The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-15 00:00:00

TBE DESPATCH OF TROOPS TO INDIA

A. blue book of some 50. pages, yesterday issued,
gives copies of official correspondence on the subject
of the despeaotcfhGoofodtrHooopeps to
India from the colonies
Ceylon,ls and Mauritius.
of the
was Co?
the 29th of June, 8
Colo-
nial Secretary of State conveyeP that th
to Sir G.eGrev,
Governor of the C.-pe colony, the wish of her Ma-
je's Ministers that a regiment be despatched to
CalcuttasYt as speedily as ind consequence of
the news received troinplonsdsiiabl;fe'an on the 14th of
menerbarded to Sir G.
private
t o
l.cp
la despatch
t h e wasstiroionpsstrwhich had been
despatch of_thaeerlyst
and
dthe artuileeltaintgaonnacecasveanitryto.
Grey, requesting that a re
Sirof Georgeaugust
g us
t
Cjlelylyloan
for sending such
purchasetdAornaoutghlt.
redc vtulofi,
odoeon Calcutta,thioLti sde se s p
" The Govern-
ment,"from expressed the confidence of her ,
gL athoo
tuackhee
rseuchmeasures with
Govern-
ment in the discretion of the Governorlvi.jesty's of the Capo
in continuing to take measures
troops to India as he could spare.
Downing-
street, " place the most entire reliance in your
regard to the movement of teoepsi
dis-
cretion iwariCoestati‘'illnr:in
communication
with the Indian authorities which ("s)
("8) the interests
,of the public service may require,
The horses
ordered might be geldings or mare:, and they were
to be seat, by preference,_ to Calcutsta'
is some comments have recently appeared in
the Times on the subAequent scamy supply of rein-
forcements from the Cape of Good riops to India,
it may be well to state that on the ,
„
Mr. Labouchere intimated to Sir G. '1 h of August
Grey that the
Govt rnment at home made no question that ho
to
would have used every exertion render the as-
sistance to the Government of India as prompt and
effeztive as possible. Mr. Labouchere, basing his
expectations on the Governor's own description of
the perfect tranquillity of the C
that he would have been able to sparetPe Colony, trusted
which would leave him four besides six regiment a
Legion and the Mounted iiifi3C( the German
"In any
case, however," continues the Colonial-Ips.-
h Secretary of
State, " you should not already
ments to India (including the one which sent six regi_:
v
to Ceylon), I have to instruct you to
has gone
o do so with as
little delay as may be practicable
; unless, indeed,
the circumstances of the colony
so materially filtered since the date
should have
despatches as to render this step ate
of your last
dan-
gerous to its security." The manifestly
Admiral at the Cape
station bad received ample
abut directions the II
tra,nsp rt of the troops, and the Government (Aug.
26) furthr.r proposed to seed out two regiments from
England to remain at the CaPe) with the view of
enabling, Sir G. Grey to send on
thence two other
regiments I
- in the same ships to
in ndia as "seasoned,'troops,
troops, ada7teJ to servethat climate. On the
21st of Octob?r tart'Secn Lab oucl 'ere was com-
manded by the Queen to express
G. Grey the sense which ;_rMajesty/_to Governor Sir
of the zeal and public spirit which
entertained
which he had evinced
on this occasion, and her ?Majesty's entire approval
of the measures which ho had taken to render the
most prompt and eflicient succour to the Admini-
str Ition of India. 4i The
afforded," adds the d 'e succour which you have
most timely and valuable, " has doubtless bit m
le, and her Majesty's Go-
vernment i 1
" with thea.. vainest confidr:nce on your
continuing to assist
th
every means in your power as circumstances may
require and enable
ou to do so." On the 23d Oca
in
Lord Panure's
"entire approval" of the measures
taken by Sir G. Grey
for despatching troops to India
was communicated
to him through Mr. Labouchere.
The Admiralty concurred._ On the 27th of No-
vember last, Mr. la
"lhouchere addressed a sort of
reminder" to Sir G
Grey, reiterating the wishEs
Government,
of the Homo
'
himself of the large that he should avail
g
number of troops then as-
sembled in South Aferica, to render the utmost as-
sistance in his power
to the Indian Government,
and trusted that he would have been able to do ro
consistently with
rtesof safety of the colonists. An-
other despatch, the sth of December, throws
cold water on a
at the Cape anproposalof Sir G. Grey to receive
which it might be at Natal any Sepoy regiments
desirable to receive from India,
and this closes the
series of despatches from Down-
ing-street. Those
of Sir G. Grey are appended.
They include the
aforesaid proposal about the
Sepoy regiments,
give detailed accounts of sir
G. Grey's measureand
India. On the 1 for supplyiog reinforcements to
desire
24th September Sir G. Grey again
expressed 1-Cs to afford all pos-ible aid to the
Indian Government,e
write arid in reference to the
Sepoys h©
s to Downing street on the
3d of Octoberthat the accounts received at
the Cape of the atrocities committed by those
wretches had created too string a feel-
ing against them in the colony to allow their re-
, ception. The
the interim by off
r, however, had been declined in
the Government of India. The
despatches from
Ceylon and the Maiiiiiius are of a
routine charae'el.' The measures of Governor Sir
H. G. Ward a liar to hive been fully approved by
the Government. And now, let us ask, what were the actual
achievements of t 1
:e Governor of the Cape? Ho
boasted much, but it appears from the papers Le-

fore us, that although so much dependence was
placed on him, the supply of reinforcements to In-
dia by him afforded was really insignificant. He
was instructed by the Colonial-office, as already
stated, to send 6 regiments to Point de Galle for
subsequent distribution ; and it is thought by com-
petent judges that he might and ought to have sent
10. Referring to Sir G. Grey's own account of his
"doings," as contradistinguished from his "say-
ings," it appears that he despatched to Bombay in
Aug. last 11. M.'s 89th and 95th Regiments (1,500
strong in the whole), and about 220 men of the
Royal Artillery. Sir G. Grey further informs the
Colonial-office (Aug. 9) that he had forwarded to
Calcutta a detachment of the 23d Fusileers, but
these had merely arrived en route, and so, of
course, would count for nothing. On the 25th of
August the despatch of 500 men of the 13th Regi-
ment to Calcutta is reported by the Governor of
the Cape. The purchase of horses and the further
despatch of 500 men to Ceylon in the Bosoawen,
and of sundry horses and 250 additional men to
Calcutta in the Megxra (3d of October), appear to
complete the sum of Sir G. Grey's valuable " sup-
plies." He was asked for six regiments ; he was
constantly vaunting his desire to assist the Indian
army, and talking grandly of what he intended or
hoped to do ; and behold the result—the despatch
of two regiments, a portion of a third, a company
of artillery, and a few horses. The total reinforce-
ments reported to have been sent to Bombay and
Bengal up to the 10th of August was 1,665 men,
and to these must be added the 500 men of the
13th Regiment (already mentioned), and the 250
sent out in the Megaara, besides 560 horses. The
troops for Ceylon were merely sent to replace
others sent from that colony to India.—Times.