THE SIEGE OF DELHI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 610, 11 September 1858, Page 5

THE SIEGE OF DELHI.

(From the 'Overland Telegraph and Courier.') We have just glanced at a few facts connected with the seige of Delhi, which, we do not think, have yet been made public. Terrible as was the carnage during the capture of the city, it would have been much greater had it not been for the Begum. When she saw our preparations for storming completed,, her heart failed her. and she opened communications with General Wilson. On guaranteeing her own safety, and that of her favorite son Jumma Bukht, she discovered to Sir Archdale the plans of the mutineers, We were six thousand strong; they were one hundred and fifty thousand. One of their plans was for the one-half to oppose our entrance into the city, while the other attacked our rear. The odds would have been terriffic, and the probability is that our brave little army would have been cut up to a man. Providence, however, watched over us, and from the information furnished to General Wilson, he made arrangements so as to render an attack upon his rear an impossibility. We have lately conversed with an officer who shared in the glory of the capture of Delhi, jfnd, from what we could gather, the fighting within the walls must have been awful. Every house was bristling with muskets and metal klocks; the shot fell for hours thick as hail; the streets were swept with cannister and grape, and our soldiers fell by dozens. Barricades, honeycombed with guns, were erected in many streets; and against them our men had to march, exposed to a severe fire on every side. Nothing, however, daunted them. They fought and conquered, driving before [them an army exactly twenty-five times their own number. The deeds of daring performed in Delhi surpass any ever yet recorded in history. One man killed, with his own hand, during the seige and capture of the city, two hundred men. There was no artifice which the mutineers did not resort to for the purpose of destroying our soldiers. Cases of champagne, brandy, and. wine, and casks of beer were everywhere scattered about, in the hope that our troops might be induced to drink. All their machinations were, however, fruitless ; wearied and worn as they were, our soldiers scorned the temptation; and not until the British flag was waving from the palace did they rest to refresh themselves. We have also been informed that Major Hodson had the strictest orders to take the king alive, but he is understood to have regretted it. Pie even expressed himself to his friends that, if he had known what was to be the result, he would have shot him, and stood the consequences, whatever they might have been. In pistolling j the Shavadahs, he did not kill them outright, but brought them in, to die on the very spot which they had incarnadined with the blood of our women and children. For several days, the interior of Delhi presented an awful spectacle. The air was impregnated with the gases of decomposition, and the streets were covered with the fragments and remnants of fighting men. It was a good thing for our half-famished troops that Delhi was well supplied with provisions. Fresh meats of all kinds was to be had in abundance; and it was not at all an uncommon sight to see the soldiers breakfasting upon Oxford sausages in jelly, partridge patties with truffles, and hams of the most delicious flavour— washing the viands down with claret and sparkling champagne. It is expected that the prize money will be something

considerable; but nothing like the amount which the troops at Lucknow will receive, the principal plunder of Delhi being secreted in Moerut. Sir Colin Campbell's share of the Lucknow prize money is estimated at £200,000 —a sum of money which will handsomely gild the coronet which, we hope, is now tinder preparation for him.