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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd April 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 316

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      316 THE LEADER . [ No . 419 , April 3 , 1858 .

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      was originally built for and used as a zenana , an enclosed residence , with a court-yard in the centre , in which the stump of a tree was still standing ; and off this open space were the rooms in which the massacre took place . The plaster of the walls was still lying about in patches , but I could not detect any trace of blood . Bits of cloth and of women ' s dresses were still visible amid the rubbish ; but there were none of the more painful tokens of the dreadful tragedy which had been enacted where we stood . There is reason to believe that the writing on the plaster , the purport of which you know , did not exist when Havelock ' s force entered the place . I have spoken with officers who examined the walls and every scratch in the sides of the rooms , and they declare that the appeal to vengeance which is attributed to one of the wretched victims was not to be seen immediately after we returned to Cawnpore , and that it had been traced on the wall by some person who visited the place subsequently . As there was nothing left of the house but a heap of broken bricks and plaster and some few stumps of brick pillars , we walked a few paces further to the well in rear of the house , into which the bodies of the slaughtered women and children were thrown by the murderers . It is now bricked over , and there only remains a small circular ridge of brick marking the wall of the well , which was not more than nine or ten feet across . Beneath rest the mangled remains of our poor countrywomen and their little ones , and standing there we could well realize the strength of that indignation which steels the hearts of our soldiers against the enemy . Within a few feet of the well , ' surrounded by a small wooden paling , there stands a stone cross on a flat slab , on two courses of masonry , the inscription on -which tells its story : — 'In memory of the women and children of her Majesty ' s 32 nd Regiment , who were slaughtered near this spot on the 16 th of July , A . p . 1857 . This memorial was erected by twenty men of the same regiment , who were passing through Cawnpore , November 21 st , 1857 . ' This inscription is engraved on the upright part of the slab , which is in the form of a Maltese cross , within a circle of stone . In the quadrants of this circle are inscribed , in red letters and in the old English character , * I believe in the Resurrection of the Dead . '" There are some other inscriptions similar to that supposed to be written by a woman on the walls of the house of massacre , but they seem to be equally unreliable ; and Mr . Russell speaks of " a good deal of doggrel writing of various kinds" oh the walls of Wheeler ' s entrenched buildings , and on those of the bungalows' on the line of inarch . THE ALIJEGED MUTILATIONS . ' The Father of One of the Indian Sufferers' writes to the Times to rebuke what he describes as " the mawkish assertion" that no mutilations or indignities were committed by the Sepoys in the early days of the revolt . He states ;—" My daughter wrote some time ago ' that it w * ll never " be known in England the extent of the sufferings and misery and the fearful deaths of the victims in India ; some had their throats cut with panes of glass , -others fearfully mutilated , others—women—suffered worse than death . ' 1 have just had a letter from a friend this morning , of which I give you an extract : — ? An old friend of ours has her two oldest friends returned without noses or ears . She says they are cheerful , but miserable objects , and their sufferings were acute . ' This ia only one out of many statements which I have received , sadly confirming the early letters received from India detailing the horrible atrocities and mutilations which had been perpetrated on innocent women and children by our deceitful and treacherous Sepoys . The fact is , that these atrocities have been so fearful and revolting that the sufferers have hidden themselves from public gaze , rather than let them be known . " Another letter has appeared in the same paper to similar effect .

      itUOKNOW HKKOKS . Mr . A . D , Home , surgeon of the 90 th Regiment , mentions in a letter to Colonel Napier , Military Secretary to General Outram , the heroic conduct of three privates ( ttollhvell , 78 th Highlanders ; M'Manus , 5 th Fusiliers ; and Ryan , 1 st Madras Fusiliers ) , who , on the 26 th of September , were shut up with him in a house at Lucknow surrounded by the enemy .

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      THE OKIENT . OUINA . The detailed accounts from China by tho overland mail do not contain any very important additions to the telegraphic eummaries published last week ; but a few itemn of ^« ossipjnavj ? s hero Bet down . " Mokh , the Tartar Genial ?' Ba ^ taining the casualties among his followers , assembled » bout six hundred of them the other day , -without , in the first place , giving notice to the allied commissioners . This being deemed suspicious , Mokh was placed under arrest , and tho men ' s bows , arrows , and other equipage , taken away frpm them . On a promise not to offend in A stn > Uat inannor , tho arrest was taken off . Reports of an Intended attack on tho guards having reached tno 4 jpmmis 8 ionor 8 , PUi was called on to advise what course jshould bo pursued towards tho saucy braves { and though tho measures taken have partially allayed anxiety , tho

      intention of removing the body of Marines arid 59 ths from the old Consoo-house , in the rear of what was Old China-street , indicates a fear that the announcement of ' the re-establishment of tranquillity' is somewhat premature . " A combined expedition of Mandarin junks and English gunboats has been sent to scour the Fatshan , Hamilton , and Moneypenny creeks , for pirates . Captain Edgell , in conjunction with a Chinese Mandarin , would continue , it was announced , to send out similar expeditions until the whole of the adjacent waters are safe to traders . Pib , the Governor of Ivwang-tung , has issued a notification to the effect that he has " consulted about an harmonious arrangement with the two nations of Great Britain and Great France , " and that the people may resume their usual occupations without fear . Another proclamation enjoins the people not to carry war instruments , nor to assemble in rank and file , nor to create disturbances . The Bishop of Victoria has been visiting Canton , and preaching to the troops . A despatch from Marseilles , bringing the intelligence from Canton down to the 14 th of February , states that the Governor and the Tartar General were in prison on a suspicion of treason , and that , for the same reason , Yen had been sent to Calcutta . " The Chinese merchants , " it is added , " will not transact any business with the Europeans . The squadrons will proceed to Pekin , which is now considered as an indispensable measure . The admirals have interdicted all foreign civilians from sleeping in Canton . Divers are employed in endeavouring to save the money sunk in the Ava . " EGYPT . The King of Abyssinia has sent a special embassy to the Pacha of Egypt , accompanied by magnificent presants .

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      AGRICULTURAIi WAGES IN KENT . " WHiiiE we are directing so much , attention to the ' great social evils' of large towns , and unveiling the miseries of the Spitalfields weavers and the East-end working classes , it may be as well to give a glance towards those more distant regions of the country wliich walled-up cockneys are apt to regard as the homes of peace , p lenty , and prosperity , but in which misery and crime are as rife as in the midst of cities . The position of the agricultural labourer has not received the amount of attention which it demands . We have all been more or less bamboozled by the idyllic impositions of Protectionist writers , who have represented the tillers of the soil as a race of ideally happy mortals , the jovial denizens of the Elysiums which they cultivate and adorn ; and it is only now and then that the veil is lifted . When it is lifted , however , we see the true English labourer as lie was represented years ago in Punch — a gaunt , worn , hungervisaged man , sitting in the wretched hut he calls his home , and not seldom sallying forth , in his blind and iguorant revenge , torch m hand against the ricks of those who profit by him , but from whom he derives so little in return . We find that the Will Fern of Dickens ' s Christmas story may be taken as the type of the whole race ; and that when noble lords and honourable gentlemen reward some poor wretch , with a sovereign for half a century of service , they bestow unconsciously a paltry crown upon a life-long martyrdom . A . letter which we liave received on this subject places the condition of the Kentish labourer in the strong light of facts . Our correspondent writes as follows : — Minster , Thanet , March 24 . Sir , As you occasionally examine , and sometimes prescribe for , the blotches in our social system , and as some of a class are discussing how to live on 800 / . a year , allow mo to show you how human beings are existing in a country which we are told is teaching nations how to live—a country boasting a high state of civilization and a pure Christianity . Whon wo are talking about social progress , wo find beings worse fed than tho beasts of the field , and this in a parish in one of tho fairest spots in Kent , amidst a superabundance of human food , where tho living of tho vicar is more than 800 / . a year , and containing some of tho largest and most-highly cultivated farms in tho country . Amid all this plenty , the agricultural labourer ' wages are but 12 b . per week ; and one family that I know of , containing in . all seven persons—viz ., tho man , his wife , and five girls—lias to exist on this small sum . How it iu done , tho man ' s own tale will too clearly explain : —" For week 8-l-lmve-nothine ^ but _ brood ^ orjnjyjpj / , ^^ o , jv » c ^ family ; for days I have had no food but a few swede turnips which I have picked up , I am in regular work , and walk about two miles and a half to it every morning—which is thirty miles thoro and homo weekly . I pay for rent , Is . lOu . ; coals , Is . Od . ; soap , 4 d . ; 7 gnlloiis of bread , at lid . per gallon , Ga . 64 ; candles , 4 d .: total , 10 s . 2 d ., leaving only Is . lOd . for mignr , ton , qoIFco , butter , choose , and moat , which I rarely tasto . 1 Imvo a highway rate account brought in , but I can pay it . However , my wljTo and family shall pick atonos eff tho fields to tho amount , if tho parish or surveyors I

      will allow them to do so . " The above are plain facto and I could show you the family . The man never complains , and the above was drawn from him . For th " sake of humanity , I should think his name will ba placed on the Excused List for Highway Sate- for it fa cruel to tax such men to keep up carriage road ' s , and to ask such a man for a poor-rate seems -to me an insult to one's feelings . If this man had no work , and could obtain none , he could have an ' Order for the House , where ha and his family would cost the parish 11 . As . 6 d . pet week for maintenance , and his children would be taught . The bold peasantry of England' are heing starved into a better world , where the rich man is to meet them . If the rich man believes this , I wonder he does not try and make this world more supportable for the slowly starved labourer . Yours truly , —R . Bubb . We believe that matters are even worse than this in Somersetshire , where labourers are sometimes . paid no more than ten shillings a week . How are ' the bone and sinew of the land' to be main , tained in healthy vigour on suck starvation wages as these ? The truth is that they are not so main , tained , as the recruiting sergeant will tell you . We are constantly obliged to reduce the height and breadth of chest of our soldiers of the Line ; and even the picked regiments of the Foot Guards are no longer the giants that they were . Unhealthy occupations in over-large towns , and starvation wages in the country , are reducing the English race to an inferior physical condition ; so that , independently of considerations of humanity , we are all interested on national grounds in the removal of those social diseases which sap our strength . In a further communication from IMr . Bubb , we read : —

      I have this morning had ocular proof of what I had previously stated in respect to the food , and oral evidence of the hard lot of the labourer and his family . The cottage is clean and tidy , the children clean and healthy . I asked them whether they had had any meat for dinner that day . Their answer was , "No ; but we have had some suet pudding , and a nice lot of bread . " 1 saw the vert / small stock of butter and sugar , and the man stated that he was troubled at times to get work , and sometimes could not . If the eldest girls were boys , he should be better off , as they could then go out to work . Oftentimes he has nothing from breakfast to supper—that is , breakfast in the morning before he proceeds to work , and supper when he returns in the evening . It strikes me that our social system must be in a very rotten state to admit of such cases ; for why should a man with five girls be less fortunate than one with five boys ? As the wife very aptly said , " > Ve could not help their being girls instead of boys . " It has also occurred to me as something out of order to hear labourers , when out of employ just before the hoeing season , say : " If we can only get a nice shower to make the weeds grow , we shall have plenty of work . And it i * the -weeds that benefit the labourer , as abundance or scarcity of corn only affects him in a very slight degree , as his wages vary according to the price of wheat—with this difference , that they come down sooner than they are raised . I have often been struck , in winter time , to hear labourers wishing the roads were blocked up with snow to get a job I So that weeds and snow-storms benelit tho labourer . But is it not radically wrong that such things should be , and willing labourers almost starving amid superabundance of food ? AVc have visiting Guardians to inspect the in-door rate receivers . Is it not high timo we had < w < -Guardiuns to see that deserving poor are not being gradually ground into eartui " Whose duty is it to see to these things ?

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      ACCIDENTS AND SUDDEN DEATHS . A most dreadful calamity occurred early on Sunday morning in Bloomsbury . Between two and three o clock , A . M ., a policeman , in passing through G » lbert-8 trott--tt thoroughfare running from Museum-atreot , and unuuu by Groat Russell-street—observed some smolco issunig from the ground floor of No . 20 , tho lower part of wl c house was used as a carpenter ' s shop , while the msi « . Becond floors were let as privato apartments . " « Kl l ° ,,, . loudly at the door , but in another minute the liamos burst forth , and , before the engines or asenpo *«> um arrive , tho retreat of tho people in tho upper pnit oi ino house was cut off . Tho inhabitants of the Jl J floor however—a man named Eastwood , his vrifo , » » J ™ children—escaped , hnlf dressed , by mon . is ol » J" ( " "/ and , shortly aftorwarda , tho firo-csonpo arrived , bomo nculty-WsSxperienco ^ iiv ^ of tho road being greatly narrowed by . tho w \ ™™}[ * some now buildings opposite ; and , owing to tJii « U ¦ O . its services wore of no avail . Two families ici oa jn tho floound floor-ono named Smith , the otl . ««•» ' oa Ho . lgor , ana counting in nil fifteen P « i «<"' ; 1 J ° ° " of arrival of tho ilro-ewnpe , one Of the Smltha- " « j <» fifteen-appeared at tho window , nw prepared toj » out . The people bolow called to him not to . •»* assuring him that ho would bo » nvo « l i hut he tnrow himself from tho window , and rocoivod such BliotK »> 6

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1858, page 316, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2237/page/4/