night for some weeks, to decide upon and ar-
range their plans; that tiolabah, an agent of the rompirators
(who was erlth one of our native regiments at 51oradshail), had rela-
tives in the corps, and being Wu, intimate with the men, was em-
ployed so the agent to tempt them, bv offers of high payment, to
act a treacherous part, and adi it the conspirators into the city. They
were actually promised sixty rowel% a month as their fixed pay, and
money was freely distributed by the ranec's unenshee as an carnet of
future remuneration. The plan decided upon was this, Th..t on the
13th of May (last saturday) a certain number of men were to be told
off, ten to each officer's bungalow or q..arters, who, on the tiring of a
gun announcing that entre:Re bud been made into the city, were to
11111511./e every European. Th• who had hen brils4 to 'pea
the gates In two or three different quarters of the town, were to make
an apparent resist .nee by tiring blank cartridge at the amailants,who,
after the murder of the British °dicers, would have pillaged the city,
and made themselves masters of our gun. and ammunition. They
moult then have easi:y raised the standard of revolt, anal numbers
would have flocked eithtr to Lahore ur Mooltan and joined the
rebels. _ . _

•----
Now for the manner in which the plot was discovered. I
quote from the Mnfusse
A ruweldir of Minor Wheeler's 'or 7th Irregular cavalry, hail
ben auspicious for POlllO time that t'oniething was brew ing, and lin.
medially mixed with the townapeple. Ile gut nem of the plot,
ami enlainsl himself as a compliant% When he bad fully weer.
(Ailed all their plans, he lost not a umment in telling his own cum-
mandi. g officer, who instantly illicit med the resident.
In ref. recce to the extent to which the conspirators suc-
ceeded in tampering with our native troops, a currespondi.ut
of the same paper writes:
I am sorry to say the report is, that nearly all the native regiments
at:then.' here are more or low Burnie:dot ; but • few days will show
the extent of it. I don't plate much credit in the report, given as it
is by aii an with a halter round his neck. At all events, it should be
taken cautiously. The moonshee hung in company with General
Khan Singh was emp coyest by the ranft. The part she has taken in
this business is advancing the money. Some say upwards of two
lakhs of rupees have been disbursed.
May 14.--The tilt, .11.11 h. lath, 51d, and 73rd, stood the test very
well last evening. One or two men were bit upon, hut, from their
wellsknuwn good chartaters, it ix nuppo,nd nothing ran be proved
against them. In fact, the rapt levees thern•elvis could not xpak
ra,,itivc•ly, and though the brigadier deemed it nereistary to plree
them in doe-owe for the prisent, the mrsoure is likely to view dia.
content. But, regarding the lath and Sinn, I um a Try I cannot
spesik PO favourably. The latter regiment appears to be deeply
implicated. Two iuct ate under dune confinement, and two
tit ermrgsl from the parade ground whilst the inspection
W.ta going on ; one id the two in arrest :Memoirs" to leave, but in
I is flight collie moon a sentry, who kn.-cked him clown, and he was
apprehended. Two men Iron. the lath decamped also, and one in
under arrest. A man from the 52nd was also absent from rollscall
during the inspection, but they seem to think he was somewhere in
the linen, and not • runaway.
I will now subjoin extracts detailing the trial and extnu-
tiun of the two chief conspirators, the moonshee and the ex-
generel, who wee., captured on the night of Sunday, the nth
of May, by Lieutenant Lutusden, with a party of his turps
of guides;
;From the Delhi Gosette cormipondent.]
tin Tuesday morning the 9th May the Dinkier met at the residency,
and the trial of the rignillirtionfn terminated In their conviction and
sentenee to Math'. The evi,lenee was full and complete, it being
proved that they had been inn inning with Dewan Moolraj, to throw
imp dintents it the settling of the province on the arrival of the
pdnial offferre and holding out maniacs of aupport from the name
to otheta should the plid lay mature , . .

May 11.—At suoris'e, two comp Ilk* from every native regiment in
garrison and cantonments were marched to the scene of extvution at
the lielhi-gate, where the 15th N. L were under anus. Three red
silken rope. bang ominously from the fatal te.i'lowa, and the rapid
arrival of the civil and military aid horities told the inhabitants of the
city that jug rue had claimed bcr right, and the traitors were to ex-
piate their crimes by the forfeiture of their liven. The prisoners,
ironed and guard. d, sat at the foot of the gibbet, talking to one an-
other with apiorent freedom and unconcern. Gunge Ram find
ascend,' the ladder: a thin spare mar, and with a peculiar expres-
sion 01 low canting stamped in his face. Ile was fidlowed by Vie
General Khan Singh, a burly coarse IVII.OII/02C. of about 40 year. 1
of age, who seemed to have much dinieulty in reaching
the fatal platform—not from fear, but from the narrowness of
the steps, and the confinement of bin arms to his side. The
third pnii ince, Globs, was ...spited at the very moment of
his being about to :ascend, by an order from the political
authorities. Ile was the only one who seemed to show the slightest
apprehension or rear; he will doubtless make further confessions,
that may be of ter in unravelling the plot and bringing other parties
to justice. A very small number of native spectators were present:
not a di,lentieist voice or et y wan heard, and an hour afterwards
melting W. left to mark the occurrence but th • bridleer swinging in
the breeze. An example of stern retribution of this kind will do more
good than 20 regiments marching 142 months hence to NW Han, be-
cater it shows the quickness of the law. Apprehended in the act of
rebellion on Sunday night, tried and found guilt, on Tuesday, and
executed to-day ! Singular to say, the only remark made by Khan
Singh and Gunga Ram, just before their execration on Thursday,wanto the effect that they were perfectly " resigned to their fate, it
being the will of Grid; hut they should have wished to be snared two
days longer, that they might have witnessed the tumwilia!" This would
I show that they still expected the catastrophe would have token plate.
—The Wordec major and Lance Duffedar of Wheeler's Retl. of tree-
-1 Rutter Cavalry (7th), and one of the men in the Guide Corps, under
Lieu'. Litman; who diva fed the conspiracy in the fleet instance,
were publicly rewarded by Sir F. Carrie, in the presence of the hole
regiment. They received as khilluts a handsome sword, a braes' of
pistols, WWI-, and 1:00 01 money, amounting in ail to about 2,10
rupees in value, divided in different proportions between the three.
Sir F. Currie made them a very excellent speech, complimenting their
fidelity. They well deserve n memento from ev, re officer in gar-
risiin and cantonment, for, humanly speaking, in ail probability, to
(hip we owe oar lives.
_

No doubt existing as to the part the maharanee had taken
in these matters, it btcame imperatively necessary to remove
her from the country. The latest Delhi Gazette received at
Bombay (of the 24th May) gives the following account of
the manner in which this wan aceomplished :
The events that hare to be recorded in our prevnt low have, to a
certain extent, been anticipated in our lost. The Maharanee Chumlah,
mother of Maharajah Mellon Singh. having been convicted of corn.
plied', in the designs of the men lately hung, and their fellow eoncipi-
rotors certainly to the extent of turni•hing the means of supplying
them with money to ca: rip out their intention., and probably much
deeper, hate, in compliance with the resolution of the redclent, been
removed from the dwelling she recently occupied at Sheikheopoora,
with the declared intention of moiling her to Bemiren. On the plan.
for her remor I being metered, Lieutenants Lumoden and
!Inchon weredeputed, on the 14th May, with a morage to her highneto,
Intimating thit her prenence was urgently required at Lahore by the
durbur and the resident; the wing of the 14th Light Dragoons, a
patty of Wheeler', Mdse. with two nitre pounders bring ordered on
the morning of the folowing day under arms, to be prepared to carry
out the renolutinns of the reOdent by force, should the lade herself, or
her attendants, have shown any dlnponitlon to offer reniceincee. The
assistance of the detachment was fortunately not required ; the ranee
complied at once with the "polite" request conveyed to her, but
instead of being taken to Lahore, an eke expected, and an she bad been
led to bet bre, nhe wa., idler crooning the Itavec a little below I.diore,
led outeiJe the town, an.! carried MI to Khan Koch (litteen mike on the
Feronenore roan) before 'he well knew where she was under escort
of a party of Wheeler's Irregular Cavalry, and of Lumailen's guide.,
accornonied by Mr. A. H. Cocks. At Khan Koch they fond a
detachment of five onmp hint of the 50th regiment N. 1.,
and a reenalah of Wheeler's Irregulars, commanded by Major C. J.
Lewes, of the termer corps. All the arraneements having been com-
pleted, her hiehness quitted Major Leweien camp at five on the after-
noon of the 16th alay, tinder charge of the encore that brought her
from Sheikhoopretri. At Kunroor the escort wan relieved by a party
of cavalry. I ler highne.o reached Feroeepore on the morning of the
17th May. en the carriage that had been provided for her wee, :mil
instruction. were immediately boleti for the preparation of a imitable
encort to convey the lady to Loodheeunah, end ultimately to Benares.
She wan to leave Ferwertore on the 22nd of May, under charge of a
detachment of the 1 Ith Light Cavalry, and xi wing of the 22nd or
Slot Rewire at N. 1., th • whole to be comerardled by Capt. J. Inglis,
of the former corr.. Lientenunt IL W. Cone, of the Path 14 gin:not,
is to have politicil charge of her highness to &name, and the
Ferostepore escort will be relieved at Loodheconah.
The Nazim of hlooltan would now seem to have been per-
fectly aware of all that was going on from the first, and to
have been in league with the conspirators and a
few of the chief sirdars (names not yet made public) at
the canital.—A rumour has been in circulation that
Lord 0 ,ugh, at the head of 30,000 men, proceeds
against Mooltan in October; the fierce to consist of 6
troops horse Refinery, 2 light field batteries, 3 regiments
European and ;) of native cavalry, 6 of European and 16
native infantry, with a large siege train, engineers, &e.
What such an immense force is to do is not known ; one half
would be enough to march from end to end of the Punjab
and Mooltan. Quacre ; Do we intend annexing the couatry
or the Five Rivers permanently to our dominions ? It looks
something like it.
The wing of the 11th Dragoons reached Lahore on the 11th,
and on the 14th, accompanied by the ith irregular cavalry
(Wheeler's), crossed the Raeee, to watch the movements of
a hotly of Sikhs, said to have collected not far distant. No-
thing further has been heard of their movements. The 50th
N. I . in which the greatest number of traitors was found,
has been ordered to Ferozepore from Lahore. The Jul-
lundhur detachment, under Colonel ial'S herry, consisting c f
MRckenzie's troop, H. A., Skinner's irregular horse (14th,
I think), and Ist and 37th N. 1., reached Lahore on the 19th
May, and encamped at Anarkullee. The infantry and
cavalry were to go into quarters in the city. A general court-
martial was sitting for the trial of the sepoys who had been
picked out as conspirators. Parties of troops were out scour-
ing the country in search of the ill-affected from Lahore.
Lieut. Edwardes had been joined by Colonel Cortlandt (of
the Sikh service) with 2,000 men and six guns, and, as .he
Dewan of Mooltan bad sent out a force against them, it was
expected a battle would take place.
The following is the substance of a letter from Peshawur,
published in the Delhi Gazette, which shows all to be right
in the province and its neighbourhood :
A letter received by a. read at Lahore, dated Peshawur 12th May,
reports everything quirt there, and also at Basareb. The troops were
represented to he in good order and apirits and to be to all appearance
well dispored towards the Britinh officers. Lieut. Nicola= had
reached Peshawur horn Hessen Madan, and was, we understand, to
rema n there till the return of Lieut. Taylor from Bunn ; our
native correspondent tell, no that there are at present at Peshawur
One troope of Horse Artillery, one bullock tottery, six re-
giments of Regular Infantry, three of these being Sikhs '
and three of them Munsulmans, two regiments of Ram-
plea or Irreoularn, two of cavalry (dragoons), and about 1,000
Gott:bum. Ee gives it as tail opinion that the matey would stand
fast la CIOe oh any mode, adding his belief that the MILS might be
experdtd of the imantry, from which we may infer that Is doss oat