The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-28 00:00:00

LONDON,JHURSDAY, JAN. 28, 1858.

Although the overland mail from India—
copious extzacts from which appeared in our im-
pression of yesterday--contains few facts of im-
portance that had not previously been communi-
cated by;telegrams, the details are of peculiar int
rest, enabling us to form more correct opinions
respecting our position and prospects. We now
can understand the full extent of the danger in
which the garrison of Cawnpore had been involved
through the double mistake of General WINDHAM.
We say double mistake, because, in the first in-
stance, a very serious error was committed in
exposing himself—probably through excessive
confidence—to the danger of surprise by selecting
a bad position, without taking the necessary pre-
cautions to guard against any unexpected attack ;
and, secondly, in neglecting to support the
gallant WILSON and his devoted followers
when they had achieved an almost miraculous
success against overwhelming odds. In ♦ain,
however, was their superhuman prowess and
desperate and unflinching courage. In vain was
their triumph over ten times their numbers.
The rebels received ample reinforcemcnti, but no
assistance came to these dauntless heroes, of
whom but a mere handful escaped. All honour
to those who perished in the discharge of a duty
so glorious, although so fatal.

Our admiration is increased for the Gallant
General, who, unfairly passed over in the Crimea
still fought in a subordinate position when anothe'
r
would have sent in his resignation in disgust.
Sir COLIN' CAIIPBSLL has nobly confuted those
who spoke of him as a mere General of division,
an admirable second, but without the qualifica-
tions of a supreme command. What will these.
detractors now say, or how far will they land
the Guardsmen, whose chief exploits have bean
" capering nimbly in a lady's chamber ?"
Sir COLIN'S brilliant generalship, his economy ( f
his soldiers' lives, his tender care for the women
and children, will occupy an enduring page in the
national records. He saved CAwnpore as surely
as he rescued Lucknow. Under less able guidaice
the women and children would have perished in
the hour of fancied security. He had the for-
bearance to restrain his followers until the safety
of his helpless charge was fully ensured. Then,
indeed, he fell on the foe with desperate and
irresistible impetuosity', and speedily satisfied
them of the terrible error into which they had

been ,betrayed in supposing that a contest was 1
avoided by the British Commander, or that there
was the slightest possible chance of their rendering
themselves more infamous than before by a second
Cawnpore massacre. We may judge of the spirit
by which these demons were actuated by the
atrocities perpetrated on two gallant officers, who
were unfortunately left on the field wounded after
Brigadier WiLsoN's splendid charge. One was
hanged, the other tied hands and feet to a
cartwheel, and otherwise ignominiously treated.
What would have been the fate of the fugitives
had they fallen into the hands of these incarnate
fiends ?

It is enough to say that the arch-mis-
creant NANA SAHIB was present, having hastened
from Bithoor to gloat his sight on the anticipated
horrors. He was, however, happily baffled, and
paid severely for his curiosity. The rebel force
that had been assailing Cawnpore separated into
two divisions, one under NANA SAHIB heading
towards Bithoor, and the other under the rebel
Kooß SING" in the direction of Calpee. The
latter were pursued fourteen miles along the
Calpee Road by Sir COLIN, while Brigadier
HOPE GRANT attended to the Bithoor party.
The rout in each case was complete, guns, bag-
gage, ammunition—everything that constitutes an
army fell into the hands of the victors 1 and the
once disciplined and well-appointed Gwalior
Contingent, and the petted followers of NANA
SAHIB, were converted into a lawless rabble,
without cannon, ammunition, or commissariat.
Their unity was destroyed, and all they could do
was to straggle up to Oude, to join the rebels
there, to where the contest will shortly be re-
stricted.

But to complete the subjugation of Oude, fur-
ther reinforcements are indispensable. Thera is
still hard work to be accomplished, and we must
al.------ brit,
" penny-wise and pound-foolish" policy, over-
burden the gallant soldiers, who have already ren-
dered such inestimable services to their country.
For this purpose further troops must be despatched
by the most speedy means of conveyance. The
Mediterranean garrisons are readily available,
and may easily be replaced by militia regi-
ments, who would gladly volunteer for the
purpose, or even for India itself, if permitted
so to do. Nor is this all. There should
be a considerable augmentation of our mili-
tary forces. Such an augmentation can best
be obtained by adding second battations to many
other regiments, thus following the precedent
already established. But there is no possible
reason why these regiments should be selected in
numerical order. We venture to assert that a
proposition to double every Highland Regiment
now in the service—aye, and to create new ones
—would be hailed with enthusiastic approbation
throughout the length and breadth of the land.
We say not a word in derogation of any other
Regiments. They have all acted faithfully and
nobly, but never has there been a failure on the
part of Highlanders. They possess the dash and
daring of the Irish, the steadfast and stern
endurance of the English—fierce in the field,
gentle in quarters, and temperate in the canteen ;
they never suffer themselves to be carried away
by temporary excitement. They are, in fact, the
beats ideal of true soldiers, and, adding a second
battalion to each Highland Regiment, would not
only be conferring a graceful compliment on Sir
COLIN CAMPBELL, but on the memory of HAVE-
LOCK, whose chief exploits were at the head of the
78th.

" And, oh, loved warriors of the Minstrel's land
Yonder your bonnets nod, your tartans wave 1"

These distinguished regiments are but eight in
number—would there were more ! And of these
the 71st Highland Light Infantry has already
two battalions. Five wear the kilt, viz., the 42d
Royal Highlanders, or old Black Watch ; the
78th, which may truly be termed HAVELOCK'S
OtC/1 ; the 70th, or Cameron Highlanders ; and
the 92d and 9343, the regiments especially con-
nected with Sir COLIN CAMPBELL at Lucknow,
where he led them in person ; but in the Crimea,
where, besides other exploits, they constituted
the thin red line at Inkermann, Sir COLIN is also
their Colonel-in-Chief. The other regiments,
the 72d and 74th, are well known, and have never
failed to distinguish themselves whenever an op-
portunity was offered.
It would also be well if a large addition were
made to the Royal Marine Artillery, a very useful
and valuable force. This subject will unques-
tionably be ventilated immediately after the meet-
ing of Parliament, and it would be well if the
Government gracefully anticipated the demand
that will certainly be made.

1
The gagging system threatens, in regard to
the Press of British India, to become an institu-
tion. Is this monstrous anomaly to be tolerated?
A gagged Press in an English colony I With
this blot on our own escutcheon, how can we con-
sistently inveigh against the perpetuation of a
policy in a neighbouring State resulting in the
recent suppression of the Revue de Paris and the
Spectateur, late Assemblae Nationale ? There
must be an end of this —an end of
what is, in truth, . part absurdity, part
atrocity. It is nothing less than an ab-
surdity to argue among ourselves now-a-days that
there are any circumstances rendering necessary
the prevention of the most perfect freedom of
discussion in the public newspapers. It is
nothing less than an atrocity to act upon this
illogical reasoning so far as to place a positive gag
in the mouths of Freeborn English journalists.
Yet this absurdity has been adventured
upon, this atrocity has been perpetrated—is being
adventured upon, is being perpetrated at this
moment in our East Indian Possessions. There—
in Hindostan—a Free Press is a thing no longer
in existence. My Lord CANNING and his coadju-
tors at the Council Board have decreed at Calcutta
that journals there henceforth must submit to the
stringent regulations of an inquisitorial and
tyrannical censorship. ThiA, remember, in Bri-
tish India in the second half of the nineteenth
century-1 hen we might have presume' that
under British Rule the liberty of the Press must,
perforce, and, as it were, by an inevitable neces-
sity, be inviolate ! Any such erroneous conjecture
Lord CANNING and his official colleagues are
energetically endeavouring to dissipate.
Th
°Y twe (Linz this, moreover, under the
pretext of an eat- ,
Prineipt„ or
ode
Irgelacv- When it is a recognised
perfect freedom o tij.ustify
no emergency
can aw ill regard to the press, that
and blasphemy
dieted. the denial to it of a
being alone
obscenity,
at all times inter-

Parliament must look well to this, as soon as
possible after its re-assembling on the 4th 1
of February. Recognise as reasonable, as
allowable, as justifiable, the garin., of
the Press in Hindostan, and we ought in mere
consistency to suppress with a strong and lawless
hand the Sepoyisin of certain Irish newspapers.
Altogether a most preposterous and a most im-
practicable consequence. The effectual as well as
the ‘l
way of dealing with the Nation and
the other
' erS' epoy prints across St. George's

Channel, being the indulgence of the
most suppressive of all powers in regard
to the evil part of the Press, namely, the contempt
of the rational and respectable part of the com-
munity.

As to British pride in, and love for, the Free-
dom of the Press, Lord CANNING seems never
even to have heard of it. Yet, as far back as
1810, what were the memorable words uttered
upon this very subject by Mr. SHERIDAN, in one
of the most remarkable speeches ever de-
livered by that remarkable man in the
House of Commons ? " Give them," said he, " a
corrupt House of Lords ; give them a venal House
of Commons ; give them a tyrannical Prince ;
give them a truckling Court—and let me but
have an unfettered press : I will defy them to
encroach a hair's-breadth upon the liberties •f
England." Lord CANNING thinks differently. And
thinking differently, he gags the pr6s of Hindos-
tan. What said Justus in regard to the freedom of
the press ! He said in the Dedication of his
famous Letters to the English nation—" Let it be
impressed upon your minds, let it be instilled into
your children, that the liberty of the press is the
palladium of all the civil, political, and religious
rights of an Englishman.'' Lord CANNING thinks
differently—and thinking differently, his lordship
gags the press in Hindostan. What, again, was
the estimate formed of the liberty of the press
by Monsieur DE LOLME 7 Why, M. DE LOLME
thus writes in his essay upon the Eng-
lish Constitution" Whoever considers what
it is that constitutes the moving principle of what
we call great affairs, and the invincible sensibility
of man to the opinion of his fellow-creatures, will
not hesitate to affirm, that if it were possible for
the liberty of the press to exist in a despotic: go-
vernment, and (what is not less difficult) for it to
exist without changing the constitution, this
.IvaAo corm a coun-
terpoise to the power of the prince." Thus
thought and wrote the great French Philosopher.
But my Lord CANNING thinks differently—and
so the Liberty of the Press in British India is for
an indefinite period abolished ! What, in fine, is
the opinion pronounced upon the freedom of
printing by the most renowned and popular of
our English jurisconsults, no more recon-
dite an authority than Sir WILLIAM BLACK-
STONE? Has he not said decisively in
his Coramentaries, " The Liberty of the
Press is indeed essential to the nature of
a Free State ;'' and further—" To subject the
Press to the restrictive power of a licenser, as
was formerly done both before and since the Re-
volution, is to subject all freedom of sentiment to
the prejudices of one man, and make him the
arbitrary and infallible judge of all controverted
points in learning, religion, and government." My
Lord CANNING has wiser and wholesomer views
than these in regard to the freedom of the Press—
and so the freedom of the Press is forfeited for a time
(we don't know for how long a time) to Hindo•
stan. His Lordship's decision upon this matter
we are not disposed to regard as a subject of
trivial importance ; on the contrary, we conceive
it to be a matter of such vital import, and involv-
ing within itself the possibility of such extraordi-
nary consequences, that we would earnestly com-
mend it to the instant consideration of the Legis-
lature.