UNSATISFACTORY NEWS FROM THE DISTURBED PROVINCES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 629, 17 November 1858, Page 3

UNSATISFACTORY NEWS FROM THE DISTURBED PROVINCES.

If :the scanty information- furnished by. the tebgrams may be; accepted as accurate,; the Gwalior rebels..have completely outwitted General Roberts;. By a series of marches, which require, a map to make them intelligible, they Have succeeded in effecting the following objects. They have tired out thepursuing force till :the men absolutely raqnire rest. They have crossed! the .Nejunddee. a which, will tax the whole strength of the quarter-master's departme.nt.vsnd have advanced to the, Chambul, opposite Kptan. There.they can wait for. at least a week in'tolerable^afety, till some faction wilniffTfotah declaresforthem, or the approach of General Roberts compel* them 6n<*e more to fly. That officer, however, was not to leave Tonk until the 19th.' The; following letter from Dmapore, of. the 23rd July, to the."Englishman," is even-stronger:—":Proppsals,were madeto Government for. the protection and ; s,e r curityrof Behar *nd Shahabad, but after months of procrastination iftll, ended an nothing. _. The consequence is that on the return of Kooer Sin<* <md his i-ebels from^liticknow, Shahabad, atidTinfactiaUtheprovinceofrßehatVhasbefen j entirely desolated. The realatateiof-these dis- I tricts sWs Ito'be carefully every one j aeems paralyzed.every plan w frustrated, while j the; rebels are successful, and m fast; possession of: the district." Waisave deprecated the folty 6f Mr. Samuells, the Patha Goiir.mi3Bioner. in characterising the rebels as > " cptritemptible ; foe,V and We stated that he should have been better acquainted with their.character; but; we wa.re not' then aware that to this very official had^beon addressed, "a despatch' from Captain Rattray on' the sth July, which informed him that'whatever fiendish atrocities they may have

commi.ted, theyi are not to be despised even; when 1 hey are opposed to first-rate troops. | Captain Rattray, whose doings in the disturbed i districfs during the last tvyo months are almost j the only .redeeming features in our operations,; when giving.a deflcription of hia spirited "brush" with the rebels under Juodur Sing, at Kusma, \ in the district, of Behar, on the 4th says.:— "The rebels came.boldly forward, headed by Joodhur.Sing, and opened fire upon the cavalry with En field rifles. The cavalry very properly fell back; the rebels came sufficiently close to enable them to urge my sowars to come over to them, calling them brothers, &c., a tie which my men by no means appeared to appreciate. When I approached witV the infantry, the rebels were driven up between the villages, a tope of trees on their right flank, and the nullah to their front. : I steadily; advanced, intending to cross the nullah befpre we came within range of their ; fire; howeverj the rebels retired to the rear of the village,.. I parsed through the tope, add after ascertaining that none of them were in the village, proceedeed to the rear of it, where I found the rebels drawn up some 300 . j'afds distant in some ravine ground ■on the banks of the nullah. I here threw out some skirmishers, opened fire. at. 150 yards or so, which .fire was answered sharply by the rebels, j The cavalry crossed the. nullah and took up a position to my right, cutting up a lot of rebels I who were hiding in the ; ravines. When suffi- \ ciently near, I advanced my small line, and the Seikhs-rushed on at the double, shouting out the old Seikh war cry, "Waa Goorop je ka Futteh." This was quite sufficient for tbe budmashes and released prisoners, who at once began to run, the mutineer sepoys most gallantly covering their retreat. These men fought in the most determined manner, taking up detached positions in the ravines, and were, with considerable difficulty killed. At this time Joodur Sing fled, my cavalry charged in amongst them and committed great slaughter, and: the greater portion of the infantry were upon them, when the fight became general; other portions of the infantry were occupied in clearing the ravine 3of the sepoys, who never attempted to retreat, but died fighting to the last. One old subadar fought most gallantly; after expending his ammunition, he called out that he would.fight to.the last with his sword and bayonet, and was only silenced by a shot through the eye." - There can = be no good purpose served, either here or with our couatrymea at home, in making light of the work that is still before vs — the suppression of whatever remains of an active, wide-spread, and powerful conspiracy against British authority. Besides, if our army has only had a contemptible foe to deal with, the C. B.s, Victoria Crosses, and pensions, not to .speak! of_such. small honours as thePoona Balls arid Byculla Club dinners, must have beeu altogether misplaced. -