Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, 26 August 1858, Page 3

Extracts.

SIB COLIN CAMPBELL*,S GENERAL-: . SHIP.

j (From the'Atherisßum.') | This system of taking cities, towns, and' I f or ts 'and: alld^ihg,;the'rebels to escapfe, I w iU never do.', We| .arpte^ching^them by j j the best pf all jessdns> experiencQ, the sy's-, I tem of warfare which, is most : favorable ! for them to follow. The high stone wall I surmounted; bycahnon, the concentration j0 f vkst masses/upon '^h open plain,1 are things--! that miitine'^ their European training-,' arrns, and disciI pline, will no '. longer depend upoh7for, re- ['• sisting or overwhelming a British force; | but to evade the enemy, to wear him out i by incessant; mai-cHes,- to lure him beneath [ the deadly sky, or to' entice him into pesfc ; iiferous jungles, these; are tactics/which, I every day that protracts the war cannot [fail to impress,upon the minds of thein- ;- !surgents. TWeare slow to criticise military; operations j least of all when.they are conducted by men of experience and acknowledged ability; but we may remark that, during the whole of'thfe present crisis, the measures ; pursued* seem rathier to have' had for their object the gaining of victories, * than, the 7 annihilation of the enemy. TVYith regard to the ultimate suppression of the revolt, it is difficult to see. in what way, during the past six months thai; end has advanced. It is true that we [have won many battles, and taken many Ltowns iand forts, but the enemy invariably lappear to close; in behind us; and if our poldiers trample down the flames of revolt |n every direction, the combustible material is oh fire again ere the pressure of [their footsteps is well withdrawn. The [effect of this continued warfare upon all [classes of our Indian subjects will be exItremely pernicious. To the unthinking [masses the future is a mere abstraction'.:

and seeing great numbers of the rebels Bremaining unharmed and at large, an imforovident people will believe that they may revolt with impunity. . Thattthegoirernment is only master of the ground ipon which; itstahdsinmahyilarge dis;ricts, is unfortunately too.true; andthe solation, if not impotencej, of the •cdnquerfrs when left;7unsupppidfed7 by the: con(uered, is a fact that will hot fail to impress tself upon the. native mind,,..: The fidelity h our mercenaries depends upon their beief in our strength and; capabilities; but ;he bondsithat :hold them to us may be iveakened) when; they : see the ease with Ivhich our enemies, escalpe us. Thereare mo meh^ so difficult jx> deal with as'those |vho are; destitute of'.'foresight:'"' Reasongable insurgents will prefer surrendering, to protracting■-. a contest .which they know pnustend in their total destruction. But Ihe minds of Asiatics, which are about [equally divided between fatalism and japathyy are incapable of realising* a puhishlnent;which is deferred. 7

I The capture of Delhi with its strong Ifortifications, its inexhaustible arsenal, and Its 200 heavy guns, was ia wonderful, inpeed almost unparalleled, exploit; and that Ihe insurgents shbuld have escaped in Vast plumbers, cannot be w:oiidered at. But Ithat with an ai*my of 30,000 men, opposed to a: disheartened! rabble, armed with a Iwretched artilllery, and still more wretched ammunition, we should have suffered the genenry' to escape from .Lucknow,7;is7 unquestionably a matter more for astonishment than admiration. The author of this novel Inilitary operation we \ ;knp w not; but we Slo know that Sir Colin Campbell atCawnSpore, was uncommonly near. Lord Canning pit Allahabad. Brerinajs would have taken She Citadel of 'Rome, had it not been for sthe cackling of a goosed 7 I At Allahabad, Lord Canning is treatiug fwith contempt .thesage!. advice of, Mrs. IGlass, who would first catch the hare and fdress him up afterwards; In a district, {which is not yet subdued^lie is refining jupon ths distinctions between acts against |the State,;and acts ofplunder,and violence; |" The Governor-General doesi not desire |that all crimes, falling under the latter |category, should be treated as crimes, against the State.'; Of course he does not. Inspired as Lord Canning is with I the ideas of those: around him, he would [not object to see the .proofs of murder, plunder, arson, YbrYdeined of every kind of outrage, but lie would conY siderably- object to see the proofs of rebellion. The more that word is used; the jnore suitably it applies to the state of things in our Northern provinces, the more difficult will it be to uphold, defend, and re-establish the constituted order of things. A series of desultory acts of violence and plunder,

lamentable as; they might be, would not seem to necessitate any. radical changes; but a rebellion, and a complete failure of the; political .arrangements in its area, might bring on, what Mr. Disraeli talked bf,T" a total change in the Indian administration." The distinction sought to be drawn by Lord Canning, •.would cut off frona rebellion some of its most striking characteristics. No revolt ever existed without .disorganisation of the country; and the parties who engage in the disturbances, are, as clearly the creatures of rebellion, as maggots are the products of of physical corruption. Their assistance to the. insurgents, even if indirect, is most pernicious; and their crimes abet therevolt by making its suppression more difficult. ..- Not a European's life, west of Benares, is safe-without a picquet of soldiers. Not a Government order, but,what is; in most places, trampled on and despised. Lord Canning formerly expressed his abhorrence at what he was pleased to denonominate the wholesale destruction of villages. It was this feeliug which produced the Resolution that will be handed down to posterity as Clemency of Canning*. Yet his Lordship has passed his own sentence.of condemnation upon that Order, by causing the villages in the country through which has been open the new line of railway to Futtehpoor, to be burned to the ground., In his first, trip upon that line, every station had to be guarded by strong bodies of troops. It seems, indeed, difficult to exaggerate the state; of the districts in which his Lordship has fixed his head-quarters. The grand army of Lucknow, having failed to annihilate the rebels is split up into detachments—but scarcely for the purpose of hunting the rebels down. They, on their side, have for allies, the deadly heats of April, May, and June; and nothing could they desire better than to lead our troops-: a dance under burning skies and through pestilential forests. The common people will be astonished at the ease with which a revolt may be carried; on; and even those races, which, believing themselves hopelessly subdued, have settled into an acquiescence in our rule may be dazzled by an unexpected glimpse ot independence. Our troops must be inactive to a great extent during the forthcoming three or four months; and what if in that time, the infection should spread to the Punjaub and other districts! What if pur newly raised levies should be lured from lis by the fascinations of indiscipline and plunder. If we concentrate our troops^ the enemy disperses: if we separate bur forces in small bodies, we are either.separately liable to attack, or can effect nothing*. The fact is, that we require another army of 30,000 men from England. At Lucknow, the chance has been missed : a,nd in truth, that city has.proved to be our Pandora's box. Had it been resolutely closed upon all sides, we might by this time have been talking over the suppression of the revolt. But some modern Epimetheus left a way of escape; and the elements of incalculable evil have burst forth to spread themselves in all directions.