The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-29 00:00:00

there, and every confidence is placed in his judg-
ment and decision.
In Oude Sir Henry Lawrence keeps all quiet!
Every endeavour has been made, and, it is hoped,
with success, to undeceive the credulous Sepoys
on
the one fatal point upon which their caste and reli-
eons feelings have been aroused, and to rouse their
indignation against the sanguinary treachery of the
insurgent regiments. The fort at Allahabad. where
they© is a large magazine,has been garrisoned by
the European invalids usually stationed in the fort
of Chunar.
At Calcutta every precaution has been taken to
guard against the possibility of a surprise. The
84th Regiment, with the Horse Artillery, are at
Barrackpore, and the 53c1 in Fort William. A re-
giment of European Fusileers will be here from
Madras this week, and another European regiment
fiom Moulmein in the course of a fortnight. The
three European regiments in the Persian Gulf
whose services had been set free by the peace, will
sail direct to Calcutta, and may be expected here
next month. An Act has been passed empowering
all officers in command of brigades and stations to
hold general courts-martial, and confirm their sen-
tences without reference to higher authority.
There is no doubt that the crisis is a serious one.
The one danger to which in the opinion of Lord Met-
calfe the stability of our empire in India is exposed
has come to pass. The loyalty of the Sepoy army is
shaken, and unless the infatuation which pervades
it can be corrected, and this mutinous spirit very
speedily suppressed, the consequence may be fright-
ful. Ido not apprehend that there will be much
difficulty in dealing with the mutineers at Delhi,
who are cooped up in a walled town without a
leader, without provisions, and apparently without
much ammunition. But this is the first time a Sepoy
regiment has murdered its officers, and the example
may be followed throughout the length and breadth
of the Presidency. The disorganiswion of all civil
Government would inevitably follow, and we should
not only have to deplore the murder of thousands
of our fellow-countrymen—for the Asiatic blood,
once roused, shows no mercy—but literally to re-
conquer the country.
Even the temporary loss of a part of India would
be a most serious national calamity in every point
of view, 'and it behoves the Government to do
everything in its power to avert it. The force of
Europeans in the country is notoriously insufficient,
and if her Majesty's Government do their duty
orders will issue, within 24 hours after the arrival
of this mail, to despatch ten regiments of infantry
overland—six at least to Bengal, and four to Bom-
bay—to remain here, if not permanently, at least
until confidence in the native army is entirely re-
stored. No success in Persia or in China will com-
pensate, I do not say for the loss of our Indian
empire, but for any serious detriment to the influ-
ence or power of England in her Eastern posses-
sions.

The money market continues easy. The price of
securities is rising, and subscriptions to the Five
per Cent. Loan are coming in rapidly. The dis-
turbances in the upper provinces have not yet
begun to affect commercial transictions ; and
though much anxiety is felt for the fate of indivi-
duals there is to general apprehension of danger
or fear that the mutiny will not soon be put down.
I enclose an extra, which has just been published
by the Englishman, containing a letter written by
a. medical officer who was at Meerut when the mu-
tiny broke out.

MAY 19.

P. S. Thirteen English fugitives who escaped the
Delhi massacre are protected by Zemindars at
a village near Bagput, on the left bank of the
Juliana. The mutineers at Delhi have plundered
six villages in the vicinity for subsistence, and sent
out advanced posts to Shandera and Dadree.
Everything is in a satisfactory state at Agra and
elsewhere in the Upper Provinces, except at Delhi
and. Meerut. The Lieutenant-Governor has sent a
party of Gwalior cavalry into the Doab to pot down
the petty plundering that is going on here and
there for want of light troops. The Synds and
Jats of the Meerut district are acing upon our
side. A Synd brought in three British officers
from the Delhi force, whom he had protected from
the mutineers. Sir H. Wheeler reports from Cawn-
pore that everything there is in a satisfactory state
and equally good accounts have been received from
Benares.

close my letter at the latest moment, having
given you the intelligence brought this morning by
the telegraph. Nothing has yet been heard of the
movements or plans of the Commander-in-Chief,
and upon these everything depends.

(From the Supplement to the Overland Englishman.)
CALCUTTA, MAY 18.
The following is from Meerut, dated the 12th of
May :
" I must premise by telling you that this is not the
first letter I have written you on the terrible catastrophe
to which it refers, but the third. Yesterday morning I
sat down sleepless, fatigued, and dirty, and wrote you a
long account of all that bad occurred, and this morning
I continued my communication; but on going to the
post-office, io order to deposit the letter with my own
hand, I learnt that yesterday's down country dak had
been stopped and destroyed a very little distance down
the road, so it is necessary that I should commence all
over again. I will now relate over again everything as
it occurred on the day before yesterday, giving you '
mostly a personal narrative, and adding what I
have learnt from others, and which I could not have
seen. On Sunday, the 10th, between five and
6 o'clock in the evening, I was in my bungalow, in rear ,
of the lines of the 11th Native Infantry, where I have
resided since my arrival at the station, when, as I was
dressing, preparatory to going out for a ride with Col.
Finnis, of the 11th Native Infantry, my attentlon was
ateracted to my servants and those in the nei;hboultig
compounds, going down towards the front of our enclo-
sures, and looking steadily into the lines of the 11th,
whence a buzzing murmuring noise proceeded, each as I
have often beard in cases of fire, or some such alarm.
Of this I took little notice, but went down to my gate,
still dressing, and the noise still increasing I returned
to the bungalow, put on my uniform, and again went
out. I had scarcely got to the gate, when I heard the
popping sound of firearms, which I knew at once were
loaded with ball cartridge, and a European noncommis-
sioned officer came running with others towards me from
the 11th lines, saying, "For God's sake, sir, leave !
emit) to your bungalow, change that dress, and fly I"
I walked into my bungalow, and was doffing my uni
form ; the bullets by this time flying out of the 11th
lines into my compound, when the havVar-major of the
11th rushed into the room, terrified and breathless, and
exclaimed, "Fly, sahib—fly at once ! the regiments are
in open mutiny, and firing on their officers, and C )lonel
Finnis has jest been shot in my arms." It wag evidently
becoming serious. I came out, and ordered my horse
to be saddled and brought up, my servants still beeging
of me to fly for my life. I mounted. The lines of the
6th Dragoon Guards (Carabineers) lie to the north of
my bungalow, separated by a rugged and barren plain,
cut up by nuilahs and ravines, upon which, riding out of
the back part of my compound, I descended. A Briton
does not like actually "running away" under any cir-
cumstances, and I was riding slowly through the uneven
ground, when the havildar-major before-mentioned ex•
claimed, " You, sahib, are mounted and cin make haste,
ride to the European cavalry lines, and give the alarm.'
Good; I galloped off, crossed the difficult ground all right,
got into the cavalry lines and made for the colonel's
house, which be had just left, and found him in the
rack lines on horseback, ordering the dragoons to saddle,
arm, and mount without a moment's delay. Here I
shall leave the Dragoons and myself, and return to the
Native Infantry parade ground, and the commencement
of the mutiny and mas,acres.
"About 5 o'clock the 20th Native infantry and the
3d Light Cavalry rushed from their lines, armed and
furious; the former regiment firing off their meekete,
approaching the 11th Native Infantry, and calling upon
them to arm, come out, and join them. I believe the
11th hesitated at first—cause unknown ; but presently
they, too, armed and rushed out, and the mutinous fuel
took flame. About this time Colonel Finnis and seve-
ral other officers of the 11th Native Infantry came upon
the parade, and commenced haranguing the Sepoys, and
attempted to pacify them, and bring them to order, when
the colonel's horse was wounded by a bullet fired by the
"th- On this he saw that the matter was more serious
than he had wished to believe ; and one of his officers
asking him if he should ride off to the brigade-major, ask
for aid, wad ive the alarm, he consented. This is the
last time h
attirw e Was seen alive by European eyes ; for imme-
diately
,i
arde he was shot in the back by a Sepoy
of the 2001 felt
.104f,som his horse, and was actually riddled
With balls.
seeing tha ut
their
tllis time the other officers of the
11th,
presence among the mutineers was
perfectly useless,
the bullets flying about them in all
direotione, retreated.' ora the lines, and sought safety
mostlY in the direction of
the Carabineer lines ; to
which I must now retratof
er the narrative. It took
us a lOng time, in my
°l'lnklai to get ready, and
it was dark before the brefilens werefi prepared
to start in a body ; while by thie
titheflames began
to amend in all directions from the
the 3,1 Cavalr Lines, and the
offi-
cers' bungalows of Se soil the 11th and
20th Native Infantry, from public buildings,mosshouees,
_private residences, and in fact every edifice or thing that
Jaime within reach of the torch and the fury of the mu-
tineers and of the bazaar canaille, who in considerable
• din their terrific orgi
It unbars, I believe, pipe oo
all sides shot up into the heavens great pinnacles of
waving fire, of all hues and colours, according to the
nature of the fuel that fed them, huge volumes 018rooke
rolling suddenly off in the sultry night air, and the
cracking and roar of the conflagration tninglwg with
the shouts and riot of the mutineers. The entire scene,
of which these were but the most prominent external
features, and which words cannot describe, I have to
your readers to imagine, if they are fond of the horrible
and the tragic. When the Carabineers were mounted
we rode off at a brisk trot, through clouds of suffoca-
ting dust and darkness, in an easterly direction, and
along a narrow road; not advancing in the direction of
the conflagration, but, on the contrary, leaving it behind
on our right rear. In this way we proceeded fer some
two or three miles, to my no small surprise ; when sud-
denly the halt was sounded, and we faced about, retrac-
ing our steps, and verging off to our left, approaching
the conflagration, and deboucbed on the left rear of the
Native Infantry lines, which of course were all in a blaze.
Skirting along behind these lines, vt • turned them