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No. 418, March 27, 1858.] THE LEADER. 29...
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THE ODIAN REVOLT. —?—Sib Colin Campbell ...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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' "~ Hffemal J Parliament. Monday., Marc...
'The bill punished only one class of offenders , the least ^ lt y namely , the parties bribed ; and , being an nh-W ; bill , he opposed it altogether ; and gave notice that , if it passed the second reading , be should move the exnulsion of Sir Thomas Burke . —A . discussion followed , in which Mr . Walpole said he thought they ought to proceed to the second reading , and Lord John Kussell said it appeared to him that , if the } ' passed the second reading , there -would be no certainty whatever that the persons most guilty , namely , the bribers , would be punished . It appeared to him that their first step should be by prosecution , or otherwise to proceed against the bribers . — Mr . Diskaeli pledged himself to the House , that , if the second reading was agreed to , he w ould move an instruction , on going into committee , to include the bribers in the bill as well as the bribed . — Mr . Roebuck , on receiving this assurance , withdre w his amendment , and the bill was read a second time . The House adjourned at half-past twelve o ' clock .
No. 418, March 27, 1858.] The Leader. 29...
No . 418 , March 27 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 293
The Odian Revolt. —?—Sib Colin Campbell ...
THE ODIAN REVOLT . —?—Sib Colin Campbell crossed the Ganges at Cawnpore on the 11 th of February , on his way to attack lucknow . His force consisted of fifteen regiments of European infantry ; three regiments of European cavalry ; three regiment ? , and detachments ot two other regiments , of native cavalry , eighty heavy guns and mortars , and sixty-three field pieces . It was expected that the attack would commence about the 27 th ult ., by which time Sir Colin ' s force was probably strengthened by the arrival of the
forces of Jung Bahadoor and General Franks , consisting of 12 , 000 men . The Nepaulese Prince , however , had not crossed the Gogra on the 19 th ot February , but was then waiting for boats . A . fresh attack was made on the Alumbagh on the 21 st ; the result is not stated . General Inglis defeated the Gwalior mutineers near Calpee on the 4 th , and General Hope Grant ' s column in Oude has cleared the left bank of the Ganges , and destroyed the stronghold of the enemy , who fled northward .
The East India House telegram from Alexandria supplies some facts of interest : — " General Franks expected to attack the rebels at Chanda on the 20 th , and to be at Sultanpore on the 22 nd . The road from Mirzapore to Bombay , by Jubbul pore and Sag hore , and the road from Agra to Bombay , via . I ndore , are opened . Brigadier Walpole commands a force for the defence of the Doab from Futtehghur downwards . The rebels are strong and active on the Oude side of the Ganges from opposite Futtelig hur to Cawnpore . A regular chain of communication is kept up between Bareilly and Lucknow . The rebels in the Etawah district have been defeated by the police and zemindaree levies , with the loss of one hundred and
twenty-five men and all their guns . On the 1 Oth of February , Colonel MacCausland , commanding the Ghoorkas Regiment at Nynee-Tall , defeated the rebels , about four thousand strong , at Buheree , in the Bareilly district , -with a loss of two hundred and fifty men and four guns . [ The colonel ' s force was only one thousand in n umber , and but ten Europeans were killed . The enemy fled across the river . ] Lieutenant Osborne has taken the forts of Kunwarsa and Tyeragooghur , capturing seventeen guns . The forts have been dismantled . All is well in the Punjab , S augor , Hyderabad , and
Southern India . The fort of Rotas has been occupied by Colonel Mitchell . On Cammor (?) , the mutinous companies of the 34 th Native Infantry have been almost entirely annihilated , Some progress has been made in suppressing the insurrection in Juinbulpore . Her Majesty ' s 6 th Regiment has arrived from the Cape , and will garrison Fort William . The C 4 th Regiment inarches to Benares . Commodore Watson , with the Chesapeake , is still at Calcutta . The Pelorus und the gunboats of the squadron are at Rangoon . Captain Seymour , with a party of three hundred seamen and marines , ha v e gone up the Irrawaddy to the Meadav frontier . "
There Iras been n report at Allahabad that n , relation of the ex-King of Delhi has proclaimed himself King of Delhi , and has given orders to his followers to avoid meeting uu in open combat , but to disperse in bands of forty or fifty , waylay the English on the ro ads , nnd kill them . " I think , " suya n writer in the Bombay Standard , "thnt is the worst news wo lmvo had yet . " However , it mny bo utterly false .
TRIAL OF TII 10 EX-KINO OF DELHI . The Ddki Gazette furnishes some interesting details of tlio trial of the Imlf-imleeilo old man who reigned for u few months na supremo king within llio walls of Delhi ;—" The trial waa to have commenced at cloven o'clock , — - —AiMr " CJaiHinry-27 th );~ 'butj-owiiig '> to-UolayB-. « auBod-. by tlio sudden chitngo in tho constitution of thu court , in coiiaequenco of Hrigiulhr Sliowoid ' H approaching departur e , it wua half-past twelve before tlio prisoner wits wrought in , although ho waa in attoudnnoe , sitting in u Pnlanquin outsido , under a guard of rllles , at tho appointed hour . Ho appeared very iulirm , und lie tottered Into court supported on ono aide by thu ' intorefltinff youth ' Juinma JUukht , and on tho other by a
confidential servant , and coiled himself into a small bundle upon the cushion assigned to him . He presented such a picture of helpless imbecility as , under other circumstances , must have awakened pity . He sat coiled up on a cushion on the left of the President , and to the r i ght of the Government prosecutor ; his son Jumma Bukht standing a few yards to his left , and a guard of rifles beyond all . Several European gentlemen were in court as spectators , and later in the day some ladies took the seats provided for their accommodation .
" The prosecutor then put the question through the interpreter , ' Guilty or not guilty ? ' which the prisoner either did not , or affected not to understand ; and there was some delay in exp laining it to him . He then declared himself profoundly ignorant of the nature of the charges against him , although a translated copy of them was furnished and read to him , in the presence of witnesses , some twenty days previous . After some more delay the prisoner pleaded ' Not guilty , ' and the business of the court proceeded . On the second da }' , the sitting was closed , in consequence of the indisposition of the prisoner . On the third day , while the evidence was being taken , the prisoner , coiled up easil y upon his cushion , appeared lost in the land of dreams ; and , except when anything particular struck him , continued unmindful of what was passing around ....
" On the sixth day , the translation of a letter , dated the 24 th of March , addressed to the late Mr . Colvil , Lieutenant-Governor N . W . P ., was read , disclosing the fact that , as far back as a year and a half ago , secret emissaries were sent by the King of Delhi to Persia , through the agency of one Mahomed Hussun Uskeeree , the object of which was evidently to obtain assistance to complete the overthrow of British power in India . The perusal of the letter , which bears both the Delhi and Agra postmark , excited considerable sensation in court . The prisoner ' s hakeem was examined at considerable length , the whole , of his evidence tending to imp licate to a considerable extent the Shah of Persia , but leading the court to believe that the prisoner Avas entirely innocent of taking part in the intri gues going on about that time .
" The evidence was conclusive on one point—viz ., that the inmates of the palace assisted at the murder of Messrs . Fraser , Jennings , Hutchinson , Captain Doug las , and the ladies . Several witnesses affirmed that the prisoner tried to persuade Captain Douglas from his intention of going among the mutineers ; but not one attempted to show that he exerted his influence to check the disturbance even at its commencement , or to save the Europeans at his very gates . " The court was occup ied the whole of the eleventh day with the examination of a person named Chunee , formerl y editor of a native paper , entitled the Delhi News , which is conducted on a novel princip le , the editor ' s duty being to write his paper full , and then carry it round and read it to his subscribers ! The witness stated , in rep ly
to questions , that the Mahomedansof the city were in the habit of boasting that the Persians , aided b y the R ussians , were coming to drive the English out of the country , and gave it us his firm belief that the Mahomedans were very much excited about the Persiau war . The chuppaties which were circulated were , he said , for the purpose of bringing together a large body of men for some business to be explained to them hereafter ; and he said they originated at or near Kurnaul ; p r ecisely the opposite direction from which Sir Theophilus Metcalfe traced their origin . " The witness , in rep ly to a question by the prosecutor , said that about five or six days after the city had been in possession of tho mutineers , he heard that there was a great disturbance in tho palace , and on going to see the cause , found a number of Sepoys und some of tho prisoner ' s armed servants killing Europeans , men , women , and children . There waa a great
crowd collected , and he could not see distinctly through it ; but , after tho slaughter was completed , he inquired of the sweepers , who were removing the bodies , and hoard that in all fifty-two persons had been killed . Of these o n l y live or six were males ; the rest all females and children ! The bodies were being removed in carts , and were thrown into the river ; when he saw them lying dead , they were in a circle . A number of Mnhomedans were on the top of Mirza Mogul ' s house , spectators of the scene , and . tlio witness hoard that Mirza Mogul himself was ono of those looking on . Those unfortunate people wore confined , previous to their masaacre , from tho 11 th to tho lCth of May , in a sort of receptaclo for rubbish , whore tho prisoner ' s lowest culprits wore confined , and in which it would have been an insult to confine a person with any pretensions to respectability . There were many better and more suitable buildings , but they worn not allotted to tho Europeans .
" Thu above is tlio subatuiico of Chunee a evidence , elicited by aovoro cross examination by tho proucuutor uud 4 h « 4 > i : eaident » oUho ,. cQUil 4 _ un 4 Jiica ^^ clunco of this day by replying to a question put by the prosecutor us to " who gave the order for tho massacre of the Europeans , ' The King himself ; who else could give tlio order ? " On tho 12 th day , Golam was sworn and examined . This witness gave suinu particulars of tho lnussacro of Europeans inside tho pnlaco , of which ho was an cyowltnuufi . Ho suid that it was known , two days prior to
the fearful deed , that the European prisoners were to b < slaughtered on that day , and a great crowd had in consequence collected . They , the prisoners , were all ranged in a line , on the edge of a tank or watercourse , and , at a given signal ( unseen , however , by the witness ) , the mutineers a n d palace servants , by whom they were comp letel y surrounded , rushed , in and hacked them to piece with swords . Shots were fired at the commencement ( according to another witness ) ; but , one of the bullets happening to strike a Sepoy , the sword was resorted to , and the bloody work was soon completed . The confusion was too great for the witness to frame an accurate idea of the number murdered , but it was large , and the majority of them were women and children . They must have numbered from 150 to 200- When the bloody
work was over , the spectators were turned out of the palace , and the bodies carried away . No one attempted to interfere to prevent this friglitful slaughter ; no messenger from the King came to stop it , and the witnesi said he heard nothing which could lead him to believ < that the deed was not g loried in b y the Mahomedans He then , in reply to a question by the prosecutor , said he was present at the murder of the Beresford famil y Mr . Beresford was , it seems , badly wounded at the onset , one arm being broken by a shot ; but , armed with a sword , and his brave wife with a spear , they contrived to keep the ruffians at bay for some time , Mrs . Beresford
killing one and wounding another . They were at length overpowered and the whole party murdered . With them were , it is supposed , the Rev . Mr . Hubbard and another missionary , who had gone to the bank for safety . The house where they were all slaug htered still bears th e marks of the struggle and the closing scene of horror . " The prisoner , as already announced , has been found Guilty , and sentenced to transportation for life to the Andamans—a group of small islands in the Bay of Bengal , very hot in their temperature and wild in their character , and inhabited by a race of black and naked savages , who have hitherto repelled all intrusion on their domain .
NATIVE ADDRESS TO THE QUEEN . The following address has been transmitted to the Queen from a large body of the natives of India : — " To Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen . " May it please your Majesty , —We , the under s igned , native inhabitants of Bombay , venture to approach your Majesty with an humble expression of our loyal attachment to your Majesty ' s crown and person . " Having long lived under the protection of the British Government in India , and become more and more attached to that administration which- assures us of equal laws , impartial justice , and comp lete security of person and property , we have witnessed the shameful atrocities" committed by the mutinous soldiery of Bengal with grief , in no degree less poignant than that felt by the British nation , and with horror , enhanced b y the reflection that the criminals were natives of a portion , though a distant one , of our common country .
" We earnestly hope and trust that , notwithstanding the deep indignation which the frightful barbarities of the mutineers have naturally excited in the breasts of all classes of your Majesty ' s subjects , it will not be forgotten that the offenders , with few exceptions , belong to a sing le class—the Sepoys of one Presidency—and that t h e main bod y of the people have remained unaffected by tho spirit of rebellion , while tho majority of tho chiefs , even in the disturbed districts , have g iveu prompt and effectual aid to the British Government ; and we trust that it will be remembered , in favour of the Bombay P residency in particular , that its population haa been almost uniformly loyal , the few exceptional cases of treasonable conduct having been at once exposed and easil y suppressed by the united action of the British and native troops , with the entire sympathy and good-will of the native inhabitants .
" That the criminal disturbers of tho public peace may be visited with condign punishment , and that British power may bo established in India on a lasting foundation , none are more anxious than your Majesty ' s native subjects in Bombay , whose earnest hope and prayer it is that your Majesty may long bo preserved to reign over a peaceful , united , and prosperous empire . " Your Majesty ' s faithful subjects and servants , " JaMSKTJKE JuaOJKKBHOY . " JUOONATU SUNK-KIISETT . " HoBtANJICIC UOUJWUSJKIC " CUKSKTJKK JAMSKTJKB . " ltAMLAI , TUAKOOilSICYDASS . 44 ( And 8000 others , )"
TUB ALLKGKP ATKOCITIKS OF THIS MUTINRBBS . A corrospoiulence has been published in tho London papers between Mr . William Iliugreaves and the Kurl of Slinfiesbury , with reference to the alleged unmentionable acts of torture nnd indignity committed by tho Indian mutineers in tlio curly days of ilufrovolf : —iM rrrini'greaves-requeats-hie-Lordslup to suy if his belief in tlioso atone * rumnlns uushukon , n aiHto of tlio ilouutu which have been thrown on them Tho lfinrl replies that ho believes in them us strongly aa ever . Mr . llargroavea then requests further Information with respect to tho alleged acts . His Lordship declines " giving any niunea that have been confidentially entrusted to him , " aud suggests
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1858, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27031858/page/5/
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