The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-26 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 26, 1858.

130 AT ENGAGEMENT AT LAGOS.

The following extract from a letter of a young officer
to his mother will be read with interest :

"H.M.S. Bloodhound, Lagos, W.C.A.,
March 7, 1858.
" My dearest Mother,—We are this day to leave for
England, but as our route is rather a long and tedious
one, having to call at so many places, 1 am fearful it
will be nearly the latter end of June before we reach
home.'
" I write now for the last time from this most en-
chantng spot, and will proceed to inform you of the se-
vere engagement the boats of the Bloodhound were
engaged in the Benin River (being our second action).
"In this last I acted as a volunteer, and had a most
miraculous escape of being Plot from a battery of swivel
guns manned by a parcel of cowardly and b!oodthirsty
negroes ; the fist gig was commanded by our gallant
captain, Lieut. Chas. Robson, who led tbe way, and on
the advance suffered very severely, for it was but a nar-
row creek, and defended by desperate men, whose bat-
teries were placed most advantageously. The gig was
supported by the cutter, jolly-boat, and dingy, all well
armed and manned. Capt. Robson's gig was soon cora-
l:Lite y riddled, and the boat filled with blood and water ;
still on they went, the fire from the marines and blue
jackets doing great execution. Although two of our men
were killed and six fearfully wounded out of so small a
complement in the gig, nevertheless en they pee:sed
well supported by determined fellows. Tie lots was
occa,doued principally from a masked battery, which,
however, we soon boarded and spiked tbe guns, taro of
which we now have on the quarter-deck of the Blood-
hound.

"The creek was without exception the most dangerous
and difficult passage to enter, being extremely narrow,
well commanded by guns concealed in the mangoes, and
armed natives in tbe swamps.
"The object in attacking this place was to compel
Stuart,' a great trading chief, to deliver up a vessel,
the property of Messrs. Charles Horefall and Co., of
Liverpool, which had been piratically seized, as well as
the crew, the latter having been cruelly tortured. We
-sueceedel in destroying their batteries, after which we
returned to the ship.
"A consultat on was bad on board as to the pro-
priety of destroying the Tew Tew, en idolatrous place
of worship situated at the entrance of the creek. We
went iu under fire of the ship's gun-,, and pulled it
down. I never had imagined previous to this what
open boats could accomplish ; and had the cowardly
wretches stuck to their guns not one of us could have
escaped.
"At one angle they had a six-gun battery, loaded to
the muzzle, and fronting that a large t-ee had been felled,
which lay right across the creek. We were provided
with Cult's revolvers, which I believe so astonished the
natives with the repetition of fire without re-loading,
that they must have thought his sat:nic majesty was
lending a hand. How I escaped I know nw.,—but I arn
grateful to a mercifui Providence—for we were c,nu-
plttely hemmed iu it the blacks had taken advantage of
our critical position.
" Our Captain Robson was foremost in all of if, and
when in tbe act of picking off a nigger, he was severely
wounds-d in the hand ; but nothing daunted, althoußh
he dropped, he continued his orders as coolly as thntigh
he was io drawing-room, and this increased the confi-
dence of officers and men. lam ashamed to say that
while the action lasted I felt bloodthirs:y and savage and
wicked ; but you must sneke every allowance, my dear
mother, for our excitement.
" We all thought that our commander was killed, and
we determined to avenge his death, as we thought, at
he moment. He behaved most nobly throughout, and
gave us an example for coolness which I shall set easily
forget. And now I look forward to tell you iu person all
I base gone through, and (D.V.) I shall be with you in
June next, at which date we may be •uppo,ied to arrive
iu England. "

LIVINGSTONE'S. VOYAGE•

regret to hitn that his having acted under
such erroneous impression should have been de-
trimental to Brigadier Carthew, and have given
pain to that. meritorious officer. The Commander-
in-Chief directs me to request that you will solicit
the permission of- his lordship" in' tOuncil ihat his
memorandum of the 9th instaueMay be considered
null and void ; and if it should have been sent for-
ward to the Government at Madras, he begs that
this further correspondence' may be despatched to
the same destination in justice to Brigadier Car-
thew.—l -
have, &c., „
• H. W. NORMAN, Major,

No. 5.

The Secretary to the Government of India to the
Secretary to Government, Fort St. George.
January 6, 1858.

Sir,—l have the honour, by direction of the Go-
vernor-General of India in Council, to transmit to
you for the information of the Governor of Fort
St. George in Council, transcript of the papers noted
in the margio,t on the subject of the defence of the
bridge on the Bithoor-road at Cawnpore, on the
28th of November last, by Brigadier M. Carthew,
of the Madras army. As the first part of the cor-
respondence was forwarded to the Court of Direc-
tors by the mail of the 24th of December, it was
impossible to annul the Commander-in-Chiera
memorandum, dated the 9th of December. A copy
of the Deputy Adjutant-General's letter, communi-
cating his Excellency's desire that the memorandum
in question may be considered null and void, will
be transmitted by the next mail, and a copy of the
whole correspondence is now enclosed for the infor-
mation of the Government of .Fort St. George.—l
have, dm,

R. J. H. BIRCH, Colonel.
*No?. 1,2, and 3. t No. 4.