The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-06 00:00:00

OYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Manager, Mr. Edmund Falconer.
TRIUMPHANT SUCCESS OF THE NEW COMEDY.
THIS EVENING, EXTREMES; or, Men of the Day.
Supported by Messrs. Emery, Falconer, Rogers, Barrett,
Mesdames Charles Young, Weston, and Miss Kate Saxon.
To conclude with the New Farce, KICKS AND HALF-
PENCE. Messrs. Emery, J. Rogers, and Barrett.
Doors'open at half-past 6, to commence at 7. Box-office
open from 11 to 5 daily.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
TIIIS EVENING, will be performed THE
Farren ; WAY
Mrs. T
KEEP HIM. Messrs. Buckstone, Howe, and O
C. Sinclair.
After which, TILE DAUGHTER. OF THE GUADAL-
QUIV Ell. rerea Nena.
Followed by A WICKED WIFE. Miss Reynolds.
• To conclude with A Commence THE DARK.
at 7.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Lessee and Directress. Miss Swanborongh.
WILL RE-OPEN for the WINTER SEASON TO-NIGHT
September 6, with a new and orignal comedy, by Charles
Selby, Esq., entitled THE LAST F THE NGTAILS, in
which Miss Swanborough, Miss Ternan, Mrs. Selby, Messrs.
C. Selby, J. Bland, and J. Clarke will make their appearance.
Followed by A ROUGH DIAMOND. Miss M. Oliver and
Mrs. Leigh Murray.
To conclude with FAMILY JARS. Miss E. Wilton.
Commence at 7 o'clock.

CIANTERBURY HALL, Westminster-road.—
OPEN EVERY EVENING.—The following Company
of Vocalists are engaged for the performance of Selections
from all the popular OPERAS, MADRIGALS, CHORUSES,
GLEES, DUETS, &c., viz.:—Mss Russell, Mrs. Badsey,
Miss Brunell, Miss Ray, Madame Bartoletti, Miss Montague,
Mrs. Lawrence, and Mrs. Anderson; Herr F. Jonghmans,
Mr. Renshaw, S. Jones, J. Barker, W. Melling, Senor Antonio,.
E. L. Hime, Mr. Badsey, Senor Tiroli, Mr. Cozens, Mr. Bell,
Mr. Barnard, and Mr. St. Albyn. Mr. John G. Forde and E.
W. Mackney. Pianoforte, Mr. Cecil Hicks—Harmonium,
Mr. Courtnay—Director, Herr F. Jonghmans. Commence at
7 precisely. Suppers, &c., until 12 o'clock.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, SEPT. 5.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
69—highest since neon yesterday.
56—lowest this morning and during the night.
65—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29'82•
WINE, S.W.; light and fine.
Heavy showers with thunder and sheet lightning in the
afternoon.

SEPT. 6.
68—highest since noon yesterday.
51—lowest this morning and during the night.
64—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-29.89.
WIND, S.W., rather fresh, with cloudy weather.
Heavy rain last night.

THE SUN.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1858.

ELSEWHERE in our impression of this evening
we publish the fragment of a very remarkable
letter giving us a succinct account of the capture
of Kotah, written by the hand of an actual eye-
witness. It will be understood more clearly, after
the perusal of this singularly graphic and deeply-
interesting document, how it is that the mention
of that taking of Kotah on the 31st March, 1858,
is productive, among those who watch with intense
solicitude the fortunes of our gallant soldiers in
Hindostan, chiefly, if not entirely, of a sense of
very bitter mortification.
Let us briefly give an epitome of the more ex-
traordinary facts recounted in this really startling
narrative, penned by this observant and, we believe
we may add also, authoritative correspondent.
It appears, then, that about the close of last year,
during the December of 1857, the Bth Hussars and
the 17th Lancers arrived together at Bombay on
board the Great Britain ; that a month elapsed
before sufficient horses were procured to enable
these troops to advance from Bombay towards the
seat of war, their ultimate and obvious destina-
tion; that not, in fact, until the 22nd of January,
1858, were they actually embarked for their re-
moval further northwards, for their march overland
to the actual scene of the insurrection. Before the
close of January they disembarked at Mandavee, a
seaport in either the Gulf or Runn of Cutch, some-
where in the vicinity, we presume, of Rhadunpeor..
Marching by way of Deesa, Pallunpoor, and
Oodypoor, towards Kofah, they- are a dis-
tance from the last - mentioned place of
just sixty-six miles after a toilsome and
latterly hurried journey, occupying, as nearly as
possible, two whole months in its performance—
when an urgent despatch is received by the com-
manding officer from the Brigadier-General, then
before Kotah, bidding them hasten onward with all
possible rapidity. The intervening ground is passed
over swiftly enough in consequence of this most
pressing communication. It is traversed, in fact,
so quickly, that, after forty-nine hours' additional
marching, the cavalry ride into their camping
ground before Kotah at half-past one on the morn-
ing of Tuesday, the 30th of March. Then follow
those extraordinary proceedings which resulted in
the calamity—we can call it by no other name—of
the rebels marching out by the eastern gate of
Kotah unmolested (though within a distance of
half a dozen miles from the spot y here the British
cavalry were posted), carrying off with them in
their retreat (not their flight, but their retreat, for
we read that they " marched off in good order"),
600 lakhs of rupees, their guns, and ammunition !
How this astonishing result came to pass will be
seen at a glance from the perfectly lucid and care-
fully detailed narrative of the correspondent re-
ferred to. The rebels with their artillery and their
treasures escaped from us—not by a surprise ! They
were literally trapped in Kotah. We had every
means of surrounding them and preventing the
chance of their slipping away, as they did, un-
harmed, scot-free, with all their booty, and all
the means of carrying on elsewhere the bloody
work of the sepoy rebellion. Yet they were
" off"—and " away "—by two of the clock
on that same unfortunate Tuesday after-
noon ! Notwithstanding the eagerness of the
gallant Bth Hussars to prevent the possibility of
any such lamentable occurrence ! Notwithstand-
ing, indeed, the chivalrous proof given by them of
that heroic eagerness--when, within five hours and
a half from the time of their arrival on the camping
ground, jaded by a-long march--of 49 hours, after
two months' weary journey inland from the seaport
of Mandavee, there they were at seven
a.m. on the 30th of March—a portion of a
brilliant cavalry brigade, 1,500 strong, splendidly
officered, ready for sharp work, ready for any-
thing ! The river skirting the town on one
side had to be forded so as to enable the cavalry to
form up before the eastern gate—the gate by which
the rebels escaped some hours afterwards ! The
brigade moves on, at 7 a.m., to the ford accordingly:
but—arrived at it—their movements are delayed by
the untoward circumstance of its being blocked up
by the baggage camels. Directly these animals
are sufficiently cleared aside, a troop of Jacob's
famous Scinde Horse (" fine dashing fellows t"
quoth the writer in an admiring parenthesis) got
clear over without much difficulty. The Bth Hus-
sars begin to cross in their turn—have got midway
in the stream, among the rocky boulders in mid_
channel—when the astounding order comes " Files
about." The melancholy sequel will be found most
strikingly related in the letter of this naturally in-
dignant correspondent. How came it to pass ?
Where is the blame ? Whence that surprising
countermand of the original order for the advance
movement ? Why that subsequent apathy ? The
incident is one surely demanding investigation.

The arena of Education contests is now changed
for a while. " The masses" have been the object of
contention for a, long time, it is now the "middle

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