The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

INDIAN DESPATCHES.

The Gazette of last night contains a great num-
ber of papers and despatches (in all 71) relating to
the recent operations of our troops in India, which
have just been received by the Secretary of State.
Nos. 1 and 2 narrate the operations which resulted
in the capture of Charbagh by.a. Goorkha force
under Major Walsh, who speaks in the highest
terms of the enduring fortitude displayed by his
men. under a heavy fire. Nos. 3,4, and 5 referto
the operations of the Shahjehanpore Field Force
under Brigadier Jones, and in No. 6 Lieut.-Col.
Taylor, in command of a division of it, relates the
capture and destruction of Shadabad, which was
effected without the loss of a single man, the enemy
having taken themselves off with their usual
rapidity, as soon as Lieut.-Col. Toomb's guns got
within range. No. 9is a long despatch from Sir
Hugh Rose, describing the defeat of the rebel force
which attempted to bar his way to Calpee at
Icoonch. Though the position was a strong one,
and defended by strong batteries, the engagement,
as usual, was short and decisive ; but the retreat of
the rebels seems to have been conducted with more
ge. Sir Hugh Rose
than ordinary skill and coura

says :

" If, on the one hand, the enemy had retired from
Koonch with too great precipitation, on the other,
it is fair to say that they commenced their retreat
across the plain with resolution and intelligence.
The line of skirmishQrs fought well to protect the
retreat of the main body, observing the rules of
light infantry drill. When charged, they threw
a.side their muskets and fought desperately with
their swords."

The moral effect of this victory appears to have
been very great, and had wellnigh terminated the
campaign. Sir 11. Rose thus writes
" The defeat at Koonch gave rise to animosities
and mistrust in the rebel army. The infantry
sepoys accused their brother mutineers of the
cavalry with having, pusillanimously abandoned
them ; and all three arms brought the same charge
against their general, Tantia Topee, who had dis-
appeared at Koonch as rapidly as he had done at
Betwa, leaving to its fate at the most critical
moment the force which he had called into existence
under the pompous title of the Army of the
Peishwa.'
" The Velaities also were charged with not hav-
ing exhited at Koonch the stern courage on which
they pride themselves ; they were accused with
having left the field too soon, and their excuse, that
they had felt it their duty to escort the Rance of
Jhansi to a place of safety, was not held to be a
military one. It was said that the destruction of
Velaities at Jhansi had made their countrymen less
anxious than usual to try the fate of war. These
various causes created confusion in the councils of
the Calpee mutineers ; my immediate advance to-
wards that fortress made matters worse ; a panic
seized the sepoys in Calpee, as well as those retreat-
ing towards it ; they commenced to take different
lines of retreat ; and I was assured, on good autho-
rity, that at one time there were only eleven sepoys
in the town and fort. The unexpected 'arrival. of

the Nawab of T Janda with a large force of good
sepoy cavalry riutineers, some guns, and infantry,
and his energ( ,tic exertions, backed up by those of
the Ranee of Jhansi, produced one of those sudden
changes fro! n despair to confidence which mark the
Indian chweact er.

The list of •casualties appended to ais despatch
states that, -while 2 officers and 24 men were
wounded in this engagement, 3 officers and 43 rank
and file were sunstruck. Six brass guns and three
iron guns, with a la-ege quantity of ordnance stores,
were the spoils of the victors. Nos. 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, and 20 tells how Lieutenant Aynstey, with a
troop of the 'Oth Madras Cavalry, encountered and
totally re ated a body of 600 rebels at Kurnapore,
and in 2:0, 21, and 23 are narrated the operations
of Brig•adicr Douglas, of the Azimghnr Field Force,
for intercepting the enemy in the vicinity of Buxar.
Nos, 24 and 37 relate to the operations of the
Y-amptee Moveable Column, under Colonel Millar,
from August, 1857, to January, 1858, in the Saugor
and Nerbuddah territory. Col. Miller thus sums
up the achievements of the column in that time :
" Though it did not fall to the lot of the column
to see any severe fighting, yet it was continually
engaged in sharp skirmishes with the enemy, in
which it was invariably successful. When the
52d Bengal Native Infantry mutinied, a detach-
ment of this column preserved Jubbulpore and the
public treasure there, and by its advance on Domah
it not only saved that station and the lives of the
Europeans resident there, but also induced the
Shahgurgh Rajah to release Lieutenant Gordon
and the other Europeans whom he had detained in
confinement for three inonths."
No. 39 is a despatch from Sir J. Hope Grant,
describing the defeat which he gave the rebels, to
the number of 16,000, at Nawabgunge on the 13th
of June last. Besides their overwhelming superi-
ority in number, the enemy were strongly posted
behind a deep nullah, but General Grant attacked
with vigour right, left, and centre at once, and very
quickly drove them from all their positions. In
some parts of the field, however, they seem to have
fought with spirit and determination. Sir J. H.
Grant writes— _ _ _

" The action on my proper right having com-
menced with great vigour, I proceeded in
that direction leaving Colonel Haggart to super-
intend the troops on the left. On arriving at this
point, I found a large number of Gazzics, with two
guns, had come out on the open plain, and at-
tacked Hodson's Horse with two guns of Major
Carleton's battery, which covered my rear. I im-
mediately ordered up the other four guns under
the command of Lieutenant Percival, and two
squadrons of the 7th Hussars, under the command
of Major Sir W. Russell, and opened grape upon
this force within 300 or 400 yards with terrible
effect. But the rebels made the most determined
resistance, and two men, in the midst of a shower
of grape, brought forward two green standards,
which they planted in the ground beside their
guns, and rallied their men. Captain Atherley's
two companies of the 3d Battalion Rifle Brigade,
at this moment advanced to the attack, ich
obliged the rebels to move off. The cavalry then
got between them and the guns, and the 7th
Hussars, led gallantly by Major Sir W. Russell,
supported by Hodson's Horse, under Major Daly,
C. 8., swept through them twice, killing every man.
I must here mention the gallant conduct of two
officers of the 7th Hussars, Captain Bushe and
Captain Fraser. The latter I saw myself sur-
rounded by the enemy, and fighting his way gal-
lantly through them all ; he was severely wounded
in the hand."
Private Shaw,of the 3d Battalion Rifle Brigade,'
is recommended for the Victoria Cross by the
General for the following exploit :
" An armed rebel had been seen to enter a tope
of trees; some officers and men ran into the tops
in pursuit of him. This man was a Ghazee.
Private Shaw drew his short sword and with that
weapons rushed single-handed on the Ghazee.
Shaw received a severe tulwar wound, but after a
desperate struggle he killed the man."
Of the 28 rank and file killed in this engage-
ment 6 were by sunstroke.
Nos. 47, 48, 49, and 50 relate to a successful
attack made by a detachment of the Saran field
force under Major Cox, 13th Light Infantry, on a
strong position at Amorah. In this case the enemy,
principally Sepoys, to the number of 1,000, aban-
doned their guns and fortifications as soon as the
British force appeared in sight, and retreated with
such haste that Major Cox's squadron of Cavalry
had no chance with them. The Major writes :
" The Sepoys, however, broke up into several
small bodies, which made for different villages, so
that although the pursuit was continued for four
miles, and Captain Vine charged whenever an
opportunity offered, he was only able here to cut off
15 or 20 Sepoys, the number of the enemy found
killed on the ground during the day being 30 or
40 men."
Nos. 51, 52, and 53 relate to the operations of
Brigadier Coke, of General Walpole's division, to
intercept the rebels in the Budaon district; and 54
to 59 to the recapture of the fort of Copal, by a
Field Force under Major Hughes, which had been
seized by a body of rebels under Becm Row Des-
sage. Nos. 60 to 68 are a series of despatches de-
tailing the movements of a column detached from
Brigadier Seaton's force under Colonel Riddell for
securing boats for the use of Sir Hugh Rose's force,
then engaged in the attack on Calpee. This opera-
tion appears to have been conducted with great
skill in the face of a large body of the rebels. igh
praise is given by Colonel Riddell to Lieutenant
Sheriff, to whom was intrusted the river part of the
expedition. In seven days this officer collected a
fleet of 35 boats, all of which, having been sunk by
the enemy, bad to be raised frequently under a
heavy fire from the banks. The narrative of the
magistrate, Mr. Hume, who accompanied the expe-
dition, mentions what Lieutenant Sheriff's report
does not, that in one of these encounters Lieutenant
Sheriff killed a havildar in hand to hand fight.
The series closes with a report from Lieutenant
Nuttall, of the 2d Regiment Irregular infantry,
detailing the operations of a detachment
of that regiment, and of a party of the Mookee
Force in the Chanda District from the 26th of April
' to the 20th of May, 1858. The Commissioner of
• Nagpore, in forwar.ding this report to the Gover-
nor-General, speaks in high terms of the intelli-
gence and spirit displayed by Lieutenant Nuttall.

UNEXPECTED EXPLOSION OF A SUL
MARINE SHELL.

MARVELLOUS ESCAPE OF THE SPECTATORS.

HERNE BAY, THURSDAY.

An event took place here yesterday afternoon,
which, for the time being, threw this quiet water-
ing-place into a state of unenviable alarm and com-
motion. It is necessary, for the proper explanation
of what follows, to state that last week Capt.
Harvey, R.N., a visitor here, proposed to astonish
the natives by an experiment with a submarine
shell of his own invention. For this purpose he
obtained an old cutter, used by the coastguard, but
recently condemned, and, having furbished hex up,
purposed one fine afternoon to illustrate the
force of his infernal machina by blowing her
to pieces. Unfortunately the spectators were
baulked of their promised explosion, and of
the lecture in the Brunswick-rooms that was
to explain the invention, for the shell would not
go off. A considerable number of persons being,
however, assembled on the beach, an impromptu
regatta was got up for their benefit, after witness-
ing which they went away contented with the
promise that the experiment should be successfully
performed on the first favourable opportunity.
Accordingly yesterday afternoon was selected for
r
the second trial. The cutter was anchored, and
awaited its final doom. The captain, with two or
three of his friends in a boat, took out the shell,
all was anxious expectation. The shell is made of
zinc, and is about the size of an ordinary gas-
meter. In the present instance it contained twenty-
six pounds of gunpowder and a quantity of mid.
At the top was placed some detonating powder,
and into it was tig,htly fixed a glass tube contain-
ing sulphuric acid. This tube striking against
any hard substance, such as the side o a ship,
breaks, and the sulphuric acid running into the
detonating powder an explosion is the result. By
some oversight Captain Harvey placed the sand in
top instead of at the bottom of the shell, and the
consequence was that it floated bottom upwards,
and the tube being under the water did not strike
the cutter at all. The captain, in the boat, with a
long rope attached to the shell, tried in vain to
cause it to explode, and at last he became so excited
at the failure that he was obliged to be removed.
Indeed, we afterwards learned that his mind has
been seriously unsettled for sonic time"past, so much
so that he has a keeper constantly in attendance
upon him. Meanwhile the shell remained floating
in the water. After a time a seaman named Wood,
thinking it harmless, took the rope and commenced
hauling the shell on shore. No sooner, however,
had it touched the beach than it exploded with a
terrific noise, a dense volume of smoke shooting up
into the air. The excitement and alarm in the
crowd of spectators on the beach were intense,
Fortunately no serious injury to life or limb re-
sulted, but the concussion was sufficient to blow
out the face of the clock tower in the immediate
vicinity, and to smash nearly every pane of glass in
were
broken
close by. In addition the shops of a neighbouring pastry cook and linen-
draper, and also of the
to
heDthiivse,rs' Arm
windows s
public-house
St. Augustine's-terrace, and
In the pastrycook's the
the confectionery were all
glass jars contrming
ointh every
hrYous heosus ae djo in St.
_
broken and the confectionery strewn about the road. is estimated at between
Altogether the damage done
£3O and £4O. A shower of beach stones and salt