The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-29 00:00:00

r-At
11 $7ll NEWS.

CAPTURE OF DELHI.

THE BOMBAY MAIL•

In addition to the Calcutta Mail, the contents of
which we published in an early second edition yes_
terday, we (Times) have now received our private
correspondence and papers from Bombay to the 3d
of October.
The following is the letter of our Bombay corre-
spondent, which gives the particulars of the fall of
Delhi and the usual summary of events since the
departure of the last mail :
_ _

" BOMBAY, OCT. 3.
"At length I am enabled to announce to you the
fall of the revolted4capital of North-Western India,
or if that appellation be not strictly correct, of the
ancient chief city of the Mogul emilre, in which a
faithless soldiery had sought to re-erect the inde-
pendent throne of the descendant of Reber. Delhi
is once more in possession of the British. Our in-
formation at present is more scanty than could be
desired, owing partly to the dawk communication
being unluckily intercepted between Bahore and
Mooltan. But the main facts have reached us from
so many quarters as to leave no doubt whatever
that the place was assaulted with success on the 14th
of Sept., when a permanent lodgment was effected,
that during the Lur or five following days further
advances and acquisitions on the city were made,
and that finally on the 20th the whole of the space
enclosedwithin the walls was in our possession. I
should observe, however, that we have not received
as yet such certain evidence of the truth of the lat-
ter part of this story as of that of the forme. The
proceedings of the 14th, 15th, and 16th are known
to us, however, compendiously from the official
bulletins issued by the Chief Commissioner at La-
hore, aaad. founded, as you know, cn telegraphic
messages fiora Delhi. But of the final occupation
on the 20th we have only heard by an express from
the Residency at Jeypore in Rajpootana, which
reached • Lord Elphinstone by way of Ahmeda-
bad. yesterday. It is dated at Jeypore on the
evening' of the 23d, and it is to the effect that
the news had just been received at the Residency,
both from the Rajah and also from the Vakeel or
Minister of the Nawab of Jhujjur, to whom it may
be presumed to have been forwarded by his master,
a chief resident in the immediate neighbourhood of
Delhi. Thus the tidings of our ultimate and com-
plete success rest at present on native authority
only, but, as the natural sequel and complement of
our undoubted triumph of the 14th, they are uni-
versally credited.
" But to complete, so far as my present materials
will allow, the story of the avenging army. When
I closed my last letter we had heard that the heavy
siege train was expected to reach the camp in a very
few days, and that works were being erected wherein
to mount the guns on their arrival. While the
troops were thus busy, the enemy was inactive.
There were none of those desperate sallies from the
city that characterised- the early days of the sie&e,
when day by day successive waves of mutiny were
shattered against the heights of the British posi-
tion; and though their artillery was not silent the
only success attained was on the night of the Ist of
Sept., when a shell from the battery on the further
side of the river (of which I wrote in my last) burst
among a picket of the 61st, in front of the Metcalfe-
house, killing two men and wounding seven.. On
the morning of the 4th arrived in camp the long
looked-for siege train of between 30 and 40 heavy
guns, howitzers, and mortars, with large quantities
of ammunition, escorted by the remaining wing of
the Bth Foot, two more companies of the 61st, and
a wing of the Ist Belooch battalion of the Bombay
Army. On the 6.h came in from Meerut a most
valuable reinforcement in 200 of the 60th Rifles
and 100 Artillery recruits. To the latter were
added 45 men of the 9th Lancers. The place of
this detachment was supplied at Meerut by the 7th
Punjaub Infantry. On the following day the army
was further strengthened by the 4th Punjaull
Rifles under Captain Wilde, and by Ronan troops of
the Jheend Rajah. On the night of the 7th the
advanced batteries intended for the destruction of
the Moree bastion and the adjacent curtain were
armed with 10 heavy guns at about 650 yards from
the bastion, and an enclosure within hallthat dis-
tance of the walls, called the Koodsea Bagh, was
occupied by a detachment of infantry and artillery.
In these operations we sustained a loss of some-
thing under 50 killed and wounded, two officers
being among the form'er, Lieuts. Hildebrand, of
the Bengal Artillery, and Bannerman, of the Bom-
bay Fusiliers, attached to the Beelochees, the latter
a promising young officer, well known to myself
and to many people here, and 'by all regretted.
The next day was marked by the opening of the
advanced batteries on the Moree bastion and by
the arrival in camp of the Jummoo or Cashmere
Contingent. Meanwhile the engineers were hard
at work in the erection of other batteries. On the
11th a mortar battery opened on the Mores from
the Koodsea Bagh at little more than 300 yards,
and upon the Cashmere and Water bastions a fire
was commenced from 16 heavy guns and howitzer 3
and 10 large mortars, planted at two points in
front of the enclosure known as Ludlow Castle, and
so noted in Wyld's map. On the 12th, the attack
on the Water bastion was strengthened by four
18-pounders and two light (51 inch) mortars (in-
creased afterwards apparently to eight of the for-
mer, and 12 of the latter), planted at 200 and 250
yards from the wall and the Custom-house com-
pound near the river. The fire of the enemy was
most severe upon the last-named batteries, which
were exposed not only to the guns of the Water
bastion, but to those in the old inner fort of Se-
limghur, and also to those on the other side of the
river. Here Capt. Fagan, of the Artillery, described
as a most enterprising and excellent officer, fell,
shot through the head. No other fatal casualty oc-
-eurred among the officers during these days, nor
:does the general loss appear to have been severe,
. considering the proximity of the batteries to the
walls and the tenacity of the defence, the enemy
'keeping up a vigorous fire of musketry from rifle-
pits and patches of jungle, even after their heavy
. guns were rendered unserviceable. This latter re-
milt was rapidly produced by the precision and
weight of the constant discharges from our bat-
teries. By the 13th, the Cashmere bastion was in
ruins, and had long ceased to return a shot to the

fire that was continually kept upon it. Thu ad-
, joining curtains on either side were similarly mine 3,
and from the debris of the Moree bastion only a
- light gun or two at intervals replied to the
heavy shot and- shell that were poured into it. At
: the other end of the works the Water bastion had
-ilitiffered scarcely less severely, its extreme maga-
. ~
..-T4ine was blown up, and a light gun which enfiladed
a'our batteries had been silenced. And now, the
‘..rnornent for the assault drawing near, Gener 1
. Wilson promulgated the following exc3llen t
-- order %--
" 'The forts assembled before Delhi hag h-el
- much hardshi
Gheein this Pc and f.tigue ti undergo since it{
cheerfuiiy
b,,rnelinbp, all of which has been nr: st;
i 3, now drawing neya otli,:ers and men. The tine
trusts
when the Major-General corn-
: mantling the force
teust: that. their labours will be
paate wardede by
over, and they
the city for all ti!eir
and for a cheer-
the capture i f
fill endurance of stll gteatleer. tfiuns.
quired tat quo and exposur,..
. 0? the and
t taesrailelat antli
engmeers in the erection
,
and in daily ixposur t
_ trenches, to the
covering parties. I.un, i:s
and which they have so t
f• "'Tie Artillery will have even h• 1 eiril'an regarding whose safety fairs were enter-
'ir er woil,-, `7
than they yet have had, tamed, hive been pressrvedbyanative, one Haldeo
, Budaon, and M
... well and cheerfully performed bithetto ; this, Low- Bultsh of Dhurruapore, and by him forwarded to
and when T
e..: ever, .will be for a short period. only,
Cawnpore. hey are Mr. Edwards, collector of
-t- orteied to the assault the MlJ.er-Genertt ce,ii
1 with his wife
Y peans are said
2""*snred British pluck and determination will carry Ir. Probyn, coil ctpr of Futteghur,
4..1 • • at the Vood.th'rst
" Iteuardin
-;,,i g4.iytkingp,lore them, and that . , and children. Several other Euro-
- Mitit dikurderous mutineers against whom they era hiding in the neighbourhood.
'''‘'.l,,,.,aitst e wdl be driven headlong outof their strong-
to give 'you sogt:?.vba:euinnrpere an d Lucknow I am unable
Sept,Ou2tr,
" - ~,,ufte be exterminated ; but to enable them to do able an account as a fortnight
"'''', 1" warns the troops to the hbsolute necessity ago I, with reason
of keeping
together and not straggling from their should be able to do.
as I. thought, • •
Gen: anticipated that I
atrno ,
whichyou will a
fo
member, in his letter of
re-
columns--byiscsuccess only_ be ITOCUred.
Ni" , Major-General Nilson need hardly remind : red in my last, expressed a hope that
the troops of the cruel murders committed on their he should get
officers and comrades, as over the distance between Allaletbad
well ts their wives and(where he
children, to move them in No was at the time writing) and Cawnpore by the 9th.
the deadly struggle.
quarter should be given th toln this hope he was however disappointed. Pro-
_ 0 mutineers; at the