The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, 'WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 5, 1859.

PUBLICATIONS.

This day is published,
`WHAT
WILL HE DO WITH IT ?
By PISISTRATUS CAXTON,
Author of "My Noyel," &c.
Originally published in " Blackwood's Magazine."
Four Volumes, Post Octavo, price £2 2s.
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

THE LATE MAJOR HODSON.
This Day, Post 8v o, with Portrait, 10s. 6d.,
TWELVE YEARS of a SOLDIER'S LIFE
in INDIA. Being Extracts from the Letters of Major
W. S. R. HODSON, Commandant of Hodson's Horse; in-
cluding a Personal Narrative of the Siege of Delhi and Cap-
ture of the King. Edited by his brother, the Rev. GEORGE
H. HODSON, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
London : John W. Parker and Son, West Strand.

Now ready, post Bvo, price 2s. 6d., cloth,
TALES of the COLONIES ; or the Adventures
of an EMIGRANT. By the lak C. ROWCROFT, Esq.
New Edition. _ _ .

" A production in harmony .with the finest and noblest
characteristics of the g,loriouW old school of our unequalled
English novelists."—Morning Post.
" The spirit of De Foe has rctsited the earth, and pre-
sented us with an excellent c terpart to ' Robinson
Crusoe.' "—Atlas. _ . _

-------
" It combines the fidelity of truth with the spirit of a ro-
mance, and has altogether much of De Foe in its character
and composition." -Literary Gazette.
London : SMith, Elder, and Co., 65, CornhilL

OPERATIONS IN OUIJE

(From the Time? Correspondent.)
HEAD-QUARTERS, BRITISH ARMY.
LUCKNOW, Nov. 29.
My last communication, if I recollect aright,
bronght the narrative of events occurringrnme-
diately around us up to the evacuatiorliunker-
pore. The escape of Bainie Madhoes4rith his sepoys
and guns was, no doubt, a matter of mortification
to Lord Clyde, but it was one which he could only
have prevented by direct disobedience of the in-
structions of Government, and by an assault on the
place before the civil powers had had time to exer-
cise their function. And, once for all, let me re-
cord my humble opinion that the junction of the
civil and military executive in military operations
i,s disadvantageous to the public service. It is an
old story ; it is the old story over and over again.,
Let the arguments by which a sort of mixed admi-
nistration of this kind is justified be as plausible as
may be, the facts are against the result. In France,
in Holland, and elsewhere—in English armies,
in American armies, the principle has been tried
and has been found mischievous. But it will be
said, with justice, that our position in Oude is
anomalous. We are not making a war of aggression
or defence, we are not conquering fresh territories;
our force is employed in rooting out rebellion and
in establishing the civil power. The authority
of Government is delegated to its civil servants,
Who have power to collect revenue, to give and
destroy titles, to determine political turpitude or
innocence, to settle the country, to treat with
rebels, to decide the Bourse of our march, the
direction of our efforts, and who fiave the high
authority to say, " Here shall your arms be staid,"
or to " cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war."
Such powers, however, exercised by men indepen-
dent of the ommander in Chief of an army in the
field, are prejudicial to the success of armies. Major
Barrow, the- commissioner at head-quarters, is a
soldier, and no one knows better than he the evils
which result from the hampering the free will of a
general. He is a man of ability, and of clear and
liberal views, but he is bound to carry out the
orders of his Government, and the Commander in
Chief is, in some sense, bound to obey Major Bar-
row. We come before a position held by a rebel
chief, among whose followers are thousands of
mutinous and many murderous Sepoys. Two
British officers halt before the place with powerful
corps, well-appointed with cavalry and guns. In a
few hours after their arrival our guns would have
been in position and our troops have been in readi-
ness for the assault. " Stay your hands, my lord,
till I have ascertained, in compliance with the
express directions of Government, that this chief
is aware of the terms of the proclamation, and
is acquainted with the terms which we are em-
powered at once to offer to him." Lord Clyde
obeys. He has not the means of investing the
place. The enemy makes use of the delay to go
off by night, to bury or to carry off their guns.
The Indian papers are in frenzies of bad English,
grief, despair, and indignation. The result is cer-
tainly to be deplored, even though we do gain the
stronghold without bloodshed, because the enemy.
escape to work fresh mischief; but, in reality, only
one did so escape, and he has been followed up,
driven out of his stronghold, and hunted across his
own territory. The delay which took place may
have averted a loss of men from us ; it has also
deprived us of the prestige of a sanguinary victory ;
but, on the whole, great as the evil is, I do not see
how the junction of the civil and military authority
is to be avoided in Oude. All I say is that no blame
should be attached to the military officer if his
hands are stayed by orders which he is bound to
respect. The proclamation and the amnesty would
have been an insult to common sense and humanity,
and powerful weapons in the hands of those who
accuse us of deceit and perfidy, if we did not take
care to fulfil their promises in letter and in spirit.
Having placed a small force in the fort of Shun-
kerpore, the Commander-in-Chief's column started
from its camp at Peechwarra, 24- miles from Shun-
kerpore, at eight o'clock on the night of the 18th.
On the morning of the 23d, still trending south
and westwards, we made a march of 17 miles to
Bugwunt Nugger, eight miles from Dhondia Kera,
on the banks of the Ganges. Here we saw
Evelegh's tents on our right, and Lord Clyde rode
across to his camp, and held a long conference with
him and the chief of the staff; Sir W. Mansfield.
The men of the 20th and 23d, as they recognised
the General, turned out and gave him the Gene-
ral's best reward—a hearty cheer. Our tents were
pitched on Evelegh's left flank, the column being
nominally under the orders of Colonel Jones, of the
Carabineers. At night a strong patrol of 400 in-
fantry, 2 guns, and a body of cavalry was pushed
close up to the enemy's position, which was about
seven miles in, our front, with orders to watch every
movement most strictly. The men, who had
marched 61 miles in 60 hours, were in the highest
spirits. At the usual inevitable hour before dawli
on the 24th our bugles sounded the reveille along
the line, mingling with the trumpets of the cavalry
and artillery and the tom-toms of our rough friends
of the Towanna Horse and Irregulars. By the latest
information, which came from a spy who had been
at Buxar Ghat as late as 10 o'clock last night, it
appeared that the enemy were still in their old posi-
tion, and that they mustered 7,500 horse and foot,
and had with them eight guns. The stories of our
spies were all full of valorous resolves. Bainie
Madhoo, who by the ornature of his house at Shun-
kerpore, would appear to be a very strict or loose
Hindoo, had, it was said, executed a solemn, and
certainly a lugubrious ceremonial, which, generally
speaking, one would not suppose to be conducive to
hard fighting. He was pleased to imagine himself
dead, and had gone through all the forms and rites
which would have been necessary, honourable, or
proper had he been really in that uninteresting con-
dition. Then he had drunk the water of the Ganges
in quantities, and his followers had followed his
example. And so, on those and other grounds, it
was resolved he must fight, and the resolution was
most satisfactory to those who had to fight him.
At last the red rich light of day advances higher
andhigher ; the tops of the tents, the backs and
heads of elephants, the necks of camels warm up in
the glow and steal into precise outline ; but below
the horizontal lines of light all is darkness, save the
morning camp-fires. Around each one of these
thousand fires is assembled a group, each one of
which is Rembrandt justified. Shivering and
miserable are these myriad camp-followers; the
sounds of the rattling catarrhs, produced by sleep-
ing out these dewy:nights in very light nightdresses,
roll all round one. To each group the fire is the
centre of light and animation. See how eagerly
they pile up the twigs and dry grass, and grasp the
flames in their very fingers, chafing their hands
into sense, their black faces just visible under the
folds of their cotton robes, and their legs shining
like those of bronze statues in the light. They do
not turn- for- a moment to cast a glance on the
squadron of horse which is whirling just past them
to form up the advance guaid. What care they
who is master of India as long as they can get warm
and have a rupee for their rice P Bainie Madhoo is
to them nobody—he represents no principle—he in-
spires no enthusiasm—he touches no chord in those
frigid spirits ; but do not think, Feringhee, that you
are therefore beloved, or that Bainie Madhoo's vic-
tory over your battalions in the fight to come would
not be welcome to your followers. No doubt in that
motley flame-checkered multitude there are now
spies and active emissaries of the Hindoo chief ; but
here comes one of our own. A gray-bearded, keen-
eyed old man, erect and soldierly, rides quietly
down the main street to Major Barrow's tent. He
has ridden straight from the camp of the enemy ;
he has been talkivg with the sepoys, and he heard
them discussing our arrival and their prospects.
This old Soubadar is a cool and daring man ; he is
playing his life against a rich reward. " Well," he
says, the sepoys don't know what to do. They
are afraid to lay down their arms; they do not
believe their lives will be spared. But a party are
still disposed to do so ; others say they will fight
till they die." Lord Clyde is mounted. Before he
leaves the street he gives Captain Fitzgerald and
Lieutenant Goldsworthy, the excellent commissariat
officers of the force, directions for the safety of the
camp. He will not permit them to hazard their
lives by coming with him, and it is only the honest
truth to shy that the Commander-in-Chief would
be deprived of the most valuable aid, and would,
indeed, suffer a loss all but irreparable, were Cap-
tain Fitzgerald to be removed from the charge of
the British army in Oude.
Our advance was on two parallel lines, connected
in front by a line of skirmishers in communication
along the front of both columns. That on the left,
led by the Commander-in-Chief, consisting of a
squadron of her Majesty's 6th Dragoon Guards
(Carabineers), and a squadron of the 6th Madras
Light Cavalry, four guns of Gordon's Field Battery,
her Majesty's sth Fusiliers, about 400 strong, the
-Belooch Battalion, 700 strong, and 100 of her Ma-
jesty's 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The column on
the right, under Colonel Evelegh, consisted of 200
of her Majesty's 20th Regiment, 250 of her Majesty's
80th Regiment, and a battalion of Oude police,
500 strong, their flank being covered by four guns

once."

of Bruce's troop, B. H. A., and -1,00 of the Ist Sikh
Irregular Cavalry.
Presently we come to our grand patrol of the
night before, 200 of the 23d Regiment, about the
same strength of natives, cavalry detachment, and
two of Bruce's guns. . They report that during the
night the enemy's cavalry and infantry approached
their pickets, fired on them, using at the same time
the most opprobrious epithets, and, as the corn was
very high and the country close, the patrol fell back
about a mile and a-half to more .open ground, hav-
ing first seen the enemy to the rear by the fire of
a small party of sharpshooters. According to them,
the enemy were out in great force in our front,
and they had seen them an hour before. Indeed,
at the time a picket of their Sowars was visible
under a tope. on our right. Here were groves of
trees affording shade, and so a general halt took
place for about half an hour or more. Major Barrow
had resolved to give the rebel chief one more chance.
The Soubadar had volunteered to go with a letter
or message to the effect that if Bainie Madhoo and
his followers came out and laid down their arms
they would be treated with leniency, as far as their
case might permit the Government to exercise its
prerogative of mercy. The utmost specific promise
that could be held out to Bainie Madhoo was that
he should not be sent of India. This proposjtion
was founded on the information brought by the
Soubadar respecting the disposition of the sepoys
when they were made acquainted with Major Bar-
row's letter on the previous evening, and it was
intimated that only half-an-hour would be allowed
for a reply. We were now within three miles of
the enemy's position, and the, column's of dust from
our march must have been visible to their advanced
posts. The time given had rpn by. " Give orders
to the columns to advance." " Skirmishers to the
front." Away went the Carabineers, saddle deep
in the corn, the Belooches on the left, and on their
right the 23d, in skirmishing order—the rest of
the troops in the disposition already indicated. As
we advanced the country became more densely
wooded, and the arable lands more cultivated. The
movement was necessarily not very rapid. Our
troops are just emerging from the topes and cates,
and in their front the country is more open for a
few hundred yards up to a mass of low jungle, in
front of the belt of trees. Some 20 or 30 puffs
of white smoke suddenly dot the green of the
jungle. The enemy are firing on our cavalry
vedettes. Some of the Carabineers reply, and then,
by command, fall back towards the front, with
capering horses, excited by the fire, and form on
the flanks. Lord Clyde, who is leading the infantry
skirmishers, rides forward. The Belooches, the 23d,
and the long. line of infantry skirmishers double
towards the jungle, and as they advance the line of
a low intrenchment is made manifest by a smart
fire. • " Those are sepoys inside the ditch—the
scoundrels!" exclaims an Indian officer. The balls
whistle sharply enough around the heads of the
advance, and the soft sandy soil of the field is
knocked up in all directions in little cloudy jets
where the bullets strike. There is one solitary
rising ground in this field, whither Lord Clyde,
mounted on his tall white horse, dashes at once,
and up on its top he at once gets, in order to recon-
noitre the enemy's position. He instantly receives
a volley from the hidden enemy, of which he ap-
pears as conscious as if it were fired at Aldershot.
But our skirmishers have advanced to the wall of
the field, and their rifles soon abate the zeal of the
sepoys in the trench. " Bring up the guns !" to one
aide-de-camp. " Go to Colonel Evelegh, sir, and tell
him to bring forward his right," to another. Now
is the time to see the old soldier in his element;
every sense alive, keen, energetic,' self-reliant,
calm, and courteous. He directs every movement,
and points out the ground for the "guns to take.
We unlimber.. Bang ! bang ! roar the enemy's
guns in anticipation, and the round shot,' flying
over the heads of the advance with a harsh
roar, strike into the earth behind. The answer-
ing voices are not long delayed. Gordon's guns
are opened on the tiny lines of smoke and on
the great puffs from the batteries, " Press on the
advance." The Chief gallops on to the skirmishers.
The guns limber up. The musketry is sharp on our
right, mingled with the heavy reports of artillery.
Clouds of dust rise near the bank of the river.
" They are flying ! Up with the cavalry ! The guns
to the front." Away in one great wave flash the
Carabineers to our left, where we can see the enemy
streaming down by the river banks towards the
south. It is a dust storm. In a few moments they
are lost in the dense cloud which rises from their
horses' hoofs. Our men rush on through the
jungle ; it is deserted by all but dead or dying men
—"Double! double! bring up the infantry at

In a few minutes more we are on the very banks
of the river, which slope down sharply to the water.
Where are the enemy ? Stand on the beach at low
water and see how far away a sort of rippling and
wavering outline marks the limit of the sands ; it
will almost persuade you that it moves and lives.
So we behold a shifting outline on the horizon on
our right. It is the enemy, flying through the
island rushes. " Horse artillery and cavalry, after
them." Round come Bruce's guns—down the bank
they go—slap through the narrow ford, throwing
tiny cascades from their wheels. Round came
the storm of cavalry, native horse and a troop of
Carabineers. " Keep your men with the guns, sir,
and on no account leave them," is the parting order
of the Commander-in-Chief to the officer before they
dash into the ford. To the commander of the native
cavalry his orders are different. " You are to stick
to them to the last ; follow them close ; don't give
up the pursuit till to-morrow !" Away they go
owl' the sand, through the bushes and tall grass,
and soon they, too, are lost in clouds cf dust. The
river spreads before us a wide expanse of sand,
threaded by narrow streams at this side, with a
wider current at the opposite side, where we can
make out our cavalry from Futtehpore riding to in-
tercept the fugitives who may escape by swimming.
Close to us there is a long strip of sand covered
with long grass and jungle, which seems to extend
islandwise for miles up the river. The enemy have
fled in that direction. We see their tumbrils on
fire, or deserted. Their waggons are stuck fast in
the quicksands. It is the work of a minute to
plunder them. The Commander-in-Chief halts on
the bank of the river, and with the Chief of the
Staff makes arrangements for the pursuit and for
the occupation of the place. One column on the
right carried Dhondia Kera just as we reached
Buxarglat, and the enemy fled on both flanks,
aided by the tremendous ravines in escaping pur-
suit. The infantry of Evelegh's column, dtach-
ments of her Majesty's 20th, 23d, and 80th Regi-
ments, march:in quarter-distance column, and their
right flank covered by two of Bruce's guns, the Ist
Sikh Irregulars, under Captain Jones. On the
second advance the 20th Regiment deployed and
moved with extended order, with the 80th on the
right and the 23d on the left in support. They thus
made way through the corn and thickly-wooded
country till they had approached within a mile and
a half of the river. Here a body of 400 or 500
cavalry, consisting principally, it is said, of the 2d
Cavalry, who were the chief actors in the Cawn-
pore mutiny, appeared on their right front. Col.
Evelegh at once brought up the disposable guns of
Bruce's troop, supported by cavalry, and a few
rounds sent them to the right about, nor were they
any more seen in the field. The infantry continued
to advance, and wore close up to the edge of the
jungle, when they. were suddenly made aware of
the proximity of the enemy by discharges of grape
and a sharp fire of musketry, all too high. The
20th pressed on smartly, and fought their way
through the jungle, while the 80th cleared the
ground before them up to the very banks of the
Ganges. That immediately over the river in their
front was steep, and the water above the ford was
beyond one's depth. At this momenta body of the
enemy, cut off from the ford below, endeavoured to
escape to the right across the line of advance. They
were about 500 strong, and the fugitives from our
advance were mixed up with them. The moment
the men saw them they gave a loud cheer, dashed
at the broken mass with the bayonet, and either
drove them into the river where most of them were
drowned, or killed them in the jungle, in various
parts of which more than 250 dead were counted.
The 20th took the Queen's colour of the 52d
B. N. 1., which was also one of the Cawn-
pore regiments. It is thought that many of the
Sepoys threw themselves into the Ganges to secure
immortality ; at least they were very leisurely in
their retreat through the water. A few who did
not like immortality just at the time struggled to
get away, and some succeeded. As I was not pre-
sent at the right, I know less of what took place
there than of the left. Bruce's guns and cavalry
followed for ten miles on the right. The enemy
were quite done up, but so were our horses and
men, and.we did not kill more than fifty or sixty of
them on that side. The sepoys were seen stagger-
ing into sates, unable to load their muskets, and
seven elephants were perceived in the distance, but
they could not be overtaken. On the left the
Carabineers cut up about fifty sepoys, but the
ravines effectually checked the advance of the guns,
and the men were recalled by Major Norman. The
loss of the enemy is estimated at 600 to 650.
Among the captured ordnance, which numbered