The Press. — 1857-09-19 (London, England)

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 19, 1857.  battle. Sure enough on the morning of the 18th they evactuterl the place, and the native teachers were liberated. Hunonian, a wealthy Hindoo zemindar, befriended them until they got to a place of safety.  With regard to the present position of affairs and the nature of the intelligence brought by this mail, Mr. Hay is decidedly of opinion that Delhi will not be taken before November or December. He has visited Delhi. The fort is built after the native fashion. Heavy guns would soon batter down its walls. Unfortunately the guns which were sent to batter them down were captured by the rebels at Phillour. When Mr. Hay left Allahabad the English troops before Delhi were scarcely able to hold their own; although always beating the mutineers in every attack they had slightly receded from their original position. It takes nearly fifty days for troops to get to Delhi from Calcutta. Mr. Hay was seventeen days getting to the latter place from Allahabad. He got down to Calcutta in a steamboat. While he was on the voyage Sir Norman Leslie and other officers were massacred near Dinapore by sepoys belonging to the very regiments the mutiny of which was announced on Monday by electric telegraph. The assassins of Sir Norman Leslie were caught, tied up from the backs of elephants to a gallows, and then swung off. The soldiers of their own regiments were made executioners, and it was boasted at the time that one of the assassins was hung by his own father, in order to show the loyalty of the regiments. Mr. Hay says that many old East Indians foretold that these troops would ultimately mutiny, and that there could be no doubt they sympathised with the assassins of Leslie and his brother officers. Their turning executioners, _  and a father hanging his own son, were only a blind. They were bidir.g their time. Mr. Hay thinks the new s of the mutiny at Dinapore is bad news, because it shows that the communications between Calcutta and Delhi may be interrupted. He thinks also that the telegraph despatch on Monday did not contain good news generally from India. It cau hardly be said that Central India is tranquillised; it must he only small portions of it. The mutinies at Dinapore and in the Bombay Presidency are ominous of evil.  He was twenty days in Calcutta before be left for England ; during that time there had been two or three panics there, and persons living in the outskirts had taken refuge in the tort and on board the ships. Confidence, however, was restored when he left, owing chiefly to 1,7)0 troops from China that were landed from the Himalaya. It was at one time fully expected that the native Mahomedan servants would rebel in Calcutta. Numbers had been saying to the European children of whom they had charge that all the houses in Calcutta would soon belong to the natives. A converted Brahmin in Calcutta had been accosted by natives who did not know of his conversion, and was told that there would be a general rising in Calcutta, and that the troops would be assisted by the native servants in driv:ng out the English. About 5,000 fresh troops had arrived, and been sent up the country since the mutiny broke out. They go up by steamers as far as Allahabad, which is situated at the junction of the Junina and the Ganges. Mr. Hay, as he was proceeding to Calcutta, met General Havelock and his forces going up the country. He considered that Havelock would, after leaving Cawnpore, proceed to destroy Nana Sahib at Bhitoor before he went to relieve Lucknow, to prevent Nana from occupying the rear with any force. Mr. Hay doubts the report of the death of Nana Sahib, who, he says, is as cunning as he is cruel; and it is possible that the account of his suicide is but a ruse adopted to stave off pursuit. He states that on his passage to England he met a French officer, a Captain La Fous, who had been in the Punjaub war, and knew Nana Sahib intimately, and saw him at Cawnpore after the mutiny had broken out at Delhi. To show _ .  the duplicity of this scoundrel, he lamented to Capt. La Fous the outbreak, and stated that he could hardly believe it—it was most shameful. Mr. Hay considers that Agra must have fallen by this time, unless relieved. Many of the native professors and graduates of the Government universities and schools are implicated in the present revolt. Some extraordinary disOosures have yet to be made public on this matter. Names are mentioned in Calcutta of persons who it is expected will yet be compromised. It is expected that Sir Cohn Campbell will proceed up to Allahabad, or some such central place, where lie can best superintend the disposal of troops where they are wanted. The writer asked Mr. Hay if lie had any doubt as to the ultimate defeat of the mutineers. He said he bad not the slightest doubt of their defeat. There are about 21,1X/0 European troops now up in the north-west provinces. The Sikhs, he believes, will be faithful ; at least they have no sympathy with the Mahomedans and Hindoos. The European troops are now much impeded in proceeding up the country from Calcutta in consequence of the camping stations having been destroyed by the mutineers. 

Article type: NotIncident