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

Dodeson, the Brigade-Major, rode up to the
cavalry, and called out, Your commander is dead;
follow me.' Immediately one of these troopers
fired on him, and the ball grazed his arm. Another
trooper—a loyal one—immediately turned on. the
rebel and cut him down, thus saving Captain
Dodgson'slife, as the rebel was rushing on him wish
his sword, and Captain Dolgson was fur the
momentdisable I. It was evident that while the 37th
was thoroughly mutinous there were loyal men among
the Sikhs and the cavalry, but in the strife it was im-
possible to distinguish them, astbey ws re mingled tc-
gether The rebel fire was, of course, retwned by the
European soldiers, and then the guns opened,
moviog down number of the mutineers. The
Europeans were a mere handful compared with
the native force arrayed against them, but
they had the advantage of having three guns,
while the others had only muskets. In such cir-
cumstances, the mutineers could rush at once on
the guns and capture them, but this is not the
native fashion. On the opening of the guns all the
rebels ran for shelter behind trees and huts, from
which they tried to keep up the contest, but soon
their only concern was to get entirsly beyond the
reach of the feared and hated white soldiers. The
heavy firing continued for nearly two hours, tut
skirmishing con; inued for several Lours longer.
How many of the mutineers perished it is
impossible to say, but it is certain that many
have fallen. Oa our side there were four killed and
21 wounded, of whom several are sure to die.
There were only 200 Europeans altogether, while
the number against them, including the mutinous
cavalry, was about 2,000.
in My house is out of can-
tonments, and tberefore the first place we were
less exposed than others. We bad just finished
dinner, about 5p.m., when our watchman rushed
into the house and exclaimed, 'Flee, Sahib, flee, the
regimen s have mutinied.' How he knew so so n I
do not know, fur by that time a shot had not been
fired. I suppose he had heard of the soldiers
gathering, thought there was to be mischief, awl
ran to tell us. He had just spoken when we heard
the sharp ratttle of the musketry, and then the
boom of the cannon. We thought it was full time
for us to move with our four children. The gari
was ordered, and according to a plan formerly ,
arranged, in the event of a d;sturbence, we bast-
' ened as fast as our horse could take us, to the
house of a Mr. Gordon, on the banks of the
Ganges, close to its principal ferry at Benares. As
that is a great th, roughfare, and it was possible
enough a party of mutineers might come that way,
it was deemed prudent to engage boats and
ferry ourselves out into the middle of the river till
news should reach us. Consequently the B verses,
Bailantynes, ourselves, and some others got out ou
the river, and awaited tidings with intense anxiety.
By this time the heavy firing had ceased, and the
rattle of the musketry was so irregular that it was
evident the battle was well-nigh over, but on what
side the victory was we did not know. The whole
city was covered with smoke, which led us to fear
there was an immense conflagration, but it turned
out there had been only a part of caetonoaents on
fire. At length we heard the authorities
were victorious. We returned -to Mr.
Gordon's house, intending to remain there
for the night, when Capt. Dodgson, notwithstand-
ing his wound, accompanied by several others, gal-
loped into the compound, and told us that, althoueh
the mutineers were routed, they were about in great
numbers, and that it was absolutely necessary for
safety to proceed to a large building called the
Mint, in the middle of cantonments, which was put
into a state of defence. Most providentially, at
that very time a party of English soldiers, 70in num-
ber, were reported as Laving arrived at the ghat'
(ferry), and so, escort AI by them and a small per-
, tion of the Irregular Cavalry who had remained
faithful, we proceeded to the Mint, wh, re we ar-
rived at midnight. What.• a scene of confusion and
tumult was there! All in front bands of Engli-h
soldiers, ready to act at a moment's notice; wen,
women, and children, high and low, huddled to-
gether, wondering at meeting together at such a
time and such a place, not knowing where they
were to throw themselves down for the night, and.
altogether looking qui.° bewildered. As to sleep,
that was out of the question. I felt drowsy fir a
few minutes between 3 and 4, when I heard one say
to another, Tne magistrate has been sent for.
The city is rising.' In answer to the demand for
aid, all the answer given to the head native magis-
trate in the city was, Do your be,t, we cannot
spare a 'man.' Rioting did break out in the ci.y,
but it was suppressed, and the city has since re-
mained astonishingly quiet.
" The sth (Friday) was, as you may suppose, a
day of intense excitement. No person ventured
beyond the compound of the Mint, except he were
heavily armed or strongly escorted.
The Mint had a most warlike appearance. The
place was bristling With arms. All round the
rooms there were rifles, sword, and other weapons.
At night I ventured to go from the Miet to the
barracks, with two friends, one of whom had
a revolver and another a rifle. My principal
object in going was to see a young man,
a son of Dr. Tweedie, of Edinburgh, who had
been wounded in the engagement oe the preceding
day. I found him in a wretched place, but not so
ill as I had been led to expect. I shall never
forget the scene at the hospital that night. The
men lying on little bedsteads, near enough just
to allow a person to pass between them, with
the most frightful wounds, some evidently suffer-
ing excruciating pain, and others nearly in-
sensible, was a sickening sight. Then, again, all
over the plain were bands of soldiers, looking at
the bodies of the slain, of which many had till
that time remained unremoved. The question now
was how we were to manage for the night. Some
had sight native bedsteads; and more had only
shakedowns. A number slept in the awfully
heated room, and others betook themselves to the
roof of the building in the open air. The latter was
our choice. None, of course, took off their day
clothing, for we were to sleep in public, as we had
been living in public. Rank was for a t;me obliged
to demean itself humbly. Our commissioner
slept with his family in a room on shake-
downs, with other families sleeping all around
them, and there from night to night they continue
to sleep. We got on tolerably well till the middle
of the night, when a dust storm came on. A num-
ber then went in, but the heat was so suffocating
inside that we remained out till the morning, and
then with dust we looked like chimney-sweeps.
" Thursday, June 11.—We have to-day ven-
tured to our home, and here we are in peace, and I
believe iu safety. Wo are so thankful and happy
to be iu our house again ; but we must not remain
here. For some time to come we expect to be re-
quired to sleep wi'hin the line of the English
pickets. This day week we were obliged to make
our hasty flight. What a memorable week it has
been ! A white face was before a positive advan-
tage ; since this outbreak has commenced it has
been a mark for the assassin.

TO THE EDITOR OF " THE TIMES."

Sir,—ln The Times of this morning is a le'.ter
from Mr. Fairbolme, containing an extract from a
communication from the Bombay Presidency, dated
the 23d of June, intimating that Delhi was known
at that date to have fallen. From the tenour of
the communication the writer is evidently a resi-
dent at Sattara, whom I should have little diffi-
culty in identifying, and communicated the state of
matters and rumours as believe 1 in at that di-be.
Sattara is 200 miles farther off from Delhi than
Bombay, from which I have loiters up to the de-
spatch of the mail on the Ist of J uly. The rumour
given by Mr. Fairholme, as fact-, prevailed a week
before, had by this time become exploded, and
Delhi certainly had not fallen up to the 26th of
June. Your own correspondent gives the most
full, accurate, and recent information on all these
subjects, and his letters, as far as they extend, are
infinitely more to be relied upon, both iu point of
correctness and recency than those of private
parties, not actually at the scene of action.
My own letters discountenance the idea of danger
and commotion around Bombay which are
a now
becoming prevalent in this country. pu
se-
curities had become affected from no distrust ino ur
i
credit, but from the belief that a 6 per cent. loan
So little fear was enter-
tained was ab oby i t
theto bem opened.oreenl
enlightened capitalists that th
West of India Canal Irrigation
_Company, who had
eothe
b y
completed their surveys, were only waiting for the
sanctionm e
nd ofed
authorities
hthoemßeomb-
ay
revenueof theoffi officers,
s arned-
mconeurredinby'kGovernment, to commence the con-
struction of a canal 90 miles in length. A body of
native merchants were equally eager to commence
the construction of a tide basin for cotton boats at
Bombay, on which they were ready to expend
50,000!. or 60,0001. The belief seemed to be that
private enterprise was at present more avbilab'e
for carrying on pubre works than it ever before had
I een, without any guarantee or other stimulant, or
any interference with the arrangements of the adm;-
nistration, if they could only get through with
their preliminary correspondence, through that
monstrous set of 'Circumlocution offices," which
stand in the way of progre,s in the East.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
GEOIi,GE BuIST,
Secretary to the Western India Irrigation
Company.
7, Sussex-place, New Kensington, Aug. 7.

ATTEMPTED StrlClDE.—Yesterday morning; a deter-
mined attempt at suicide was committed by Charles
Freeman, aged 21 years, who resided at Rose-street,
Long-acre, by swallowing a large quantity of laudanum.
He was conveyed to Charirg-cross Hospital, where. Mr.
Humphreys, house-surgeon, use 1 the stomacb•pump,
fortunately with success.