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

TJJ MUTINIES IN INDIA.

We copy from the Witness of Saturday the follow-
; intere3ting letter addressed to the Rev. Dr.
reedie, by Dr. Duff. It is dated from the 7th
the 2 Ati July, and gives us the following ac-
rid of the tragedy at Cawnpore
As Ciwnpore, one of the largest military stations
Northern India, a mutinous spirit had early
%,nifested itself among the native soldiery, and
Ire were no European troops whatever to keep
in check, except about fifty men who. had latterly
sn. sent by Sir Henry Lawrence from Luck-
,w. But there was one man there whose spirit,
argy, and fertility of resources, were equal to a
Inibcr 6f ordinary regiments—the brave and
ilful veteran Sir Hugh Wheeler. By his
,oni-shing -vigour and promptitude of action,
succeeded in keepingin abeyance the mutinous
'tit of three or four thousand armed men. At
sßme time, with the forecasting prudence of a
(so 4-4eacTal, he began to prepare timeously for
a worst, by forming a small entrenched camp, to
in Ai ltd 03, children, and other helpless persons,
tth pa ovisions, were removed, while most of the
ritish. officers took up their abode either in or
tar it.

At last the long-expected rising took place. The
lutineors went immediately to work, according
the prescribed plan followed in other quarters.
'ley broke open the jail and liberated the pri-
IHrs ; thy plundered the public treasury ; they
11 tg,ed and set fire to the bungalows of the officers
td other British residents—killing all indiscrimi-
itely who had not effected their escape to the en-
friched. camp,

There Sir 163 h and his small handful with un-
Annted courage held their position against the
Lost tremendous odds, repelling every attack of
thomands by whom they were surrounded,
tith heavy loss to the rebels. These were at last
Ailed by.thousands more of the mutineers, from
nitanpore, and other places in Oude, with guns.
he conflict now became terrific—exemplifying, on
he part of the British, the very spirit and deter-
lination of old Greece at Thermopylae. The soul
..f the brave old Chief, particular, only rose, by
be ac;uumlating pressure of difficulty, into gran-
'or heroism. To the lagd he maintained a hearty
heerfainess, declaring that he could hold out for
wo or three weeks against any numbare. A mys-
eriosis and over-ruling Providence, however, had
lecreed it otherwise ; the veteran warrior, whose
eery presme3 exhilarated and inspirited all around,
.t la t foil, mortally wounded, and with him also
.everal other of the subordinate leaders.

Wit'i the fall of the chief and some of his right-
.iald men, the remainder of the little band seem to
have been smitten with a sense of the utter hope-
leasne,s of prolonged resistance. They did not,
they could riot, know that relief was so near at
hand—that the gallant Colonel Neil, who had al-
reply saved Benares and the fortress of Allahabad
with his Madras Fusiliers, was within two or three
days' march of them. Had this been known to
th,,m, they would doubtle3s have striven to hold
nut during these two or three days, and, to all ap-
peArance, with success. But, ignorant of the ap-
proaching relief, and assailed by the cries and tears
of helpless women and children, they were induced
in an ova hour, to entertain the overtures made to
them by a man who had already been guilty of
tr.alhiry and murder.

This loan. was Nana Sahib, the adopted son of
the hte Bajae Row, the ex-Peishwa, or last head of
the Mahratta c3ofecleracy, who, for the long period
of nearly 40,years resided at Benares, enjoying the
munificent pension of 80,0001. a-year. This Nana
S Lliib was allowed by the bounty of the British Go-
vertimint to occupy a small fort at Bithoor, not far
fr oar Clawepore. Till within the last few months
this mtn was wont to profess the greatest delight
in European sscisty—to g,) out with British officers
on ing excursions, and to invite them to fetes
a hia r s deuce. And yet, tha moment that fortune
5q1111.4 to frown on European interests, he turns
round, • and, with Asiatic treachery, deliberately
Vans the destruction of the very men whom he had
so often, in the spirit of apparently cordial friend-
s ip, fe ed and fea,ted.

Oft Sunday the 28th June, this man, with con-
sum-nate hypocrisy, of his own accord sant over-
tures t-v
-our beleaguered countrymen—then. bereft
of t'itir heroic chieftain--swearing, " upon the
v. der of the Ganges, and all the oaths most binding
cut a Hindu, that if the garrison would trust to him
tt d surrender, the lives of all would be spared, and
t ley should b 3 put in boats and sent down to Ana-
l: ' Under the influence of . some infatuating
blindness, that garrison that might have possibly
held oat; till relief arrived was induced to trust iu
these oily professions, and surrender. Agreeably to
the terms of the treaty, they were put into boats,
wi. h provisions and other necessaries and comforts.
33 it in .rk the conduct of the perfidious fiend in
human form ! No sooner had aka boats reached
e middle of the river, than their sworn
()Lector gave himself a preconcerted signal,

I guns, -which had been hid for the purpose,
were opined upon them from the Cawnpore bank !
yea, and when our wretched countrymen tried to
tp:, by crossing to the Oude side of the river,
t!iop found that arrangements had been made there
too for their reception; for there, such of them as
Were en tbled to land were instantaneously cut to
) iecoi by cavalry that had been sent across for the
In a.; o-e. In this way nearly the whole party, ac-
cording to the Government report, consisting of
ever.l hundreds., mostly helple,is women and child-
en, were deitroyed ; such of the women and child-
ren a 3 were not kilted being reserved probably as
hostl",n s. Only one boat escaped, which was pur-
ivy d for miles ; and when overtaken, all in it were
t &ken back to the camp of the mutineers, and there
blot, or cruelly torn to pieces.