The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-11 00:00:00

uTh

[PRIOR 4D. STAMPED 5D .]

made in India, and Turnbull, so warm-hearted and
anxious to do gool and to benefit others. Poor little
Taylor! he had been with his, brother, and had made
great haste to rtj yin on the mutinies breaking out at
other stations. He reached Jhansi a few days before he
died. lam so glad you and your pets were gone. I
should have withered with horror at your sharing the
awful end of the other poor ladies. It is bad enough to
have to mourn Mr& Powys: Ryvee, thank God, es-
caped to Gwalior. I have seen his name in two Calcutta
papers, which say that be had .escaped, with others, to
Agra when the Gwalior troops mutinied.
"Our No wgong tale is this:—On the sth of June our
men volunteered, company by company, to serve against
the rebels, to revenge the Hon. Company upon them.
They were in the best possible spirits ; they were thanked
and praised, and then told the Jhansi news at a parade
at 3 p.m. They were unanimous and enthusiastic in
declaration that they would stand by us ; so were the
Artillery. The Cavalry were cool, and professed their
allegiance, as if it were absurd to ask such a question of
such honourable men. We were. Very glad to find the
three arms show loyalty, and I thank God, who disposes
men's hearts. On the Bth we got news of poor Dur.lop's
death, and heard from Mouraneepore that every Euro-
pean at Jhansi was murdered. On the.9th the Artillery
company said they were anxious to serve against the
rebels. We had heard about the let of June of some
plot being hatched in the company, had seized four of
the most mischievous, dismissed them by a word, ar,d
walked them off instauter to Chutterpore as prisoners.
We dared not hold a court-martial ; a sudden and sue-
easeful blow was our only course, and this one told ; the
c impdny was quiet, and, rid of its worst, was well
inclined. Our men had all along shown us the utmost
goolwill, and it was unfeigned with the exception of a
few, On the 10th all was quiet till sunset, when the
six artillery guns were as usual brought on our parade,
and our new guards were being marched off to relieve
old ones; "Oren a tall,- dare-devil Sikh and two others
walked forward, loading his piece. He made for the
liavildar•llej ir, a very nice, faithful elan, and shot him
dead. Mrs. *Mawe, Mr. Smalley, and Mr. Franks and
others saw him shot. lie fell dead. The three Sikhs
then dashed to the guns. The Artillery sergeant made
some attempt to defend them, and several muskets
were fired at him he says. None of the gunners stood
by him, and so he made off. One sergeant-major, as
big as Fal-taff, did so• too. One Sepoy pushed aside a
musket that was being fired at him. For some time
we had all dined at 4 p.m., as we went early to the
lines and to guards to prevent mischief. We had done
dinner, a d Dr. Mawe had been urging our making
a move, because it Wa3 impossible that our men would

stand fast after their brothers at Jhansi had rebelled,
and were still so near. I had said that, great as
the danger was, we could not abandon the station with
out orders ; we could not move until carriage came, and
is was almost certain that the first mention of colleoting
carriage would precipitate a revolt. A few days before
I had sent for the Government camels, to see them.
They ware only eight or nine, and those who wished to
mutiny set abroad a story that I had sent for the camels
in order to remove the treasure ; it was our danger all
along, and the rumour warned us that there was a wirty
who intended to mutiny, and to stimulate the courage of
some and to quicken matters, gave out that, if they de-
layed, the treasure would be gone. You may fancy how
antious we were from the 211 of April, when the fires
began, till now, one event after another ad iiag to the
proof that mischief was being hatched by some.
" The 14th Irregulars told us on the 23d of May that
all the Christians at Delhi had been murdered for their
belief in Jesus. I did not alarm the others, but I knew
what we might expect from them, as, with four or five
exceptions, they were all Mahomedans, and very fiery
ones. They were very independent after that announce-
ment, doing duty in a gay, careless manner, that seemed.
to say, It will soon be at an end ; we are merely amu,-
ing ourselves obeying orders.' I bad to go among them
and give orders, and I did so with no pleasure, feeling
that my life was not safe a moment with them.

" The native officers were chillingly polite, as Maho-
medans know how to do well.

" Barber never would believe anything against them,
and went continually to the lines to the last. I slept at
nights at the corner of your compound on the back road,
with two guns all ready for the Irregulars, but I never
got a chance.
" Well, Dr. Ma we and I had hardly ended oar con-
versation when we heard several musket shots in the

lines. There wag no doubting what they meant. I west
to the top of the messbouse to reconnoitre and I.arn the
state of things, and form a plan before going to the lines.
E.vart and Townsend mounted and gallmed straight to
the line •. Franks bad gone there some time before
and was speaking to Mr. Smalley, and he saw what
happened from thel first, and rode off to tell us
all. Poor Townsend was only in time to see his guns
in other hands. I tried to get men to collect and to
make a dash at the guns with Ewart, who joined me, but
no one would move. They were panic-stricken or muti-
nous. At last I got a bugler who was too nervous to
sound. I blew the assembly' several times, but with
no effect; no morejoined methan before. One gun loaded
with grape had been fired over the lines, and I thought
another would be fired at me for sounding the bugle.
Perhaps they knew it was of little use. At any rate
they dtd not fire. I pushed across the lines with Ewart,
the men trying to force us back (to save our lives). At
last, as I saw none would accompany us, and that some
of the men were against us, I made Ewart come back
with me to the naesehouse. More than 100 men must
have collected there.

" The Smalleys and Dr. and Mrs. Mawe had for some
time occupied the two little servants' bungalows, which
you may recollect stood on our parade at the left of the
lines. The buggy road on to the parade passed between
them. They thus got at once, with the two chiliren
and their two buggies, to the mess. _ _

"The nr:jor arid Jackson had meanwhile done their
best to get the man there to attack the mutineers. They
would not budge. The major would insist on our hold-
ing the mess, occuping the top. Jackson reasoned him
out of this before I got back. A 9-pounder that the
rebels brought opposite the meeshouse helped his argu-
ments, and we all made off, the old camel carriage and
two buggies with ns. The fat sergeant-rasjor broke Mr.
Smalley's buggy in five minutes by entering it. The
camel carriage soon upset, and had to be left. The two
ladies went on its Dr. blaze's buggy. The major called
out to go to Chutterpore. Dr. Mawe providentially
took a road at right angles to the one intended. He
knew that I had taken it when removing the artillery-
men I had, but to throw any pursuers on a false scent.
Dr. Mawe, ienorant of this, took this road. It leads to
Gurowlee from Mrs. Powys's house, and the sowars with
ill intent sought for us at Gurowlee. The Rsjah of that
place had paid us a visit a few days before, and this con-
firmed the bloodthirsty ruffiansin their mistake. A round
shot and a shower of grape were sent after us. They
did no harm, as we were not visible to the gunners. I
thought at first that the guns were merely meant to
terrify us and convince us we must go, but I am quite
sure now it was meant to rival Jhansi. I did not know
till to-lay that before I left the mess a charge of grape
was fired a': the tents the officers used to occupy on pa-
rade. A second was fired over the lines towards Dr
Boys's house, and two more, after a long interval, as we
left the mess. Young Henry Kirke just got out of his
father's compound in time to see a lot of troopers ride up
with drawn swords and surround the house. A Sikh on
his father's guard aimed at him, but the naik put the
barrel a ide, and Henry reached us safely. Providentially
avarice was upi„ectnott in the mutineers' minds. They
seizsd our bear, rs and khidmulgars, thinking they would
have money, and would also know what direction the
officers hat taken.
"The mess khansaman was taken a prisoner with the
rebels on their march to be tortared or terrified into
disgorging. I heard that they cut his head off at A Ilpore.
Tue bungalows were surrounded by parties. Tne sepoys
took what they wanted and then they burnt house and
all together, a party preventing others removing any-
thing. Toe bazaar was then attacked, and the dealers
stripped, and searched, and threatened. They seem to
have known what was coming and to have conceal° 1 it
from us, trusting to a promise that they would not be
robbed, and an assurance that hostility would only be
directed against ui.

" It is a mercy the men were thus occupied, and that
the moon was long of rising and the night dark ; it
caused us to miss the Chutterpore•road again ; we bit
the Lake-road. The country between the two could not
be crossed, and so Jackson said we had better make for
the Lake and get his old boatman Bowanee to show us
a cress country road to Cawnpore. Our sepoys were
dwindling off, and those with us were only ready to dis-
perse or run front an attack. We kept quiet. The
sepoys said we should be followed and cut up. I thought
it had been intended by the mutineers of the 12th to
let us go ; they were right, but our track was not
known. They tried to find us, but failed. They. sent
threatening messages to Rajahs in the vicinity for-bid-
ing them to shelter us, but the Chutterpore Babel: r
ru
using
g
for her son, did not mind them. We got to
_t ,
Chutterpore, at daybreak of the 11th, and stayedtill the
night of the 12th. Poor Townsend and I went back
cantonments. The rebels had gone on the 11th at
t3opeinal Not a bungalow had escaped the flames ; the
mess house could not be burn 4-. The whole country
around was walking away with wood from the lines and
bazaar.
Wo lift in the afternoon and e!ept at the
L
; his health had been failing, and now, from want
of ties and eine and beer he was quite gone.
theregasee ilt'i3h'''
nine miles off. Major Kirke was
The re-
mains of the corps, (79 Sepoys, 4 native officers, and
some halvidarA, your pet, for unt) had left Chutterpore
on on the night of the 12th. On the way the Major took
warning to Legmi-
it into his head the Sepoys meant to murder li
rushed off without any
the Rajah who e Hem' passedan
all sorts 'of'heo'r horrible deeds
the night there, imagining
were being meditated by
kindly. We stt out early und3r ari
treated us most
guard,' end on the way
heard that when we joined all the offiers were to bey
murdered. The Rajah said his servant, villa bad been
in the camp, Lad overheard it, so we changed: our route,
and wrote to Jacks NI to look out and join us at Churk-
baree, wliither we want by a f )reL2d march, meaning to
ask the ILjah. fell, t.. cops to enable us to disarm the last
comers et our ai.c.j. They might have joined sole'y for
mischief. It was all an illusion. The servant had made
the tale up. Th 3 Rajah sent us during the day a second
message to say ho heard that something had happened.
I calculated on the men being disconcerted at our not
coming and postponing the assault, The men were, on