INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 610, 11 September 1858, Page 3

INDIA.

Looking over the latest Indian files of papers: one cannot but be surprised at the extent and .versatility of'operations going on over a vast proportion of territory. Here.a fort is stormed, there a jungle is surrounded and penetrated, elsewhere a battle, further on a surprise, a running, fight, a massacre, a murder, executions without number; and sufferings most extreme on every side. Amongst the principal operations, as stated in oiir last, were those of General Lugard at Judgespore, but the chief of these amounted to merely a sharp skirmish, driving a large body of the irebels from the Duleepore Jungle. ' Brigadier General Jones had a bit of an, action f ia;taking a fort about eleven miles from Mohundee ; and Sir Hope, Grant had another sharp affair, on a similarly small scale, taking and destroying the mud fort and town of Ram Buksh, but our.casualties were trifling on both occasions.; The heat was excessive, and hundreds were dying from coup-de-soleil. We append the most interesting of the general details.' ■": ' '■'■'" A writer from Calcutta on the 18 th June, writes,— "The Press Act" expired yesterday, not a word transpired on the subject, in .the Legislative Council. • The Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry are to be disbanded immediately. They are to march down to Benares in a few days for that purpose, at that station Benares, they give up their horses to a picked band of the new E. I. C. Light; "Cavalry Recruits. ■ ■ \ Lord Canning's resignation is now a matter; beyond doubt. The'terrible snubbing conveyed; him in the Ellenborough despatch, anent the; Oudeamnesty proclamation, left him no alternative. .Renewed exertions are to be made to get Eurasian recruits, for the military service of the State, here. What, does Madras say, about It? in my drawer is a copy of the; petition sent in three years ago, begging from Government ' that some practicable path to martial fame be opened out to the East Indians. Why don't' they avail themselves now of the opportunities for which they clamoured then. The reports about the "coming Militia Bill" are all bosh. The heat there has been fearfully intense for the past ten days. The thermometer has been averaging from 100 ° to 102 in the shade. Deaths of Europeans and East Indians from 25 to 40 daily. In'this weather even slight diseases are; fatal, the hospitals are losing' all their older cases: To-day (Siuiday) is cooler, and we have now some hope of relief. _ - , The following extract from General Lugard s despatch from the Jugdespore Jungle will give ' a fair, estimate of the sufferings undergoing by the troops:— "I beg you will assure his Excellency, that the exertions, made by the force under my command, to ensure the success of our operations, ! have been of no ordinary kind; without tents, or anything but the clothes on their backs, they (one and all) have been exposed to the inclemency of the weather, in the several attempts to accomplish the object in view, viz., the destruction of the rebel force; no troops but the two seasoned regiments now with me could, I feel confident, have gone through all the fatigue and exposure to which they have been subjected; indeed the casualty return of Colonel Corfields force which simply operated for a few hours before sunset, will prove my assertion, seven (7) men.having died of coup-de-soleil in that time; and further, that out of a party of 110 men ot the 6th Foot which left their camp with Lieut-enant-Colonel Longden on the 13th instant, to meet the convoy already mentioned as ordered from Judgespore full sixty (60) men fell oat, most of whom had to be carried into their camp. ; —-Lieutenant-Colonel Fenwick, commanding 10th Foot, fell I regret to say, from the effects of a suivstroke near Duleepore,.and the immediate preseuce of the doctor alone prevented a fatal

result. This officer will not be able to resume his duties without a change to Europe." '. The. Agra papers publish an official document from which we learn that the Governor-General on the recommendation of the .Chief Commissioner of the Purijaub. has sanctioned the rearming of the "faithful remnants" of the 61st, 36th," and 3rd : Bengal N. 1., .which mutinied at JuUiiiidur and Phillour in June last. Altogether the ineri about to be rearmed number 255, commissioned officers 26, and non-commissioned 63. They remained firm while their regiments revolted, and some of them guarded their officers and treasure. They will be: formed into one corps to be. called the "Wufiadar Pultun " or " Faithful Corps," and will be officered on the irregular principle-Co mmandant, 2nd i n com mand adjutant and medical Officer. The' Corps thus formed is to be stationed at Phillour, where it will not come in contact with Punjabees, between whom and the Hindoostanees there is a bitter feeling. Those men who'do riot care about joining the regiment may take their discharge. Colonel Corfield, according to the • Englishman,' has been, removed from his command. Our contemporary says:—

. " The summary removal of Colonel Corfield from the Sasseram Command will excite the greatest astonishment in military circles. Some fancied want of co-operation on his part in conjunction with General Lugard, has led to the dismissal of an officer, whose thirty-eight years of untarnished service have been utterly disregarded, and an exparte complaint against him bas apparently been at once accepted by the Go vernor-General."

In General Lugard's despatch describing his Jugdespore operations, he states that he sent an order to Colonel Corfiold to join his, the General's force. The Colonel in reply stated, that the order was received in the evening, after his men (Europeans) had been fighting all day, without once taking food, and that therefore he deemed it inexpedient to obey the order. Can this be the cause of the Colonel's removal ?

Letters from Lucknow to the 3rd July have reached the 'Bombay Gazette,' which show that the rebels are gradually concentrating to the North and West of Lucknow, Sir Hope Grant holds Buuee permanently and the Rajah of Kuppoorutullah, the first division of whose contingent had arrived, holds Poorwa. On the northern side of Lucknow, says our contemporary : —

" The progress of the rebels has been very marked. The Thanna of Mulleabad, thirteen miles from the capital in a north-western direction and on the road to Sundeela, was occupied on the 2nd June by the rebels, and the British authorities placed there were driven into Lucknow. The town was taken by the rebels, it is supposed, under Feroze Shah and Lukker Shah, and on the 3rd a further advance was made which threatened Kakaree, the last or one of the last of our thannas, five miles north of ths" city. Nine hundred police were sent out on the 3rd to protect Kakaree, it is not known with what result. The whole of the country to .the north is being ravaged, and the villages burnt down."

According to the ' Bombay Standard,' Sir John Lawrence has been ordered bythe Court of Directors, to re-arm the ramrod regiments.

From the 'Pbona Observer' we learn, that the Sappers were busy undermining the fort at Nargoorid, and that as soon as it was blown up, the troops under Colonel Malcolm were to return to Dhai'war. Oh- the 10th June, fourteen rebels were shot to death by the Enfields of the Highlanders, by sentence of a Court Martial, and on the 12th five more were shot in the same manner, and one was blown away from a gun. Thirty or forty more of these scoundrels were awaiting their trial. The S. M. Irregular Horse were bringing , them in daily from the districts, whither they had fled for refuge, but found it not.

From the'Mofussilite' of the 11th June, we learn that the pursuit, of the ladies of the Maharajah of Gwalior's court was unsuccessful and that they are supposed to be now in the British camp. The wives of the Portuguese and Italian officers who accompanied the Maharajah to Agra were left at Gwalior; great anxiety is felt concerning them, but as yet all prisoners have been' kindly treated.

We have received files of the 'Maulmain Advertiser' up to the Ist July, from" which we learn some particulars concerning the convicts at the Andamans. Many have escaped to the mainland; a few who have returned have been hanged ; and it appears that all the convicts are allowed muskets and ball ammunition.

The Lucknow correspondent of the ' Bombay Gazette,' writing on the 16th June, says:—" The Begum with her inseparable two are still at Boundee, where it appears they have with them an unfortunate Mahbmedan Extra Assistant Commissioner, together with a number of our Burkundauzes, whose hands and noses have been cut off. Mummoo Khan wishes her to repair to Nanparah, to be at a still safer distance from us. The fort of Bussakahadee, which had been invested by the rebel Chuckledar Hurpuvshad, was vacated a few days since, and our friendly zemindar, with an extra assistant and all his followers and guns, fled to the westward. Ferose Shah of Delhi is at Bangermow, where his men are committing all descriptions of depredation. Beni Mahdo is still at Siniree near Poorwa, where the Kuppertula Rnja's troops are, but they do not apparently take much notice of each other except to ogle. There is a strong force threatening Onao on the Ciiwnpore road, but it is only a threat." A telegram dated Allahabad, 21st June, announces the capture of Scindia's traitorous treasurer, Ameer Chund.

The attempt to demolish the Jugdespore jungle has, it seems, proved a failure, for a Buxar correspondent of the ' Phoenix' writing on the 17th June, says:— " The cutting of the jungle has been all but stopped owing "to the sepoys having been allowed to get into jungle again—there were 1400 coolies at work at Duleepore. On leaving there and reaching Jugdespore, and having been set to work for three or four hours, some of the coolies hoard the clatter of hoofs, and some sowars made their appearance coming up to a "■allop. A cry got up immediately that the Bmlmarshes were coming', and away they went as hard as they could run in a regular panic. Nothing could stop them, and unfortunately the sowars got in :i funk too and thought the coolies

were sepoys and went off as hard as they could gallop. The upshot of this was that the day following the majority of them did not return to their work."

We regret to learn from the 'Englishman,' that Sir E. JLugard has resigned his command, and will shortly proceed to England.

Official news from the Punjaub received at Allahabad on the 9th June states that " on the 2nd June, a party of mutineer sepoys crossed the Ravee, and being joined by the Poorbea labourers on the canal, plundered the Mudhopoor Bazar, burnt a European clerk, killed luh wife and child, and murdered two other children. They were beaten off, and_ while, recrossing the river, one or two were killed and many drowned. It had been subsequently ascertained that the Maharaja of Cashmeer had arrested 250 mutineers and Poorbeas."

The following telegrams published by the Bombay papers give some further particulars of the taking of Gwalior: —

" Indore, 27th June.—On the 20th of June, Scindiah was conducted to his palace, escorted by the Bth Hussars, 14th Light Dragoons, 71st, 86th, and 95th Foot. Some fanatics remained in the fort, and fired on the procession; no one was hurt, and Scindiah ordered some of his troops to dislodge these men. They were supported by a company of the 25th, led by Rose, who was mortally wounded in the back, and died on the 21st. The garrison of 14 men were put to the sword. The fugitives took the road to Kurrowlee; Brigadier General Napier was in pursuit. Firing had been heard, but no particulars had reached Sir Robert Hamilton when the post of the 21st left camp."

"Goona, 27th June.—Gwalior rebels helmed in on all sides by pursuing columns, showers had headed them; Napier is behind them, and has captured twenty-five guns; Sir Hugh is on one flank, and Capt. Hare with Hyderabad Contingent on the other."

On the 24th of June, the murderers of Mr. Manson were hanged at Dharwar. There were five of them, two headmen of the village in which the crime was committed and three peons. There were few lookers-on, owing probably to the rain which fell heavily. The 74th, we learn from the ' Bombay Gazette,' remains at Bellary for service in the Southern Mahratta Country.

"The following has been selected from Sir Hugh Rose's Despatch, dated Gwalior 24th June.

On the day of the general action with the Gwalior Rebels on the 19th instant, the force under my command took exclusive possession of the guns in the field from the enemy, one of them a twenty^four p'>under,a brass eighteen pounder, a brasseight-ineh mortar, seven or eight English nine-pounders, and guns of various calibre, a great quantity of ammunition, waggons and warlike stores of every desciption, and seventy elephants. The troops went to occupy the fort of Gwalior after the capture of the city by storm, Scindiah's auxiliaries having reported tome that it was evacuated. The gate was shut and adetachinent of fanatics opened fire on them. Next morning a detachmei.t of the gallant 25th Bombay' Native Infantry stormad and took it, its brave leader Lieutenant Rose was killed. I sent a Column of Horse Artillery and'Cavairy under Brigadier General Napier, C.8., in pursuit of the rebels, who lied in great disorder after the defeat of tbe 19th Instant. I also despatched another Column from Dolepore, to cross the Chumble and pursue them. Brigadier General Napier overtook them on the 21st Instant near Gooaa Alegape, defeated them, captured five guns and cut up a considerable number. Brigadier General Napier, who has displayed the greatest energy and intelligence in the* pursuit, continues in Subbulgooa. The day after the capture of Gwalior, I conducted Sir R. Hamilton, and the Maharajah with a squadron of H.M.s 14th Light Dragoons to tbe palace of Gwalior. The streets were lined with immense crowds who received the Maharajah with every appearance of attachment. The Governor General on the 14th June issued the following G. 0. on the fall of Gwalior: —- " The Right Hon. the Governor General has the greatest gratification in announcing that the town and fort of Gwaliov were captured by Major General Sir Hugh Rose on the 19th inst., after a general action in which the rebels who had usurped the authority of Maharajah Srindiah, attended by the Governor General's agent for Central India and Sir Hugh Kose, and escorted by British troops, was restored to the palace of his ancestors, and was welcomed by his subjects with every mark of loyalty and attachment. It was on the Ist of June that the rebels, aided by the treachery of some of Maharajah Scindiah's troops, seized the capital of his HighnessV kingdom, and hoped to establish a new government under a pretender in his Highness's territory. Eighteen days had not elapsed before they were compelled to evacuate the town and fort of Gwalior, and to relinquish the authority which they had endeavored to usurp. The promptitude and success with which the strength of the British Government, has been put forth for the restoration of its faithful ally to the capital of his territory, and the continual presence of British troops at Gwalior to support his Highness in the reestablishment of his administration, offer to all a convincing proof that the British Government has the will and the power to befriend those, who, like Maharajah Srindiah, do not shrink from their obligations or hesil ate to avow their loyalty. The Right Hon. the Governor General, in order to mark his appreciation of the Maharajah Scindiah's friendship, and his gratification at the establishment of his Highness's authority in his ancestral domiuions, is pleased to direct that a royal salute shall be fired at every principal station."