The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-04 00:00:00

DELHI AND ITS INEVITABLE FATE.

(From 'a
Correspondent of the Morning Advertiser.)
Delhi, OEC3 the capital of Hindostan, the boast
of India, and the :eat of the Great Mr•gul, was
captured in 1193 by the Maholume,dans under Coot-
tfoboodeen Khav, wl:o_ fixed his residence there.

In 1398, it was stormed, pillaged, and reduced to
a heap cf ruins by Tamerlane. In 1631 Shah-
Jehan founded the new ci y on the west bank of
the Jumna. During the reign of his third son,
the-rev-ern-mounted to 4;000;0001:-sterling, and
the population was estimated at 2,000,000. It
continued to prosper until 1739, when Nadir Shah
invaded it, missacred 100,000 inhabi' ants, and col-
lected 62,000,00 X. sterling of plunder. It was
again pillaged in 1756 by Ahmed Abdallah, and in
1788, Gl olam Kaudir, the Roh Pa, made himself
mast,er of this city, starved and txtured many of
the nobles, and put out the eyes of the King, t)
compel him to a disclosure ( f supposed concealed
t. easure. He was at length forced to abandon the
city, by Madhajee Sindia, and was himself put to
death by the same kind of torture ho had inflicted

on others. In 1803 it came into possession of the
British by the victories of Lord Lake, and has since
been gradually recovering under our rule, from its
former misfortunes.
As it is now again threatened with utter destruc-
tion by our besieging army, we will take a hasty
glance at its positi()n, and we'gh our chances of im-
mediate success.

As has been mentioned before in the columns of
your valuable journal, the ruins of ancient Delhi
extend over many miles. Modern Delhi is built
on two rockyeminences, and contains many palaces
and mosques. The present city is seven miles in
circumference, and is surrounded on three sides by
a h'gh wall, while the fourth, or eastern side, is
washed and protected by the river jsrarna.
The city has seven principal gates, the Lahore,
Ajmeer, Turcoman, Delhi, Mohur, Cabul, and
Cashmere, all built of freestone. The latter has al-
ready been mentioned as the one by which pro:-
bably our victorious troops will enter the city.
The streets are narrow with the exception of two;
the first leading from the palace, of which we shall
presently speak, to the Delhi gate, and the second
from the palace to the Lahore gate. The breadth
f the first, called Chandnee-ceokee' (Silversmith-
street), which was the scene of the late foul
murders, is about equal to Pall-mall. The city
contains a great number of mosques and dila-
pidated palaces, all surrounded by high walls,
which will no doubt be defended after the entry of
our troops, and give much trouble.
Above all is seen the imperial palace, a very high
and extensive cluster of gothic towers and battle-
ments. It was built by Shah Jehan on the bank
of the Jumna, and is surrounded on three sides by
an embattled wall, 60 feet high, built of red granite,
with Martello towers, and two massive gateways,
each defended by an outer barbican of less height,
and the whole surrounded by a wide moat. The
palace is a strong fort in itielf, the walls have been
well kept in repair by ourselves, and furnished
with an ample surplement of heavy guns.
According to General Barnard's despatch of the
Bth of June, the troops were occupying the canton-
ments outside the city. The distance is about a
mile, and the elevated position of our force would
enable General Barnard to open a destructive fire
from the Siege Train, which had just come in when
our last advices left the able and gallant general's
head-quarters.
The destruction and loss of life which our shot
and shell will cause in the densely-populated city
must be fearful, as the population consists of about
150,000, to which we may add about 50,000 in-
surgents and plunderers.
It is not impossible that General Barnard, after
48 -hours of incessant bombardment, may have at-
tacked the insurgents, who were opposing an ad-
vanced force of about 10,000 against us outside
the walls of the city. Under the prestige of his
repeated successes, and aided by one of those happy
combinations which are not unprecedented in mili-
tary history, he may have gained a gate simul-
taneously with the flying rebels, and thus secured
an entrance to the town.

•
While we pray that such a glorious achievement
on the part of our brave troops may prove true,
we must rot forget that the consummation is as
yet hardly more than a fond hope, although ru-
mour6 to the effect had reached the three main -

ports of the presidencies. We must not act on the
assumption, but fully prepare for the most ardu-
ous task which has ever been cut out for British
trcops in India.

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

The following Supplement to the Overland Eng- '
lishman, published at Calcutta on Saturday, June
20, professes to contain the very latest news which
had reached Calcutta ;

"The detention of the mail enables us to add the
following intelligence, which has reached us this
morning.
" The *following is from Allababad Fort, dated
the 13th of June :
" A party of us went out of the fort this morn-
ing to reconnoitre, and fell in with some thousands
of the rebels, strongly posted, in arms about a
large puQkah house. Brasyer and his Sikhs made a
good fight of it, but were called upon by our new
commanding officer, Colonel Neil, to retire, and
to-morrow we storm and take the rascals' position.
We sadly want supplies, attab, &c., here, and we
must have more Europeans. I have not had my
sword off for a moment, night or day since the 6th
inst. ; no more time.'

" Later accounts up to the 15th report all well at
Allahabad on that day. A Sikh Sepoy has been
murdered in the town. The regiment was let loose
on the place and thoroughly avenged itself.
"On the 15th, at Baroul, half-way between
Allahabad and Gopeegunge, three zemindars, who
had set themselves up, one as rajah and the other
two as naibs, were seized by a detachment of the
Madras Fusiliers and a party of the 13th Irregular
Cavalry, who have done excellent service under
Lieutenant Palliser, accompanied by Messrs. Moore
and Chapmao, were brought in to Gopeegunge,
and banged. The bridge of boats at Allahabad is
in our hands, and defended by five guns.
" We have received the following cheering news
f om Mirz spore ; theletter of our informant is dated
the 15 h The dour of our magistrate, St. George
Tucker, against the 'village of Gawrab, has been
most successful. Ile and the deputy-magistrate,
with 50 Sepoys of the 47th Regiment, arrived at
the village Carly yesterday morning. The steamer
with 100 Europeans had not yet reached the ghat,
but was in sight. The villagers on seeing our
small force, assembled to the number of some
3,000. In the meantime the steamer anchored and
landed the English bulldogs, who, to a man, with-
out orders, rushed at th insurgents, fired into
them, and killed 30 or 40 ; the rest took to their
heels. The village, which was quite deserted, was,
burnt to the ground.

" Mirzapur° is perfectly quiet, and all on this
side the river. The factories of Comercoly, Pallee, -
Cutchowa, and Solah are perfectly quiet, and
ready to take advantage of a fall of rain to sow.
" 'Our assistant magistrate has gone to Gopee-
gunge to clear and keep the Allahabad road. No
news as yet of the arrival of the Charles Allen at
Allaha,had, or of the garrison there.
" The murderers of Sir Norman Leslie have
been apprehended and hanged. They turned out
to be three men of his own regiment, one an old-
hand and the two others recruits.'

" The following is from Major Holmes's Irregu-
lars, Segowlee

" ' June 15.

We have been very busy making arrangements
for the march of the Goorkas, but now they are
not come. We have saved Goruckpore, and have
patrols out all over the country. We have sent
two detachments to recover Azinghur, one by
Allygunge, the other from Guruckpore. That
country is one scene of pillage. We hung two
Sepoys of the 37th mutineers the night before last.
This part of the country is kept in perfect order,
but every one now knows that he will be hung for
one word of treason.'

" The Legislative Council have passed a law to-
day whereby
,summary powers over all deserters
aro given to the Leal authorities."

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

CAHIRCIVEEN, MONDAY MORNING.
The Niagara will this day finish taking in the
heavy portion of the cable intended to be attached
to the Valentia coast, which has to be unshipped
from the Agamemnon and transferred to the Nia-
gara in consequence of the starting points of the ex-
pedition being now from the Irish shore instead of
from mid-ocean. The entire squadron will sail
from Queenstown at six o'clock this evening, and is
expected to reach Douglas Bay in readiness to
commence operations to-morrow (Tuesday) morn-

ing.

His Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
and staff arrived at Killarney at half-past 1, on
their way to le present at the starting of the At-
lantic Cable Expedition to-morrow. The directors
and secretary of the company were in attendance to
receive his Exeellt,ney.
QUEENSTOWN, AUG. 3, 6.30 r. rd.
All the ships are now steaming out of the har-
bour for Valentia.

Mr. E. W. Cooke, the well known marine painter, is
on board the Agamemnon, with a view to sketch the
navel incidents of the voyage. Out of Mr. Cookers
sketches we may obtain some historical cartoons of high
pictorial and historical interest.

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