The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-20 00:00:00

THE MUTINY AT MOOLTAN.

What has just occurred in the Punjaub will, we
think, still further help to uproot from the mind of
the old Indian the insane conceit that we can ever
again trust a Sepoy army. At the commencement
of the mutiny (May, 1857) the whole of the troops
then in the Punjaub were regarded as so disloyal
that the great bulk of them were disarmed, and ac-
cordingly a heavy force of Europeans has been kept
from active service to maintain a guard over some
15,000 mutineers, who only waited the opportunity
of becoming murderers. Of these the 62d and 69th
N. 1., with a considerable body of native artillery-
men, were left at Mooltan under the surveillance
of the 3d Bombay Europeans and 150 Royal Artil-
lery. Seeing how vain it was to dream of rearm-
ing them, Government had at length resolved to
have them disbanded, despatching them to their
homes in small parties of twenty at a time. The
order was read out on parade, and seemed to afford
general satisfaction. A report just after this got
into circulation that the measure had been adopted
with the view of getting the men detached in par-
ties, and cutting them to pieces on their way to
Lahore. • On the morning of the 31st August the
rumour ran that their apprehensions on this point
were such that they had determined not to quit their
cantonment. All the guards were put on the alert,
and early in the forenoon it became known that an
attack had been determined by the mutineers, the
firing of the midday gun to be the signal. The
69th, armed with clubs, pieces of wood, fragments
of their beds, or anything they could lay their
hands on, ru shed from their lines howling like fiends,
and made direct for the Artillery barracks, their ob-
ject being to obtain possession of the guns. A volley
from the carbines of the artillerymen and drivers
made them pause. The native artillerymen and
62d made a dash at the same tune towards the
stable guard immediately opposite the guns. They
managed to possess themselves of a considerable
number of muskets, and then joined the 69th. The
former corps had gone close up to the Irregular
Cavalry, obviously expecting them to join. In
place of this they were at once charged and cut to
pieces by their expected friends—a squadron
afterwards followed in pursuit. By this time the
3d Bombay Europeans were rapidly arriving in
parties, when a general fusillade commenced, and
the rebels began to decamp in all directions. Three
hundred and fifty were at once laid dead on the
field ; one hundred were captured and shot. We
had not at the same time wholly escaped. At the
first burst five men of the Royal Artillery were
killed, as was Lieut. Males, a gallant and popular
officer, adjutant of the Bombay Europeans, who had
pushed ahead of his men, and his revolver missing
fire, he was clubbed to death. Brigadier Far-
quharson and some 15 Europeans were wounded.
Some hours seem to have been lost before the
pursuit was commenced. Half the fugitives had
gone southward in the direction of Bhawulpore,
the remainder north-westwards towards Lahore,
hemmed in, however, on both sides by the rivers
Chenaub and Sutlej bordering the Baree Doab.
The pursuing party consisted of detachments of the
6th Irregular Cavalry, 11th Punjaub Infantry, and
Mounted Police. The Bhawulpore party, on being
hotly pursued, separated into two bodies, 100 of
them taking refuge on a marshy island. Here they
were watched all night ; next morning 46 were
captured, and afterwards executed, twenty-eight
were drowned, sixteen escaped for the time, but for
the time only. The other portion, about 3011, were
pushed into a bend in the river. Here they kept
together in parties, fighting desperately to the last ;
250 were killed or captured; fifty driven into the
river ; the whole 400 bding thus accounted for.
There were about 300 who took the direction of
Lahore. They succeeded in crossing the Dewannah
Canal, and took refuge on a recess in the Sutlej ;
they managed to escape from this, and were able
subsequently to defeat a portion of their pursuers.
The villagers had now risen to support us in all
directions, and on the afternoon of the sth the re-
mainder of the mutineers were surrounded and
1,
will l 50 s
extinguished. Of the whole 1,431 who were at
Mooltan, 450 were disposed of at first, 700 in the
pursuit,
peeinadlilly b
; 12e1aedeeeculninteedd to join; the re-
mainder