The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-01 00:00:00

GENERAL W HEELER.

Painful as the subject is, the following statement
With regard to the conduct of General Wheeler at
Cawnpore cannot be withheld. It is copied from the
Poona Observa of the 17th inst.
►'ye give the following with regret in one instance,
but with honourable pride and a public duty in the
other; regret for having to detract from the opinions
freely offered by most of the leading journals in India,
which were, that to the fate General Wheeler was attri-
buted the glory of being the leader of the heroic defenders
of Cawnpoie, when such was not the' case ; and pride in
having to perform a public duty to the memory of the
gllant Ache, Moore, and Halliday, in claiming for them
the glory of having been the most heroic of the immor-
tally gallant garrison of Cawnpore. We have recovered
two officers (Lieuts. Thompson and Delafosse of the 33d
N. I.), and two men of the Cawnpore garrison, and their
account of the sieve is most interesting. Their resistance
was marvel:ens, for the entrenchments were flimsy, and
the position most faulty. Upon flour alone 250 Euro-
pean soldiers, protecting 450 women and children, with-
stood a siege of 22 days, with only a few 9-pounder guns,
against an army and heavy batteries all around, and
would have held out longer had the provisions lasted.
General Wheeler did nothing, ,was never wounded early
in the siege, as was stated, and never took any active
part in the defence. He hardly ever showed himself
outside.the small barrack which sheltered almost all, and
never but once went out to the defences. The heroes of
this wonderful siege were Ashe (Artilers), Moore (32 3)
and Hailiday. They were amongst E ,glanai's most
glorious sons, and their names should ever be remem-
bered by all who respect great deed..
General Wheeler was killed in the boats, after
the surrender of Cawnpore.

• THE OAWNPORE MASSACRE.
The following is an extract of a letter from David
Tracy, Lance Corporal H. M.'s 84th, to a comrade
in Dum-Dum :
" Sanders (i.e. Lieut. Satders, H.M.'s 84th) was
brought before the Rajah Nana Sahib, he pulled out his
revolver, shot dead five of the guard, and missed the
Rajah with the sixth round, then they crucified him to the
ground ; the whole of the cavalry ch;,rged past him, and
every one of them had a cut at him ;, he was cut to
pieces by the whole of them. Then as soon as the
scoundrels lost the battle of Cawopore, they put to death
the whole of the women and children whom they had
imprisoned all together, in a house near where our camp
is at present. It would strike terror into the heart of
the devil himself to go into that house, where 230
poor women and childrirn were put to death in the most
cruel manner by them : the whole of their clAthing
was torn to pieces by them, even the hairs of the
head pulled out of the root, the heads and bodies
backed and mangled to atoms. They ' rest in a
large well in the same compound, which is formed
into a grave over them the whole of their clothing,
bloody, and their other little things, are lying there, at
the present time ; and when any of the aep,iys or any
other persons are caught that had anything to do with
the mutiny, they are brought to this building by the or-
ders of General Neal (Neill), and made to clean up a
portion of the blood of those so cruelly murdered, and
then hanged on the same spot, and any person that is
hanged is to remain so until eaten by the dogs and birds
of prey, and any person found taking them down is
served the same way by the authorities."--Englishman,
August 11.

•
CHINA.
(From the China Mail of Aug. 10.)
The melancholy state of affairs in India, with
Lord Elgin's departure for_Calcutt a, has annihilated
all hope, if any existed, of immediate adjustment
of the Canton question, and for many months to
come matters must remain in the present unsettled
and unsatisfactory condition ; while even the little
traffic that has been Ppringing up in Hong Kong
will probably be put a summary end to by the
blockade of the Canton river, which'Admiral Sey-
mour has deemed it necessary, for the protection of
British interests, to proclaim, and which will
doubtless be rigidly enforced.
A-lum, the Laker, after a confinement of six
months, has been at length liberated,—we presume
under express injunctions from the home govern-
ment.

Letters from the River describe the fleet there as
pretty 11.-althy, though the Niger and Cruiser had
suffered somewhat from fever ; and the Esk and
Sanspareil from ophthalmia. Orders to blockade
the port were communicated to the fleet on the
evening of the 6th.
The transport ships Neleus and Moresfoort have
arrived, bringing four companies of the Royal Ar-
tillery, numbering in all 520 officers and men and
the Admiral with the Royal Engineers, may be
hourly looked for. The Sampson is reported under
oi..d*Srs for Calcutta, with the Artillerymen just ar-
rived.
At Macao, some business in silk and tea has been
doing. , The Kate Cleather is taking a full cargo of
tea for London.
At Amoy trade was improving. Sales are reported
of cotton, yarn, shirtings, &0., at good prices. Fo-
reign rice had fallen considerably, and the native
crops promised to be plentiful. Considerable quan-
tities of teas had found buyers, though at highp ices.
From Fuhchau the news is, that the rebels had
retreated or been dispersed—more likely the for-
mer. Trade was brisk, and large purchases had been
made of teas, amounting to about 32,000 chests and
about 47,L0U half-chests of all kinds. The Patna,
Fiery Cross, North Wind, Hanover, and Spirit of
the Age, were loading for Great Britain.
The North China Herald announces the appre-
hension of the pirate Soeiro. ,
Provisions were becoming very scarce at Ningpoo
—rice wris dear, wheat not to be had, and pease
only at a very high pike.
The following intimation of an intention to levy
additional imposts on tea and silk has been posted
at the Custom-houses, and the foreign consuls have
had a correspondence with the Chinese authorities
on the subject, and appealed again 4 such an in-
crease of the export duties, but without success
" A PROCLAMATION.
" WANG, GRAIN INTENDANT. AND SUPERINTENDENT FOR
THE ESTABLISHING OF THE SHANGRAR DUTIES AND
CONTRIBUTIONS ; CHA, EXPECTANT COBIMISSIONER OF
FINANCES • AND LAN, INTENDANT OF THE SoOTUNG
AND TAR CIRCUIT, ISSUE THE FOLLOWING PERSPICUOUS
PROCLAMATION.
" Whereas I, the Grain Intendant, have received Im-
perial commands to arrange the various contributions of
Shanghae. The Hoockow silks and the black and green
teas already pay in Chekeang an increased subscription,
but the subscriptions of Shanghae have beenhitherto
short. I therefore gave orders to a special officer, in
concert with the merchants' representatives, to consult
together, for the purpose of making certain defined
increases of the subecripthins ; and then give me a reply
of the result of their c insultatioras.
"Besides the regulations formerly established, which
will still be acted upon, the money co,lected and sent to
the treasury, other contributions have now besn decided
upon, which will, on the Ist of the 6th moon, come into
operation ; and according to the new system the contri-
butions will be collected. It is consequently proper to
issue a proclamation for guidance.
." We, therefore, issue this proclamation to you, the
silk and tea merchants, for your information. You must
all act according to the new annexed list of increased
payments ; when you again pass the Custom-house you
must pay the contributions according to the annexed
list ; and as soon as a considerable amount has been
gathered, it will be sent to the treasury to help in pay-
ing the m litary. Should people dare to be disrespect.
ful, and be determined to adhere to the former system,
he obstinate and delay payment, the officers in charge,
is concert with the local authorities, will arrest and
punish them. Should the clerks and servants of the