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"been perpetrated as , bave beea cpnmntted here , and by the men we fed and were' feind bo . Nearly eighty- men aave been hwrtg , andnearly one' thousand ! killed in the district . IVeare strongly fortified nere , ana do not fear an attack : from any number . Delhi has xot fallen ^ but thousands have been'killed . Our men cannot lie restrained , and they are like- demons let 'loose ; We have had more than twenty thousand men attacking three thousand' or four thousand ^ and they have fled'lbsing hundreds . Five hundred men at Agra thrashed five thousand , the mutineers being entrenched , and Having twelve guns playing round shcrt and shell . They cannot stand our charge for a moment ; eighteen gentlemen mounted ( all the cavalry we had on this occasion ) , checked five hundred cavalry , and these are but two out of hundreds of instances of gallantry displayed all over the country . This has saved us , by God ' s mercy . . . . " The Hindoos and Mussulmans quarrel , and the Hindoos reproach them awd say , ' This is all your fault . ' No matter ; we care not . We . only know their liv ? s are forfeited , and that nofone shall be spared ; . Many innocent may be killed , but they have brought the curse on themselves . Think of their cutting up children before a father ' s eyes and putting the pieces in his mouth , and putting other babies alive into boxes and "burning them ! "Would any one believe this ? Acts like this produce such as the following : —The Highlanders and others passed through Cawnpore the other day , where those brutal murders had been committed , and they killed every native they could find . And they did but justice , for all were implicated . They either helped or remained passive . Columns will be formed to move about all over the country , and the Sepoys will be hunted down like beasts .
"We have a corps here of mounted volunteers , iu number about thirty—gentlemen , a few officers , and tradesmen . They went out not long ago against three thousand Goojurs , people of the villages near here ; they killed a great many , cut off the head of their leader , and stuck it on a pole . They are soon put to flight , their dread of the ' gora log , ' or white people , is so great . They are armed with matchlocks , spears , and swords . "
MUSSOTJREE . A lady , Avriting from Mussouree on August 9 th , says : — "We are very busy working flannel clothes for our army before Delhi . They are very bndly off for these things , and being so much exposed at such a season of the year , and in such a proverbially unhealthy localitj ' , and fighting as they have done so nobly , they really deserve to be provided for by us . "
DEMIT . An artillery officer , under date Calcutta , August 23 rd , supplies some information as to the dissensions among the mutineers at Delhi : — " The mutineers at Delhi are on their last legs ; they are quarrelling among themselves , and have been dreadfully defeated every tune they have come out . Thev are now entirely surrounded , and are begging for mercy , vrhich of course has been refused . Disease is carrying them off by hundreds , and death by the sword or halter awaits the survivors .
" What will the natives now say ? With every advantage on their side , they having chosen their own tune , and having succeeded in taking us entirely unawares , and the whole army , with very few exceptions , having united to expel us , they find us still able with a few troops not only to keep but to win back the country , even before the home reinforcements shall have arrived . The Sepoys have often said that they had won and kept the country for us . Now they see their mistake . It has been proved over and over again that 100 Europeans Tvill easily beat 1000 natives , even those disciplined and taught by ourselves . " The anticipations with respect to winning back the country before the home reinforcements arrived were a little over-sanguine . Another artillery officer writes from the camp before Delhi on the 13 th of August : —
Our position here is certainly by nature a wonderfully secure one . Providence" has assisted us in every Way ; from the beginning the weather has been most propitious , and in cantonments I have nover seen troops so healthy as they arc here now . Cholera occasionally pays us a visit , but that must always bo expected in a largo standing camp . The river Jumna completely protects our left front nnd flnnlc , while the large jlieel ( watercourse ) which runs away to the south-west is at tins season quite impassable for miles , and prevents any
Burprisoon our right flank , so that a few cavalry are sufficient as a guard for three faces of our position , and we are consequentl y enabled to devote our whole force to Keep ouv front from surprise j but to do this whenever wo are attacked in any forco takes almost every available iUHn \ n camp . At u moderate * calculation , the onomy muHt muster now nea-rly 40 , 000 niou , besides guns unlimited , and they certainly work them well ; "icir infantry also fight well , but their cavalry , both regular nnd irregular , arc not worth sixpence-, they do nothing but run awav .
_ Ot all the infantry regiments lioro the most distin-Fuahed in the GOth Rifles ; they and the gallant little wioorkua in the Sirraoro Battalion have borne tho brunt « tlvo vholo affair , nnd Buflored fearfully ; after tliom como tho 1 st Fusiliers and tho Guides . This morning
we surprised a battery they had . recently enacted ; rather too near to our pickets , and in such : a position that our heavy guns could not bear oh ft ,- so it ; was decided to carry it by assault . -The-lst Fdsiliena and Cok 8 s Puiijal ) Bales ( also a fine corps ) did the business well , each regiment capturing two guns . We always suffer immensely in officers . A third of oar number liave been killed or -wounded in thetwo- months , basides which cholera has carried off several ; however , we shall soon bring the business to an end . . . , "I only trust all the women and children will have been removed £ by the time the city is takenJ , fon , once inside , few will be spared . It wilL be an extraordinary dny for those that see the end of it , if the Pandies only ¦ wait to fight ; but I sometimes think the greater part will be off with the plunder they have got , and . we shall have to follow them up somewhere else . "
PESHAWTTR . An officer serving in- the Punjab writes from Feshawnr , July 21 : — " You will be glad to learn by this mail that , though risings have taken place in many parts of India since my last , here -we have been tolerably quiet , with the exception of the force at Fort Mackisore , which made overtures to the hill tribes ., andwete discovered intriguing by our indefatigable Commissioner , Colonel Edwardes . As soon as he heard what was going on , he told the negotiators in the hills to ask the Sepoys of the fbrt to giv « them a written promise to deliver up the fort . Then he had them ; and one night , with , a considerable body of cavalry and two guns of the mountain train , under nay friend
Golonel S . ' s oil adjutant , Captain _ B ., off he started for the fort , halted half way , and sent a body of one hundred and" fifty men by ariotlier road , so that they might get to the rear of the fort by the grey of early dawn . These arrangements , cleverly made and well executed , enabled him to surprise the mutineers . The Colonel arrived before the fort before daj'break , and had the pleasure of hearing the neighing of his cavalry horses on the other side just as he reached the place . They were taken aback , and , being called upon , laid down , their arms . The chief negotiator , a havildar , was at that very time in the hills , and when the roll was called was missing . He was shortly after brought in "by the hill chief , and , two days after , blown , away from a gun . "
HYKEE TAL . Tlie following ( dated August 5 th ) is from an officer atNyiieeTal : — " Since I wrote yesterday , news has come that the Hindoos have risen against the Mahometans and seized Moradabad and the guns there , and that they have also split and are ready to go at one another's throats in Bareilly . The Mahometans have been oppressing the Hindoos terribly , and the worm has turned . The Hindoos are numerous enough to win the day if they are staunch .
" They are also very well affected to us ( at least in this neighbourhood ) , and have been sending us constant messages to come back again , which we should have done if we had had any force here at all—I mean even two available field guns and two hundred or three hundred cavalry to go with the Ghoorkas and us . The Hindoos really seem to mean fighting now . " This is the best news we have heard for a longtime . The religious split will spread everywhere like wildfire —into Delhi itself in all probability ; and , whichever loses , Hindoo or Mahometan , we ought to win . It also makes us at Nynee Tal quite secure from any attack , for some time to come at any rate . I have aeut a copy of this letter to my mother . "
That there has been much heart-burning between the Hindoos and Mahometans , is quite certain ; but it does not seem to have gone to the extent anticipated by the writer .
DEESA . Some interesting particulars nre communicated by an officer in a , letter to his mother , dated August 18 th : — " Tho detachment of my regiment of two hundred and fifty men which was sont to Nusseerabnd ( the very sink of mutiny ) has mutinied . Tho facts were these : —After thoy had received their pay , Captain Ilolbrow , who was commanding them , heard , tho bugle blow the alarm for tho troops in garrison to assemble . So ho commanded our men to fall in , which thoy did without a murmur . There ho left them while he went to the brigadier for orders . One of the Bombay Lancers ( 1 st ) had before ridden to our lines in a state of fanaticism , being stimulatort by bhang and other things , nnd told our men that
tho Isombay 1 st Laneora had mutinied , and taken possession of tho guns , and that if they were commanded to march to the artillery lines not to obey , as the guns would ho turned upon them . As firing was lieiird near tho guns , our men believed it , and when Captain Holbrow came back with the brigadier ';) orders to march to tho artillery Iine 3 our men refused to move , and , notwithstanding all his assurances that it wan nil safe , only three would move out of the two ImndTcrt nnd fifty . Holbrow Bent back to tho brigadier and told him thathis mon were in a state of mutiny , ho lie ordered down on « hundred mon of tho 8 . 1 nl Itagimunt to tho gniifl , under Lioutonnnt Kwanson of tho florae-Artillery , to our lines . Of course it was all a lio of this ninn of the Lnnceru that tbny had mutinied nnd taken tho guno . But while Ilolbrow waa away this mini of the Lancers camo back to
our men , and tried to kill the Europeana when taey came *?' * f Swanson shot him with a pistol , and one hundred and three of our me it were disarmed . The worst part of the matter is that they were all found with tfceir muskete loaded , which certainly looks very suspicious ; but it is alleged they loaded them in self-defence against the Lancers . Oiir men here ( three hundred and fifty } are etaench . J J
TIIE-MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE . The following has been received from a lady at Cawnpore : — "Cawnpore , May 27 . " Dearest F ., —It is not yet the mail day , nor will be for some days , but I am induced to write while the dak is open to Calcutta , and "we are still able to communicate , lest ft-esh difficulties should encompass us , and you should he left without a notion of the events of these days . It is a sad history . "We are living- in awful realities , and we cannot see the end of them . We were apparently safe and quiet here till the 21 st , when toe 2 nd Cavalry began to show symptoms of uneasiness , and
intelligence was ; given that a rising of the native troops was in contemplation-that night . Mr . H ¦ - , the magistrate and collector , brought his wife and children in to U 3 in the afternoon , and we agreed all to remain together-Up to this time , no suspicion having been entertained of the troops' loyalty , no preparations for defence had been made . Now , however , all were astir . The General ( Sir Hugh Wheeler ) telegraphed to Lucknow for succour , the European barrack at the depot was assigned as a rendezvous , and some families went there for safety . We , however , determined to remain at our house untilfurther alarms were given ; but Colonel E -said lie would go and sleep in the midst of his men to show that he had confiden ce in them ; so we had only Mr .
H— to stay with us . Presently , about eleven . o'clock at night , he was called away to make some arrangement , so we thought it scarcely Tight to remain here alone . Accordingly , we took our little unconscious children out of their beds , and with the ayahs off we set in the carriage to the European barracks . There we found a number of refugees in a state of great alarm , of course , but for the mest part composed and resigned . It was a night of fearful suspense , yet it passed away without any disturbance , and I had the happiness of seeing my husband in the morning alive and well , and we went back to our house for the day . The danger had been imminent , but the posting of six guns in front of our barracks , fhe state of preparations we . were getting into , and the move of the officers ( at least of two ) ta sleep among their men , seemed to have checked the ardour of the mutinously disposed , and they put off >
without abandoning , their evil design . The next day ( Friday ) was one full of agony and dread ; and the night was more than poor human nature , unassisted , could endure . When my husband left me that night to go to his post , I never expected to see him alive again , for some of liis men had been overheard wildly talking of mutiny and murder , and had made a proposal to destroy their officers ! Colonel E himself had fully made up his mind that a death-stroke would be given , yet he flinched not an instant in the performance of his duty . I am happy to say we were preserved for that night again . I could scarcely believe that my husband ' s voice sounded outside the tent ( for we had now arranged for a tent just outside the barrack for ourselves ) . After that miserable night , the Saturday following seemed like heaven , for wo went to our house and spent the day quietly there—at least with such quietness as was possible with the most terrible rumours
coming in throughout the day and reviving all our saddest apprehensions . Of course we returned to the depot at night , and , fox tho first time since our move , exhausted nature would be attended to , and I fell asleep for some hours , and for a time shut out all the horrid realities of our situation . All Sunday waa pretty quiet . The Eode came off that day and tho next , when it was eocpeated that an outbreak would occur . It did not ao » however , and on Monday morning our minds wore some ^ what reassured by all the Mussulmans of the 1 st Regiment coming in a body according to custom to salaam to Colonel E after their prayers , and they expressed
their intentions of fidelity , &c , all of which are very welly but not to be depended on now-u-days . We returned to those melancholy night-quiirters ; oh I such n scone . Men , officers , women , and children , beds , and chairs , all mingled together inside nnd outside the barrack ; some talking or evon laughing , some very frightened , some defiant , others despairing . Throe guns in front of our position , a-nd three behind , nnd a trench in course of foi nation all round . Such sickening sights for peaceful women , and the miserable reflection that nil thie ghastly show ia caused not by open foea , but by the treachery of those wo have fed and pampered and honoured and trusted in for so many years .
M . . . It is not hard to dio oneself , but to boo a clear child Buffer nn < l perish , that is the hard , tho bitter trittl , and th « cup which I nuiHt drink , . should ( JoH not deem it fit that itHhould puss from me . My companion , Mrs . U , is delightful ; poor young tliimr ! » ho hat ) such a gentle spirit , ho unmurmuring , no desirous to meet tho trial rightly , ho unncHl * h nnd nweet in every way . Her husband is « m excellent man , urnl of course very much expound to danger , almost an much as mine . Rho baa two children , and we feel that our duty to our little
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, ; : 5 fe . 39 ^ , O ^ mmMylS ^ . ] tyiFffi , aB ; JUffAPiEff . , 933
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 10, 1857, page 963, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2213/page/3/
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