The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-04 00:00:00

LETTERS FROM INDIA.

The following is from Calcutta. The refusal of
government to avail itself of the offer to raise a
troop of horse is a remarkable fact :
You will have heard of the result of the applica-
tion made by the Indigo Planters' Association to
government for compensation for losses during the
rebellion. The reply is as stiff and heartless as
most other things emanating from the government,
and comes to this :—" The Governor-General in
Council is not prepared to admit the claim which
the sufferers by the late disturbances intend to pre-
fer." This short and sweet negative to men who
have lost their all by the utter neglect, stupidity,
and mismanagement of this government, is wore e
than was generally expected, as it cannot be doubted
for a moment that government, instead of losing,
will benefit immensely by the rebellion, from the
great number of confiscated estates, resumed
Jygeers, discontinued pen9ions, &c. When it was
seen how unable government was to protect pro-
perty, S-- offered his services, and proposed to
raise 300 Sowers or Irregular Cavalry to act in
concert with 50 Europeans or Sikhs, as you will
see by the inclosed printed paper, copy of a letter
which he adelresdel to the Hon. F. J. Halliday, the
lieuttu tnt-governor. These Irregulars he proposed
to raise from his ryots, whose relationsb were known
to him as respectable and trustworthy, and who
had lands and interests in his own villages. And
the objects he proposed were :-Ist. The capture
of Babon Cowar Sing, and his brother Umar Sing.
2d. The capture of mutineers and disasters, a consi-
derable number of whom were lur king in his dis-
trict. 3d. The capture of prisoners who were liber-
ated by the mutineers ; and 4th, the general protec-
tion of the district from merauclers. Up to this
date, three weeks after the proposal was sent in, no
answer has been given to it, and the meantime
Cower Sing and Umar Sing continue at large
spreading terror and ruin wherever they go. All
the remaining property of the Europeans has been
reduced to ashes, and the fine districts of Behar
and Shahabad continue in a state of anarchy and
misery which it would be difficult to describe. The
sth Irregular Cavalry, after beating and nearly
destroying Capt. Rattray's Sikhs at Bore Gyah,
lame to the Gyah station, looted it (a second Env),
burnt the gaol, and came towards Doudnugu',
looting all the country round without the le ist op-
position; they encamped six days at Doudnugur,
burnt to the ground severalfactories, looted several
villages, and the seventh day crossed the Soane,
&c. Had " the Lieutenant-Governor accepted the
proposal of S— in time, all this probably, or a great
deal of it certainly, would have been averted • the
sth Irregulars would not have crossed the goane
unopposed as they did, and the chief rebels might,
have been captured long ago. Instead of encour-
aging and appreciating the services, good feeling,
and the co-operation of Europeans, they are all
treated as S— has been ; not even an answer
deigned to a highly meritorious proposal. I have
described this as an example of how things are
managed by Messrs. Halliday, Beadon, and Co.
Although Delhi had fallen, or been re-taken, and
Lucknow relieved, do not imagine things are get-
ting on better ; the whole country is under-
mined, and in one moment explode in a more
fearful manner than the first explosion. We
have lost the charm that kept the country
down—the opinion, the esteem, the prestige is
gone, because the governing classes have done all
in their power to bring all Europeans out of the ser-
vice into contempt. Those "interlopers," the
" sweepiegs of Europe" (as the native Government
tutor and curator of the infant rayahs of Bengal
styled them), the natives have been taught to de-
spise, and that feeling, which the civil service in
particular has so sedulously et eated and encouraged,
has now recoiled on the Government. But this, I
am sure, will not alter the views of the present Go-
vernment. To conciliate the natives at any cost is
the order of the day. To humble the Europeans and
exalt the natives, in spite of all that bus happened,
is the unmistakeable determinat. on of the presen,
Government. Moonshee Ameer All was appointed
deputy commissioner of the Patna division, and
crated a Khan Bahadoor. A man who was
deeply implic ,ted in tli• Patna conspiracy during
the Purijaub war, and who was, together with other
csnspirator4, imprisoned in Arm!), has lately he en
appointed a magistrate of Sasseram and of the
Shahabad district, and is shortly to receive a khelat
(a robe of honour) from Government of 10,000
rupees value. His name is Shah Kuberoodeen.
Another Mussulmau named Azemoodeen Hoosseien
Khan has been entrusted ith the settlement of the
confiscated es ates of Bator) Cower Sing, and in-
stead of settling the estates with the European suf-
ferers, the fellow is doing what is most congenial to
his feelings, and excluding Christians ! Till when
is this miserable infatuation to last? I fear till we
have a Queen's Government, and the miserable
civil service clique now in power is extincle
I tru-t you will do what you can in England to get
us compensation and a change of government, for
we can expect not'ling good from the present one.
Mr. W. Taylor, our late Wm miisioner of Patna,
was suspended on the ostensible ground that he
ordered the functionaries of Tirhoot and Gyah to
leave their stations and concentrate at Patna,
" when there was no ground for such ill judge cl
panic." The fact is that there was imminent danger
of losing their lives, and Mr. Taylor acted as every
man of good judgment and humanity would have
acted; but the real reason of his removal, awl I may
say disgrace, was that he was very severe to the mu-
tineers and to the bad and dangerous •e le el
Patna; and inputting down conspiracy and intrigue
against Government, Mr. Taylor c irried the 1 tics
into effect, and hung those who deserved it. Since
his successor, Mr. Samuels, and his deputy, Arneer
Ali, all such punishments have ceased. With this
example no one dares to pun'sh the a dives.

The following is from one of the first firms in
Calcutta :

Calcutta, Nov. 23.
Operations are now being car, ied on according
to the more ordinary rules of warfare,_ and victories
will be not only gained at less coit, but bet'er im-
proved than it was possible to do with the
small
and imperfect organised forces hitherto availald..
The want of cavalry has especially been felt, but it
is now partially supplied. The pacification of the
central provinces has been effected with inuchvigour
and promptitude, and communications are already
opened to the Upper Provinces, thongli we doubt
if confidence is as yet sufficiently restored to indeco
the wealthy natives t ► disinter their buried trea-
sures. The large body of mutineers we referred to
on the 22d ult. as assembling at Banda, despair; eg
probably of raising the Reweh country, cro seri to-
wards Oude, and suffered a complete rout on the
the line of the Grand Trunk road. There are some
!Wiles in Central India, but rasher, we apprehend
see:al disturbances arnoug tribes who readily revert
to a predatory life than political movements. •
Apprehensions are entertaieed by some that the
war must be followed by a famine. We trn4 that
at the worst this evil will be paiti4l. We hear
from reliable information, chiefly from net vs
sources, that even iu the provinces whichhave b •en
the chief seat of the disturbances the country has
neither been ravaged nor deserted, so the mischief
is confined to the line of march of the mut:none
loofrcoetsi,da:d though they have generally plundered
all that was within their reach, the field of their
depreCations has been limited. There are said to be
by troop
very large stocks of grain in Bareilly, iu the norih
culture Las
de-
struction of pro
this way iwshaiewhorhkoanov.fe not been touched. The de-
Indeed, ravaging a coutvry in
undertaken
gone on. has been very great, tut agri-
andhose discipline 11:d been ro-
laxed,g thewre aate
tl
onfo''at
ruthless
likely to a
übd.