Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-11 00:00:00

THE AppA:R AT REWAH.

The following is an ext,..:set from a letter from
Rewah, dated 27th September .:7;
place when
As I wrote you, an incipient rebelis;" took
the force was moving to attack,the first el:t of mi:ltineere.
An express was sent to the Rajah to come, telling him
that by his following our agent's advice, it :night be
nipped in the bud. Tke officers were withdrawn fa .1111 th'3
force, that they might not be mixed up with internal dis-
sensions, unless their services were applied for by tan
Rajah. Out came the Rejah, notwithstanding great
opposition from his bad advisers, and we soon
had things square. The Rajah then went to
Johajee, re-collected the force, inspected it, saw it
march down the ghauts, and then returned to Rewah.
To our astonishment, we heard that Kdoer Siag. with
about 4,500 mutineers had ascended the ghauts at Kuttra.
This must have been through treachery, as the Rajah had
been advi ed to post men and guns at the Dibbroo,
Brijhat, Kuttra, and Johajee ghauts, and so it turned out •
the Kattra force had been withdrawn ! Kistoy ordered
Hinds to fall back oa Mungawah to cover Rewab. It
was discovered that most of the officers of the Rajah's
troops were relatives of his bad advisers (Kossinauth
Dewan, &c.), and were disaffected, and there was no chance
of getting a force to oppose Kooer Sing with the slightest
hope of success. A disgraceful panic seized the
people. The Rajah came down, begged the political
agent to leave the territory pro tem , as he could not
protect him or the officers an hour. He declared
that he intended to bolt to Bandagurh, and sent
off his zenana. He told the city people to send away
their wives, as he could not protect them. Of he went to
Goingurh ghaut. The agent knew well that on his plans
depended the safety of Negode, Jubbulpore, If:undelkund,
and the Sangor and Nerbudha territories, and resolved to
stay to the last. Everything was tried, and at last he sent
a cloud of fellows among the rural population, and gave
them aceonnts of the atrocities the scoundrels had
committed elsewhere. He even procured one or two
sufferers from the brutality, and at last worked them
up to such an extent, that they declared they would
oppose their passage. He also had men in the
enemy's camp, exaggerating the hostility they would meet
with, and sowing dissensions. Some were for going
to Rewah, and some for going down the ghauts. At length
the Rajah adopted the latter plan. Somehow or other,
the mutineers were allowed to march through Bundlekund
unmolested, and either unknown to or disbelieved by the
Nagode people. At Kalinger were some Punnah troops,
under Lieutenant Remington. I hear the men refused to
fire on the mutineers, but provided them with russed.
Remington bolted to Punnah. When the mutineers were
within twenty miles of Nagode, their approach was made
known, the ladies sent off, and the 50th guard ready
to march. The ammunition in the magazine was
thrown into a well by the officers ; 400 spare muskets
smashed, and the two station guns spiked without any
opposition being offered. When the enemy were within
six miles they (50th) crossed the river. Whilst on the
march, some one in the leading company called out " halt."
Major Hampton, seeing how things were going, pretended
to believe they were tired, and told them to sit down ;
they did, and commenced taking oaths among themselves,
and the leading company, I believe, preptred to,fire on their
officers, who very wisely left them; they pushed on to
Nuggur, where Bayley had a company on detachment. They
found the company in a mutinous state, demanding 3,1)00
rupees pay in two hours; and nothing but the report that
Hampton, with about 250 staunch men, was coming, kept
them down. Officers, with about 280 rank and file staunch
marched through here towards Mirzapore. We had a few
frontier affairs with detached parties of mutineers in which
the latter always got the worst. The 50th and other
mutineers wanted to march on Rewab, but flanked e fifteen
guns were thrown into the Mandagurh fort, covering the '
only ferry, so they returned towards Banda. The news of
the 52nd breaking out there, reached here, men and guns
were placed in Nunapatam fort, and they arrived at
Nughnr. The mutineers intended to come to Rewah ;
all but two subedars were for the move ; however, they
have gone off to Nagode. We have now some 150 cavalry
and 300 infantry at Nagode, so they may have a fight there,
but lam afraid not. TheNfeharati man suddenly took to
himself the title of Superintendent or Assistant Surbaraker
of Nagode. He has been ordered to drop it, and a few men
have been moved towards I.7charah, as a warning. Sohog-
pore is up, and all the coantry between Naghur and Jub-
bulpora is in a disturbed state. The Johomul man belted
towards Rewah, ostensibly from funk, but in reality to bor-
row money. The mutineers put a price upon the agent's
head. Toe badmashes have begun to look up, and mischief
was talked off towards the officers ; however, it was
resolved they should net have more victims to massacre.
The Rajah had not_the slightest power (ever his people.
We are getting the troops a little in head, but see it is
useless leading them against the mutineers; they, however,
obey now readily enough. For some time I daily thanked
Heaven, when I saw the light of another morning. You
may imagine things were not pleasant, when two;guas with
grope were posted to sweep the approaches to the bunga-
lows, near Jurrai, with gunners on duty night and day ;
but we can pound the budmashes if they rise, which I do
not think they will. Umber Sing, with his force and the
sth Irregulars, will try us again, and the main body of the
52nd has still to com', the force g ,ne along being merely
a detachment.