Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

Polygamy is allowed in Net Zlands bit the bead
wife is the only one who is allowed to commit suicale
when her husband dies. The other wives are denied the
privilege.
GovEatiMEV: INQUIRY IN BELPA=T.—It is announced
by the Belfast journals, that the Lord-Lieutenant has
decided that an inquiry, cotedacted by the government,
shall take place into the circumstances connected with the
abominable outrazel of the 12 heftily and seven subsequent
days. The Noraern Whig, referring to the promised
investigation, says :—" 'rne appeal was made with ell the
emphasis warraatel by the tercatnatances; hut the pre-
cedents, for such an investigation are not numerous, and it
would not have been dill:it:ell for Lord C Arl,isle to escape
with ail routine decorum the awkward incidents likely to
be priviLed by such an inquest, at a mamma when the
castle tactics are to please all parties by evading all but
ceremonial functions. Bat Lard Carlisle has not shirked
a plain duty, end he has done himself the greatest honour
by his prompt and co: dial appreciation of the facts brought
under his notice in this journal."
THE Loss OF TIIE SCREW STElmta NIGER Thurt-
day, at the Greenwicla police-court, Mr. Traill, assi-ted by
Captain Harris, of the East India C mipany'S srrvice, held an
official investigation into the loss of the African Steam Ship-
ping Company's screw steamer, Niger, of 482 tons register,
which was wrecked off Teneriffe on the 12th of June last
(while conveying her Majesty's mail homeward), as
alleged by mistaking the light on the southern coast of
Santa Cruz. After a great deal of evidence had linen
heard, Caatain Rolt, the commander of the Niger, being
the principal witness, Mr. Traill, advising Captain Rolt,
said, by the wording of the act the inqairy was whether
the Loss of the vessel was attributed to the wrongful act or
fault on his (Captain Roles) part, and he had much
pleasure in saying that himself and Captain Harris thought
it right on their parts to state that their opinion w %s that
the loss of the Niger was not occasioned by his neg'ect of
duty. They desired to state such an opieion at the present
stage of the proceedings in order to set at rest the feel-
ings of Captain bolt and his friends without waiting for
the issue of their report to the Board of Trade, but wich
report would shortly be forwarded, with suggestions for
the better security of the service for the futare. Captain
Harris then handed the certificate to Captain Rolt, who
left the court, afnidst the congratulations of his friends.
AN UNPLEASANT CUSTOMER.-0a Friday last a woman,
with four children, the eldest about 12, arrived by the
12.5 train at Chichester, and went into Mr. Standing's
shop, near the station, and asked the loan of a knife. The
attendant handed her one, and she immediately proceeded
to attempt cutting her throat. Fortunately, the knits was
not sharp, or the consequence must have been serious ; but
the blunt edge inflicted a severe would. An alarm was
given, and the police io. Supwintendant Green
took the woman before the Mayor of Chichester, and then
she was conveyed to the poorhouse, pending inquiries
being made. She had on six rings, a geld watch and
chain, and £7 in gold was also faund on her. It was
ascertained that her nano was Mould, the wife of a
merchant at Ryde, Isle of Wight. Oa
.the following day
Mr. Tichener proceeded to Ryde, to make inquiry. Dr.
Buckell attended the woman, and by his advice, it was
decided to convey her to the flints County Lunatic Asylum
at Fareham, on Monday. This, was, however, rendered
unnecessaty by the arrival of her husband on Sunday to
claim his wife, and who, having paid Mr. Tichener's ex
penses to the island, Dr. Buekell's oh arg,e, and also liberally
rewarding the superinendant of police and ethers who
had the care of the poor woman anal her children, he left
the city with his wife. Tao cruse of hers'attempting the
rash set still remains samawhet a mystery.— West Slosex
Gazette.
ME ITALIAN I'ICEP;;CKEr.—At the Mansion Howe
on Thursday, a sombre featured hang-dog looking Italian,
who gave the name of Falerio Fill, was charged with
stealing a pocket-handkerchief. He had been released
from the City prison, Holloway, only a few days. He dis-
claimed all keowledge of English, and the services of an
interpreter were therefore called into requisition. A gentle-
man named Guns deposed that he was on Cornhill, looking
in an window near the Royal Exchange, when ho was told
by a passer by that his handkerchief had been stolen
from his pocket. Turning round he saw the prisoner
immediately behind him, and believing him to be the
thief, he demanded the restoration of his prop irty,
upon which the prisoner colley took ,the handkerchief
from benveen his legs and renamed it to him. So he
gave him into custody. The prisoner assumed an air of
injured innocence, and, through the interpreter, de-
manded how it was possible for a man to ba walking along
with a handkerchief between his legs ? Lord Mayor : He
knows that batter than I do. Tell him I shall scud him
to prison for two months with hard labour. Interpreter:.
I have told him, and he says he has no work, and wants a
passp eat to go back to Rona°. Mr. Goodman (chief clerk)
We offered him one before, and he would not have it,
for they want him at Ram to hang him. (Laughter.)
Lord Mayor : Yes, they'll give him a rope if he gees
there, so he keeps away. The prisoner was- then
locked up.
HELIGIoUi DIMITY KEASUREI IN PARLIAMENT.—First
there is the abolition of " Ministers' money" in Ireland
which has become an accomplished fac'. This is a
valuable precedent, for it is the extinction of an ecclesias-
tical impost without any sort of compensation, and a
recognition of the principle that, while the establishment
remains such, it must "cat its coat according to is cloth,"
and make what is. known as church property do the work
of church taxes. We will add the enforited abandonment
of the Edinburgh Annuity Tax Transformation (not
Abolition) Bill, as a good thing following upon the passing
of the Irish measure ; inasmuch as the defeat of bad
measures paves the way for the success of better, sea lice
avowed voluntaryism of Scotland ought,not to be satnied
with anything short of that which has been won by the
less decided voluntaryism of Roman Catholic Ireland.
English dissent has to thank the Liberation of Religion
Society for a substantial gain in the character given to
the Burial Acts .eltnendment Bill. Nor should members
of the Church of England be less gratefal.. Prelatic
assumptions, in. connection with the laying out and canes-
cration of burial grounds, and clerical unscrupulousness
in clutching at funeral fees, have of late shocked chereh-
men as much ne they haveannoyed dissenterss. Something
considerable has. noes boon dot-se in the way of checking the
evil. We are protected from the designs .of episcopal
wall-builders and of clerical fee-seekers, and episcopalians
will be likely to
.suffer far less from the caprices, or con-
scientious obstinacy of their spiritual "pastors and
masters." We have not finished the work of burial
reform, but we have progressed splendidly since we set
about it. The session has all but finished tap thoso strong-
holds of hoary injustice and antiquated absurdity, the
Ecclesiastical Courts, The placing of the whole of the
testamentary business of the country, and of questions of
marriap and divorce, in the hands of secular tribunals,
takes away from those courts that which keeps"them alive.
There is here an advantage greater than is apparent on
the surface. This meddling of the church establishment
with the purely secular affairs of the country has fed
ecclesiastical pride, has nurtured ecclesiastical function-
aries, has facilitated ecclesiastical jobbing, and has kept up
*the ecclesiastical prestige and prejudice which are contri-
butory to the life-blood of the establishment. At length
it is to he pat an end to, and that is to be rejoiced over, as
the destrnction of another of the many links by which
Church and State have been kept together,—The Li-
berator,

The following letter is from an officer employed
on the staff at Delhi. It is dated " Camp before
Delhi, July 14," and will, no doubt, be read with
much interest :
The whole native army has gone, or is going Some
fifty regiments have gone already, and all the rest are sure
tly:ollow. Here we are still before Delhi, and not likely
to get in till reinforcements arrive from England,- for our
force is about one-third the enemy's in numbar, and they
outnuLabsr us altogether in guns- and ammunition, Delhi
being 0.00 of the largest arsenals in India. We are, there-
fire, quite unable to besiege the place regularly, and our
nearest b %aeries are 1 200 yards off. The engineers wgtclf
an assault, and everything was arranged for it, but at the
last moment the General hung bask, and since then we
Lave lost ro Many men teat I don't think the ides will be,
ever entertained agOn. Our own position is impregnable,
the left resting on tile river, the right wall entrenched.
The latter the enemy toe vary jealous of, and are con-
stantly trying to. turn.. We have had eighteen actions
fought there since we came, an 1 s true of the regiments
Nave lost a third of their numbers in killed aid wounded
already. • _ _ _

La.:ghton has been seat back to Limbsllah, and Baird'
Smith, from Roorkee; has coma down from Roorkee to be-
chief engineer,--a veil change for the better Oar troops,
on the whole, are standing the expesure wiende7fally. Thar
mutineers, I fancy, had no is ea that we should attempt s
hot-weather campaign; but just now then is a great deal
of cholera. You will clonhlese hear a great deal about the
cause of this, terrible outbreak, and the peeple %kill, many
of them' ascaibe it to the Cempany's rapacity and cruelty,
&e. ; but every body in _lndia know lie:fatly that the true
reason' is tha the Sepo,s were paaapered and petted until
they began to see that we werhafrold of them but they
would never h attempted to rise had not the country
been s t foolishly denudel of Earopeans. All the people
of the country are with us, and the, anutincras areay once-
defiated and dispersed we shall soon have the country
square again.; but it is no joke to- boat 170,000 'men ;
and they must send' p'enty of troops' from England: At
least twenty-five regiments sh vuld be sent, 4 000 artilery,
and plenty of heavy guns-4S and SOlpeunders,—far we
shall have plenty of sieges ; and. we requi'e a command
of artillery fire- over the mutineers. Rare we are
firing 18 -pounders and 8-inth. howitaers, and the
rebels are re:pi:Ong' with twenty-foura and thirty-twee.
Two or three regiments of dragoons should be sent, and
arrangements made for-supplying them with horses when-
they arrive (from the Cape or Australia); for-they will find
none available here, our studs being far ap.the hamtry
and most of them. plandered Bat, oh h•'many years
will it take to wipe out the reeellectiou of all the atrocities
these villains hare committed 1 There will be no •love
between a black and a white faee fir tuat,y. a long day.
his is, indeed. a bitter satire on the philanthropists who
were for governing India entirely by the natives; and
admitting them to eqnality with- us. Thuy are savages
still, and false to the core, and nothing but the sward will
keep them in order.
"I think the assault would have- succeeded, but it is very
questionable what we could have done inside that immense
city with a handful of. Europeans and some 15,000 Sepoye
to drive out. Wd number 6,500 of alt ranks, beta our
irregulars are all rotten and ready to turn, The Ghaarkes
(inhabitants of Nepati,) and Sikhs, on the other hen); are
thoroughly staunc ana have a thorough contempt for the
Efindostanees. The way in which the Ghoorkas fleet is
the admiration of the whole army.'
Another oil-leer, writing oa the: following day,
says :

I wrote you a long letter a day or two ago, but as some
news of our action of yesterday may appear in the p4pers,
and you may perhaps see my name among the wounded, I
write a few lines, which will, I hope, be in time for the
mail, to tell you that I am vary little hurt, and, through:
God's mercy escaped death most wonderfully.•
You know Delhi, of c.mrse, so I will describe our posi—
tion. . .

The Eaglish batteries and pickets are on the right,
between the town and cantonments, and these the enemy
pressed very hard from early morn yesterday, occupying at
the same time the suburbs on the right, called the Sulljhar
Mundee, now a mass of ruins, but a very nasty place for
fighting—narrow
walls, &c • affording excellent cover for the enemy ; be-
sides which they are proter.,,ted by the heavy gun batteries
on the city walls. Atter tome hard fighting we drove then
to the end of the road, Where three branches go off to
different gates. Under the walls they made a stand, and
from the narrownzas of the place we could only get two.
Horse Artillery guns into action.
" I was near the front, seciog how I could be most useful,
when I observed one of the two guns almost unserviceable-
from want of hands, so many had been knocked over ; well,
thinking, although on the staff, I was still a gunner, I
jumped off my Morse and helped to work the gun. The
fire was too hot. two Horse Artillery guns were perfectly
useless eg tinst all the gene in the city, and some thousands
of muskets blaz'ng into us, so the order was given to
retire. I mounted My horse, and called out to 'limber up'.
The horses in the limber, _from the shower of shot and
shell that were coming in, got unmanageable, and I turned
my horse to tell the men to keep them steady, when a
musket billet hit me in the waist, about two inelei from
the spine. I had a small leather pouch in my waist belt
for carrying pistol bullets, ant the ball went through this
first, so that my w sun lis vary slight. lam getting on
well, and as jolly as passible.
The following lettor, dated July P, is Lom & _

gentleman at Simla :
Your last letter reached me at the beginning of our
troubles, and was destroyed with other rowers at a time
I thought we should have to fly from Simla. We were
among the very few -who remained in the station at the
panic caused by the incipient mutiny of the Ghoorkhae.
They were skilfully handled, and went away in peace, and
have since done their duty as pod soldiers.. You will
not expect a cheerful letter from me, for our hearts are
filled with sorrow and anxiety. Ev.-..ry day ratters grow
worse, and the plot thickens by Delhi standing. We
act merely on the defensive. We have -.Jet been able
to undertake any offan,ice operations yet, nor will
we, I thiuk, until a strong fsrce has been detached
to the river side. of the ei,y. At present, if we
were to assault on one s•de, they , m;ght sally
out by the other side unmolested. They have 900
Europeans with men and of sere, prot3eting women and
ch ldren, at Meerut. They are in a fortified position, and
it is impossale to imagine why 300 with pies should not
hold it and allow the rest to go and co operate with the
force before Delhi. The communication between Delhi
and Meerut is now entirely cut cff. by the destruction of
the bridge at Bhagput. Yon may, imagine how tidings- ,
from the scene of action are care eetly preyed for, longed
for. We. exist only through the Eoglish soldiers and..,
Sikhs. Thank Gad, they are true to us in this emergency,
but not one Idindestenee Sepoy is to be trusted, regular-,
or irregular. Tht severe actiou,ofehe 9th in our camp,,.
when our pickets were driven in, was entirely owing to thee
treachery of the Oth irregulars (cavalry), who let.
in the mutinous Bth Irregular Cavalry, pretending not.
to know, them, their uniform is so similar. It is awful:,
the extent to which the Sepoys and troopers are still;
I tinged, and the lives that, are lest in consequence
It was said some time ago that every ' poorbeah' (Sopoy. )i.
in the camp was to be dissented; still it was not cegriect
one., They have been disarming as fast as possible• in tha
Punjaub, but we have so few European soldiers it )70 not.
possible to do it quickly. This last week we have, two
more mutinies at Jhelum and Seelkote, very severe and
complete—gstting away with their arms and all, At
J,helean the affair was mismanaged. The officer comman-
ding ordered the. regiments (the 14`h and s?:.e.th Native
Infantry) to parade, with the gnus at their rear, in antici-
pation of the arrival of a wing of her Majesty's Nth,
which was coining to disarm them. Tee Europeans
.were
late ; the Sepoys saw the gene and got frightened, flew toe.
their lines, and fought desperately under cover of deal.*
lines for 12 hours. Colonel Ellice, of her Iliteieesty'so2lthe
was wounded, also Captain Spring and Ensign. Scott.
Some of the Sepoys were made prisonere, and were blown
sway from guns, whle others have escaped,in the 'direction.
of Cashmere and are being pursued. You must feel
deeply for India under this so unexpected, and so complets
a blow.
Dear is at Lahore, and I feel very uneasy, 93 we know
that the 46th and a wing of the ',Mx Cavalry has gene to.
Goordaspere. There they rev kodece the 2nd Irregular
Cavalry to fraternise with them, and perhaps also David-
son's Irregulars, and if they combine with the disarmed
regiments it might be impossible to prevent them doing
incalculable mischief. Still, they are prepared for thane
at Lahore and Umritsar, but I am, afraid not at Jullundure
which is almost entirely 'without troops. Still we do fight
and prosper against wonder fel odds. On the 9th, at Delhi,
some sixty of onr people had got into a serai in the Subjha
Mundee, and were surrounded by 1,500 sepoys-
They had.
not a percussion cap among them —ab:olutely nothing but
their bayonets, and yet they fought their way out without
the loss of a single man. It is really wonderful how many
have escaped—officers fired on by their men, and yet get
away in thernmstunaceeuntable manner. At Shahjehanporee
the tragedy was, however, indeed complete. Not, on%
',gaped to tell the tale, as far as we know.