The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-03 00:00:00

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The following is from an officer in the Engineers
" Camp Delhi, Aug. 8.
" My dear Father,—l think you hardly know
our present position. It is a pretty mess John
Company :gas got himself into. After all it is only
what one .might have expected, considering how the
Sepoys were treated. Anything that they objected
to was given up at once. The greatest care was
always to be taken not to offend them. It was
against their caste to do this, that, or the other,
and unless they chose they never did do it. They
declared it vas utterly impossible for them to use
the Enfield cartridges, yet they have shot down
many a poor fellow of ours with these very car-
tridges. It doer not seem to be against their caste
now. We are very anxious to see how people at
home take all this. They say we ought to know
more of our men, be more with them, &c. With
European soldiers an officer always goes into
their barracks, looks at their dinners, plays cricket
with the men, and of course comes to know
them. That is simply a consequence of their both
being Europeans. To do the same with Sepoys we
must turn kliadoos or something of the sort, for
under existing circumstances you might be ' court-
martialed' for going near a Sepoy while he is feeding
—as that takes away his caste. Going into his hut is
perfect profanation, or perhaps sacrilege ; neither
may you touch any of his cooking materials or uten-
sils, or even the wood he is going to cook with. They
had become so pampered that they would hardly
stand being spoken to. If after all this we aro
obliged to have Sepoys again I hope they will be a
different lot and treated in a very different manner.
They have proved themselves thorough curs. They
can murder helpless women and children bravely,
but a handful of armed Europeans frighten them
outright, and they always have avoided places where
perhaps 30 or 40 armed Europeans have been col-
lected. Look, for instance, at Roorkee. The 100
soldiers (college students) there have kept all that
part of the country quiet, and Roorkee itself is un-
touched. At Delhi they are five or six to one against
us, and see the miserable attempts they made to
turn us out of our position. They have swarmed
up the heights in front of our batteries by thousands.
The ground is so broken and full of ravines and
rocks that they can come up the whole way unseen,
or you may depend upon it they would never ven-
ture. If they had the pluck of a goose their numbers
might terrify us, but they never come near us, and
ally show themselves off at a distance, firing their
muskets into the air, shouting most awfully, but
doing nothing more. It is in the Subzee Mundee'
that all the hard fighting goes on. They get into,
and on the tops of houses, and fire into our pickets
there. This goes on until we send a force from camp
to turn them out, which we invariably do, but not
without some loss. We have now cleared the ground
all round of the trees, walls, and. houses. The con-
sequence is, there is a large space around our pickets,
and Paudy' will not venture out of cover, a we let
him pop away from a distance until ho is tired. If
you hear people talking of our net being able to take
Delhi, you must deny it, simply because we have
dot made any attempt to do so. I have no
doubt, too, that it is the best policy, for while there
is a Delhi to slink to, all the rebels will flock there
ins' eau of running wild about the country, where
they would do much more harm. Besides, we shall
have them all in a lump and be able to polish them
off at once. We, I mean our pariicular corps, have
had very bard work since it left Meerut. We have
lost 3 officers and had 2 wounded, and out of 45
European Sappers we have lost 15 and 3 wounded.
'flea list of officers killed and wounded before Delhi
amounts to upwards of 90, besides those who have
been obliged to leave on account of sickness. This
shows the officers have not been behindhaud in any
fight or scrimmage. I think I never told you how
splendidly the ladies behaved at Meerut. You
should have seen them to appreciate the whole
thing—how cheerfully they took every mishap.
Though they were all packed within a smallish
square place surrounded by high brick walls, none
of them ever grumbled or apparently became fright-
ened. On the contrary, they used to be dancing
about the place (we were at work fortifying it),
offering us tea and all sorts of refreshment. It was
warm work looking after the coolies who ware taken
as sappers, all the originals having gone off to Delhi.
The rains have regularly set in now, all the low
ground about Metcalfe's house is flooded. A siroug
stream new runs in the Jumna, and we are
_going
to take advantage of it and try to destroy the bridge
of boats. Several methods have been talked of.
Yesterday we started three infernal machines, con-
sisting of a tub containing 501 b. of gunpowder ; a
piece of stick was stuck up outside, which, if it
came in contact with anything, tired a pistol inside.
We made a boat, also, and started them as near as
possible in the middle of the stream. One
went off on an island in the river and did nobody
any harm ; anotherlwas stranded and didn't go off
at all ; and nobody knows what became of the third.
So our first attempt must be considered *failure. I
hope we may do better next time. We have been
raising a corps of Sikh Sappers and Miners. Some
of the companies have already arrived here, but
they are not of much use, as they are quite un-
trained. As it is, all our work is done with
coolies, whom we have dignified with the name of
pioneers. Among the houses at this station were
a few fiat-roofed ones which were saved in the
general conflagration. In one of these we have
established ourselves very comfortably. Au old
wooden billiard table forms our mess table. We
have managed to loot a punkah, and are much
better off than those who live in tents, while our
park is in the next compound.
Lord Ellenborough was not very far out when
he said in the House that if we didn't mind what
we were about, we should have one of the most
bloody revolutions in India. We are all very
happy here, only a little anxious to get into Delhi
and have a real slap at the Pandies.' You may
be assured they will catch it when the assault does
take place."

The following is from an Artillery officer :

" Camp, Delhi, Aug. 10.
" We are in much the same state as when I last
wrote. The last reinforcement from up-country,
consisting of 1,400 more Eurcpeans, will be in in
about a week, and then we do not know whether
the assault will take place at once, or whether we
shall wait for Sir Patrick Grant. I hope we may,
as I should not like to punish these villains by
halves. Our men are mad to get at them. We have
been very much annoyed by their guns lately ; they
have taken up a new position on the right, which
completely enfilades several of our batteries. An
expedition, in which I was to have had two guns,
was in orders, but was countermanded as the
ground is excessively bad, and they are afraid our
loss would be very heavy. For the last three or
four days we have had very heavy firing on both
sides. We expend 100 rounds per gun, and
you can imagine how they blaze away when
the day before yesterday 450 round shot were
picked up which they had fired. Two or three
days ago 50 maunds of their powder blew up in
the city. There has been much discussion in
consequence, as they have accused the Prime Minis-
ter of having been concerned in it, and have
got him prisoner. I continue very well, except a
bad earache, which comes on from being exposed
at night, as. the dew is very heavy, and we have
no shelter. However, we ought not to complain.
The horse artillery duties are light compared with
those of the foot ; out of 157 men fit for duty we
have 130. always on, so you can fancy what work
they have with the heavy guns day and night:
The engineers have been trying to blow up the
bridge of boats with infernal machines, but at pre-
sent have been unsuccessful, and I don't see that
we gain much if we do destroy a boat or two, as
the river is so low they can easily repair it. I
believe the city will be given up to three day's
plunder. I fear it will make our Europeans very
undisciplined. Heaven knows they are hard
enough to control here, but when they have once
gone in like bloodhounds, and been allowed to
plunder they will be downright demons,—after the
way in which the 6th behaved at Allahabad, em-
bracing their officers, assuring them over and over
and over again of their fidelity, and with tears en-
treating them to trust in them, till the officers
thought they might rely on men with whom they
had been so long, and did so, and the result was
they cut them all up in the night-26 of them, and
some mere boys who had been doing duty with them.
I'm sick of writing of massacres. The papers will
give you circumstances I do not remember well
enough to detail myself. At Peshawur, I am
happy to say all is as yet quiet, but I am very
much afraid to hear bad news, more especially of
the 7th Irregulars who were mutinously inclined.
A good many of my friends are lying close here
in their graves and several gone away sick. As
long as you keep well and get shelter I think
the weather is very pleasant, much more so than
I ever imagined the weather could be in the rains,
as at Peshawur this is the hottest and most
trying season in the year. I fear this is a very
uninteresting letter from a place - where the eyes
of Europe aro concentrated, but it will make you

" Camp before Delhi, July 27.
" My wife will have told you of my having come
down to this army to see service. As I had nothing
to do at Jullundur, and as it was more than one's
temper could stand to be kicking one's heels idle
when service such as we are not likely to see again
was going on here, I offered my services to General
Nicholson and gained permission to join this force.
I had, as I told you, raised a squadron of Sikhs at
Jullundur, and the day after I had obtained leave
to be off I received a telegraphic message from Sir
J. Lawrence that I might take my squadron with
me if I thought them fit to go. I paraded them,
and selected 30'of the best riders, and we marched
off the same night to Phillour, 25 miles. We
reached Umballah on the Bth, and should have
been here on the 14th, but were detained at Kur-
naul to escort ammunition into camp. We reached
this on the 18th, and I was at once ordered to do
duty with the 9th Lancers, being posted to Drys-
dale's troop. My Sikhs were made over to the civil
authorities, and I am glad to hear are doing good
work at Taneeput b stween this and Kurnaul. On
bhe 19th we had a fight, but we were not engaged ;
on the 20th Brigadier Grant, who commands the
Cavalry Brigade, attached me to the Guide
Cavalry, at which I am rouch pleased, as they are
undeniably the best cavalry in camp—see, and I
may say do everything. On the following day
Charles S— came to me and said that the Adju
tant-General had requested him to ask me if I would
accept the command of the Jheena Rajah's troops.
At first I declined, but S-- told me that it
was a compliment offering it to me ; that
Chamberlain had said that he regretted he had not
a regiment to give me ; and, in fact as the post
is a responsible one I accepted it, and made arrange-
ments to leave with Charles S-- the same night.
However, Brigadier Grant heard that I was off,
and went to the Adjutant-General to protest against
my being sent, as he said he could not spare cavalry
officers, so here I am with my ruffians, and very
glad too. Our men are consummate scoundrels,
but fight right well ; they have but one fault, they
are difficult to hold. On the 22d the enemy at-
tacked our left, and I was ordered out with a sque
drop to reinforce the near picket. I had not been
there long when I rec 'ived an order to go to the
front to support the column going out to repulse
the attack. I was placed at the front of the ridge
which runs in front of our camp, with orders to
remain there until I received fur; .her orders. I saw
the whole of the fight from tee Flagstaff battery,
which commands a splendid view of the city and
ground between it and our camp. I was anxiously
expecting an order to move ou, but no such order
s
arrived. The fire was very heavy, and their round
and shell came bowling through and over our
troops, followed as they neared the city by grape,
but not much clamaga was done. Soon the musketry
began to slacken, and in half an hour the troops
began to retire. Our 1083 was very heavy in offi-
cers. Coe -- inert illy wounded, and five more
officers woun led. The Infantry got up to within
30 yards of the enemy's guns, six of which they had
brought out to the front, but our fellows were
pulled up by a brick wall and so had to retire.
Th ey now for the first time make proper use of Light
Cavalry, and we Guides gets lots of work. On the
23d of June the enemy got into our rear by cross-
ing the Jumna Canal, some miles from our camp.
To prevent a repetition of this came we have blown
up all the bridges fur miles up the canal. We now
give a picket in rear ot our camp t 4 watch thebridges,
and give speedy intelligence of any attempt on the
part of the enemy to repair them. The officer
patrols this three times a day, and as the dis-
tance round is 11 miles he gets a ride of 33 miles a-
day. I was on this picket a few days ago, and did
a good stroke of business. On the opposite side of
the canal, close to the bridge which it was stated
was to be repaired, is a village, theenen of which I
heard gave information of our movements to Delhi.
I had reason to suspect the enemy had a picket
there, so in the early morning I crossed some of my
men over by a ford, marched into the village, and
captured four out of six of the head men of the
village. I took them off to my picket, and kept
one of them, telling the others he was to he relieved
next day by one of themselves ; that they were to
give daily information of the enemy's movements
in that direction ; that if they did so they should
be rewarded, but if they played us false that I
would hang their hostage. This has had a good
effect, and we now get information from the other
side of the canal. I am on the picket duty again
to-night. We are anxiously awaiting reinforce-
ments, as nothing ern be done until we get them.
Nicholson, with 4,000 men is expected on the 15th,
and Lawrence with a large force of Sikhs will follow
him.

" This has been a fearful business, and the loss
of European_ life something frightful. The awful
atrocities committed on our poor unhappy women
and children tan never be forgotten. We muse
have blood. The streets of Delhi will be a fearful
sight. Our men are mad for revenge, and there
is not a soul who does not feel the same thirst for
the blood of these ruffians. Three months ago I
could not have looked on and seen 15 men tied up
and shot down in cold blood without sickening, but
I now see my men do this in a most brutal way
without a qualm. At a village on the Kurnaul-
road a poor little child's feet were found ; they had
its little shoes and socks on, and some Devil in
human form had cut them of with a tulwar. What
death can be too cruel for such wretches ? We
are much exposed, always ahead, and have already
lost an immense number of officers in the Guides,
and I fully expect to get a wound or two, but it will
make me all the more interesting ! Poor young
Battye was killed at the head of my troop. My
senior native officer is a vezy gallant fellow, and
has distinguished himself on every occasion. I
have been very much gratified by a most kind let-
ter from my commanding officer after leaving the
regiment. _ _

"Chalmers, who has been wounded by a shell,
leaves to-night, as he wants a change of air.
Wounds cannot heal well in this wet weather. We
have had cholera in camp. Three officers died in
one day, but there have been fewer cases during
the last few days. Our heavy batteries have just
commenced their fire again, and the city guns are
replying. I should not be surprised if they attack
us this afternoon, and- we are all ready for them.
There are seven ladies now in Delhi. This is hor-
riblegto think of."
"Camp before Delhi, Aug. 9.
"Since writing to you last I have been on my
back for eight days. I will tell you how it all hap-
pened. You must know that for some time past
the enemy have been on the lookout to attack our
rear, but to do this it was necessary to repair at
least one of several bridges over the canal which
divides us from them, which said bridges we had
blown up. On receiving intelligence of their in-
tention we sent out a cavalry picket to watch the
canal, and to give speedy information of any at-
tempt they might make to cross. This picket was
given to us as a post. of honour, and it required a
little gilt to makeit a pleasant duty, as the officer
on picket had to visit the bridge three times every
day, besides riding to certain villages in the vicinity
to collect information, and before night the officer
lon duty had ridden his 33 miles. I was on this
picket on the 31st of July, and had come back
Ifrom my first patrol when, on reaching one of
my videttes, he told me that he had just passed
a European woman with two children escorted by
some natives into my picket. I cantered on
vanildlagoevrse,rtoioleok a country cart escorted by some
of whom carried a poor little boy
about four years old on his shoulder. In the cart
I found a nice looking young woman with a little
infant. The poor creature seemed overjoyed to see
an
was the wife of a Mr. Nun, son of
the ridingmaster of the Ist Cavalry. Her husband
m European e
was employed in the Customs' department at a
that
she face, and, in answer to my inquiries,
told
place near Guzagon. When the outbreak at Delhi
took place he was in the district with Ford, of the
Civil Service. Guzagon went with other stations,
and this unhappy woman was by herself, without a
European near tier. The instant the people of the
village nearest her house heard that parties of Se-
poys were coming in their direction they carried
off Mrs. Nun, with her children, and concealed
them in their village. Parties of horsemen ar-
rived and inquired for her, and on being told that
she had gone off plundered and burnt her house.
To make a long story short, these poor fellows, at
the risk of their lives, kept this unhappy family for
three months, feeding and clothing them, and
hurrying them off to other villages whenever they
heard of the approach of any parties of the muti-
neers. I must tell you that the insurgents offered
100 rupees reward for Mrs. Nun, dead or alive, but
nothing would tempt these simple ryots to betray
their trust ; and, finally, having seized an oppor-
tunity, they brought her safely into camp. The
poor woman spoke most gratefully of their kind-

" I wrote the above yesterday, but felt so tired
after it, I was obliged to desist. I almost forget
whore I was. Well, after my fall we p'odded ou to-
wards the second bridge, and found it occupied by
a very large force of artillery, cavalry, and infantry.
Unfortunately my glass, the ono I brought out, and
a capital one it is, hid got half fall of vcat.3r, and
was perfectly useless, so I could not reconnoitre
them as closely as I wished. We turned homeward:,
and on reaching the picket I was traly rejoiced to
see my relief waiting for me. I was dead beat,
having been in the saddle for 14 hours, having rid-
don upwards of 36 miles, and exposed to drenching
rain the greater part of the time, with nothing to
eat, and no smoke. I cantered home to camp to
the Brigadier, and he gave me half a tumbler of
cherry brandy, which warmed me consi ierably. I
cantered home, feeling quite comfortable, and be-
yond a slight aching in my side I should not have
known that I had come to grief. I got dry clothes
and dined with Stewart, the Guides doctor, who
was the onlTone at home. . . . No chance of
taking this place for some time io come. Rein-
forcements march towards u', but they never seem
to got nearer. It will, indeed, be glorious when we
rout and slay these treacherous, cowardly hounds.
They will be hunted down like wild beasts, and it
is to be hoped few will escaoe. You in England
can never know or hear one-half of the atrocities
committed by these savaged, for they are too
abominable ever to repeat, much less to publish.
We must have an enormous army to settle this
country, and where is anew Indian army to spring
from I' . . . M. is dead, but I don't think I shall
get my captaincy, as all promotion is said to be
stopped. This is, indeed, hard. I can give you
no i.ccount of camp, for I feel tired and weak, and
writing on one's back is tedious and slow work. In
a few days I shall be in my saddle again.

The following is from an officer serving in the Ist
Madras Fusiliers:—

" Camp Murragurwar, Oude, Aug. 4.
" You already know that I embarked with my
regiment (Ist Madras Fusiliers) for Persia, but was
recalled—peace having been declared. While we
were at Bombay intelligence was received that two
regiments werein open mutiny at Calcutta ; this we
all knew meant that the army of Bengal was going
to rise at last, and many were the small wagers won
and lost as to whether our destination would be
Bengal or China.
" Orders were at last received that we were to
return forthwith to Madras, and on our arrival we
found that we were destined to garrison Bangalore
(also her Majesty's 43d regiment, Madras), but that
owing to the cholera which was raging along the
whole road it was not considered advisable to effect
the relief for a short time ; a month elapsed, and
the awful news of the Meerut and Delhi massacres,
and an urgent demand for troops, reached Madras
at 12 o'clock at night on Saturday, the 16th, or
Sunday morning.
" I was awoke by our bugle sounding- all over the
fort for orderly sergeants, and I knew that the route
had arrived for field service, though I had not heard
of the requisition for aid having been received dur-
ing the night.
" Shortly after daylight my Miler-in-law came
to my quarters and told me the state of affairs, and
that our corps was to be ready to embark for Cal-
cutta by 10 o'clock a.m. It so happened that I
was a member of a general court-martial, and was
ordered to remain behind and proceed with six
others of ours to Calcutta by the next mailsteamer.
" I arrived at Calcutta on the 2d Juno, and found
that my corps had proceeded to Benares. I fol-
lowed them up by the grand trunk road, and
reached Benares in four days, just a few hours too
late to witness the utter defeat of the 37th Regi-
ment, the 12th Irregular Cavalry, and a regiment
of Sikhs, by 200 of her Majesty's 10th, 30 of ours,
and two guns. The morning I arrived some 300
of ours came in by river steamers, &c., and that
afternoon we started (130 of us) for Allahabad, in
hopes of starting in time to save the fort from the
6th Regiment and Ist Oude Cavalry. The
deed was done. I remained in Allahabad until the
arrival of enough troops to form a column strong
enough to advance to the relief of Cawnpore and
Lucknow, both which places were being gallantly
defended by a handful of Europeans.. General
Havelock, C. 8., arrived to command this column,
which consists, or rather consisted, of 400 Fusiliers,
300 78th Highlands, 400 of the 64th, and about
300 of the 84th, some 60 artillerymen (Royal Ar-
tillery from Ceylon), about '7O officers and staff
sergeants that had escaped various massacres,
mounted as Irregular Cavalry. and a regiment of
Sikhs, which have hitherto remained staunch ; these
constituted the little army that started from Alla-
habad to settle the North-Western Provinces of
India and Oude.
"On the 12th of July we fought the rebels at
Futteypore and thrashed them in four hours, after
a 24-mile march in the sun—they were about 4,000
strong, and we took 11 guns from them. Two days
after we had a smart affair with them at Oung, our
regiment capturing two guns. We halted for some
food after the action, and after having marched
about five miles found them in possession of some
rising ground beyond a river, the bridge of which
was commanded by two long 241 b. iron siege guns
in position. The Fusiliers were again in front, and
took the bridge with a rush and spiked the guns.
That night we heard that Cawnpore had really
fallen ; we had heard at Futteypore rumours of the
sad event, but we hoped that it might be a ruse of
the enemy to make us fall back to Allahabad. We
pushed on, and on the 16th fought the battle of
Cawnpore, when we thrashed 7,000 of the rebels
aided by ,several thousand city scamps and others
armed with matchlocks. This was an awful
day's work, and that night we slept at our
arms, expecting hourly that they would again
commence the action ; but they had bad enough,
and at daybreak the following morning
days
blew up the magazine and retired. Two
after the Fusiliers proceeded to Bithoor, and cap-
tured without resistance 21 guns. Up to the 26th
we were all busily engaged, crossing guns and mate-
rial ever to the Oudo country, with a view of ad-
vaucing to Lucknow to relieve the garrison, which,
under poor Sir H. Lawrence, has so gallantly de-
fended itself for so long. He, poor man, died from
the effects of a wound on the 4th of July, but the
garrison, I am proud to say, still bo!ds out against
an attack of 40,000 men and some 40 and 50 guns.
On the 29th we found our friends in position at