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THE BELIEF OF LUCKNOW . The latest news from India is of a more purel y satisfactory nature than had been received by several preceding mails . The extrication of our women and children from their perilous state of siege in the beleaguered Residency of Lucknow , is an event that "will have been hailed throughout the ¦ land with a feeling of thankfulness as deep ; as was the sterner sense of joy that greeted ¦ the announcement of the full of Delhi . A result that was felt to be well worth any
sacrifice , has not , of course , been achieved without very considerable losses ; it required five days of . hard fighting to obtain for us even a . temporary possession of the Oude capital . The present Commander-in-Chief of India had long earned for himself the character of a careful general and a skilful tactician ; and the whole tenor of his operations evinces a desire to be as chary as possible of throwing away valuable lives . Sir Coiin ' s mode of approaching , aud forcing his way through densely populated Suburbs , appears to have been alike
judiciously planned and scientifically executed . He well knew , that a formidable enemy was to be encountered on his own chosen vantage ground ( for nowhere does the Asiatic fight so well as in crowded streets , or sheltering enclosures ) , and no precaution was neglected that might tend to ensure success . The resistance of the insurgents was most determined . At no period of the campaign have the mutineers exhibited greater obstinacy in maintaining their positions . This desperate tenacity , indeed , has in a marked degree characterized the rebellion since the main
contest was transferred to the native soil of the Sepoy in Oude . Some censure has-been hinted against the Commander-in-Chief for having rashly exposed himself in the assault on Lucknow , as evidenced by the fact that he , and also several of his staif , figure in the list of wounded officers . As a general rule , there is no denyiug the position laid down by those who blame Sir Colin in this particular . We believe , however , that the occasion was one that fully warranted a departure from the laws of routine ; and we rest assured that Sir Colin Campbell
Commander-in-Chief had before him a choice of two distinct evils . Either he could , while there was yet time , relinquish his dangerous acquisition of Lucknow , and retire upon Cawnpore ; or he might fortify himself in one or more positions , and stand a siegejust as Outram and Havelock did before ; only , minus their non-combatant encumbrances—pending the advent of further reinforcements . Of these two courses , the
former would certainly involve a manifest loss of prestige ; whilst the latter would entail the ill effect of isolating the chief military authority at a period when his counsels might be most in request . Sir Colin is reported to have applied for definite orders on this head . In the meantime all available troops are being pushed on towards the North-West , as quickly as circumstances will allow them to be moved .
The military operations in Central India do not yet exhibit any features of great interest ; " and in Rohilcund the mutineers still exercise uncontrolled authority . It is generally said that the regiments in Lower Bengal disbelieve the reduction of Delhi ; and it is certain that the three companies of the 84 th N . I ., whom the tortuous policy of the Calcutta bureaucracy insisted on maintaining ( in arms ) at Chittagong , when their brethren were disbanded at Barrackpore , broke out in mutiny on the 10 th of November , and inarched against Dacca . We are truly sorry to notice a General Order , purporting to emanate from the Commander-iu-Chief
in which the most ridiculous distinctions are attempted to be drawn between individual Sepoys absent and others present with their regiments , between those who purposely and those who accidentally exceeded their leave , between those who were more and those who were less guilty of rebellion . If one tenth part of the exemptions founded on such subtleties should ever
come to be recognized , the whole moral of the Great Bengal Mutiny will have beeu for ever lost . It is even alleged that some of the disarmed regiments are being redrilled bodily . Can this be true ? If it be true , it is certainly monstrous ; and we do sincerely hope that , at the proper time and place , such questions may be propounded to the Indian Executive at home as will elicit the authority uuder which such a suicidal absurdity has been perpetrated .
merely obeyed a similar conviction . A cautious leader , and , as we have already intimated , a skilful tactician—a man , too , whose years might well have tempered youthful rashness , no carpet knight , whose spurs were yet to win , but a soldier of approved personal bravery—would hardly have acted as our Indian chief is reported to have done , unless he had been fully satisfied in his own mind that the leader ' s immediate presence was indispensable at the post of danger .
We have spoken above of the British occupation— that is , the lately achieved recovery of Lucknow—as being , perhaps , only temporary . In truth , the main and obviously most urgent end of Sir Colin Campbell's hasty departure for the scene of action , was attained as soon as he had rescued and placed in safety the burdensome convoy of sick and wounded , women , children , and camp followers that were congregated in the Residency and at the Allmnbagh . These are now
out ^ of-harm ! s ^ wAy ,, beiijg _ iBafeJly _ 4 i . sp ^ sedyof at Cawnpore . But we are already beginning to realize the great mistake fallen into by those who fancied that the warlike population of Oude could be subdued with a force of little more than 10 , 000 effective troops ; oi ? even that such a force could permanently hold its chief city , whilst all the surrounding country was up iu arms against us . If we may trusjj the view of things adopted by the Calcutta journals juafc received ( and it certainly appears to be a very just view ) , the
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WALKER ! Walker has escaped , with his expedition , from the vigilance of the United States officials , has landed , and is again in full career on the field of Central America . This time the truth is too transparent for our English writers to be prepared with any direct accusation of the united States Government ; they limit their attacks to Walker , but write at President Buchanan and his
coadwas an end of him . Very good . We wait for the next number of the romantic tale without a particle of misgiving as to its interest being sustained . Behold ! It is May in New Orleans , and to all it is notorious that our hero—yes , Filibuster Walker—is boldly and rapidly organizing another expedition to Nicaragua . But the task is the work of months , and it has gone on uninterruptedly till September is reached . Then there is some talk among the administratives of such work beiug supposed to be going forward , and that it is against
the laws , and , therefore , must be looked tonay , in consequence of some uneasy representations made by the Central American Ministers at Washington , positive orders are directed to be given to prevent the landing of the supposed expedition on the Nicaraguan coast . The orders are very soon issued to the officials concerned at the ports of New York , New Orleans , &c , calling upon them to use their utmost vigilance to prevent any infringement of the neutrality laws by an expedition ' so manifestly prejudicial to the national character , and so injurious to the national interest . ' The officials all stand
upon the q , ki vive ; above all , no precious time is lost by them in looking after this nefarious undertaking . By the 11 th of November—our hero having thoroughly completed his work of preparation—the United States Marshal has him before the United States Circuit Court at New Orleans , and gets him held to bail in the sum of 2000 dollars to appear in five days from that time to answer for his present conduct . Our hero gives the required surety and—like a bold filibuster as he is—in less than twenty-four hours is on his way to Nicaragua .
The American coast is guarded by Government cruisers ; the filibuster chief goes a little out of his way , and altogether out of theirs , and safely embarks with his one hundred and fifty followers , armed to the teeth , at Mobile . In due course , he nears the tempting land . He tries the Colorado ; but , for some cause not stated , his vessel cannot enter that river . The San Juan , then , is the only inlet ; but in the port of Punta Arenas lies the United States sloop of war Saratoga . Can a filibuster be without an
expedient ? His little ship boldly approaches ; she has ten men upon her' —the most unlikely-looking men you can conceive ; she passes close under the stern of the watchship without exciting a second look from the watchers on board . The innocent newcomer makes her quiet way right up to ' Scott ' s Wharf , opposite Greytown , ' aud then , in the full light of day , ' General ' Walker , late President of the State of Nicaragua , &c , lands with one hundred heavilyarmed men—having previously landed fifty at the mouth of the Colorado . And there
he is , in spite of treaties , and neutrality laws , and Mr . Buchanan ' s message . The terms of that message are quite explicit . Mr . Buchanan says : — " It is one of the first and highest duties of any independent state in its relations with the members of the great family of nations to restrain ita people from acta of hostile aggression against their citizens or subjects . The most eminent writers on public law do not hesitutu to denounce such hostile acts as robbery and murder . "
Let us ask ourselves what Mr . Buchanan could-do . ?~ . W-, © -judge ^ T . M ^^ Wi > j !; , ! H ! L * 5 £ JIl !^^ by the standard of our own manners aifd customs . Here in England , such a man as Walker would have no chance . The only thing he could do to make a . stir would bo to get up a more tremendous Joint-Stock Banking swindle than any we have yet seen ; but , at the best , the thing could not bo done with any great amount of true filibustering dash . If , leaving Joint-Stock swindling to men of delicate health and less daring spirits ,
jutors , implying all kinds of censure because Walker has left one part of the American continent for another . Now there is not only a total absence of any case against the United States Government , but there really is nothing very serious to complain of iu the whole affair . Let us see what Walker has done . _ His latest adventure is really up to the riglflTfillbustidi ^ t ' a Ti ^^
berod , without a lengthy recapitulation of his previous doings , that Walker ' s fortunes were not very long ago represented aa being about as bad as they could be . Hia expedition had failed . His men had deserted him , aud returned to their homes—those who had any—iu starving and ragged knots . As for himself , the prevailing belief was that , by some means , he had found his way to the bpttom of the Gulf of Mexico , aud there
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13 THE LEAD EU . [ "No . 406 , January 2 , 1858 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 2, 1858, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2224/page/12/
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