The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-27 00:00:00

THE CALCUTTA MAIL.

We have received via Trieste files of papers
from Calcutta to the 24th of December, Bom-
bay to the 29th of December, and Hong Kong to
the 16th of December. The Bombay papers do
not contain any additional news.
We take the following from the Calcutta Eng-
lishman of the 24th of December :
The last fortnight has not been fruitful in im-
portant news, but we send home official reports
from various parts of the country, which show that
our forces are taking the ascendant, and that the
only formidable resistance now to be expected is in
Oude. For the present the subjugation of that

little kingdom is postponed. TheCOmmander-in-
Chigf, it is understood, proceeds to Futtyghur to
put down the revolted Nawab and his adherents,
open the communication with the upper provinces,
and trample out the smouldering fires of insurrec-
tion in Rohilcand. The country will then be
clear for operations against Lucknow, in which be
will be aided by Jung Bahadoor, at the head of
10,000 Nepaulese soldiers. The mutineers and
rebels have concentrated at Lucknow ; they are
preparing for a resolute defence, and, having no
favour tt as
to
e peet from their enemy, will probably
long as possible. It is not antici-
pated by those who know the country that any
serious resistance will be made in any other part
of Oude, but the forts in which the chiefs and
cliuckledars have been accustomed to ensconce
themselves to resist their own King must
be destroyed, and the possession of can-
non or any arms, except for sporting, must
be strictly prohibited. Whether this can be ac-
complished during the present cold weather is
very doubtful, and it will not be safe or prudent
to keep the British soldiers in the field during
another hot and rainy season, and it is therefore
by no means improbable that another year will
elapse before the British flag flies triumphant over
every town and city in our Indian territories.
At present, though not, as some of the English
papers suppose, besieged in Calcutta, we are cut
off from all regular communication with the west-
ern provinces. Occasionally a stray letter or news-
paper reaches us, but no more, and until the post

is restored to its normal condition the natives
will not recover their confidence in the stability
of British rule.

CAWNP ORE.
We take the following interesting narrative of
events at Cawnpore from letters published in the

Calcutta Englishman :
" CAMP, CAWNPORE, Nov. 30.
" We arrived here on the 28th in time to preven

a second massacre ; the Gwalior troops were attack
ing the place, and it seems the affair was mis

managed. Our positions without the entrenched
camp were deserted without fighting on our side.
Two of our guns were nearly taken ; the Naval
Brigade, being without support, were obliged to
leavethem ; the sudden advance of the enemy seems

to have frightened our people. Windham, however;
drove them off, and took some guns ; the brutes

. _
hearing of his (to them) unexpected arrival, bolted,
but about 2,000 are said to be in the city, which we

are shelling to-day—this is sad disappointment to
us. We expected to get a few comforts on reach-
ing Cawnpore, and now we cannot get anything ;
the rebels have possession of all. One of the mer-
chants, who brought things down to Cawnpore, has
lost all his property, 10,000 rupees' worth. The

enemy, it is said, are entrenching themselves close
to the city—pluck is it not? Our position is pre-

carious, with all the sick, wounded (1,500 ours
alone), and ladies and children. The Chief, I be-
lieve, Will wait here for reinforcements, and get the
ladies off to Allahabad at once. Ours is an immense

camp, the followers, I may say, innumerable. Our
line of march extended eight miles, and the x;ear
guard, since leaving Lucknow, always came up next
morning. Since my last to you we hare been
doing great things, accoanta of which you have no
doubt already read in the newspapers. We came
back faster than we went from Alumbagh to Cawn-

pore in two marches ; our last was 30 miles on the
28th, from 7 a.m. to I cannot tell you when
the rear got in, but we in the advance got in at
7 p.m., and tired and hungry we were, but the
Chief ordered the troops to push on, as we could
firing at Cawnpore, and a message had
the Gwalior force had suddenly
esaiy)laCe. I have been in a hard-fought
haa
attacked
traai hr
ekhdeeda
tvtohy
battle, that much I can say, for the Sepoys defended
Secuudra, most obstinately to the last, so much so
that it was the opinion of all that, though we
could take Lucknow, it would be. with heavy loss
—a loss which cannot easily be replaced, and
would have placed us in the power of the Gwalior
force, which, by-the-bye, they must have cal-
culated on—hence this attack on Cawnpore. Now
I will give all account of our doings. On the
(i. e. in our up-
12th
column went
ji no sutr.n weye).r e a
Ncheze dt Adlauym(lailthh
Iw2a tr
dto attack Jellahabad, which we found deserted,
and blew up the old fort ; 14th, marched onwards
cautiously, making a long round, so as to avoid
their batteries, &c. Near Lucknow the enemy
appeared—i. e. at a place called Dill Khoosa,
four miles distance. Here our fighting com-
menced. The Artillery came into action first,
when the enemy's guns were silenced. Our in-
fantry and cavalry cleared the ground, but Jack
Paudies ran so fast that we did not come up to
them. The Dill Khoosa, which is a fine-looking
palace, in which the rebels were, was finely bat-
tered by our guns. Next the enemy made a
stand in the Martiniere School ; their round shot
hero killed a good number of our men, Many a
round shot and bullet passed over my head. It was
, a mercy to us the brutes had no shells, as their
practice was good. We fired at the School, in
which we could see the Jacks scudding along ; it
is greatly injured; daylight let in many places.
Here some guns were taken by us, but, as usual,
our infantry and cavalry could not come up to
charge the brutes, but kept up a running fire at
them, and deadful potting from behind walls, &c.
By 4 p.m. the school was clear, but the enemy oc-
cupied a village close by till near dark, when we
took the place at the point of the bayonet, and set
fire to it. The next day we occupied our ground,
and had skirmishes with the enemy ; we were a
couple of miles from the Residency, and all day
delayed to throw dust in their eyes. The Chief
determined on making a round again to get at it.
Had we gone straight on, we would have found
them well prepared to meet us. Next day we
started on our grand excursion ; I cannot forget
the caution and silence of that day ; the
canal was crossed without opposition (it was our
great sticking point in the straight course). On
the Lucknow side the enemy were seen moving on
as we advanced. All went on well till we reached
Secundra, about a mile from the Residency. It is
another palace building with strong pucko walls,
and here the sepoys fought better than ever they
did in their lives, but of course the brutes knew they
were behind strong walls, and had no means of
escape, as there was only one gate, and that
towards us. Our guns fired long, making breaches,
and trying to silence three guns which were doing
us great mischief with round shot. Had they had
shells our loss would have been double. The infan-
try were all lying down and firing—a constant blaze
on both sides was kept up. When breaches were
made, our men went in with cheers, and Jack
Sepoys were slaughtered wholesale—in two places
they lay five feet high ; some escaped by means of
a rope ladder ; 1,700 and odd were counted of their
dead, and burned in this place. Our loss was 450
killed and wounded. Poor Capt. Hardy was killed,
Lieut. Ford welinded, and three. gunners killed,
awl two mortally wounded ; fighting did not cease
till ("oak. AbAsit 5 p.m. another large building
was taken ; Peel's brigade breached the place.
Captain Peel got a gun up to 10 feet of the wall,
but suffered greatly ; he offered the Victoria Cross
to his men if they brought the gun up. Sikhs and