The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-23 00:00:00

THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 23, 1557

to death last week, but allowing for the inereme of
populstion, this is not above the average. Of
these cases the majority were young pm 503,, only
one hunclred of th. se who were baked being over
fifteen years of age.' If Typhus werl a mur-
derer, and :we could lock him up, should we put
his murders into the weekly bill of mortality, and
leave him to )se as an accepted fact ? He is a mur-
derer, and we can lock him up. , Dogberry and
Verges are (Focussing bow to set about it." The
vigorous sense and kindly feeling, joined to the
humourous touches and pie %sant 13urdities' com-
bine to form a very agreeable volume of Gossip.

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

AN ESCAPE FROM DELHI.

The following mDst interesting and affecting
letter was written to his sister by a boy of 19, who
happily succeeded in effecting his escape from
among the mutineers :

" Meerut, Jun© 1.
" Who would have thought when I last wrote
to you all the awful circumstances under which I
was again to put pen to paper ? However, by the
providence of Almighty God, your brother hasbeen
spared from the fearful massacre that has taken
place at Delhi, and though he is a complete beggar,
yet, thank God, he is still a'ive and well. Oh, my
own dearest sister, the escape I have had has been
most miraculous—in fact, I can hardly realise it,
and whin one comes to lcok back upon it, it is
scarcely to be believed, yet still hero I am and no
mistake about it ; and as they say there is a slight
chz•nce of a letter reaching Bunbay in tinie for the
mail, I am writing to you. There is only one other
officer of my unfortunate regiment out of those
who wera with it at the time of the mutiny who has
escaped to this place, and he poor fellow, is in hos-
pital with a musket-ball through his tbiah-0,-,
born, our adjutant ; but I am glad to say there
were three others on leave for a month's 21110611 g
•in the jungles at the time or the out b7ealc, and who
have consequently escapA—amang them my chum
Wheatley. You know I myself had only been back
frets Caavnpore five days when this awful business
took place. I have been here now since the 19th
of last month, and I have not had asingle line from
my poor mother. All the claWks, you.kuov, are cut
)ff by the insurgents, oral though I have written to
her several letters, yet I fear none have reached ,
Cawnpore. I was aisle, however, thank God, to
telegraph to them on the 20th, eaying I had arrive
het e safe and well, and got a reply from my father
telling what relief I had given them, but since thn
the wire has been destroyed and there has been no
communication at all with Cavnpore. God grant
they may be safe and well, and we have reason to
suppose that the trcops there are quiet.
"There were three native corps at Delhi, bcsidae
a battery of 6 guns, and not a single European sol-
dier. It was about 10 o'clock on the morning of
the 11th that we first heard of some mutineers
hiving came over from Meerut, and that our regi-
ment was ordered down to the city, where they
were, to cut them up. Of course this time wo had
not a doubt as to their loyalty. Well, the whole
regiment, except my company, No. 1, and our
major's the Grenadiers (who were ordered to wait
tar two guns and escort them down), at once w nt
Mr to the city, distant about two m:lea. On arriv-
ing at the Ca-hmere-g de, which leads into a small
foaled bastion called the Mainauard, from which
there is another egress to the city, they wera met
by some troopers of the 3d. Cavalry from Meerut,
who immediately charged down upon them. Not
the slightest effort was made by our men to defend
their officers, and they were nearly all shot down
at the head of their companies by these troopers. In
fact, our poor colonel was seen to be bayoneted by
one of the Sepoys after he had been cut down by a
trooper ; and then the fact of neither a Sepoy nor
a trooper having been killed, is enough to convince
one of their treachery. Well, soon alter our two
companies, with the two guns (f, r whom we had
had to wait half an hour), also arrived, and on
going through the Cashmere-gata into the Main-
guard and thence into the city, where all this had
taken place, the Sepoys and mutineers all bolted,
being frightened at the sight of the guns, and be-
fore there was time to open upon them they had all
disappe ire(' lute the streets. We then went hack
to the Mainguard, determined to hold that against
them uet 1 more reinforcements arrived from can-

tonments, for which we immodietely sent. In
the meantiree we sent out parties to bring in
our poor fellows' who were all s:en lying about
in_ front of the Melo guard. I myself went out
and brought in poor Burrewes. It was a most
hea-treuding sight, I assure you, to se% all our
poor chaps who:n we had seen and beau wi h
that very morning, talking and laughing together
at our coffee-shop, lying dead side by side, and
some dreadfully mutilated. I had never before seen
a dead body, so you may imagine what an awfulsight
it was to rue. The poor Colonel was the only one
not killed outright ; but he, poor man, was hacked
to pieces. We sent him back to cautonna,mt,3,
wh re he died iu the course of tile day. At last
eolle companies of the other regiments came up, '
and we remained here the whole day expecting to
be attacked every minute. Lots of women and
people who had managed to escape from the city
came in to us for shelter, little thinking of the scene
that was shot tly to he enacted among us. By and
by three of our officers, who had escaped bring
killed by the troopers, also came in, and from them
we learnt what I have :bid you above. All this
while we saw fires blazing in the town ani heard
guns of the magazine, which a few Europeans had
been defending against the whole host of the insur-
gents, and which had at last blown up.
" Well, it must have been about 5 o'clock in the
afternoon, when, all of a sudden, the Sepoys who
were with us in the Mainguird, and on whom we '
had been depending to defend us in case of attack,
began firing upon us in every direction ; a most
awful scene, as you may imagine, then ensued—
people running in every possible way to try and
eeeape. I, as luck would have it, with a few other
fellows, ran up a kind of slope that leads to the
officers' quarters, and thence, amid a storm of bul-
lets, t) vim of tee embrasures of the bastion. It is
perfec•ly miraculous how I escaped being hit ; vo
end of poor fellows were knocked down all about,
and all too by their men ; it is really awful to think
of it. However, on arriving at the embraeire all at
once the idea occurred to me of jumping down into
the ditch from the rampart (one would have thought
it mailness at any other time), and so try alid get
out by scaling the opposite side ; but just as I
was in the act of doing so I heard :creams from
a lot of unfortunate women who were in the
officers' quarters, imploring for help. I imme-
diately, with a few other fellows, who, lake me,
were going to escape the same way, ran back
to them, and though the attempt appeared
hopeless, we determined to see if we could not take
them with us. roues of them, poor creatures, were
wounded with bullets ; however, we made a rope
with handkerchiefs, and some of us jumping clown
first into the ditch caught them as they dropped,
to break the fall. Then came the d ffict Ity of drag-
ging them up on the opposite bank ; however, by
(hod's will we succeeded, after nearly half an hour,
in getting them up ; and why no sepoys came and
shot every one of us while getting across all this
time is a perfect mystery. The murdering was
going on below all this time, and nothing could
have been easier than for two or three of them to
come to the rampart and shoot us down. How-
ever, as I say, we somehow got over, and expecting
to be pursued, we bent our steps to a house that
was on the banks of the river. This we reached in
safety, and getting something to eat and drink from
the servants (their master, young Metcelf, bad fled
in the morning), stopped there till dark, and then,
seeing the whole of three cantonments on fire, and
as it were a regular battle raging in that direction,
we ran down to the river and made the best of our
way along its banks in an opposite direction. It
would be too long. ray very dearest sister, to tell
y.O of how for three days and nigh we wandered
in the jungle, sometimes fed and sometimes robbed
by the villagers, till at length, wearied and foot-
sore, we arrived at a village where they put us in a
hut and fed us for four days, and moreover took a
note from us into Meerut, whence an escort of ca-
valry was sent out, and we were brought safely in
here.
" We started from Delhi with five ladies and four
officers besides myself, but afterwards fell in with
two sergeants' wives and two little children, with
two more officers and a merchant, so altogether, on
coming into Meerut, were a body of 17 souls. Ob,
great Heaven, to think of the piivations we en-
dured, and the narrow escapes we had! We used to
ford streams at night, and then walk on slowly in
our wet clothes, lying down to rest every half-hour,
for you must remember that some of the ladies were
wounded, and all so fatigued and worn out that they
could scarcely move. Of course, had we been by our-
selves we would have made a dash for Meerut at
once, which is about 40 miles from Delhi,* but
having these unfortunate women with us, what
could we do I Sometimes we heard villagers com-
bining to murder us,t and the whole time were in
dread of being pursued and killed by some of the
mutineers from Delhi. At one time, when we
were attacked by the villagers and robbed of every-
thing we possessed, had we not bad them with us
we would have fought for it, and sold our lives
dearly, instead of quietly giving up our arms as we
did, for you must know we had a few blunt

swords among us with one double-barreled gun.
I send you a short account of the insurrection,
from which p.m will sea that a great many
people eAlitped to Kurnaul aryl Umball•al, among
them the major of my regiment ' • but, alas,
I fear that we are the only ones saved. The forces
from Kurnaul are fast approaching Delhi, and
half the force from here has al=o File out. They
have been attacked, we hear, by the insurgents,
who sallied out of Delhi, and have s nt in for more
r linforcnnents. The people here are in a great
fright, but I fancy 1,000 Europeans can hold their
ground agaiust five times that number of natives,
and there is not much to fear ; however, we are
very anxious abut them, and are eagerly looking
out for a despatch, as firing was heard all last
night. We took eight guns from them the day
before, but they have ro end of them, besides lots
of ammunition, in the magazines of Delhi. Now
I will say good-bye, my dear sister. Fond and
affectionate love to all. In another week we shall
know more abiut affiirs. I have not a thing to
my back--hordes and everything all gone ' • iu fact,
as I said before, a perfect beggar; but I thre say
Gpventment may repay us in a meat we.

JHELUM, MAY 30.
illy letter last time was stepped by the mutiny ;
so I suppose you will be anx:ous to hear a full and
true account. Tee first I heard was that Vet,
troops at Ferozcpore had join: d the mutiny, and
ha I tried to take the Olt Fo t, but that a company
or two of Europeans had bean sent these in antici
pation, ethe after a hard fight had held their own,
but fought only with the butt-ends of their mus-
kets ; that they then went off to the station and
buret down the Monumental Church, the Roman
Catholic Chapel, and every thatched hotiee, plun-
dering as they burnt ; that Mr. Coates and Mr.
Hughes, two merchants,. alone refused to flee, col-
lected their serveuts, fottified their houses, and re-
pelled all attacks, Mr. Hughes's son, a boy, killing
the .only Sepoy shot ; that they then pulled down
numbers of unthateml houses. Next day they
were attacked—the 10th Native Cavalry taking our
part—and were disarmed, except some hundred
odd, who escaped into the villages, where they are
being apprehended. At Umballa and Jultuudhur
much the same—houses burnt, but no lives lost.
At Umbalia the deserters were more numerou.,
but the Patiala .Rajah had apprehended many of
them. He was the first-, as he always has been, to
come to our aid, although we did tile Bedttour
from him forcibly so lately. Now we learn that
the Europeans took the fort at Agra and hol I their
own there ; that the Allyghur troops (9th Native
Infaatry) had mutinied and gonet join the force
at Delhi, and tltat the Commander-in-Chief was
still stationary at Umballa, unwilling to move till
he had a larger force. The Simla and Almora
Goorka troops have also mutinied, but it is hoped
they are coming rann,l. The troops at Lahore
were in vigorous hand.. Sir J. Lawrence and
General Reid, aided by Brigadier Chamberlain,
were not men to wait for orders in such an etner-
genoy, and have disarmed the troops both there and
at Peshawur, only just iu titne, as we learn, as
they were waiting for the news from Delhi, where
it was agreed. the mutiny should begin. Half of
one ef the regiments at Peshawur was at an out
station (Noushera), and was tot disarmed, as a
few men alone could do nothing ; they got
the aigual from Delhi, but did not know
their comrades at Peshlwur, had b.•en dis-
armed; so they rose, as agreed upon, and
found themselves in a narrow pass between
two European cautonment., and a force has stated
to make a f,aeful example of them. All the native
States are with u', and have cent in their cantin-
gents to all the English, except Maharajah Oh lib
Siugh, who is pouring great supplies of aiemtmition,
corn, &c., into all his forts along our border. Well,
the Seeoy-, as I to an fr oin ready Teed informants,
all beli:ve that we are det-rmine to make them
Christians by some means. They bliteve that all we
want to do is to make them eat pig's fat or bul'ock's
flesh ; an I, unfortunately, the cart.idges fur the
new Enfield rifle were Lrea.ed, and in same places
the grease, I beieve, really was lard or common
bullock's fat, the native cintract )r having used
these for cheapness. In this frame of mind, which
has b en going on for several years, they were very
suspicious of anything now, and b Moved at once
that the Government really had the l•trd put on to
cheat them into becoming Chri,t:ans, and regiment
after regiment held meetings to resent t u s a.t Lek
on their religion. • All tim officers who were well ac-
quainted with Hindostanee being selected-for staff
appointments, o uly t we were left in most regimen's
who, kuowing but little of the language, had but
little intercourt-e with their men, aud oreforethey
learnt nothing of all this, except in one or two corps
where some chance 1 nguist remained, and those
corps have generally not inutided, as their officers
learnt thei; cemplaints and explained •Ve matter to
them. It is now believed that all this would have
blown over, but the dismissed nobieee and grandees
of Cttle, shorn cf all their wealth and rank, seized
on this pretext, and sent messengers in the disguise
of Fakirs all abour, praying the men to stand out
for the religion of their faqters, a plan which sue-
°ceded too well. Some of the Fakirs, it is said, have
been apprehended. The sepoys of tae 14eh Native
lnlantiy held a meeting, but luckily had some good
officers, and one Lieut. Smith, a good linguist and a
great friend of theirs; so they agreed not to mutiny,
but to resign if they were asked to fire the suspected
cartridges. Meanwhile the Government or the
authorities had all the new cartridges burnt th
reassure the men, but it had unluckily just the
opposi'e tendency. If, they said, there was really
'lathing in the cartridges Government would never
have burnt them all, but as they were really greased
with lard they saw they were found out this time and
burnt them, as the only way to get out of the mess.
Now, say they, such a powerful Government intl
soon find out some other way, so it is better to fight
it out now than to find ourselves cheated into being
Christians some day unexpectedly, and then be un-
able to clear ourselves. The news from the other
station is, perhaps, equally bad. At Mooltan they
are only restrained from breaking out by Chamber-
lain's liregularCavally, and at Iliawul Pindul they
are on the eve of rebellion, it is said. Mooradabad
and Barrilly troops are said to be firm, also the 21st
at Peshawur. The spark that issaidtohave filed the
train is that one party of sepoys did not refuse the
cartridges, but tore off the ends with their hand,
and would not put them in'o their mouths, which
the officer in command said was unsoldierly, and
explained all about the cartridges to them, vowel
they were greased with ghee, and told them we did
not care if they were of all the religions in the
world; but unfortunately few officers left with
their regiments are good at Hindostanee, and the
Sepoys did not understand him at all. They only
understood that he was determined they should
bite and not tear off the end of the cartridge, and
immediately felt sure that there was something in
it, so mutinied. There is a great want of sympathy
between the European and the native, which de-
stroys all hopes of comfott, unless you could fall
into all their tvages. We are well here. God had
hitherto protected us, and we now seem to think
all is over. A splendid force is eollectedinKurnual.
The native States believe that we must win in the
end, and have sent their troops to our aid. Wocan
only trust in God, who is equally able to protect us
anywhere. We are in the midst of a mutiny un-
precedented iu Indian history,- and are only a small
band of Europeans, fighting and Estrfigg,ling for ex-
istence. However, the regiment hero is very good,
and deserves the title, so common formerly, of the
faithful Sepoy.