The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-06 00:00:00

LETTERS FROM IIVDIA.

The following are extracts of a letter from a lady
residing in Calcutta to her friends in the vicinity
of Perth :

" CALCUTTA, Dec. 24, 1857.—Y0u will already
have heard much, and much is still untold. Of
course the more horrid of the scenes which have
taken place cannot now be enacted, as all the
women and children who have escaped are now
either in Calcutta or in other places of safety, but
the spit it of hatred which prompted these deeds
still exists in all its proud determination to root us
out of India. Nothing but physical force will subdue
the Mussulmans. They are an unyielding, proud,
hating race, whom our Government have pampered
and t polled. . . . How nobly Britain has re-
sponded to our cry for help ! I am so proud of my
country now, and of my countrymen too ! Indeed,
I have cam stopped my carriage, and spoken
twice over all the Gaelic I knew to some Highland
soldiers. Sometimes he happened to be on Irish-
man, who, in the real Irish way, would tell me,
' The heat had spoiled my brogue.' The kilts
created such a sensation in Calcutta !

" I hope that any undue abuse of Lord Canning
will not have much weight at home. He hes had a
helm to guide which few could wield. On arriving
here he fuuud all the details of the several depart-
ments in perfect confusion. Lord Canning tet him-
self to examine the minutest details of the financial
department, having been instructed to do so, more
than to interest himself in military affairs. Evt-ry
head of each public office had to work as bard as
his lordship, who had not gono far when, startled
by the state of things, he nearly turned round in
despair to ask his recal. I know that for months
his whole time was given to work which would
have overpowered even some great men. Before he
could get his head above ground, as it were, he
was surprised by the sudden outbreak of the
mutiny. Both he and Isis Council were misled
by the misrepresentations of the loading Euro
peen officers of the native army. Government
did everything in their power at once. All
these men, ou whom the responsibility of the Go-
vernment has been resting, look 20 years older
since May. Lord Canning, and even Lady Can-
ning, look so careworn.
"Now things look lighter. Delhi has fallen, and
Lucknow has been relieved. Sir Colin Campbell
is a hero in every sense of the word. The
success of his meineuvre for relieving Lucknow
has almost no parallel iu history. In 21 days he
travelled 900 miles, forced an entrance into-Luck-
now in the face of an army of 60,000 fighting
men, withdrew 900 sick, women, and child, en,
defeated the enemy, and took every vestige of their
artillery. In the latter force he was very much
outmatched by the enemy. For some days it was
feared that he must be besieged at Cawnpore on
Isis return. In the distance he heard the booming
of the guns, 43 miles from Cawnpore, with all these
sick and wounded hanging upon him, and cast
down by the death of General Haveleck. He was
not to be bea'en. He quickened his movements.
In 31 hours be reached Cawnpore, attacked the
enemy and compelled them to retreat, and then
effected a passage across the river for the treasure
and the refugees from Lucknow, under cover of
the guns. All arrived safely at Allahabad eight
days after. Sir Cohn has remained at Cawnpore.His victory has been so quietly achieved that it is
scarcely believed. Jung Bahadoor, of tlieGliotoirie-
kas, with 9,000 men, has been doing us good see-
vice ; and, in short, he has completely altered
face of things in the North-west. But the people
.
at home mint not think the worl- is
they must not become impatient. Thered are so
many unforeseen difficulties in this country of which
they can have no idea."

The following is extrac'ed from the letter of an
officer in the 73d Bengal Native Infantry :
JELPIGOREE, DEC. 17.
I almost forget what had happened up to the
date of my last letter, but I think we had just
heard of the attempt to disarm our two companies
at Dacca. The affair I suspect was not well
managed, as I have no doubt the arms would have
been quietly given up if asked for. However, that
does not alter the point, gone they have, and here
they are now within 20 miles of us. They made
straight for this place, but avoided all stations and
kept on the opposite bank of the Teeht4. At one
time we had an express from Rungpore, sa3ing
they would be at that place, and ou here imm—
diately. To meet them we sent out a detachment
of the 73d N. 1., a troop of Sowars, and 80 Goorkhas.
Atthe same time we sent to Darjeeling for Euro-

peau troops, and the Sebundy Sappers (Goorkbas)
who arrived here on the 6th. On hearing Euro-
peans were coming the Sowers here (one troop)
took themselves off quietly in the night. We
knew nothing of it till morning, as their lines are
some diqanc..,.tesei us. Th's was on the 4th. Oa
the sth the troop-tat had gone out to meet the
tnu queers followed suit. The night was pitch dark,
but our men fired into them and wounded some.
Three have been caught, brought in here, and
blown away from guns. We are looking out for
more, who will share the same fate. On the 10th
we heard that the rebels bad taken up a position
on the Boottn frontier, about twenty miles from
us, so it was decided that a surprise should be
attempted. Accordingly, about fifty Europeans
and the same of Goorkhas started off at 84 p.m.,
and arrived at the ground just at daybreak, and
made a rush, but found the position had not been
properly described, and were ,stopped short by
heavy sand. The position of the mutineers was
very strong, in fact unapproachable. I just sketch
it for you. . . . A deep nullah, then a sand
bank, heavy sand on either side. Next a deep
river, a bank 26 feet high, perpendicular. Behind
this the mutineers' camp, backed by a dense
jungle. Our fellows found a little shelter under
the sand bank, and fired away for twenty minutes,
but finding they did not do much damage retired
under a very heavy fire. None were killed lam
thankful to say, though all agree that bullets were
whistling all about them. You willgiee from the
sketch that our men had to cross the tullah before
reaching the sand bank, and of course had-to retire
the same way. The mutineers being so close to a
heavy jungle could escape at any moment. I We
havb left them there for the present, and have
written for fifty more Europeans with Enfield
rifles. When they arrive we hope to be up and
doing again. We are placed cri an awkward posi-
tion, the rehab; being in B )otan, a country not
under British jurisdiction, and as yet we do not
know whether the big wigs there will assist us or
the enemy. lam happy to be able to say the men
of our regiment are behaving splendidly. There
has not been a single case of desertion, although
their former comrades from Dacca have been for a
fortnight almost within hail of them. No soldiers
could b© in better order, or be doing their duty more
cheerfully than ours are, and we have every reason
to hope and believe they will continue steady and
faithfuL Comfort yourself with the assurance that
we are in high hope and spirits, and believe
with God's blessing we shall yet " weather the
storm." Glorious news from Luelcnow. Lt jt not I
Ladies safely arrived at Allahabad. We' had a
grand entertainment at Jelpigoree in honour of
the event. The Gwalior mutineers are completely
beaten and dispersed. Jung Bahadoor is in the
Gorruckpore dis'rict with 9,000 men. I have
written this in a great hurry to save the post.
Love to all. . . .