The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-01 00:00:00

THE INDIAN MUTINIES.

The following letters were written by a gallant
officer shortly before he fell
" Phillour, May 21.
"It is a very long time since I have written to
you, but I shall commence a letter now to be sure
not t miss another ma;L I sent letters home on
the 20th, giving all particulars I know about the
present state of affairs,—and a very narrow escape
we have all had. There is no doubt it was an at-
tempt to retake the country.and murder us all, but
their plans were providentially frustrated. Is it
not wonderful that not one out of the whole Indian
army (men whom we have treated, God knows, far
better than they deserve) was faithful 1 They made
a deliberate conspiracy to kill their officers, and ac-
tually did so at Delhi, the account of which you
will Nava heard. We. were saved here by a miracle.
At a certain hour—tlre signal being the beat of a
tom-tom—the men were to have seized the fort.
My friend Griffith happened to go down, andfound
the fire-engines had beem smashed ; he went in,
loaded a couple of field nieces, and pointed them
at the gate. Upon doing this the signal was given,
but the men feared the guns ; and when they were
wavering in marched a couplo of companies of the
Bth (Queen's) and some European Horse Artillery,
who had marched the whole way from Jullundur,
sent by the General. We have been waiting for some
time, putting the best face on tha matter, and.l think
we are pretty safe now. Three companies of our re-
giment escorted a siege train of 16 guns across the
river ; it goes to join a force -under the chief at
Umballa, and then to bombard Delhi, where, I
hear, the enemy are fighting among themselves. A
native battalion was ordered down there to escort
the guns, but refused to come We hear they plun-
dered Simla, but this has been contradicted. How-
ever, two officers, Major Pott and Lieut. Bruce,
were on leave there, and started. so as to have been
ther3 two or three days ago, but we have not heard
a word about them, and are growing uneasy on
their account.

" May 25.

" I have just time for a line to-day. I start at
3 o'clock to escort a siege train down to Umballa.
May have some fighting on the road, and may be
sent to Delbi. I have about 80 men.
" Loodianah.

"I arrived here at 9 last night after a tiresome
march. Those who know India can tell how hot a
tent is in May. My tent was blown down on the
top of me, and my friend who accompanied me. We
were very nearly squashed' by it, and had to sit
out all night on the ruins in dust, rain, and wind.
I mirth at sunset this evening. Some of the men
look very sulky, but I know there are many faith-
ful. I halted at the Sutlej-bridge yesterday, and
went to the guard. They made me lie down, which
I did, and fell asleep. On awakening a havildar
was fanning me with a punkah, and a lot of Sepoys
all round looking at me as if I was a baby. I have
little time to attend to prayer, &c., but I assure you
nothing can give comfort in a case like this but an
assured hope of being God's, and then Who can
harm us ?' _ _

" Dourana, May 27.

. _
" I am now sitting outside my tent, surrounded
by natives. Before me are the mortars and native
carts with sentries over them. We had a terrible
march last night, from 7 in the evening till 3 in
the morning. The cartmen are making a row for
payment. I have none to give them. We march
at 10 o'clock to-night.
"Kanna-ka-Serai, May 28.

"We arrived here at 8 o'clock. Fancy 10 hours
on the roads ! Men all right. lam much troubled
with the carts, 30 of them laden with mortars, powder,
shot, shell, &c. ; they keep constantly breaking
down, and we have to divide the load among the
others, as there are no more to be had.
"Umballa, June 1.

" Here we are—the native corps have been dis-
armed and some disbanded, and my detachment
will have the honour of escorting the siege train to
Delhi, so we shall most likely see' some bloody
woi k. The officers here all live in one house. The
church has been fortified. I was marching the whole
of last night and writing the whole of to-day.
Good by. _ _