The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-19 00:00:00

Vbitb -ISbitio_n

When we took Delhi in 1803, the outer wall was
in (.4-very ruinous state, without any flanking de-
fences further than small round hasticns placed at
intervals. The ditch was imperfect ; there was no
glacis, and the ground outside was covered up to
the very walls with ruins of streets, tombs, and
mosques, and was, besides, intersected and out up
with ravines. Yet even thus, as we have said, a
small body of our native troops was able, in 1804,
to repel all the attacks of JeswantßaoHolkar, with
a victorious army of 70,000 men.
The scheme for the improvement of the fortifica-
tions was entrusted to Captain George Hutchin-
son, of the Bengal Engineers, who was succeeded
by Captain Robert Smith, of the same corps, and
under these two officers Delhi was placed in the
situation with egard to works in which it now
stands. Capt. Hutchinson determined on e,tablish-
hag a series of bastions, with faces and flanks as usual
Jong the whole of the enceinte, the b stierts to
be mounted with heavy artillery. He re-
paired the old walls, and for the purpose of pre-
venting escalade protected them, eapeeially on
;he river face, by fraise, or be tins, the sharp ends
of which were pointed at an acute angle down-
ward into to the ditch. The ditch was cleated
out, repaired, and deepened, especially on the south
side, where the wall rested on rock. A was
formed to cover in some degree the scarp of the
wall ; the ground outside was cleared of houses and
ruins, the ravines were filled in, so that the works
were rendered proof against wild plundering hordes,
or indeed any force whatever unaccompanied by
heavy artillery. At the same time Captain Hut-
chinson was strengthening the defences against at-
tack from without, he made preparations also against
a rise of the inhabitants, which at that time ap-
peared a probable event. To meet this danger he
erected along the line of wail a series of detached
Martell° towers, entirely separate from the walls,
and accessible from them only by a drawbridge.
Each tower was to have a gun mounted on a pivot,
so that in the event of a rise in the city, artillery-
men might take possession of the towers, raise the
draw-bridges, and pourshot into the town from the
whole circle of the enceinte. The Muhammadan
College, or Madrisah, at the Ajnair Gate, was pro-
tected by an outwork, and the gateways of the city
were strengthened by the usual defences in regular
fortification. The Kashmir Gate, on the north,
;rem which runs the road to cantonments, was •
formed into a place of arms, in which was the guard-
house, &c. It was in the enclosure of this gate
that several of the officers were killed in the late
massacre. We have before stated that Lord
Auckland, in 1838, recommended extensive re-
pairs, and in particular of the Wellesley Bas-
tion, which was, in fact, entirely reconstructed.
It appears that he also suggested the erection of
a citadel, though the palace may itself be regarded
as one, being surrounded with a ditch, and Laving
walls of great height, built of red sandstone, and
pierced for matchlocks. The river face of the
palace constitutes the defence of the city on that
side. It is a curious fact the custom-house, built
by a medical officer on the glacis near the river on
the north of the city, was sold to the Government
as a treasury—outside the walls ! The engineer
officer, Colonel Robert Smith, was unable to get
rid of the building. He psinted. out the absurdity
of its position, and the embarrassment which it
caused him in his plan of defence ; but although
thousands had been spent in removing houses and
bazaars, and in clearing the esplanade round the
walls, this great building was allowed to remain
with all its offices. It was used first as a treasury,
and afterwards as a customhouse, and with its
garden and enclosures is doubtleis now in the
hands of the rebels.
We will now turn to the position of the besieged
as regards water and supplies. The population of
Delhi has been variously computed, hut we shall
perhaps not be far wrong in reckoning it at 180,000 ;
and the influx of troops and of people from the
surrounding villages will probably have compensa-
ted for the numbers killed in the late conflicts, and
for those who have carried off their property to
morn secure localities. There are considerable
supplies of grain kept up by the grain merchants of
the city, but little fodder for horses is procurable.
For a lengthened siege the supplies within the city
would be insufficient, but some might b. 3 obtained
from the opposite side of the river, or from the
villages on the right bank, many of which, esre-
cially those in the neighbourhood of the
Delhi Canal, would be able to pour in vast
stores of both corn and fodder. As the Eastern
Juasna Canal entH.s the Jurena opposite Delhi,
and as that canal irrigates all the country in its
vicinity, the supply of corn, &c., from the left bank
would be by no means coutempbble. We suppose
that these supplies have been cut off by the Mee-
rut force under Brigadier Wilson, whilst those
from the right bank have been secured by General
Barnard and the main army, which is encamped to
the north and north-west of the town, in the can-
tonment, which is saluted about a mile and a half
from the Kashmir Gate, and is separated from the
country in which the city stands by a low ridge of
rock, on which the telegraph tower is built. This
ridge is now in possession of General Barnard.
It is a mistake to suppose there is no water in
Delhi. Thu wells are' comparatively few in num-
ber, but they yield a fair supply. Generally speak-
ing, however, the water is brackish, but in some
wells it is excellent. A new well of large dimen-
sions was made by an enterprising individuil in
1848-49. The reason that wells are not so uume•
rous as they otherwise would be is that the Delhi
Canal is regarded as the favourite source of supply.
But during severe drought, when every particle of
water is required for the irrigation of the crops,
Delhi is annually and frequently left without any
supply for the canal, and this for twenty or thirty
days at a time. The inhabitants then htve re-
course to their well and the branch of the Jumna,
which flows past their wars. Were the supply
from this branch cut off by our troops, water might
Still be procured by the besieged by digging, or
even scratching holes in the sand as it lies close
to the surface in the low tracts, which are affected
by the main river. Moreover, the position of the
old fort of Selimgarh, with its btid'e connecting it
with the Palace, is favourable as a cover for parties
going to get water. There is not the slightest
-doubt that the cutting off the canal supply will not
prevent the inhabitants from getting water. What
ever difficulty, however, there may have been on
this bead, and which must have been equally, or
even more severely felt by our own troops, owing to
their greater distance from the Jumns, will have
been mitigated after the fall of rain—that is, after
the 18th of June.
It must be !added that flour is ground for the
consumption of the citizens by the canal mills, and
these of course are stopped. All the women of
Delhi wl.l, therefore, have had to grind away at
their hand-mills from morning to night, or flour
would run short.
With regard to the capture of Delhi by escalade,
it is probable that a few salvos would bring down a
portion of the long line of wall between any of the
two towers, and render an escalade tolerably easy.
But when the assailants had entered the town, if
the narrow streets were well defended by firing
from the houses on either side, or by a gun judi-
ciously placed, so as to rake them down their whole
length, the position of a weak column of troops
would be far from secure. General Barnard, in our
opinion, is wise not to hazard a reverse, which in
present circumstances, would be most disastrous.
He will now daily be receiving reinforcements, and
will be enabled to make the attempt ere long with
every prospect of success.—Smith, Elder, and Co.'s
Homeward Mail.

The Dntchman steamship, which has arrived from
the Mediterranean, brought home detachments of
troops, belonging to the 3d Buffs, 46th and 91st
Regiments, to the number of 56 men, under the
command of Captain W. Pownall, 3d Buffs. The
troops embarked on board the Dutchman at Corfu
on the 23d of July, and sailed on the followirg
FRENCH RAILWAYS.—The official receipts of the dif-
ferent railways in France for the first six months of 1857
havejust been published. The gross receipts for 14
lines amounted to 148,999,458 f., being an augmentation
of 25,917,205 f. over the corresponding period of 1856.
The length of the.lines at work on June 30, 1857, was
6,896 kilometres (4,310 milek), being 993 kilmetres (620
miles) more than at the same period of the preceding
year. The receipts per kilometre were 23,019 f. to
21,842'. in 1856.
THE PORT OF ODESSA,--The Board of Trade has
received notice of the new Rumsian Custom-house regu-
lations to c )me into force upon Odessa ceasing to be a
free port on the 15th of August of the present year. The
port now comes within the regulations of the General
Customs Tariff of the Empire. All foreign merchandise
found at that dats in the port which has not paid import
duties at the rates of the tariff of the free port will be
forced to pay the full rates of the general tariff, cr will
be allowed to be re-exported for the space of one year.
With regard it-xi foreign merchandise intended for
may
con-
sumption within the limits of the free port, which
still be in circulation in the commerce of the to
.n
of
Odessa, and which, under the general tariff regulations,
will be subject to the Custam-housestasep, the merchants
of Odessa have the right of presenting the list until the
15th August, to the chief of the Odessa Castom-euse
district, for the purpose of havinfe it stamped. After
that date all merchandise not declared, which may be
found in commercial circulation without the protec.tion cf
Custom-house stamps will be confiscated.. The right of
warehousieg for an unlimited period ce.asing at Odessa
with its extinction as a free port, the right warehous-
ing for the period of one year will be instituted on the
same terms as at -the ports of St. Petersbnrgh, Riga,
and Archangel. From and after the 15th of August
the payment of a fifth part of the produce of the import
duties which has been levied g merchandise
for the boleat of the town of Odessa will cease.

SUN OFFICE, ,Seven, o'Clock.

YORK RACES.--(This Day.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
ZETLAND STAKES.

Little Cob

Leo

Seven ran.
BURGUNDY STAKES.

Manganese
YORKSHIRE OAKS.

Taqtnania

Algury
Rosa Bon hour

Five ran.
BLACK DUCK STAKES
Maid of Masham flay

. W. O.

Streamer
Maid of Muham fllly made all tho running, and won
by a neck.

CONVIVIAL STAKES.

Eilerdale fifty..
Wilton

Sunbeam

Eleven ran.
QUEEN'S GUINEAS.

Warlock
Fisherman

Two ran.
THREE-YEAR-OLD BIENNIAL STAKES
Skirmisher
Strathnaver
Bird in the Hand .
Four ran. Won easy.

CHESTERFIELD HANDICAP
Dipthong co]t
Ellermire

Four ran.

LATEST BETTING.
EBOR HANDICAP.
3 to 1 agst Warlock (taken)
GREAT YORKSHIRE STAKES.
4 to 1 agst Skirmisher (taken)

IMPERIAL PA RLIA MEN T.

110IME OF COMMONS—(This Day.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at twelve o'clock.
NEW ME ABER.
Major EDWARDS took the oaths and his seat for
Beverl-3y, in the room of Mr. E, A. Glover, unseated on
petition

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Lords' amendments to the following bills were
considered and agreed to :—Eastern Bengal Railway
Company, Suinde Railway Company. Baroness
Windsor's Estate Bill, and the Duke of Bridgewater's
Eso.ate Bill were read a third time and pas Fed.
ABOLITION OF IMPIIISON.NIENT FOR DEBT.
Mr. HADFIELD asked the Secretary of State for
the Home Department whether the Government in-
tended to bring iu a bi 1 nex: session of Parliament to
abolish imprisonment for debts contrac'ed without
fraud ?
Sir G. GREY raid the sulject was under considera-
tion, but he could make no pro:rise.
LORD-LIEUTENANCY OF IRELAND.
Mr. ROEBUCK gave notice that early neat session
be should move the abolition of the office of Lord-
Lieutenant for Ireland, and the establishment in its
stead of the office of Secretary of State for Ireland.
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
Mr. ROEBUCK also gave notbe that early next ses-
sion he should call the attention of the house to the
relations exating between thin country and the Hudson's
Bay Company.
BISHOP HINDS, LATE BISHOP OF NORWICH.
Mr. D. GRIFFITHS gave notice that on Friday
next he should a=k the first Lord of the Treasury whe-
ther, now that Bishop Bloomfield's pension had fallen
in, he was disposed to grant a pension to Dr. Hinds, late
Bishop of Norwich.
SALE OF OBSCENE BOLL.O, &c., PREVENTION
BIK

The house went into committee on this bill.
Sir E. PERRY, who had charge of the bill, in reply
to observations from hon. members, said that he pro-
posed to adopt the suggestion of the committee that
two justices should be entrusted with carrying out the
provision of the bill, instead of one as provided by the
bill. lie would alio adopt the suge,estion that the act
of sale should be sworn to in the information before a
summons issued ; as well as an appeal to quarter sessions
from the decision of the justices.
On clause 1,
Mr. AYRTON proposed an amendment to insert
the words " for gain," to make the exhibition of offen-
sive prints, &c , an offence against the 13w.
Mr. ROEBUCK supported the amendment, and in
doing so read a letter he had received from Lord
Brougham, in confirmation of his (Mr. Roebuck's)
statern:nt on a former occasion, that there
might be found in the body of justices men who
would be found to pervert the provision of an
act. The letter referred to the petition of four poor men
presented in IS4I, to the House of Lords, by Lord
Lyndhurst, wherein it was stated that they had been
fined Q teen Elizabeth's shilling by certain justices for
non-attendance at chinch. Tuey were brought be-
fore the justices on a charge of poaching, but
that charge failing, the justices interrogated them
relative to their attendance at church, and asked if they
attended the parish church on the previous Sunday.
Receiving an answer in the ndgative they pursued their
inquiries, and ascertained that the men had not attended
church for the four previous Sundays, on which they
deed them accordingly.
Sir GEORGE GREY assented to the amendment.
After some discussion the amendment was agreed te.
The bill after some amendments passed through cam-

mitteee.
DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES
BILL.
The committee on this bill was resumed for the pur-
pose of aiding some new clauses.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL brought up a clause
in lieu of clause 8, providing for the constitution of the
court to be established under the bill.
The clause was read a second time, discussion on it
being postponed till the bringing up of the report.
Clauses were also brought up for the establishment of
local courts in accordance with the arrangement of last
night, for the recovery of damages by the husband from
the adulterer by the verdict of a jury in the new court
without application first for a divorce or judicial separa-
tion, instead of by the present mode of action of crim. e
con., the money so obtained to be appropriated by t
the
h
court to the children, if any, or for the support of
wife. On the second reading of the clause providing
that where a minister of any church or chapel of the
Chnich of England or Ireland, refused to marry divorced
parties residing within the parish under this bill they
should permit any other to do so,
Mr. MALINS regretted that the conseientious scru-
ples of the clergy were not to be respected to
the fullest extent relative to these re-mar-
riages. If a clergyman considered it wrong to marry
the guilty parties to a divorced marriage, he would con-
sider it wrong that such a marriage should be solemnised
by any one in his church. It was impossible to touch a
clergyman in a more tender part than that of his church,
as was shown by the jealous care with which one
clergymen guarded the use of his pulpit by others
with whom he differed on certain points, such,
for instance, as High Church and Low Church ;
and he suggdsted that such a power should not be given
until they found by experience that the difficulty arose.
He thought that if they passed the bill without this
clause no difficulty would be experienced by the guilty
parties in getting married.
Sir G. GREY said that this was a part of the com-
promise made yesterday by the Government when they
exempted the clergy from the personal necessity of
solemnising these marriages. He had always considered
that the objections of the clergy was of a personal nature
only, and it was to relieve them from that difficulty the
clause was yesterday agreed to.
After a discussion, in which Mr. Paull, Mr. B. Hope,
Mr. Ayrton, Mr. Newdegate, and Mr. Ridley took part,
in the course of which it was urged that this clause
should be accepted on the terms of the agreement yes-
terday on the Attorney-General's concession to the con-
sciencious scruples of the clergy,
Lord J. MANNERS denied that he was a party to
any such agreement, and said that the concession of the
Attorney-General was not founded on reason, or likely
to conciliate the feelings of the great body of thee.oleragy:
This clause would be productive of division, strife,
n d
discord amongst the clergy.
After some remarks from Mr. PurLsit and Sir D.
NORRETS,
Sir W. HEATHCOTE said the cmonorsste urs unfortunateued b
the Gayernment on this point was
race what was
because it was likely to deprive of all g
intended by the concession of yesterday. So objection-
able was the concession of the Attorney-General that he
and those who supported him (S:r W.Heathoote) voted
against it, and in favour of the amendment of the gal-
lant member for Harwich.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said he considered it
tof the concession. When he mentioned it yester•
par
day no objection was na,ade to it.
Sir W. HEATH.OOIE still persisted in saying that
the concession was not accepted by the opposition.
Li r. HENLEY opposed the clause. He believed
that the conditions attached to the concession of yester-
day would be deprived of its grace, and would be ob-
jected to by the clergy. It would bring about scandal
in small parishes more particularly, when an alien cler-
gyman was brought in to perform a ceremony in the
parish church, to which their own eergyman objected.
Mr. Newdegate, Mr. Stapleton, and Mr. D. Griffiths
addressed the committee amidst cries of "Divide."
The committee divided. The numbers were—
For the clause
Against it
Majority —4o
Mr. NE W DEGATE moved, as a new clause, that the
court w hich pronounced a sentence of divorce ld be
able to grant to either of the persons a licenseshou enabling