The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-05 00:00:00

THE BOMBAY ARMY.

The following is from an officer in the 12th Bom-
bay Native Infantty :
" Camp near Deesa, August 18.
"sow dearest mo her, I Will tell you a piece of
news which. you are sure to sze much exaggertted
in the papers, so don't believe a word there about it
exceptiwhat I tell you. The detachm,ntjaf my re2i
ment of 250 men which was sent to Nussee; abad (the
very sink of mutiny) has mutinied. The facts were
these :—After they bad received their pay Captain
Holbrow, who was commanding them, heard the
bugle blow the alarm for the troops in garrison to
assemble. So he commanded our men to fall in,
which they did without a murmur. There he lef,
them while he went to the Brigadier for orders.
One of the Bombay Lancers (Ist) had before ridden
to our lines in a state of I mat cism, being stimulated
by bang and other things, and told our men that
the Bombay Ist Lancers had mutinied and taken
posseision of the guns, and that if they were com-
manded to the artillery lin-s not to obey, as the
guns would be turned upon them. As firing was
heard mar the guns our men believed it, and when
Ciptain Holbrow came b Lek with the Brigadier's
orders to march to the artillery lines our men re-
lu.ed to move, and, notwithstanding all his o.ssur-
anc3s that it all was all s de, only three would move
out of the 250. Holbrow sent bat's to the Brigadier
and told him that his men were in a state of mu-
tiny, sa he ordered down 100 men of the 83d Regi-
ment to the guns, under Lieutenant Swanson, of
the Horse Artillery, to our lines. Of course it was
a'l a lie of this man of the Lanc:rs that they had
inutiued and taken the guns. Bet while Holbrow
was away this 'man of the Lancers came back to our
in-en and tr:ed to kill tae Europeans when they
c 'me up. But Swanson shrA him with a pist)l, and
193 of °rumen wore dh,artne I. Tce worst part of
the matter is that they were all found with their
muskets loaded, which certainly looks very suspi-
cious ; but it is alleged they leaded them in self-
defence against the Lancers. Our men here (350)
are stanclL I can't the least fancy their ris.ng ;
but these are certainly anxious times. You see
by my account it was more of a panic than a
mutiny, as they believed the man who told them
'the Lincers h..d taken the (Yens and mutinied. I
have not the least doubt that if it had not been
for that the men would have been as loyal
as could be. Do' not believe anything you see
more. than thii, as you will be aura to see it is made
a great deal of in die-papers ; there was every ex-
cu.4e for them. It is s ye:y bad that our regiment
Sir Cnarles Napier's favourite'—who fought so
well and gallantly at Meeitiee and Hyderabad,
should be the first Mmbay regiment to set the ex-
ample" of mutiny. It is reported the 25th have
also-mutinied. Ours and the 25th were Sir Chas.
Napier's two pet regiments. We are most anxiously
waiting for more men from Nusseerabad. I think
It will not turn out half so b:das it seem. We
were before quite the top of the tree in the Bum-
ly-iy army, and now I suppose none are lower.
Such is life. I am great friends with our sepoys
here ; they like me very much, I hear. I hope it
is true."

The following lAter is from an officer of rank :

"Belgaum, Aug. 23.
"Since I last wrote to you a angular event has
occurred. The mutiny of the 27th Regiment of
Bombay Native Infentry at Kolapore, which is in
the command of the southern division of the army,
about 70 'miles from Belgaum. Without advanc-
ing any grievance, or giving any inkling of their
purpose, about 169 men of the regiment broke out
into open mutiny at 10 o'clock at night, plundered
the treasury of 45,000 rupee, and made for a dur-
gah (religious edifice) in the town, and in the early
morning marched c!ear away towards Wagotun, on
the coast by the Phooada Ghat. No native com-
missioned officer accompanied the mutineers, but
no confidence could be placed by the commanding
officer iu the remaining men to enable him to fol-
low the murineers, of whom, however, some 30 or
40 prisoners were taken. Perhaps the most re-
markable feature is that only one-third of the mu-
tineers were Hindostanee men, the rest being
Mahraitats and Konkan and Deccan Hindoos. The
trials are now going on, Colonel G. S. Jacob hav-
ing been sent there with Europeans and guns. He
disarmed the 27th, and shot and hung 21 offxbe
mutineers immediately after his arrival. Aede-
tachment of the 27th Native Infantry at RAntag-
h.rry has also le,,en disarmed by two cmpauies of
Her Majesty's 86th Regiment, who then passed on
to Goa, en route to Belgaum, and they are et
pected hero to-morrow. Their approach has per-
mitted of th 3 despatch of a company
Europeans this raotn.ug to Dharwar, where thereasure, and a gaol o
is consideratle treasure, of 600 pri-
seners. The Mallowdof the 2,d
e an pupula ion are ripe fin-
revolt. Four sepoys are now under trial for ex-
pressing mutinous and seditious intentions ; and
last week two outside' traitors were blown away
from guns. The European force is now sufficient
to disarm both the native regiments at Belgaum,
if it were necessary, which is net expected, as only
a few men in one of the regim.entr are disaffected."

The following is an extract of a letter from Bel•
ganm, dated Aug. 23 :
"None of the native officer; f the 27th Regi-
ment Lave rebelled. This is a gcol sign ; the rot

of the sepoys will, I hope, remain firm. The Kola-
poor mutineers had to travel some distance ; 25
ware captured at Sawunt Warree.

" Aug. 10.

" Intelligence reached us to-day of the slaughter
of 20 of the Kolapoor mutineers by their own regi-
ment. It appears these men could not get on at
all below the ghat where they at first went. They
could get no money and no food, so they came
back, and on being observed barricaded themselves
in a temple. The officers led out the regiment,
who broke into the place where the men were, and,
after a sharp hand-to-hand fight in close quarters,
they bayonetted the whole. A few of the men of
the regiment had trifling wounds. Now, there are
but 25 of the mutineers loose in the country.
"Aug. 11.
" Two companies of the 2d European Light In-
fantry came in this morning. The poor fellows
were drenched to the skin, an had eaten no food
for two days. The officers all marched on foot,
and they were for the most part lame when they
arrived. These companies are to go on to Dhar-
war on being relieved by two companies of the
86th. We have now 400 available Europeans, and
I think with them and the artillery we are equal to
anything. I attended the court-martial on Sheik
Unman, a (Treater rogue than the Monshee. He
appears to have directed his letters in English. I
saw the letters written inside in the native charac-
racter, and also the English translation, to the ef-
fect that everything was in readiness here. Seve-
ral leading men in the town and in the native
regiments (no names) were ripe for the insurrec-
tion. The plan for taking the fort, making the
prisoner commander, and cutting the throats of
Christians,.was also laid out. The English were a
parcel of fools and did not 'smell the rat.' There were
raanyothersubjects discussed inthe epistles, but the
pith! have given you, and if these had not been inter-
cepted we should not have been inthe land of the liv-
ing. I afterwards rode up to the camp and passed
the European lines. The soldiers looked much
more comfortable with their clean kit, and were
enjoying their pipes.

" Aug. 13.
" To-day most exciting events have happened.
Two men have been sentenced to death, and are
to be blown away from guns to-morrow. The
Monshea's trial came to a close to-day, when he
was found guilty. Another man, a Perdassie, was
tried by a court-martial at the artillery messroom.
The chief witness was the adjutant of one of the
regiments, and his testimony was corroborated by
the Jemidar. This man, it seems, had come to
try and incite the Sepoys to insurrection, and the
Jemidar, a Havildar, and Naick, directly ~they
were aware of his intentions, informed the adjutant
who accompanied them to the lines, when they hid
him in a hut behind a plain deal door with chinks
in it. They then introduced the Perdassie, and
the adjutant took down on paper the mutinous
conversation. Under such circumstances the ras-
cal was of course convicted, and to-morrow will
meet the fate he deserves. I shall go and see him
executed, as I think that every European ought by
his presence to show to the natives his concurrence
with the justice of the sentence; and I am sure,
when we consider for a moment that had those
letters of the Monshee not been intercepted, we
should all have! had our throats cut, it takes away
all pity that one might otherwise have felt for
these wretches. I read the translations of the
Moonshee's letters, three in number. Like those
of the Perdassie, their plans were all arranged as
nicely as possible. One was to the Moulavie of
Poona, telling him the English were quite in igno-
rance as to what was going on. He also wrote to
Kolapor, and the mutiny in that place is attributed
to him. S---- has been indefatigable in getting
evidenc3 and keeping spies. It was through his means
that these letters were intercepted. These are indeed
exciting times. God grant all may yet be well in
Bengal, and that no suth insurrection may break
out here. S-- had to break the tidings of the
sentences to the prisoners this evening, and to ob-
tain a confession, which I believe he got.

"Aug. 14.
" This thy the traitors were blown away from
guns at 4.30 p. m. I mounted my horse, and on the
way met the prisoners in a cart guarded by a de-
tachment of the 64th ; presently we arrived at the
place of execution. It was on the little course.
There was a square formed. On one side were the
Mahratta horse, on the other some Shetsandi police,
and in the direction in which the guns were pointed
were the rabble, and at the other face were the
29th and 15th Native Infantry, and the 2d Euro-
peans drawn up, and between them and the guns all
the Sahib-log stood. Every one wat present, from
the g-meral downward. The Adjutant-General read
the sentence out to the prisoners, and they were
then led to the guns, and at a given signil off they
went. That rascal of a Moonshee was drawing 150
rupe .1s a month for instructing officers of regiments
in Hindostanea at the very time he was plotting
their death. I should have mentioned that a Ha-
vildar and four men of the 29th were given up by
the regiment this morning for plotting against Go-
vernment. " Aug. 15.
" I visited S- this morning on the way to the
Symkhana. He informed me on the previous night
he bad left the mess with a friend who had driven
him home, but the shares he was to have gone in
was stopped near a Mussulman musjid, near a tope
of treis, by two men, who had ka Jilin over their
heads. They asked if there was a Sahib inside,
and, on the driver replying No,' det rmined to
look themselves, and got into the cart and poked
about with a stick. I sew the marks. The Mus-
su'mans are said to want to kill a European, to
sacrifice him to the newly-made saint who was exe-
cuted yesterday. I accompanied S----- this evening
on the rounds. " Aug. 16.
"I went down to the lines, and was present at
the parade assembled to promote the Jemidar,
Havildar, and Naick respectively, on account of
the painful discharge of their duties in making
known the plot got up by the Perdassie. The
Ganeral addressed each of them ; he also called out
the adjutant and complimented him, and informed
h:m he had brought his conduct to the notice of tt,e
' Comma ider-in Chief. This was a more gratifying
spectacle than that of the day before yesterday.
The General has been indefatigable ; he told aile of
the number of providential interferences that had
occurred for our benefit ; but under Providence
nothing has tended more to the safety of the
southern Mahratta country than the judicious mea-
sures taken by Geueral L., and the sudden throw-
ieg in of detachments of European troop. Gen.
L. has throughout acted promptly, firmly, and
judiciously, and, aided by Mr. S---, the superin-
tendent of police, has frustrate I the plot, which,
had it not been discovered, would have caused the
rising of the native regiments in the division."

MI7SSOUREE.
Extract of a letter from a lady, dated Mussonree,
August 9 :

aWe are very busy working flannel clothes for
our army before Delhi. They are very badly off
for these things, and being Eo much exposed at
such a season of the year, and in such a prover-
bially unhealthy locality, and fighting as they have
done so nobly, they really deserve to be provided
for by us.

" Mrs. C. and myself have collected 350 rupees
here for this purpose, and are const.+ntly at work
in consequence, for, with the exception of our own
tailors, and one or two others ladies have given up
to us, we can get inn?. Money is scarce, servants
ditto, and everything at ruinous picas. Mr. -,
the clergyman here, is also collecting for the same
purpose, and has got same 500 rupees ; Mr. -,
at Landour, 900 rupees ; add to this the collections
at Simla, Kussowlee, 'and Meerut, and our poor
soldiers, and the little Ghoarkas too, will get many
comforts, you will see. Wonderful to say, though
I never did such a thing in my life before, I have
the management of our portion of the businesA,
which keeps me employed from early morning till
late at night. We meet, with several other ladle',
at Dr. C.'s house every day, and as many tailors
as we can collect, and stitch away."