The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-09 00:00:00

LONDON; WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBFJ 9, 1857.

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

(From a Correspondent of the Nonconformist)

The following letter has just been received
from the Rev. J. Gregson, who, as our readers will
remember,- is acting as chaplain to General Have-
lock's forces at Cawnpore
" eawnpore, Oct. 17.
" The mutiny has by no means been suppressed,
though its aspect has been considerably altered by
the fate-of Delhi. That place is now entirely in
our hands ; but it was, at the last accounts, com-
pletely deserted by the natives. Gen. Wilson holds
it with a considerable number of troops, and is, I
believe, reducing to order the surrounding dis-
tricts. He despatched a large force of 3,000 men, in-
cluding two batteries of horse artillery, and 700 ca-
valry, as a pursuing column under Col. Greatbed.
This force has retaken. Allygurgh, inflicting se-
vere loss upon the rebels, and bas just had a
most decisive engagement at Agra with the Nee-
much, 'adore, and Dholepore mutineers. These
rebels, estimated at 7,000, with a large number of
guns, some very heavy calibre, had for several
weeks remained within a few marches of Agra, un-
decided what course to pursue. At last it was
known they had determined to march against Agra.
Colonel Fraser, in command there, at once sent
urgent requests to. Colonel Greathed to come by
forced marches to his succour. The latter at
once complied. His cavalry and artillery
reached Agra on the 9th, and the remainder of
his forces, consisting of about 2,000 infantry,
reached the Agri cantonments on the morning of
the 10th, wearied, with a march of 30 or 40 miles
within twenty-four hours. No one knew the enemy
were so near, and the men had just taken their
breakfast, and were enjoying a little repose, when
their composure was disturbed by the abrupt and
unceremonious intrusion of a 24-pound shot, and
almost before they could turn round a body of
cavalry began to cut up a few of their outsiders. It
was now the enemy i tutn to be surprised. He
thought I e had only a few militiamen to deal with,
who would fall an easy prey into his hands, and
knew nothing of the arrival of Greathed's force.
He soon sa a his mistake ; our men, though taken
unawares, were quickly ready, and not five shots
had been fired before our artillery responded. The
enemy made only a brief resistance—but he was
hemmed in. Our troops formed, as it were, the base
of an isosceles triangle, of which the other two sides
were rivers. Towards these rivers the enemy was in-
evitably driven. Our horse artillery was too quick
for their bullock-drawn guns, and our cavalry
played sad havoc with their scattered and retreating
columns. Gun after gun was captured, baggage
was hastily abandoned, and the result was a com-
plete and decisive victory, with the loss of only
three or four killed, and a few wounded, on our
side. All the guns of the enemy (13 in number),
baggage, &c., were captured, and the whole force
most completely destroyed or dispersed. This vic-
tory, it is hoped, will have a most salutary influence
in many quarters.

"At the same time, there is no concealing that
very much remains to be done. The country, for
hundreds of miles, is swarming with rebels. Large
bodies of revolted troops are roaming the country,
plundering villagers, and extorting money from the
wealthy. Multitudes, no doubt, are beginning to
feel the hopelessness of their course, and are
thoroughly sick of their unsettled, wandering life.
And had our authorities been less liberal at first in
their acts of conciliation, and less profuse in their
offers of pardon to the rebels, when they had no
power to punish, some concession, in certain dis-
tricts, might now be made with good
effect. The rebels know tolerably well their
strength ; and when we were powerless, all our
concessions were laughed at witb supreme contempt,
and looked upon as an acknowledgment of our
weakness. Now, in many districts, where the
rebels feel themselves thoroughly beaten, some act
of clemency might induce manyof them t o lay down
their arms, who will otherwise continue to fight
against us from mere desperation.
" Our force at Lucknow is as completely shut up
as was the garrison before the arrival of Sir James
Outram. We have a good military position at
the Alum Bagh, two miles on this side of the city,
with which we have no difficulty in communicat-
ing. A force of 700 men is there'• at present,
with the baggage, a few guns, and a number of sick
and wounded. But the city is still swarming with
rebels ; and the communicatie a betwixt Alumbagh
and Sir James Outram—who is on the other side
of Lucknow—now can only be carried on by
means of small, closely-written communications
conveyed in the end of a quill, and swallowed,
if needful, to escape detection. Still we
have every reason to believe all is well w•th Sir
James Outram and his party. Two days
ago, a list of the survivors of the original garrison
a, rived, and a most lengthy and cheering list it is.
Very few of the officers have perished, and scarcely
any of the non-combatants. The list has most
agreeably Burp, iced and delighted every one. Again
native rumour here speaks most favourably of Sir
J. Outram's progress in the reduction of the city.
It is generally credited that he was successful in
taking a j tinge, or market, well stored with grain, and
it is known they had plenty of beef before his
arrival. This is a great matter, as at present it is
impossible to send them supplies. But what is most
decisive is that Maun Singh, the leader of the rebels,
is trying to negotiate. A vakeel, or agent, came
here with letters from him only this morning, and he
is very anxious to come to terms of peace, provided
his own interests are secured. He says he wants
to treat with General Outram, but cannot send any
one to the entrenchment as his messengers are
shot down immediately. He professes himself
willing to give up the contest if his own interests
are secured. - Ho was told to withdraw his troops
to a distance of five miles from Lucknow, and that
then his message would be received. This I
scarcely expect he will do. - It is believed the
enemy is short of ammunition. They can obtain
any quantity of saltpetre in Oude, but their sulphur
is exhausted, and what little remains has been
selling at most fabulous prices. Sir J. Outram has
no intention of relinquishing Lucknow at present ;
he could probably fight his way through the city
back again, but it would be at great loss ; and as he
can hold on he will wait till succours arrive. Very
urgent entreaties had been sent for Colonel Great-
hed's column to come to his relief, but the neces-
sities of Agra rendered it impossible. Still, a
column is very likely to be despatched from that
quarter. We are also sec ri g daily rein forcemen' s,
and as the first instalment of the troops from Eng-
land arrived a week ago in Calcutta, we may ex-
pect soon to have a large force here to go to his
relief. Oude is now looked upon as the scene of
the decisive conflict, but I scarcely think it will be
very protracted or severe. The great probability
is that the mutineers will disperse over the country'
in small bands, and unsettle the land for years to
come by their rapine and brigandage.
" At' Cawnpore we continue quiet, though large
bodies of men are known to be wandering about at
a distance of not many miles. The country below
us is becoming much disturbed. Renah, which
adjoins the Mirzapore district, has risen. The
Rajah, who has throughout been a most steady
friend to the British Government, and used his
utmost eff, its to keep in order his disaffected
troops, has been obliged to flee, and his people
have risen. Swarms of the Oude people are said
to be making for Gazegunge, between Benares and
Allahabad, and others from the same place are
threatening Azimgurgh and Jaunpore. The lloab
and Rohilcund are still revelling in the unchecked
freedom of their self-asserted liberty.
" We cannot help acknowledging the good hand
of God in his protecting care over Europeans
throughout this rebellion. In how many cases does
it seem as if he had poured confusion into the-
counsels of our enemies, restraining them from
action when they could have injured us, and leaving
them to a folly which invites their certain destruc-
tion. ' This was specially the case at Agra For
weeks the rebels were inactive. The moment they
acted we were ready for them. There are multi
tudes of other instances not less striking. I think
the worst is over. For years the country will be
agitated, but I believe the British Gbvernment
will rest upon a firmer and more equitable basis
than ever.

" P.S.---I forgot to say that most important
documents have been found in the palace, impli-
cating not only the King of Delhi and his family,
but also very many of the allied states of our Indian
empire. But no treasonable correspondence of a
date anterior to the Meerut insurrection has come
to light. The Meerut outbreak atm the capture of
Delhi by the rebels appear to have been a tempta-
tion to aspire at dominion which the King of Delhi
had not the prudence or the courage to withstand.
" October 21st.
" There appear to be exceedingly plain indica-
tions that now the great conflict must take place in
Oude. Lucknow is swarming with rebels, and in-
telligence is being continually conveyed to us here
of large bodies of men crossing over to swell the
ranks of the already countless hosts of the insur-
gents. The only compact body of• fugitives from
Delhi were making to 01085 the river into Oude,

about 20 miles above us, and last Sunday an expe-'
dition 600 strong, under Col. Wilson, weft to in-
tercept them. The expedition failed. The rebels
swarmed the shore and had only two boats to cross
in. Owing to the badness of the roads and the
weakness of the bul:ocks, the guns could not be
brought to bear ; but it was discovered that the
rebels were only about three miles di-tant,
and were in a position to render them incapable of
offering any formidable resistance.- The venerable
colonel, who has seen, I believe, upwards of fifty
years' service, did not think it prudent to detach
any of his troops to attack them, so they were al-
lowed quietly and at their leisure to join their
brethren in arms before Lucknow.. Other fugi-
tives in Lucknow and large bodies are continually
crossing over in the wane direction, and in conse-
quence a very large tract of country ar. and Agra is
now being rapidly brought under our rule again. ,
The Gwalior Contingent "still occupies a most
anomalous position.. Thiy have refused to obey
orders, and committed other acts of mutiny ; but
they still remain in Gwalior, and have not yet taken
up arms either against their own Rajah or our.
selves. They have possession, it is said, of forty
cannon, and number 7,000 men, and they may
come yet to Cawnpore, which is little more than
100 miles distant. Nothing is more striking, or
seems more to point out the finger of God iu these
mutinies, than the vacillation and folly of many
bodies of the rebels. When they could h Nre struck
a severe and telling blow they did nothing but plot
and scheme, and when their chance was gone, they
madly rushed into the jaws of destruction. When
Agra was defenceless they remained ivactive.for
weeks, and came down at the very moment Great-
hed's force from Delhi was ready to destroy them.
So there is every probability of its being the case
with this Gwalior Contingent. Their day is gone
by, and if they do not stir it is likely to be at their
own cost.

" Oui solicit I ) was chiefly centred in oad The
garrison has held out bravely, end its relief by Gen.
Havelock was very timely. Still, in one way, the
relief has been a disadvantage. It has increased the
consumption of food, without adding to their means
of procuring it, and, as they were previously fast
coming to the end of their stores, serious apprehen-
sions are occasionally felt on their behalf. Still I
believe in the communications which came from Sir
J. Outram (whose wounds must be nearly healed),
little or nothing is said of scarcity of provisions—
though I do know he has urgently requested that
Greathead's column might come to his assistance,
and it is now on its way to Cawnpore. This column
has been very hard worked since leaving Delhi,
and after the battle of Agra, on the 10th inst., it
rested two days, 11th and 12-h. On the 13th it
tressed the river, and on the 14th marched for this
place. It may
3e expected to reach here in five or
six days at the latest, and there is little fear of its
teaching Lucknow before any serious disaster has
happened to Sir J. Outram. It will reflect great
lustre upon Sir John Lawrence if this column
should, after all, relieve Lucknow. Through his
masterly administration of the Punjaub, not only
was his own territory kept in peace, but he has
also been able to raise more levies of troops, with-
out which Delhi could not have ben taken, and,
in all probability, Agra not saved. The relief of
Lucknow will be a fine climax to these brilliant
achievements—especially seeing that all bas been
done before a single soldier from England could
reach the scene of conflict. The admiration of Sir J.
Lawrence throughout India is intense, and I believe
the general impression is, that nothing less than a
kandsome pension and a peerage will be an adequate
acknowledgment of his services.
"The relief of Lucknow garrison by General
Havelock was obtained at an immense cost. Out
of a force of % 200 actually engaged, 250 were killed,
including 16 officers, and 700 wounded, giving a
total of 95U oat of 2,200 engaged. We hear fight-
ing is going on daily there now. Troops are now
beginning to arrive from England. Still it will
take a long time to get them up here, a distance of
620 miles. The steamers take nearly four weeks to
reach Allahabad, and nearly another fortnight will
be lost in marching here. By bullock-train, ar-
rangements have been made to despatch 150 men
daily from Calcutta, but they will be a fortnight or
three weeks in coming up, and must then travel
night and day. By horse, dawb, and coach, ar-
rangements have been made for about fifty to come
up daily, and they may reach in five days. Many
weeks must consequently elapse before we can ex-
pect to have a large army here.

wreckers on the barbarous coasts do upon hur-
ricanes and their consequent disasters at sea: We
have here a little more modesty, and the greed of
gain is not paraded quite F o nakedly as on the
other side of the Atlantic, but still there is reason
to believe—indeei one witness before the com-
mittee of last session spoke strongly to the fact—
that upon more than one occasion powerful
moneyed men in this country have operated system-
atically with a view to producing violent sensations
of alarm in the public mind, and thereby bringing
to pass a monetary pressure and distre4s, out of
which they might subsequently realise large profits.
But, then, it is said this disturbance of credit and
pressure ought to have been permitted to progress
till it had reached its-utmost limit, and it ought to
.have been allowed to ran its career of destruction
till there was nothing left to destroy. This course,
it is contended, would have purified the atmosphere
of the commercial world. It-would indeed. The
Act of 1844, left to fulfil its mission, would have
made elbow-room for itself much as _Robespierre,
the incorruptible, did. I would be as reasonable
to burn down the City of London in order to get'
rid of some dozen dirty courts or alleys and a few
" flash cribs."

We perceive, of course—every persDn n)t obsti-
nately blindmust perceive—that therehaveprevailed
to a con siderable extent, very-unjustifiable modes of
dealing with money and with credit; but the remedy
suggested by the advocates of the act, pure and sim-
ple, is far too costly for us to recommend its appli-
cation. It has been sneeringly said—Why do not
those who ol.ject to the act propose a beher ? In
good time we may ' • but let us first agree upon the
precise nature of the problem with which we a, e
deeding. The question Las been: treated generally
hitherto as a question of currency. Wersay the
question properly before us is not of that character.
It is the system of banking, and of the management
and regulation of credit that has produced our diffi-
culties, and we turn to the Bank Act of 1844, not
because we find a note circulation, issuing from it,
in deficiency or in excess as measured by the wants
of the people, but we turn to it because we find it,
in all periods of commercial distress or monetary
pressure, from whatever causes arising, intervening
with a most baneful influence—crushing the feet ,le
in the ruin, upsetting the steady, staggering the
strong, and producing a state of mind, not only
here, but all over the world, that brings the
soundest enterprise to a check, and take') the bread
of life out of the mouths of thousands and tens of
thousands of hard-working men, women, and chil-
dren. And for what 7 To vindicate a theory. The
act has not succeeded in making panic compara-
tively innocuous by spreading its diluted effects
over a large space of time. Sir Robert Peel ac-
knowledged that in 1847. We see now that it is
inoperative, absolutely at least for good, when spe-
culation is growing into mischievous dimensions
that, powerful to punish, it is powerless to prevent,
and that even its power of retribution it exercises so
blindly, and indiscriminately pulling up the wheat
with the tares, that everybody is agreed that par
tial justice is too dearly bought by universal ruin.
There remains the security for the convertibility of
the bank-note. Much stress is laid upon this point.
We confess we do not perceive, nor do we observe
that it has been shown, how the Act of 1844 se-
cures the convertibility of the note better than, or
even so well, as the act of 1819. It has endangered
it on two occasions within 12 years. Will anybody
contend that the Bank could have met its liabilitits
if the Government Letter had not been issued ?
They would have sold their securities. That is said.
Will anybody tell us what would have happened if
the Bank bad been driven to such an extremity as
throwing their securities upon the market; will
anybody contend that cash payments, under such
circumstances, could have continued f
Let Parliament then take, without hesitation,
the course clearly pointed out by all the trials to
which this act has been exposed ; let us return to
the principles of the act of 1819, and let a commit-
tee be appointed to investigate promptly the cir-
cumstances of that enormous supplemental paper
circulation represented by bills, and resting upon
credit, and to obtain thorough information with re-
gard to the character and management of our joint-
stock banks.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE,

His Royal Highness the General Commanding-
in-Chief will hold a levee on Saturday next, at
2 o'clock.

Her Majesty's steam-sloop Heron, 16, Comman-
der Chads, arrived at Spithead yesterday from the
eastward, to await further orders.
Her Majesty's sailing corvette Juno, 26, Capt.
Fremantle, will be paid off this day at Portsmouth.
A report is current in naval circles that when the
expected Channel squadron is ordered to assemble,
Rear-Admiral Codrington will have the command.
The Cuckoo, 3, paddle steamer.—lt has been as-
certained by the navy diver that there is no dun-
age done to the vessel except some of the copper
being rubbed off. It is settled to tow her to Sheer-
ness for the purpose of docking her at once. At
six p.m. yesterday she was hauled into the middle
of the river, and will be towed away on to-day's
tide.

The Racoon, 21, screw steamer, Captain J. A.
Paynter, and the Calypso, 18, apt. F. B. Mon•
tresor, fitting for sea at Chatham, are being made
ready with all despatch, and are both expected to
be fit for sea on the 26th inst.

Instructions were yesterday issued to the respec-
tive authorities of her Majesty's dockyards, order-
ing the whole of the Royal dockyard brigades to be
forthwith disbanded. The clothing and accoutre-
ments belonging to the battalions are consequently
to 1,),3 called in, the Lords of the Admiralty having
considered that the large amount of expenditure
incurred in maintaining the staff of officers and
men composing the brigades does not render a com-
pensative return ; and there being no apparent
prospect of their services being at present required,
and considering that the time taken up in exercises,
may be otherwise employed, their Lordships desire
that arrangements may be made for the reduction
to be carried out as soon as may be practicable as
regards the stores, arms, instruments, Jrc., in their
charge and custody.
A court of inquiry, at which Commander Old-
field, R.N., presided, assembled on board her
Majesty's steam storeship Rhadamanthus on Satur-
day last, for the purpose of examining into the
came of the fire which occurred on board that vessel
at Woolwich immediately after her arrival on the
preceding evening. The proceedings necessary to
the inquiry extended over that day and the follow-
ing Monday, when a careful examination of the
engineers and others connected with that depart-
ment, and an inspection of the machinery,
led to the conviction that the accident was
solely attributable to the foul state of the boiler
tubes, occasioned by the inferior quality of the fuel
provided—viz., a mixture of Scotch and Welsh
coals. The tubes, although examined and cleansed
on the vessel's arrival in the Downs, were found
choked up with bituminous soot, produced by the
nature of the fuel. It appeared that after the fires
were raked out from beneath the furnaces the body
of soot collected in the tubes burnt with sufficient
force to render them red-hot and ignite the casing.
No blame is, consequently, attached to any person,
the accident having been, under existing circum-
stances, clearly unavoidable. The Rhadamanthus,
according to previois regulations, is ordered to be
paid off on the 15th inst.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :
Lieutenant J. S. Tonkin, to the Excellent ; H.
S. Mandeville, mate, to the Lynx ; Charles T. S.
Kevern, surgeon, to the Cornwallis ; Wm. Roche,
assistant-surgeon to the Naiad ; Adolph E. Parks,
second master to the Dasher ; and Philip Syoret,
second master, to the Sharpshooter.