INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 635, 8 December 1858, Page 4

INDIA.

We give below from the ' Ceylon Times,' tho ' Bombay Telegraph,' and other journals, such additional extracts as the space at command will admit:—

THE STRENGTH OF THE BEBELS. We are everywhere opposed to an active and indefatigable enemy j and in some districts absolutely placed upon the defensive. In Oiide the strength and numbers, ol" the rebels are extremely formidable. Tho country swarms with armed bands, and the most notorious of the rebel leaders traverse the land with impunity. Nana Sahib and Balla Rao are actively engaged in enlisting men and securing horses. Their troops are daily sabjecied to morning drills under the Nana's own immediate supervision. It is, however, satisfactory to learn that a difference has arisen between the two leaders just nanied and the Begum ; and it is probable that it will result in open hostilities. The strength of the rebels in Oude and the adjacent districts may be thus estimated: — Commanders. Stations. Men; Gnns. Nana Sahib's Force.... Chundrapnt.... ] 0.000- unknown The Begum ........ ..80unren...... 8,000.. 7 Munreo Khan.... ....8ait0w1e0........ 700.. 3 Ramsing Kusnerlah.... Bairam Ghaut unknown unknown Tajemal Hoosain Do. 4,000.. 4 Sooltan Hoosaimfeothors.Hydergurgh., .. 4,000... ft Masaheh Ali 7,000 . 6 Kukra ..;..... 1,500.. 1 Abid Khan .Soontgung .... 2,000.. 2 UsufKhan .. ..Mohundpore.... 4.000.. 6 Goorkuk Siug 2,000.. 3 Moolve Mahomed .... — . 2,000.. .. ..Azimgurgh .... 4,000.. — Mahomed Hoosein .... Bungawan ....13,000.. 12 The Gouda ttaja Lam t0e........ 6,000.. 7 Total 68,200 . 5(5 It will from this be perceived that we have con-ect returns of nearly seventy thousand men, with fifty-six guns, in arms against us in the province of Oude alone. There are in addition several leaders mentioned with men and guns the number of which is uncertain, and has not therefore been put down. Lord Clyde will have his hands full soon ; and if the campaign is not immediately commenced, the end will be as far distant in 1859 as.it is in 1858. The rebels have broken up into three parties—one has gone back towards Oude.; another towards the Ganges; and a third is near SewanGhat on the Gograh. Captain Dennehy also attacked the rebels on the 28th August, near Barah, on the other side of the Juwa. He gained a complete victory, killing Punjaub Sing and about two hundred of his men. THE PLOT AT. GWALIOR. A flying column has left Gwalipr under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Scudamore, H.M. 14th Light Dragoons, in the direction of Moorke on the Scinde River. The 71st Highlanders were reinforced, by a squadron of dragoons, and four guns of Fuller's, battery, for the purpose of disarming the city of Gwalior, and not before it was time! Colonel Liddell, of the second brigade .Central India Field Force, has cleared the Doab in Bundlekund of all rebels. Captain Ashburner, 3rd Bombriy Light Cavalry, with a detachment of 2nd Brigade, came upon Bejore Sing with a large number of followers, at the Koonch River, and,defeated him, —killing" one hundred of his men and capturing-two of guns.- Captain Mazini has gone out with his regiment to Ragooghuvaa an outpost to Goonah. Major Macphersohj is afraid that; Tanti;* Topee will take advantage of ;Sir R. Napier's and Colonel Scudamore's absence to make an attempt on Gwalior, in order either to rescue his family, who are prisoners, or to avenge their seizure. The country is very unsettled, and Gwalior is full of restless discontented spirits. A plot was lately discovered in the city to annihilate the European army at present stationed at Gwalior. The loyalty, of the 25th Regiment Native Infantry, howeve", saved the cantonment, and brought the conspirators to justice. ' About six weeks ago, the Havildar-Major. of the above corps, by name Koonjul Sing, reported to his adjutant that a Brahmin Pundit, named Wamun Bhut, had come into the lines; and was endeavouring to tamper . with him arid a Naique, named Doorga Tewaree, and from what he had said, the Haviklar-Major thought there were others concerned in the plot in the city of Golior ; and .he offered, if allowed, in conjunction with the: Naique, to Endeavour to find out and seize the chief conspirators. This secret was communicated to the Commanding officer, Captain Little, and with his sanction, the following plan was adopted; and a private of the 25th also let into the secret, named Punnoo Ladh. The 3STaique and the private went to the city, along with tho Brahmin Pundit, Wamun Bhut, and were by him introduced to to another Brahmin named Ball Kisscn Baba. Their conversation would be too long to repeat here). Suffice it to say, that after swearing them on the "Toolsee and Gunga-panee" h« told! them he had a Purwana from the Nana Sahib, authorising him to raise as many men as he could for the Peshwa's service; that he and - the Havildar-Major were to seduce tho Purdassees of the 25th from their allegiance to tho British Government, and get thorn to join the rebels with the Peshwa, who would collect in the citjrof Gwalior, to tho number of six hundred men with four guns. That they wero to do a3 much mischief w they could, by'killing nil ihciv

officers, and as many Europeans as possible; ' that the day after they would bo joined by 20 000 rebels under the Row Sahib, &0., and much more conversation of the same stamp. Tlio Naique returned and duly reported all he nnd seen and heard-, and he was certain there were others in the conspiracy. From the difficulty of seizing and securing the rebels in a larse city, it was determined not to allow the Havildar-Major (whom they were moat anxious to'meet) to go there, being fully convinced that if he did not go to see them, they would eventually be induced to come to him, which would insure a better chance of securing them. The plot went on ripening for days; the Naique duly reporting everything that occurrci, until one diiy the Naique and Private met, by appointment in a house in the city, the above-mention-ed two rebels, and also a chief conspirator named Khaiuioo, and a Pandit named Govind Itow, who showed and read to him the above Purwana from the Peshwa. At length, after great difficulty, on Sunday, the 29th ultimo, the Naique made an appointment for the Mahratta Chief and Pundit Govind Row, to meet the HavildarMajor under a large tree, a little way from the Camp, the next day, arid they were to Wing the Purwana with them. The officers, viz: Commanding officer, adjutant, and quarter-master, were told of the appointment, and it was arranged when the Havildar-Major went to meet them, these officers should go quietly on horseBack, as if riding for pleasure, get near the tree, and seize the parties. The rebels did not come up on Monday, as it rained, but on Tuesday, the 31st, they came, were seized, and the Purwana found on them ; thus two were captured on the spot. Two officers and the Naique immediately proceeded to the city, and with the assistance of the political agent, Major ; M'Pherson, captured the Brahmin Ball Kissen Baba, in the house of the Naique pointed out, and, to make everything successful, the Brahmin Pundit, Wamtui Bhut, was seized in the lines on Wednesday morning, by Havildar-Major. Thus, the whole four rebels were safely lodged in the quarter-guard of the 25th Regiment, all through the efforts of these brave and loyal men, who said, and said truly, we have always been faithful to Government, we have fought for it, and will -now give .another proof of loyalty by seizing and bringing to justice the rebels who endeavoured to tamper with our allegiance. All honour, therefore, to HavildarMajor Koonjut Sing, Naique Doorga Tewaree, and Private Punno Ladh, themselves Purdasees. May they get the reward that is their due. By the further efforts of these loyal men, six other rebels wtrj seized in the city by the political agent, who had likewise in custody the private secretary of Tantia Topee, who confessed to having written the Purwana seized, by the ordtrs of the Row Sahib, the nephew of the Nana, the day after the action at Koonch, on the Bth July last. The conspirators were blown from guns on the 6th September. OTJDE. A friend sends us the following account of the affair, at Durriabad on the 18th instant:— " We had a glorious affair here on the 18th; some rebel zumeenaars would cross the Gheera and threaten us from the N.W. They took up their position in an island separated from the mainland by an awkward nuddee; they were some 1200 strong, with two guns. The Kupoorthullah contingent, and 300 Europeans of the gallant old Ist Bengal Fusiliers, under Major Hume, gave them little breathing time—silently and quietly, at twelve midnight, of the 17th, the column paraded and marched down to the spot, the main body crossed the nuddee, and a smaller force with the guns went up the nuddee's right bank, where they soonfound the rebels. The guns and smaller column on the left, who did* not cross the nuddee, confiladed the rebels beautifully, turning their right, whilst the main column, with all our cavalry on its right, kept advancing, both in harmony. It was like drawing a cover, when they tried to extend to their left, and escape the murderous fire of Lieutenant Roddy's guns. Our cavalry on our right drove them in again, and the main column kept its onward march, its left nearly touching the left bank of the nuddee. Pandy was in a fix—the officer commanding the cavalry, Lieutenant Maegregor, unfortunately got wounded in the first charge, otherwise hardly a man would have escaped; he was so keen and daring, the Sowars would follow him anywhere. ' t "For four or five miles this able and telling manoeuvre was continued, till at last the rebels took clean to their heels, and many were drowned in the river. The sun was becoming hot, and our men tired—the island was six or seven miles long and two broad, and we could not beat it thoroughly^-however, we killed fairly 400 of them; and two boat 3 in getting away, in hot haste, sank. The large gun the Seikhs took. " Ram Sing, the leader, escaped with difficulty, most of his men were killed—they fought well. "Major Hume deserves great credit for his arrangements.-— Delhi Gazette, Sept. 29. The news from Oude is beginning to be animated. ' ! Certainly, the great Indian Rebellion of 1857 and 1858 will be for ever memorable for the romantic adventures, unprecedented exploits, and miraculous, or, at least, visibly providential escapes, by which it throws all the tales of knight-errantry and former history, and even fiction, into the shade. . .... A very brilliant and, indeed, almost incredible achievement has just been accomplished wit un twenty miles of Lncknow. The exact number of the British troops engaged we do not yet know, but we appear, on this occasion, to have brought into the field only one for about every twenty of the enemy, and this astounding disproportionate force slew eight or ten times their own numerical strength, although the enemy had the additional advantago of fighting behind the protection of a fort, which was stormed and destroyed, as well as its garrison, by the little band of assailants. Nor is this all, tor the loss with which the object was effected will bo considered more marvellous, if possible, than the service itself, although so hardily and thoroughly

effected. We lost, as far as our information hitherto goes, only one man killed on the spot, while killing about a thousand, and less than a dozen of our soldiers were wounded.

We are almost afraid to state such results, for they sound incredible; but although the hurry and confusion consequent upon a hot action may have prevented any complete computation of the respective losses, we have received our account from one on whom, both for his means of information and the scrupulosity of his communications, we place the most undoubting reliance.

On the evening of the 22nd, a detachment set out from Lucknow for a fort twenty miles distant, in the occupation of the enemy. Among the detachment, and constituting the greater part of it, were a hundred men, "mounted on elephants and ponies," and a curious juxtaposision of animals the little corps must have presented as it inarched away. It was led by Major lladeliffe, of the 58th. Next morning (the 23rd) the British force having completed their march, and being joined by the detachment from Nawabunge, assailed the fort which was their destination. They found it defended by three regiments of Sepoys, who could not have made a very formidable resistance. It is not stated what artillery our men took with them. Whether the place was esealaded or breached, and whether surprise contributed to our sudden victory over so superior a strength, possessing the odds of a fortified position in their favour, it appears that gallant fellows very soon found themselves inside the fort plying bayonet and rifle. They were not long in driving out the defenders, who made a stand in various adjacent enclosures, embarrassed probably by their own numbers, and paralysed with terror. In one compound the carnage is described as having been a truly horrible scene. It was a battue. Wedged into a compass which left them no free action, even had they retained spirit for a proper resistance, the Sepoys fell under the bullets and writhed under the bayonet thrusts of our soldiers, like wolves in a pen, only without the usual desperation of both wolf and Sepoy, when brought to bay. The ground was covered with the enemy's dead and dying, while the assailants, whose scheme was evidently as well and as skilfully executed as it must have been prudently and ably planned, lost hardly a man. We believe the butchery lasted some two hours, after which the surviving bulk of the enemy succeeded in bursting into the open country, and fled as fast as they could. On a rough and hasty reckoning then made, it was found that more than a third of the rebel regiments had been left dead on the field. Radcliffe and his chiefs of the 88th (many of them from old lighthearted and martial Connaught), have won considerable "Kudos," and we trust will win something more substantial. This little feat will not, like those of the past months, we think, prove an isolated deed of arms, but will be linked on to greater and more general movements.— Bengal Hurkaru, Oct. 2.