The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-20 00:00:00

THE CAPTURE OF KOTAH.

At one o'Clock.in the night of the 29th or morn:-
ing of the 30th 4arch the-operations-commenced:.
The rationale of the attrialrwas this :—There were
two columns of -assaniti-lci-start simultanemiely in
a direction almost &Om east to west, to sweep the
:whole town. This plan was 'adopted in preference
b any other, because it was known that the cen-
•tral street of the town was Mined, or sprinkled
with explosive Materials likely-. t o do our troops a
serious injury. At about 12 o'clock the powder-
bags were placed, the fuse lighted,.and coon after
rockets flew into the air as a signal, followed by an
gate was clear; out -our men
poured iu qu'ck succession, though with the ut-
m:,st stead.ness, ca,:h brigadier at the head of
his column, sword in haritle the first and second
'leading to the right, -the third to' tie left, 'while
the foUrth remained in reserve. • :In one half
limn; afterwards the whole of the town immedi-
ately in front of the attacking p..rty was in our
possession. -The :first column having routed them
from their bastions, occupied the Soorujpole Gate,
thus taking the rebels quite in rear, who, not being
:ware that the third co!umn was totheleft, crossed
its front at 400 yards, when a great number were
killed by the Enfields of the 95;.1n Others, seeing
that they would have to run the,gauntlet,madefor
the bastions, and effected their escapeoeer the
walls by •ropes, which had apparently been in rea-
diness .for.this purpose ; and one Iva, who was
mounted, in a paroxysm of frenzy spurred his
horse to the rampart, and jumpsd &ern orer, a fall
of fifty feet. Both horse and rider were seen af-
terwards a.t the: foot of it outside, killed. After.
occupying the bastions, and commanding houses,
t.ie columns proceeded to clear the housed, and in
one some eight or ten men were found fully ::rased
and prepared to fight ; and as they could not be
dislodged,. Colonel Park desired the Sappers to
mine the angles, which heing done, the party wore
blown up, as it was quite impossible to leave them
ia our: rear ; it was afterwards dicoverad that
Lallab Sing (brother to Hera Sing, the commander
of the rebels) was among the nunal,er in that hence
e--it was his head-quarters. Nearly in every
street was a gun in position to sweep it, with in
many instances double barricades in front; and
here and thereby theguns, infernal machines, with
50 barrels each, loaded half waa upend duly primed.
The first division captured 16 guns, second eight,
14 ; in a 1157 guns, two thirds of which are brass,
of the hcaviest_nOal, have been taken. Scme
of the iron ones retaliated in commanding
positions at the angles of the walls on high bastions
e of the. largest :Calibre and Size, throwing heavier
shot than our 68'rs. 500 prisoners were taken, all
of whom were handed over to the political agent
,;
some of them were recognised as condemned con-
victs, who bad been freed by the rebels to work
the guns.
The rebels .driven out from the town, streamed
away from the western gate, and taking a south-
eastern course across a large ph;in 'will their guns
plunder, wives, children, and servants, fled to the
bills forming the plateau south of the ChumbuL It
will hardly lie credited in England that this
orderly rabble of fighting camp fellowe:-e,
it)
,:lattiududo
ekth
r n
d u
togetherm el:stint:dm
miss, were allowed to eica

The ghauts of the river Chumbul were vuarded
by the Jeyporo contingent, and d few miles Lelow
the town lay a force of eavelry consisting of the Bth
Hussars, Scinde Horse, and other irregulars, with
Petrie's battery. They mustered nearly 1,000
strong, with six guns, and received instructions to
in'ercept the enemy when retreating, but, strange
to
.say, they were in the same place forty-eight
hours after the enemy had fled from the town and
evacuated the entrenched camp en the other
side of it, sill inactive, and it was not till
fifty-two Louis had elapsed that they com-
menced to pursue them. There' is as yet no
explanation of this extraordinary remissness, of
which we sha'l presently see the consequences. It
is only rumoured -that Brigadier Lawrence, the
.political agent, with the force, was in trepidation
legit the rebels should cross the Chumbul into the
north country, and issued orders contradicting
those given.by Major-General RoLert-.
All our soldiers, both European and native, were
prevented looting, while the Rajah's people were
ail )wed to plunder indiscriminately. On the after-
no( n of the Ist, Captain Bainbrigge, the Brigade
Major Lt Brigade; visited atptain Bazilgette for
the purpose of reporting to Brigadier Macan the
quantities of ammunition in the en:my's camp.
Both officers left together to examine the houses,
when soon after entering one of them a cracking
noise was heard, and a terrific explosion took place.
There is too much reason to suppose that the house
was fired on purpose, as two men were kill. d by
one of the officers.of the 95th, as they were escap-
ing with burning fuses in their hand. The remains
: f the two officers, whose bodies were so burnt
that they could scarcely be recognised, were only
found on the morning of the 2nd among the

It is rumoured that' the Maho Rao is acquitted
of all participation in the murder of Major Burton
and Lis sons, our unfortuna+e politicAl agent. The
Raj lb .aid in his &fence that he buried what re-
m tined of Major Burton (after the scoundrels cut
off his head, loadej a gun with it, and fired it off)
and his two sons in the Christian burial ground
outside the. tow n. The spot was pointed out, and
the bodies examined, when it was fund that his
statanent was correct.

Lallah Sing's treasurer, his intelligencer, and
head accountant, paid the just penalty of their
crimes bswinging from a tree close to one of the
thriefes,js of Entrance to the town, the Lalpoora,
on the afternoon of the 13th. A free pardon was
offered to the treasurer if be diielosed where the
rupees were bid, but to all inciniris he was silent,
and so he was lunged.

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF JHANSI.
The siega.°l J 1121124 arid the battle fought by the
besieging fexce under Geu. Hugh Rose, deserve
in truth to be recorded as the most brilliant feats
of arms in the Central Indian campaign.
On the night cf the 29-30th March orders were
issued to the Ist brigade, under Brigadier Stuart, to
close in and join the 2d, under Sir Hugh Rose.
The division thus famed, numbering about 2,000
men of all alms, 'moved '32 at (lawn in a South-
eaAerly direction towards the Betwa, hoping to
meet the enemy en their advance from the fords of
the river. But the rebels, less hasty in their move-
men's than we had anticipated, were still on the op.
posite (right) bank of the Betwa, separated from us
tq the stream, three-quarters of a mile broad at that
point, and flowing over a bed so rocky that guns
child only b 3 taken across 'Rah e7itticulty. Sir
dugh dt w up in order of battle on the left bank of
ho stream, and finding the enemy motionless,
;lowly r, tired to camp, the Ist I.rigade marching
back to its old position on the left of Jhansi, and
3ir Hugh to one covering the camp of the right at-
tack. The enemy seized this opportunity to cross
;he river, and during the night he marched up to a
),&t!on a mile distant from cur lines.
It was not clear by which road the rebels would
,dvance, as there wore two reads into Jhansi by
[ which he could approach. The Ist brigade, which,