INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 526, 18 November 1857, Page 3

INDIA.

Some letters from-officers in India who escaped from the mutineers have been published in the English papers. They contain interesting- or instructive details. A boy of nineteen writes to his sister an account of his escape from Delhi. "Well, it must have been about five o'clock in the afternoon, when, all of a sudden, the Sepoys who were with us in the main-guard, and on whom we had been depending to defend us in case of attack, began firing upon us in every direction; a most awful scene, •as you may imagine, then ensued —people rnnning in every possible way to try and escape. I, as luck would have it, with a few other fellows, ran up a kind of slope

that leads to the officers' quarters, and thence, amid a storm of bullets, to one of the embrasures of, the bastion. It is perv feetly miraculous how I escaped being hit; no end of poor fellows were knocked down all about, and all too by their men ; it is really awful to think of it. However, on arriving at the embrasure, all at once the idea occurred to me of jumpinodown into the ditch from the rampart, (one would have thought it madness at any other, time,) and so try and get out by scaling.the opposite side: but just as I was in the act of doing so, I heard screams from a lot of ..unfortunate women who were in the officers' quarters, imploring for help. I immediately, with a few other fellows, who.like me were going to escape the same way, ran back to them, and though the attempt appeared hopeless, we determined to see if we could not take them with us. Some of them, poor creatures, were wounded with bullets. However, we made a rope with handkerchiefs, and some of us jumping down first into the ditch, caught them as they dropped, to break the fall. Then came the difficulty of dragging them up the oppo-.. site bank: however, by God's will, we succeeded, after nearly half an hour's labour, in getting them up ; and why no Sepoys came and shot every one of us while getting across all this time, is a.perfect mysteiy. The murdering was going on below all this time, and nothing could have been easier than for two or three of them to come to the rampart and shoot down every one of xis." This party, after much suffering, escaped to Kurnaul. Another officer who writes from Jhelum, reports some instructive facts.

"Well, the Sepoys, as I learn from really good informants, all believe that we. are determined to make them Christians by some means. They believe that all we want to do is to make them eat pig-s fat or bullock's flesh; and, unfortunately, the cartridges for the new Enfield rifles were greased, and in some places the grease, I believe, really was lard or common bullock's fat, 7 the native contractor having used these for cheapness. In this frame of mind, which has been going- on for several years,.they were veiy suspicious of anything- new, and., believed at once that the Government really had had the lard put on to cheat them into becoming Christians ; and regiment after regiment held meetings to resent this attack on their religion. All the oflicers who were well acquainted with Hindostanee being selected for staff appointments, only those were left in most regiments who, knowing but little of the language, had but little intercourse with their men, and* therefore they learnt nothing- of all this, except in one or two corps, where some chance linguist remained ; and these corps have generally not mutinied, as their oflicers learnt their complaints and explained the matter to them. It is now believed that all this would have blown over, but the dismissed nobles and grandees of Oude, shorn of all their wealth and rank, seized on this pretext, and sent messengers, in the disguise of Fakirs, all about, praying* the men to stand out for the religion of their fathers ; a plan which succeeded too well. Some of the Fakirs, it is said, have been apprehended. The Sepoys of the 14th Native Infantry held a meeting: but luckily had some good oflicers, and one Lieiitenant Smith, a good linguist and a g-reat friend of theirs; so they agreed not to mutiny, but to resign if they were asked to fire the suspected cartridges. Meanwhile, the Government or the authorities had all the new cartridges burnt, to reassure the men; but it had, unluckily, just the opposite tendency. If, they saidj there .was really nothing in the cartridges, Government would never have burnt them all; but as they Avere really greased with lard, they saw they were found out this time, and burnt them as the only way to get out of the mess. Now they say, such a powerful Government will soon find out some other way ; so it is better to fight it out now, than to find ourselves cheated into being Christians some day unexpectedly, and then be unable to clear ourselves."

The letter of a lady, the wife of an officer of the Third Cavalry, affords another proof of the influence that European officers can obtain over their men. A whole troop of this mutinous regiment stood fast by her husband, interposed between him and the mutineers/ spared the life of a captain at his intercession, and furnished volunteers to defend his wife and house. One of the pi'isoners. set free sprang to meet him, crying, " I am free, my lord ! Captain, let me press you to my bosom be-r

fore I fly." And he did it. The men of his troop being asked what they would do, replied, " Whatever you order us.". The same officer had volunteered to assemble a regiment, and was doing it. Another letter says of him, "He always did all in his power for his troop, and took the greatest interest in his men. Look at the effect— they stuck to him like Europeans in a time of the greatest trial." Further papers relating to the Indian mutiny have been presented to Parliament. One set of documents discloses facts of a most surprising kind affecting LieutenantColonel Wheler of the 34th Native Infantry, the second regiment to mutiny. From these documents it appears that Colonel Wheler had been in the habit of preaching Christianity, "in the highways, cities, bazaars," making no distinction of classes, but talking to Sepoys as well as others. " When I address Natives on this subject, whether individually or collectively, it has been no question with me as to .whether the person or persons I addressed belong to this or that regiment, or whether he is a. shopkeeper, merchant, or otherwise, but to.speak to all alike, as sinners in the sight of God j and I have no doubt that I have often in this way (indeed, am quite certain) addressed Sepoys of my own regiment, as also of other regiments at this and other stations where I have been quartered When speaking to a Native upon the subject of religion, lam then acting in the capacity of a Chiistian soldier under the authority of my Heavenly Superior ; whereas in temporal matters I act as a Government officer under the authority and orders of my earthly superior."

Let Us see how Colonel Wheler acted in his temporal capacity. When Adjutant Baugh was cut down by a Seipoj, Colonel Wheler came to the lines, and seeing the man walking up and down armed, he ordered first two or three, then, at the suggestion of Captain Drury, all the guard, to load. He ordered the Jemadar to secure the mutineer. The Jemadar murmured ; the guard would not move; and Colonel Wheler says himself, "I felt it was useless going on any further in the matter !" Fortunately, General Hearsey came Up, and ordered the guard to follow him. They did so, and the Sepoy shot himself. Lord Canning, commenting on this, says—

"Were it necessary to come to an opinion upon this evidence alone, I could come to none more favourable to Colonel Wheler than that he is entirely unfit to be entrusted with the command of a regiment."

A Court of Inquiry was ordered to probe the matter to the bottom.