The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-15 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JULY. 15, 1858.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

We have received by the 0 cerland Mail corre-
spondence and-papers from India and China of the
following dates:—Calcutta, June 4 ; Madras, June
10 ; Hong ligJig, May 22 ; Shanghae, May 17.
The following 'Summary of news from the Bengal
Burkaru of Juno 3, though it contains some facts
.already known, will be read with interest
Let nut the British public deceive i'slf or be
deceived by any communications from this tonal y.
We want more men from England.
During the 16 days which have elapsed since our
last overland summary the remarkable change which
we then annotteced as impending over the whole
character of the revolt has established i7self more
clearly, and indeed in a manner which is now dis.:
cernible upon the moat cursory examination.
We said that the insurrection was about.to lose
the quality which it had hitherto more or less main-
tained "of a copeen4rated struggle for mastery-on
a smaller number of important points," and to be
succeeded by a" Multiplicity of small and harassing
actions scattered over an immensely widened area"
This- prognostication has been verified to the letter.
The change is anything but an advantage to us.
Soldiers can endure an incredible amount of hard-
ship, fatigue, and privation, in the excitement pro-
duced by the prospect of an engagementancl decisive
results within a clearly limited and calculable time;
but no class or calling among mankind is so injuri-
ously affected by the heart-sickness cf hope deferred.
They can far more easily bear the vicissitudes and
alternations of a fierce campaign on a grancl scale,
call ing entail the mightypassions of military struggle
—nay, even the most tremendous reverses, pro-
vided it be "upon the cards," to repair them by
those fervent exertions in which, inspired *s they
ai e by splendid hopes, all pain, all anxiety, all cares
are forgotten. But when nothing decisive is hoped
for or deemed possible in the nature of the struggle,
and yet the desperate effors and the unspairing toils
which such a result would deserve, would obtain,
and would reward, are equally necessary without a
chance or an expectation of it, the soldier quickly
loses heart, health, and moral buoyancy.
Ifany one circumstance could increase the fearful
mortality which is the inevitable attendant of a
European force obliged to keep the field during the
heat and rain of the season now opening in central
and upper India, it would be the necessity of long
forced marches, incessant changes of quarter, and
small ignominious conflicts simultaneously in a
thousand spots today, and nobody can say where
to-morrow, with neither honour nor a conclusion
consequent upon the most complete victory, but
deep disgrace and real danger upon the slightest
defeat.

Let Government, then, and lot the British na-
tion look the truth honestly in the face. We want-,
we need more soldiers from England. It is no
longer the case of a great struggle, in which the
energy of our men might compensate their fewness,
and perhaps the skill of a single comniander bring
home a glorious decision from a hard-fought field.
It.is no longer the case of a struggle which can, in
its nature, be decided thus by any great conflict
whatever. Nay, the very circumstance which may
dispose the nation at home to imagine they can
now, with safety, relax in their exertions, is the
circumstance which, of all others, should most
impel them to redouble their efforts, and which
would the most surely and infallibly operate in
rendering any relaxation fatal—we mean the dis-
persion of the insurgents.
Our forces are able to crush them in a great
battle, and they know it. But are those forces, in
this climate, at this season, for two-thirds of the
Indiaa year, able to patrol half India, to keep the
communications open, to maintain the security of
trade, to repress a universal guerilla warfare, or
even to make head against it, and to show a front
wherever it may choose to break out ? Are those
foroes able to remain at once an army in order to
avoid being destroyed; and yet to become a polka
in order that the Indian empire may avoid falling
into chaos ?

If the realer will now take his map and follow
us, be will obtain a clear notion of the tra.nsactioes
which have occupied the period since our last sum-
mary. Without the map, unless he have already a
familiar picture of Indian localities in lt.s mind, he
will be able to form no clear idea of what has oc-
curred or of what is occurring. The most interest-
ing military operations subsequent to the 11th of
May are those of Sir Hugh Rose's column. On
that very day he had passed Sundhee, close to
Ottah, and had advanced within ten miles of Calpee,
where the most formidable of the numberless minor
musters of the insurgents had been formed. They
did not mean to offer any desperate or final opposi-
tion to Sir H. Rose, for they had made a bridge
for their escape across the Jumna ; yet they were
resolved to dispute his progress, for the Nawab of
Baud;fighting with 3,000 men, Ta.ntia Tepee, and
the Ranee of Jhansi, had joined them. Meanwhile
Col. Riddell, with the Etwah column, was moving
down on the 18th to cooperate with the whole of
the field force under Sir H. Rose along the left
bank of the Junena. Before this movement could
be completed, that is on the 16th, the enemy, with
cavalry, infantry, and three guns, one drawn by
an elephant, attacked the 2d brigade of the field
force, and were driven back into their entrench-
ments. The Nephew of Nana Sahib was with them.
Six days later they agtin attacked with great de-
termination Sir Hugh Rose's right fink and
front, at his camp of Gogowlie. The right was
hard pressed ; the camel corps was brought up to
its relief, and charged bayonets successfully. This
ad vantage was vigorously pressed, and the re-
pute of the enemy became a rout. ' Sir Hugh,
however, then gave his men a few hours' repose,
and it was not till early the next morniug that
he assaultedeCalpee. There the sepoye, having
(as we just now said) made a bridge already for
their escape, showe 1 the native consistency of
character ; for they next swore they would die or
destroy Sir H. Rose's force, and then they ended
by flying in panic at its advance, and leaving it
master of the town and fort of Calpee. Colonel
f Maxwell, from the left bank of the Jumna, had all
this time been most effectually shelling the place.
The cavalry and horse artillery Were sent in
pur-
suit, killed a great many of the rebels, and cap
tired all their guns and ammunition. To what
these damages and captures amounted to respec-
tively, the official telegram was unable or omitted
to mention ; but another acaount states the number
of the sepoys slain on the occasion to havebeen 2000
and the number of guns seized 22. Some of the
fugitives were cut to pieces by the zetnindars on the
24th, in an attempt to cross the Ganges. A. subter-
raucous magazine of 500 barrels of powder and vast
quantities of ordnance stores Was discovered at Cal- '
I pee, and in the town four foundries of cannon.
Col. Middleton occupied Humeerpore on the
' 25th, without opposition. The churchyard was
desecrated, and not an arti6le of European te,enie
ture or manufacture was in the place. Meanwhile
at Jullunder, whore a court martial was sitting 35,
sepoys of the 4th Native Infantry had been exe-
cuted, 27 of them shot, and 8 blown from guns;
and 7 of the 16th Irregular Cavalry had been trans-
ported.
Rose's first operations
About the time of Sir B.
against Calpee, according to a strange message from
Allahabad transmitted by Government, some en-
gagement, concerning which or its results nothing
further was communicated to the public, occurred ,
between Sir Colin Campbell himself and the
, rebel force at Hettara and Bunise, a little dis-
tance to the east of Shalljehanpo re. Our readers
willremember, from our last summary, the surprise
by the rebels, and our recovery- of this place.
The government natss4ge to which we now allude
is dated the 21st of May, Allahabaeli, and " reports"
a report from Futtehghur that the commander-in-
-4 chief had been engaged all day on the 18th with