Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-17 00:00:00

INDIAN MUTINIES.

DESPATCH FROM GENERAL HAVELOCK,

AT LUCKNOW.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL HAVELOCK TO TILE CHIEF OF THE
STAFF TO THE COMMANDER-III•CHINF, RECEIVED BY
TELEGRAPH FROM CAWNPORE.

Lucknow Residency, Sept. 30. 18.57.

Major-General Sir James Outram having, with char-
acteristic generosity of feeling, declared that the command
of the force should remain in my hands, and that he would
accompany it as Civil Commissioner only, until a junction
could be effected with the gallant and enduring garrisen of
this place, I have to request that you will inform his
Excellency the Cemmander-in-Chief, that this purpose was
effected on the evenieg of the 25th instant. But I must
first refer to antecedent events. I crossed the Sye on the
22nd instant, the bridge at Bunnee not having been broken.
On the 23rd I found myself in the presence of the enemy,
who had taken a strong position, his left posted in the
enclosure of the Alum Bagh, and his centre and right on
low heights.
The head of my column at first suffered from the fire of
his guns, as it was compelled to pass along the Trunk
road, between morasses ; but as soon as my regiment
could be deployed along his front, and his right enveloped
by my left, victory decided for u', and we captured five
guns. Bir J. Outran, wits his accustomed gallantry,
pressed our advance close down to the canal ; but as the
enemy fired with artillery and with guns from the city, it
was not possible to maintain this or a less advanced,
position for a time, but to become* necessary to throw our
right in the Alum Bagh, and restore our left, end even we
were incessantly cannonaded throughout the twenty-four
hours, and the cavalry, 1,500 strong, swept round through
lofty cultivation, and the sudden interruption upon our
baggage massed in our rear (sic in orig.),
The soldiers of the 90th Regiment, farming baggage
guard, received the charge with gallantry, and lost some
brave officers and men, shooting down, however, 25 of the
troopers, and patting the whole body to flight.

They were finally driven off by two guns of Captain
Olpkerts' battery. The troops had been marching three
days, under a perfect deluge of rain, irregularly fed, and
badly housed in villages; it was thought necessary to
pitch tents, and permit them to halt on the 24th. The
assault on the city was deferred until the 25th. On that
morning our baggage and tents were deposited in the Alum
Bagh, under au escort, and we advanced. The let
Brigade, under Sir J. Outram's personal leading, drove
the enemy from a succession of gardens and walled en-
closure., supported by the two brigades which I accom-
panied. Beth brigades were established on the canal, at
the bridge of the Char Bags. From this point the direct
road to the Residency is a little less than two miles, but it
was known to have been cut by trenches, and crossed by
pallisaths at short intervals, the houses also being all loop-
holed. Progress in this direction was opposed, so the
united column pushed and deployed along the narrow
road which skirts the left bank of the canal. Its advance
was not seriously interrupted until it came opposite the
King's Palace, or Kissurab Bagh, where two guns and a
body of mercenary troops were entrenched. From this
entrenchment a fire of grape and musketry was poured,
under which nothing could live. The artillery and troops
had to pas) a bridge partially under its influence, but
were then shrouded by the buildings adjacent to the
palace of Fhuretd Buksh.

Darkness was coming, and it was proposed to halt within
the court of this Mehal !or the night ; but I esteemed
it to be of such importance not to leave this beleaguered
garrison, knowing that succour was at hand, that I ordered
the main body of the 78th Highlanders and the regiment
of Ferozepore to advance.
This column rushed on with a desperate
by Sir J. Outram and myself, Lieutenants Hudson and
Harhood, t of my staff, and overcoming every obstacle,
established itself within the encloiure of the Residency.

The . . . garrison may be more easily conceived
than described ; but it was not until the next evening that
the whole of my troop, guns, tumbrils, and sick and
wounded, continually exposed to the attack of the enemy,
could be brought step by step within this enclosure and
the adjacent palace of Fhureed Balkh.

To form a notion of the obstacles overcome, a reference
must be made to the events that are known to have
occurred at Buenos Ayres and Saragossa : our advance
was through streets of flat-roofed and loop-holed houses,
each forming a separate fortress. lam filled with surprise
at the success of operatiocs wkich demanded the effort
of ten thousand good troops; the advantage has cost us
dearly.

Th 3 killed, wounded, and missing—the latter being
wounded soldiers, who, I regret to say, have fallen into the
hands of a merciless foe—amount to 464 officers and men ;
Brigadier-General Neill, commanding Ist Brigade; Major

. . . , commanding Artillery ; Lieut.-Colonel Thzely,
a volunteer with the force, are killed. Colonel Campbell'
commanding 90th Infantry; Lieut.. Colonel Tyiler, my
Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, and Lieutenant
Havelock, my Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General, are
severely, bat not dangerously, wounded.

Sir James Outram received a flesh wound in the arm in
the early part of the action, near Char Bagh, but nothing
would subdue his spirit; and, though faint from loss of
blood, he cDntinued to the end of the operation to sit on
his horse, which he only dismounted at the gate of the
Residency. As he has now assumed the command, I
leave to him the narrative of all events subsequent to the
25th inst. H. HAvanccx, Brigadier-General.

Note made at Calcutta: Query?—" It became necessary to
throw our right, Ice., and retire our lett." 4
t havelock ?

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUESDAY EVENING.

The Divan of the Danubian Principalities having done
all that was expected of them, and perhaps something more'
and having transmitted the result of their labours to the
European Commissioners, we may now look forward to an
early meeting of the Renipotentiaries iu Paris. It has
been already announced that the commissioners would
leave Bucharest at the end of the present or the beginning
of mxt month, and the Cabinets who have taken on them-
selves the definitive organization of the provinces have, in
all probability, very nearly arranged their plans, so as to
suit the views of all parties. Leaving the Political question
to be settled by the Congress, I may say a few words on
the condition of those countries in a merely material point
of view. Their importance is, indeed, now pretty generally
acknowledged ; thrugh the elements which compose it are
imperftctly known, not only to the public, but even to
statists. There are few works on the subject, and for
such as have been pubished the materials were scanty.
People generally know that there are two dependencies
north of the Danube, called, Moldo-Wallachia, but few
are acquainted with their relative condition—that they
contain the germ of a prosperous State—that they are
favoured with a soil of great fertility, producing far
beyond the wants of their inhabitants—and that no coun-
try in Europe offers more advantage to industry and capital
Walachia and Moldavia -together contain a superficies
calculated a 45,000 square miles, exclugvo of the portion
of Besaarabia which, is virtue of the Treaty of Paris, has
lately revertel to Moldavia, that is, an extent of territory
considerably larger than Portugal, nearly double that of
Sardinia and of Bavaria, triple that of independent Greece,
of Belgium, of Holland, and of Hanover. The population,
which is not in proportion to the extent or fertility of the
soil, may be reckoned at 4,500,000, two-thirds of which
belong to Wallachia. This amount would, in fair condi-
tions, be probably doubled in 15 :ears by natural progress
and by colonization. Of that number 4,000,000 are of
purely Rowuan origin; the rest 15 CQlZipeeed of indigo-

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVEI

nous races, which I have already noticed, such as Arme-
nians, Jews, Bulgaritins, Gipsies, &?., and foreigners,
placed under the exceptional regimen of the Capitu-
lations. The Principalities are divided into depart-
ments or districts ; and these, again, into arron-
dissements or sub-divisions, each containing a cer-
tain number of towns or villages. Wallachia has 17
districts, 100 arrondissements, $4l . towns, and 3,507
villages; and Moldavia 15 districts, including the portion
lately annexed, 63 arrondissements, 44 towns, and
1,933 villages. The territorial property consists of
6,414 loss, of which 1,518 belong to the monasteries
3,498 to private persons or large proprietors, and 1,318
to the mass of petty landholders, who hold their portion
undivided, under the name of " Mosnoni" in Wallachia,
and "Rozeches" in Moldavia. Those ;who constitute the
intermediate class between the Bayard, who holds- but
does not cultivate his land, and the peasants, who till the
ground without owning any part of it, may be reckoned
at 150,000 families, with, however, a tendency .to dimi-
nish in consequence of the extension of large properties.
The greater part of these lands lies fallow, the extent of
soil untitled being estimated, for Moldavia, at one-third,
and for Wallachia, one-sixth of the whole superficies. The
revenue derived from land is about 140,000,000 f.,
the produce in corn being 'estimated at 15,000,009 of
hectolitres.