The Press. — 1857-09-12 (London, England)

JUBBULPORE.  The following letter is from a lady, the wife of an officer of the 52nd Regiment. It gives a vivid representation of the harassing anxieties borne by our people : Jubbulpore, July 17. e are in a kind of intrenched camp. All Jubbulpore —at least all the gentry—assembled at Major Erskine's house, which has been strongly fortified and defended in every possible way. It is a fine large house, fortunately, for there are sixteen ladies, fifteen children, and thirty gentlemen in it now. Soon after the first sad mutinies at Meerut and Delhi our regiment showed symptoms of excitement, and we had several alarms. One day a sepoy tried to stab Mr. Miller on parade. The native officers behaved well, and seized him. It turns out he has on several occasions been mad, so on that plea he has been tent away into keeping. Another morning we were all roused out of our beds and told to hasten to Major Sleeman's house, as our regiment was going to mutiny, but it was a false alarm. Colonel Jamieson still hopes we shall get through this terrible crisis without a mutiny, but a great deal of humouring and diplomacy has been needed, and we dare not say we are safe. We have two companies on guard here every night outside, and we have guards at all our bungalows, and all is going on quietly ; but so did the flth Native Infantry at Allahabad, and vet they turned at last and murdered their officers. You will have heard, perhaps, that your poor cousin, Mr. Innes, was one of the victims. Poor fellows, it was very awful; the wretches murdered them at mess, and had not those on guard in the fort been summarily disarmed there would have been a fearful massacre of all there, both ladies and children. Poor Mrs. H— had only been married a fortnight. Her husband was one of the victims. The whole station of Allahabad is in ruins. But all this, sad though it be, is nothing compared to the terrible murders. The wretches have not spared innocent women and children—monsters of cruelty' Even ladies are getting quite hardened. I really think I did feel pleasure in seeing hundreds of the rebels killed at and Meerut.  Some poor ladies and children were most brutally mardered at Jhansi. It was fearful. First the ladies saw their husbands shot, then the innocent children cut up before their eyes, and then, and not till then, their own fate. What fearful times we live in ! We cannot say our throats are safe from day to day. How lucky you are to be out of it all ! Oh that we were safe in Old England! I shall never feel happy in this country again, at least so I think now. Our Resident, Major E—, is most kind, and tries to make us all as comfortable as possible. I have a small room with Mrs. H— and Mrs. W— and three young H--'s ; plenty of noise. We have not much comfort, as you may imagine. All our mess establishment is here, and we form a large party. At Saugor the 42nd have gone; the 3lst remain stanch; the hOth, at Nagode, remain as yet stanch. Our safety depends much on Saugor and Nagode keeping quiet. All lathes are ordered into places of safety, and at one time it was half settled to send us all off to Mit zapore, but the heavy rains and the unsettled state of the country rendered it impracticable. Some poor ladies are very nervous. I have not been so as yet, and sleep very soundly. We have officers on guard and patrol all night, and 'we are not allowed to go out of the compound without leave.