The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-25 00:00:00

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

Tho following is a letter from Lieutenant It. G.
Armstrong, late of the 17th Bengal Navice In-
fantry :

ALLAH A BAD, JUNE 28.
" I received two letters from you and a couple of
.newspapers shortly after I had been at Benares. I
was then doing .duty at the barracks, when one
morning I. was told that I should have to proceed
ou sp..cial duty that afternam with a detachment
of the 84th Queen's When the order came out
I was then ordered to accompany a detachment
of that regiment towards this place, io assist
in communicating with the natives, and procur-
ing -supplies f the men ;iu fact was interpreter
and quartermaster to the force. Well, in due
time we reached Allababad, when yesterday I
was ordered to attend at the fort. here and report
mys !if and-receive further orders, as my duties as
interpreter Were now comple.e I, and I am glad to
say I have since heard thlt my services on the road
have been spoken of most highly to the officer com•
manding the 84th he:e. Well, when I got to the
fort I was ordered t.) do duty with the Sikh regi-
ment of Ferozepore here, which I have since
joined, and, as the country is now all round in a
most unsettled state, I trust I may some day make
my name known by gallantry in the field, and at
the first vacancy may perhaps hold the appoint-
ment of adjutant in the corps, which will be my
first step on staff employ. Sorry I am, indeed,
that I have not been able to pass in the languages,
and still more hard is it that all chance of pass-
ing is now closed to me, for the whole of India
is in s in such a disturbed state that for a time all
that sort of thing is knocked on the head, for every
one no.v has just enought to do to take care of his
own life. The circumstances of the mutiny here
have been the most disgraceful yet heard of, and,
as it may be interesting to ycu, I will give you a
short account of it. The Gth Regiment Native In-
fantry were•statiouecl here, and when corps were
breaking out in all ditections this regiment volun-
teered their services to advance against the King
of Delhi and his mutineers. For this, they were

thanked, and told that their servicos would be ac-
cepted at the first opportunity. This took place
in the morning. On the evening of the same
doy, while all the officers were at mess ; the alarm
bule of the regiment was sounded ; these poor
fellows, thinking it was a disturbance among
the villagers, rushed out at the door. The first
I theregsreeetontdo
swaays
wslaios t:dgorwe
snt,
frienda nd thoef
mine,second,
re
nNevihvoe,d
bullet, and fell dead on the spo'. They were all
knocked over by their own men, and only three
officers out of the whole regitnent escaped. Every
house in the station, with the exception of one or
two, has been burnt to the ground, and when we
marched on the other morning we saw Allahabad
in ruins. Two days after I arrived I went with a
couple of Queen's officals to seethe bungalows, and
I must say I never witnessed anything like it be-
fore ; every single thing was destroyed, every pane
of glass smashed, even the cauvass that goes over
the punkah was torn into shreds. Such a wilful
destruction of property I never witnessed.
A. large quantity of things was found in a village
close by. They were all secured, and two
days ago the place was burnt by ns to the ground.
This is certainly, and will, from all appearance
be a tedious campaign • for, besides the straits wo
are reduced to, the bad weather is setting in—viz.,
the rains. lam regularly rationed like a common
soldier, get a loaf of bread, a pint of beer, a little
sugar and milk, and a small piece of mutton, be-
sides tea twice a day, spirits and beer only once, as
also the mutton, for tea is given out at night, but,
as several of us have been living together, we have
managed to get on very fairly. Oude is now the
head quarters of the rebels. Every single regiment
has mutinied, and the country will have to be taken
a second time, but this time by force of arms.
The bi ave Sir Harry Lawrence has manfully de-
fended the residence against the insurgents,
but if assistance is not rendered him, and
the people who have taken refuge within its walls,
amounting to several hundteds,• they will be all
starved out, for from the last accounts they have
been obliged to feed on grain and sugar. They
have next to nothing to cook it with, and no pots
of any sort to cook it in, • It is reported that a de-
tachment of the alth, the Queen's, who went over
there- from Cawnpora the other day, lave been cut
down to a Man, but this has not been confirmed.
There are thousands upon 'thousands of natives
assembled there, and assistance will have to
come quickly, or not an European will be
saved. There is a force of 500 Europeans
and a detachmtnt
of my present corps going
over to CAWO pore most likely on TuEsday morning,
and most likely I shall go with them ; at least, I
hope and trust it may be my good luck to be able
to. These are stirring times. They are hanging
men up at Benares and here, besides several other
stations, six, seven, and eight a day. Missionaries
in this country have carried matters too far, and
nothing in this country is a native so tenacious of
as having his religion meddled with. Education
has also been carri'd too far. Educate a native
and he becomes a thorough-paced scoundi el. These
aro the opinions of men who are capable of giving
them."

DETERMINED SUICIDE AT BLACKFRIAIIS-BEIDGE.—
Yesterday morning, between three and four o'clock, a
man of respec'able appearanCe suddenly mounted the
parapet of one of the rcesses of Blackfriara bridge,
plunged headlong into the river, and wa' drowned.
- ' At the meeting of the Oriental Inland Steam Company
(imited) held yesterday, the terms granted by the East
India Company were submitted and were considered
highly satisfactory, being equivalent to a guarantee of
10 per cent. It was also the general feeling that the
existing circumstances of India and the prospects of the
supply of cotton alike demand the immediate introduc-
tion of an efficient and extensive system of steam navi-
gatian upon the rivers such as this company contem-
plates. Mr. Wood, forine'ly of the Indian navy, has
accepted the office of the company's superintendent in
At a meeting of the. Geelong and Ballarat Railwry
Company yesterday, it was resolved to wind up the
company.
The State of Indiana offers "90 cents, on the dollar,
and the interest accrued," for any amount of Indiana
Five per Cent. Bands, issued for banking purposes, and
fa'ling due in eight years, up to the amount of 80,0001
The Corriere Mercantile of Genoa says :—" The
seizure of a quantity of arms at Naples, on board
two Neapolitan steamers is confirmed. The police
had previous received secret information on the
subject from the Austrian police. It is also stated
that a small band of about 15 men, the survivors
of the Spazi expediticn, are still wandering aboui
in the mouLta'ns of Calabria."
A telegraphic despatch from the French consul
at Cadiz announces the arrival there, on the 15th
inst. of the English fleet, under the command of
Admiral Lyons, whose flag was flying on board the
Royal Albert.
Telegraphic despatches from Constantinople an-
nounce the receipt, by the British and Austrian
Ambvsad9rs, of the fresh instructions from their
respective Government, by Which they are ordered
to demand of the Port?, conjointly with the repre-
sentatives of the other four Powers, that the
Moldavian election should lie annulled. It is
added that, before obeying these orders, the two
Ambassadors thought it their duty to make a fresh
representation to their Courts. There appears not
the least doubt of the satisfactory arrangement of
the affair, the Sultan having declared his willing-
ness to conform to the decision of the six Powers
so soon as that should be unanimous. It seems
pre'ty certain that ICaprisli Pacha will be Vizier.
This bias is decidedly French. The French Go-
vernment's latest instructions to M. Thouvenel are
to be as conciliatory as, possible in his manner•of
transacting business, and carefully to spare the
susceptibilities of Lord Stratfor l and Baron
Proke6ch.