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1O2 THE LEA D E R. [N>o. 410, Jai^jaby- ...
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SPECIAL LETTERS FROM INDIA. (From a Mili...
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THE ORIENT. CHINA. The note of preparati...
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IRELAND. The Trial of Fathisk Conway.—Th...
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—~ _, - TfcMEHlCIAr— —~—, Aoooruino to t...
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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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The Indian Revolt. —?—- Sir Colin Campbe...
Cawnpore , of which he thinks only a modified account will be published . He says : — " Seeing that we were attacked , the 82 nd moved on in front , and we were sent ( i . e ., two companies ) through a village on our right flank , and took up a position on the Nawalegunge road . After waiting here for some considerable period it was reported that the 82 ad and 88 th were retiring . So , marching down the road , we found ourselves , in about twenty minutes , on { fee other side of Cawnpore . AVheeling to the right , we attempted to join the main body and then what confusion greeted us!—ilying camels , elephants , hackeries , servants , horses , and musket balls ; before us overturned tents , Well
pillaged officers' baggage , and men ' s kits . , we made a stand , and my company was detached from the others , and had to take up a position on the top of a large mound of earth , where we overlooked the whole field of aetion . It was a desolate scene , and one to make us feel uncomfortable . Again the order to retire was given , and silently through the deserted bazaar of Cawnpore the 'beaten Feringbees' made their way to the fort . I was lucky ; all my baggage , with the exception of blankets * shell-jacket , & c , was saved through the fidelity of a Madras servant . My horse , too , is safe . I found him at night in the entrenched camp . And now I must give you an account of the third day , the most disastrous for us of all .
" The Sepoys attacked us about ten o clock . All through the Bazaar and Canes we kept fighting till about two ; then we advanced , and sustained such a storm of grape , musketry , and shells as some of the oldest among us had rarely or never beheld . My company was in front about four p . m ., and repulsed the enemy , rescuing a gun in great style . About five , my captain took off one subdivision , my fellow-subaltern a section , and I was left with about twenty men at a place where I certainly never wish to be again . The men were falling fast , when suddenly from a road on the left a rush of 82 nd men , Bines , and other corps came down , and the whole , in spite of the attempts of the officers to rally them , rushed pell-mell into the fort . The firing and fighting was kept up until dusk , when we retired from the town , leaving the mess-plate of ten regiments , and the baggage of nearly all those officers who were murdered , in their hands . "
1o2 The Lea D E R. [N>O. 410, Jai^Jaby- ...
1 O 2 THE LEA D E R . [ N > o . 410 , Jai ^ jaby- 30 , 1858 .
Special Letters From India. (From A Mili...
SPECIAL LETTERS FROM INDIA . ( From a Military Correspondent . ' ) Nagpore , December ; 1857 . We have now taken a hasty survey of the . real nature of the crisis through which we have passed have pointed out that the aim and object of the rebels was a war of extermination , and that the attainment of that aim was far from being so chimerical or so impossible as I fear some people will now try to persuade us . Are we again to be exposed to such a danger ? The surest way to guard against it is to estimate it correctly ,
not to underrate and not to exaggerate it . We have also endeavoured to calculate the forces which have enabled us to overcome and subdue the danger for this time ; and if my views are accepted , an impression will have been produced that we should watch closely and foster the conservative interests of the country , and strive to obtain the highest talent and qualifications for its administration , especially encouraging the employment of natives , and steadily opposing the reckless intrusion from the mere lust of patronage of young Europeans into posts of authority and emolument without any special training or proved aptitude .
And now we come at last by a natural transition to the point which at the outset of this letter I promised to elucidate—the cause of the very general dislike to our rule and distrust of our intentions , which have for years been apparent to all who have succeeded in gaining the confidence and eliciting the undisguised sentiments of the better educated natives of India . In India we see an immense and populous empire subject to on alien race , undeniably far nuperior to the natives in knowledge , skill , and energy , in veracity and justice . Divided and scattered by the fatal and mysterious customs of caste , half the people exalted above and the remainder degraded below hope , the occupations and rank of all fixed ( according to strict principle ) for life , and apathy and resignation encouraged by the spirit of their religion—the Hindoos for a thousand years have been the slaves and victims of a succession of
conqnerurs . In many districts a state of chronic war haa only ceased within the memory of men now living . Heroic deeds have often graced their annals , but united action under the hideous tyranny of caste has hitherto for ever been impossible . It haa often been made a aub-Ject ^ of' ^ proaoh-again 8 t _ tbe _ ueQnlej 2 f _^^ civilization , if it haB not retrograded , has been tXSF tionary for many years . Even granting to the full oa > tent the justice of thie reproach , it cannot be denied that at that critical period , when the presence of the English began to be felt in India , everything portended the approach of great changes . The Mogul power was destroyed in all but name , all the more important viceroys had become virtually independent ; ana the vast Mahratta armies were founding Hindoo Btatea « nd upholding Hindoo nationality in © very part of the peninsula , Holkar , Qoindiah , the Bhouala , and
the Guicowar , all Sudras of low caste , had become powerful monarchs . The mass of Hindooism was moving . But it is useless to speculate on what might have been the issues of those revolutions , the enmities and divisions consequent on which contributed greatly to the establishment of British power . These revolutions were checked by our superior influence , and our supremacy is a great fact . For fifty years we have been the undoubted paramount power on the continent of India ; and no prince has dared to fire a shot or take a step without our permission . We have stopped the independent development of the Hindoo races by taking the management of affairs into our own hands , and condemning their best men to insignificance and inactivity . We have carried the system of class-government to the greatest extreme , retaining all the honours and high emoluments of government in the hands , not only of a class , but of foreigners —not only of foreigners , but to a great extent of inefficient and unqualified foreigners .
None knew better than the more intelligent natives of India that life , property , and personal liberty were never so secure under Emperor , Nabob , or Rajah , as they are under the British Government ; that cruel , arbitrary , and capricious punishments are forbidden by the laws in force ; and that fixed principle and the absence of passion and partiality are the characteristics of British rule . But with all this the higher and better class of natives have no attachment to our Government . A native of birth and education may in some degree admire and esteem he English , but if he possesses an atom of manly pride and self-respect , he must regard with dislike and indignation a system which , however favourable to the merchant , banker , and cultivator , ignores and threatens to destroy the ancient aristocracy and those of the higher classes who are not engaged in trade , shutting out from them all hope and prospect of retaining or regaining their place , position , and rank in society .
For not only does our system of administration tend to exclude all men of birth and station , and their children , from any honourable post , civil or military , under Government , but the policy of Calcutta , intensified within the last twenty years , and urged to excess under Lord Dalhousie , has ever been directed to diminish as much as possible the extent of land held rent-free , or by the tenure of a very light or nominal tribute ^ by the old families of the' country . Except in Bengal Proper , where Lord Cornwallis ' s perpetual settlement was carried fully into effect , and which is the most prosperous and contented province in the empire , there is no such an institution
as private property in land in India . Advantage is taken of the ancient customs of the despotic monarchs of India—Tippoo Sultan , the Peishwa , and others—to extinguish private rights in land or hereditary charges on the revenue ; but no respect is paid to ancient custom when it appears to secure a family in the permanent possession of an estate . On every succession the sunnudx or title-deeds are called for , and the slightest flaw , or the absence of express assurance by the granter of perpetual hereditary possession , even although the estate may have been enjoyed for more than one generation , will frequently be held sufficient to justify the confiscation of the estate , with the grant , perhaps , of a pension for one or two lives of half the income of the estate .
Imagine such a commission of settlement and inquiry set to work by an absolute or a republican government in England or in France ! It is in every respect , I maintain , an iniquitous and an impolitic destructive proceeding . It is true that a native monarch was absolute , and that his relations , nobles , and high officials had no regular or legal mode of enforcing their acknowledged rights against him if ho chose to act in an arbitrary and grasping manner towards them ; but they not the less did possess clear , undisputed , recognized , acknowledged rights on his protection and support , and they wore almost invariably hold sacred . Wo seem to think ourselves justified in availing ourselves of the exceptional '
arbitrary power of refusing to recognize , or of extinguishing those rights , but not to concoivo ourselves bound to their general observance . And it must also be remembered that if the absolute monarch confiscated estates sometimes , he also granted estates to othors , and that from theae privileged classes all the groat civil offices and military commands were filled . So that every feature of our rulo tends to the impoverishment , degvadation , and exasperation of the most elevated and the moat improvablo classes of the country , those who ought to form our conservative classes , and who are conservative and attached to our rule , wherever from peculiar circumstances they have been allowed to exist undisturbed .
*~ Wiron tKo ~ f 6 ' un " dors ~ of- oiiP-Indian- 'empire . w ^ ore ^ main' > . taining and strengthening a precarious position , subduing fierce enemies , and conquering provinces , alliances with the native princes were sought , and wo certainly drew our full share of advantages from such as we formed . For years wo wore celebrated as faithful and liberal friends , our generous restorations of the Mysore and Sattara Rajahs gained na golden opinions from all sorts of people ; our generous leniency after the treachery of Appah Sahib ,, the Rajah of Nagpore , in 1617 , in placing another member of the family on tho musnud , was a strong proof of
our moderation and regard for the illustrious families of the country . But with the disappearance of the last vestige of an opposing power our moderation began to disappear ; the lust of patronage , the swelling of onr establishments , led to financial difficulties , and the imprudent -and most unjust expedition to Afghanistan in 1839 was the commencement of a series of annual deficiencies , which appear to have stimulated our rulers to annexation , and to the more rapid and sweeping resump » tion of estates as a means of restoring a financial equilibrium . That this plan has signally and deplorabl y failed must be now sufficiently apparent . That it has led to a widely spread discontent among the most influential classes , whose ideas descend and penetrate through every rank of Indian society , is equally certain . In every mosque , in every bazaar , in every assemblage of the people , daring the last ten years , loud and bitter have been the denunciations of the bad faith of our Government . Sattara , Nagpore , and Oude have been the greatest sources of discontent . E . V .
The Orient. China. The Note Of Preparati...
THE ORIENT . CHINA . The note of preparation for the attack on Canton is still sounded in the Hong-Kong journals . The steam transport Adelaide , with Colonel Holloway and the residue of the 1500 marines from England , came in on the 2 nd of December , and , on the 7 th , her Majesty ' s screw steamer Assistance arrived with other marines and that portion of the 59 th Regiment which got away from the Transit when she was wrecked . The Earl of Elgin has been to Macoa , and has there met the envoys of France , Russia , and America . The United States Minister has upset several of the judicial decisions of his predecessor . Of the progress of the rebellion there are only very vague accounts ; but matters would seem to be in favour of the Imperialists . In token of the close union between the English and French in the matter of Canton , their vessels hoisted each other ' s colours on the 13 th of December . The
doomed City is so closely blockaded that it begins to suffer from want of food . " A notification in the name of the two Plenipotentiaries , " says the Overland China Mail , " is in circulation along the river , warning the inhabitants of the impending contingency , and urging them to look to themselves ; some copies , we understand , have been sent into the suburbs [ of Canton J for distribution . " Our men have been expressly forbidden to plunder the city when they shall have entered it . Those who disregard this order are threatened with severe punishment . The military force has sustained a heavy loss in the death , from inflammation of the bladder , of Lieutenant-Colonel Lugard , commanding the Royal Engineers . Soms alarm has been felt for Hong-Kong during the expedition to Canton ; but the island appears to bo well provided for in the general arrangements . Freuch , English , and Americans will contribute to its safety .
BAEBAKY . During a storm of extraordinary violence which has prevailed for some week 9 on the seaboard of liarbary , two merchant ships , oue of which belonged to Austria and the other to Portugal , were cast ashore on the coast of Riff" . The pirates pillaged the two ships , and murdered the greater part of tho crews .
Ireland. The Trial Of Fathisk Conway.—Th...
IRELAND . The Trial of Fathisk Conway . —The trial of thu Rev . Mr . Conway , as tho result of the Attorney-Genoral's application for a change of venue , will take place in the city of Dublin before a special jury of tho county at tho close of tho next after-sittings , subject , however , to a motion , for which notice lias been served , whether tho Common Law Procedure Act does not apply equally to criminal and civil proceedings . ENCUMUKitjiiD Estates Couht . —Tho King Willmmstown estate of Mr . Vincent Scully haa been purcunai'U by private contract for 9500 / . Tho lands comprise tne model farm and tho village of King Williumiitown , wito all tho Government improvements , which had been some time aince sold by tho Crown . .
„ Bjcot at Bulkast . —Tho evening of the Fnnccas Royal ' s wedding day was distinguished at L $ olfu » t in a way quite congenial with the antecedents of that excitable city . There was a riot , apparently without any cause 5 atones wore thrown , and the head uuiistuwlo jya seriously hurt in tho head . Tho Mayor wont hlmaoi "' tho scene of tho disturbance , and road tho Mot Airt } " it was not until some arrests wore matlo that tho crown dispersed .
—~ _, - Tfcmehlciar— —~—, Aoooruino To T...
—~ _ , - TfcMEHlCIAr— —~— , Aoooruino to tho last udvices , tho United States oxjiodition aguinBt tho Mormons was onoainpcd , and awaii t > tho proper season for tho opening of tho campaign , bho « w tho 'Saints' dotormino on prolonged resistance- * ' , army U sufficiently provided with food to ho » fcur ° ?' moderuto rations till Juno ; and Colonel Johnston loo » so well assured that tho Mormons will leave tor w British possessions in the spring ( Indeed , it is » f t'a l '" . nlonoor parties havo already loft ) , that ho haa not abk «
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30011858/page/6/
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