The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-15 00:00:00

state of disei:pline of the Sylhet battalion. The facts
may be thris summarised. The detachment, 150 in
number, 'marched in the first instance from Sylhet
to Perta'bgurh, a distance of 80 miles. Not finding
the enemy there, they proceeded to Latoo, 60 miles
distant—the entire journey of 140 miles having
been performed in 58 hours. On arriving at Latoo,
they suddenly found themselves within 250 yards
of the mutineers, double their number. These at
first assailed them with persuasions, calling on
them to leave the " Christian dogs, their officers,"
who were prepared to take away their religion. In-
stead of an answer the Sylhet Light Infantry obeyed
the command of their officers, and poured in a roll-
mg volley. Major Byng then, raising his sword, or-
dered them to follow him and charge, when he was
struck down by a ball in the groin. Lieutenant
Sherer supplied his place, and drove the mutineers
out of the jungle with a loss of 32 killed and many
wounded. The loss on our side was confined to
four killed and one wounded. Major Byng was of
the former. A curious incident, showing the spirit
of the Sylhet men, occurred after the action. One
of the sepoyshad been taken prisoner. Lieut. Sherer
tried him by a drum-head court-martial, and he
was condemned to death. As soon as the sentence
was known Lieut. Sherer made a short pithy speech
to the men. With one voice they replied, " May a
like fate happen to us if we desert our colours !"
The behaviour of the inhabitants of these provinces
throughout the rebellion has been very satisfactory.
Our easy conquest over the Burmans, by whom they
had been previously held under subjection, has no
doubt contributed to this result. This has especially
been the case in the prbvince of Assam, the inhabi-
tants of which, although of a martial race, have
never attempted any disturbance. The system of
administration is a good one. It is governed by mi-
litary civilians, men to whom the quiet of the Pun-
jaub, Scinde, Burmah, and Assam is mainly to be
attributed—men who are equally ready with their
sword and at their desk, whose previous occupation
in the army has made them familiar with prompt
and active duties, and who consider a close inspec-
tion of the districts under their charge, galloping
40 or 50 miles a day, as more of a pleasure than a
duty. This conduct, moreover, has the best effect ;
it familiarises them with the inhabitants, and the
inhabitants with them ; these latter see that they
are under the control of a man whom they can re-
spect for his manly qualities. A desk-man they
would not appreciate. It is the same with Asiatics
all over India ; the proof of it is to be found in the
state of the provinces I have referred to compared
with the condition of those which have been under
purely civil rule. It is a very satisfactory circum-
stance that in their transit through Eastern Bengal
the men who rebelled at Dacca and at Chittagong
have met with no open sympathy from the in-
habitants ; but it must be recollected that they
never had a chance of success. The tide had
long previously turned in our favour; and even
from the stations in which they revolted they fled
rather like a beaten army than a revolting force.
In Sylhet, the inhabitants betrayed the] most com-
plete apathy ; the fact probably being that they did
not dare openly to pronounce for either party.
I observe that some of your weekly contempora-
ries have been very severe in their strictures on the
transport and commissariat arrangements in this
country. They are very unjust, for those arrange-
ments may well challenge comparison with any that
have been in force in any country. In fact, the sol-
dier in this country is treated more like a gentleman
than a private. Everything he can possibly require
is provided for him by the Commissariat. He has
the best of boef and mutton, the best of bread, the
best of ale and porter (equal to Bass's pale ale ; in
fact, Bass and Allsopp in hogsheads), and very good
rum. Every morning the commissariat agents bring
the daily supply for a regiment to the barracks :
the orderlies, two from each company, meet to in-
pect it; if anyarticle, either meat, bread, tea, coffee,
sugar, or vegetables, should not be in their opinion
of the best quality, a committee of officers meets to
cenderan it, and it is instantly replaced. I know for
a fact that officers lately arrived, who have been in
the Crimea, have expressed themselves surprised at
the excellence of the men's rations, and more parti-
cularly at the facility with which all the complicated
arrangements connected with the commissariat are
carried out. They have no trouble whatever.
Everything goes on well, and without any inconve-
'llene° or annoyance to them. The fact is, the
commissariat officers are men trained to their work;
they have had experience of campaigning for the
last fifteen years, of the wants and requirements of
soldiers in all conjunctures, and they are prepared
for every emergency ; they know from expetience
►hat is required beforehand ; they leave nothing
to accident. Hence work goes on smoothly and
satisfactorily to all parties.

The transport arrangements have been equally
satisfactory. They may be considered under the
heads of land-carriage and water-carriage. With
regard to the former, the very best pdtisible arrange-
ments have been made. When the arrival of so many
European troops was first made known, the Lieut.-
Governor of Bengal, in communication with the
chiefs of the commissariat, appointed a civil officer,
of known suavity of demeanour, as superintendent
of supplies. It was necessary to appoint a civilian to
this post, because Bengal is a civil government,
and a military man placed in a civil position would
have been looked upon as an interloper. The people
whose carts were required would have been encou-
raged to appeal against him, and business would soon
have come to a dead lock. But a civilian was sure
of support—hence, for the sake of peace, it was
necessary to appoint one. This officer, then, in con-
nection with the Commissariat, collected immense
supplies of draught bullocks and carts ; officers
were stationed along the road at convenient dis-
tances to arrange for supplies of provisions at each
stage, and for replacing decayed or damaged carts.
All the resources of the post-office, and of the pri-
vate dak companies, were placed in requisition.
The vans hitherto used for luggage, the dak car-
riageS also, wore all made over for the transport of
troops. The result was that from 150 to 200 Eu-
ropeans have been able to leave Raneegunge (the
railway terminus) daily for the north-west.
Nor has the river line been less useful. With
the resources of the private Companies at their dis-
posal government organised a flotilla of 16 steamers,
and the same number of flats, capable of conveying
6,000 troops per mensem, or allowing for the re-
turn trip, they would average for the year 4,000
men per month. The consequence is, there has
been, neither trouble, delay, nor mismanagement
in the conveyance of troops up country. This re-
sult is due mainly to the exertions of the commis
sariat office -, Captain Holiday, and to Mr. Halli-
day, the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, or rather to
Mr. Ward, by him appointed superintendent of
supplies. Short of a railroad, the transport ar-
rangements could not have been more satisfactory.

BOMBAY, J. 13.
Three days only have elapsed since the despatch
of last mail, and there is little news t• givo you in
consequence.

One of the Columns prepared to act in'Rajpootana
has at last moved northwards. Major Raines with
the field force under his cammand left Deesaon Jan.
2, en route to Nusseerabad. Besides the wing of
the 10th Native Infantry, the wing of her Ma-
jesty's 95th, Captain Aiken's battery of Artillery,
and the 11th Company of Royal Engineers, he was
joined at Deesa by a siege train of six guns from
Ahmedabad under Lieutenant Reechell, Artillery,
and Major Taylor's troop of 2d Light Cavalry,
with a large quantity of engineer and park tools.
On the Gth a portion of the force was detached at a
place called Muddar, to a village in the hills 10
miles distant, called Rowa, in the Seroli district,
the residence of a disaffected Thakoor, who had en-
trenched and fortified himself. We hear that the
orders were to destroy and burn the place, which
was accomplished, though not without much resis-
tance on the part of the natives, who are said to
have been 1,000 strong, with two gun°. The party
oLfiaebn,otu.im4ooaccimueany, who were commanded by Major
RO,calionceks,iarinpderrestounr,naedccotomepalmislpieadt
3,thinedtdaasrk
bbyynfinouer.
Capt. Proster,
Peapu. Macgown, '2oth
Burd, Native Infantry,
95tEhnRgNienaeletm.rse,ntw,osulnigdhetdlys;evLeri.e4uyt:
Regiment,
slightly
Infantry,ly. t.w m
eseverely
h:
one dangerously, receiving &Ye s2abre cuts (two on