The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

LONDON, SAT U B DAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 5, 18b7.

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

Tol.l3l.ess some people have shown, but I feel utterly
disgusted with the whole army, and I only wish
that I might get crders to go out with my regi-
ment, or alone with my company against some of
these people, so that we could put the men to the
test,
.and see whether they rainy mean to stick to
us or not, and end this state of. suspense.
"I must leave off now, 4nd send this. If there
is a row hero you may be sure I will stick to my
company as long as we have any chance of their
obeying U 3. I would give a great deal to see you
all again, but I would give ten times as much to
have a fair fight with these Lucknow or any other
mutineer=, and our regiment standing to us firmly,
so that we might keep our good name amid all the
disgrace the Bengal army has now fallen into."

LUCKNOW. -
The following letter is from a civilian in Luck-
now:—

" Michee Bhuan Fort, Lucknow, July 6.
"Pressed by want of food and fuel, and reduced
to the last extremity, a sortie was made on the 2d
inst., in the direction of the enemy's camp. Their-
advanced guard was taken-by surprise and utterly
routed, after two houre' desperate fighting. A con-
siderable quantity of provisions fell into the hands
of our troops. This successful operation was con-
ducted in person by our gallant and noble chief;
Sir H. Lawrence, at the head of 2JO Europeans,
chiefly her Majesty's 32d Foot. Returning from
the scene of action flushed with' victory, and boar-
ing the proceeds of their h ird fight for the relief of
the poor sufferers in the fort, just as our troops
reached the town the native artillery who accom-
panied the expedition suddenly wheeled round and
opened a deadly fire from the guns on the unfor-•
tunate 32d, and I. reg. etiob say that. before • they
were able to recover themselves ,and face •their-as-
sailants upwards of 60 men, rank and file, were
killed and several -of our best office- s severely
wounded—among the oflteers our gallant general,
who was severely cut in the le2 by the splinter of
a shell, and died this day at 4 o'clock of lock-jaw
induced by the wound. The following officers'
names I have been able to collet who were wound-
ed in the sortie and subsequent attack by the mis-
creant traitors ;--Major Case (since dead), Major
Bell, Captains Lawrence, Cook, Wainwright,
and Moore • •Lreu'enants M'Cabe, Brackenbury,
Browne, Hill, and Charlton. We have been
obliged to retire from the lines defending the town
and to abandon our strong positions in consequence
of these sad casualties, and to fall back upon this
old fort, which we have very strongly entrenched,
and shall be able to resist the enemy so long as we
have provisions, which are expected fully to last
(of course on a famine scale of distribution) for five
weeks ; but we must not again venture beyond the
walls, except it be to make one final and desperate
attempt to cut through the hordes Of villains and
thousands of well disciplined native troops drawn
up against us in regular order of bittle.
" The most painful consideration is the number
of ladies and women and helpless people who have
fled for protection to the •fort, and are now here.
Upwards of 200 of these poor cr,atures are cram-
med into this narrow plice, where it is impossible
to describe their sufferings. Death would be in-
deed a happy release to many of them, and it is
enough to melt the heart of the hardest soldier to
witness their cruel privations, while it is wonderful
at the same time to see the patience andfortitude
with which they are enabled ta endure the un-
paralleled misery of their position."

MUTINY AT INDORE.

The following are extracts from the private
letter c f an officer present during the mutiny at
Indore on the Ist of July :
"A little after 8 a.m. on the Ist, Holkar sud-
denly attacked us at Indore. The artillery (nine-
pounders, procured for him by, the Governor-
General's agent) and his infantry opened. They
were posed by the opium godown. The miscreants
cut down a number of poor telegraph people and
dosed us with a supply of our own grape, furnished
them from Mhow. My only cava'ry at the mo-
ment available were a few always kept saddled in
the square of the stable yard ; the others, being in
the Mehidpore cavalry lines, were in a measure cut
off, and required time to saddle and come round.
The Mehidpore infantry were neutral, and our own
(Bhopal) nearly in as bad a sta'e. To strike a
blow, and'an: effectual one, was of the greatest im-
portance, and iu doing this not a moment was to
be lost. • Fleeing myself at the head of the few
cavalry read', though nut .properly formed,.l led
them against both the guns and infantry supporting
each other, at first with something less than 20
men; the affair seemed almost hopeless, but our
only chance. As I cast my eye back and found
only six or seven, following me, and not in good
order, much as I despise the Mahrattas as soldiers,
I saw we could not by any po-s bility make an im-
pression. Still, at it I went—to draw rein or turn
after giving the order to charge was too much
against the grain. I came in for a large share of
their most polite attention. .My horse was
wounded in three places ; had to parry a sabre
cut with the back of my sword, but God, in His',
great mercy protected me, and the dastardly
gunners threw themielves under their guns. Had
I 30 or 40 good Sowats at the time, with their
hearts in the right place, I would have captured
their three guns, and have cut their 200 infantry to
pieces, but what could half a-dozen do against so
many `1 The foe then moved into the
plain in front of
the flower garden, to blaze into the Residency. I
instantly moved up and attacked with my 2 guns,
the Subandar Sewlale and the gunners behaving
nobly, and drove them back, disabling, apparently,
one of their Mills.
" The rest of my cavalry now came up, asking to
be led to the charge. but I, could find no bugler,
nor could I get the men into
proper order. They
seemed uncertain whom to trust, who were friends.
or who foes, and to lead them on as they then
were would have be' destruction. Tbey would
have been taken in flank by Holkar's numerous
cavalry and overthrown. My infantry was re-
ported in a state of mutiny, so it was all up.
decided upon retreating, drawing off the
children and ladies before we were completely sur-
rounded. Althoogh we could have held the Resi-
dency for a few hours longer, we should Lave been
unable to withdraw the poor helpless women and
children, many of whom had to be put upon the
gun limbers and waggons as all Holkar's force was
pouring out of the city, and the rascals also. I
covered the retreat wi.-1 till cavalry, and we made
for. Mondlaisir, via Simrole Ghat, but we found
that Holkar (anticipating such a move, from strong
posts well provisioned having been formed there by
--) had sent out during the night a very superior
force to occupy the Ghats and oppose us in all pos-
sib'e ways ; and as our cavalry, without saying so,
seemed not to relish leaving their families thus, and
facing such strong posts, we decided it best to
change our route ; but delay would be death, and
we bad to continue. our march until we left the
Maglioghur pass behind us, for had that been oc-
cupied we should have been in difficulties. Even
then we could only ha't for au hour or so, as &in-
dial). and Holkar being one we had to look out for
the Tuppa Pass. At last that was got over, men
and cattle done up, the poor ladies and children
bearing up wonderfully, or better, than that ; at
Koorlee we rested for three hours and then pushed
ou for Ash. a,' which we reached yesterday, 3d.
Bow the weaker portion stood so much is*wonder-
ful. _ _

" July 8.
" A large party left for Ilussinghabad a
few days ago. The Begum (Bhopal) has clearly
told us that the whole of India is now at enmity
with us, that our remaining here is a source
of weakness to her, and endangers the State
and her ; we have, therefore, no opt,on but to de-
part for Hussinghab td, taking with as much of the
contingent as choose to go, which will ba few. The
what
be
remaind•r I leave here in charge of the Begum,
and we trust to retain the contingent thus, who
are angels in comparison. I lo,t everything at
iEsn nd° orword aso idr
it, everybuto7e. To o
can saymd ? Matters
my heart
heirt is heavy
aie 'indeed horrible. The sth Infantry, Gwalior
e'did
Contingent, murdered Dr. and Mrs. James, and
Lieutenant and Adjutant_ O'Dowd ; the others,
with a large party, are coming this way. Terrible
rain, and so many poor women and young children
exposed night and day to it."

he found another prisoner, a Chri:Alan el.techist,
formerly a Mahomedan, whom tLe Sepoys were
endeavouring to torment and terrify into a recan-
tation.

"The firmness of the native was giving way as
he knelt amid his persecutors, with no human
sympathy to support him. The boy officer, alter
anxiously watching him for some timp, cried out,
Oh, my friend, come what may, do not deny the
Lord Jesus r _ _

"Just at this moment the alarm of a sudden
attack by the gallant Colonel Neile with his Madras
Fusiliers caused the instant flight of the murderous
fanatics. The catechist's life was saved. He turned
to bless the poor boy whose faith had sti engthen, d
his faltering spirit. But the young mar:yr had
passed beyond all reach of human cruelty. He bad
entered into rest."