NANA SAHIB.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 274, 19 November 1874, Page 4

NANA SAHIB.

{Australasian, October 31,) Oar European telegram contains an official confirmation of the announce* ment that Nrma Sahib baa been captared. For « period of 16 years this «reh miscreant baa succeeded in eluding ev*ry Attempt which has been raadei not merely to arrest him, but to aacer-' tain hia whereabouii. He bad passed so completely oat of sight, indeed, that people began to conclude he must have perisbet! Jong ngo, either by his own hantf, or by that of some confederate in his traiterous career. Jlia "name was gradualfy being forgotten ; and it is not at all improbable that presuming npon this circuonißtsrice,'and upon the changes which time has neceesarily wrought in his face and figure, Naoa Sahib. ventured to dispense with some, oOhe precautioDS which be had prefioualy adopted to preserve his incog mtot and has thus Mleti into the power of the* Gbvernment "in lodia. ' The real name of this atrocious ruffian was Bopndob, an 4he was. the adopted son of - Bajea Bao, the 'ex Feisbwah of Poonab, at whose deatbrbe claimed the reversion of the. pension of eight la,cs of rupees epjoj^ed' by that cbieftan. As he had neither a moral oor legal right to it his application was rejected, sod this is believed to have inspired him with an implacable hatred to the Britiih^ though ha jived on the most friendiy terms with the very people he afterwards so cruelly betrayed and slaughtered. He was living at Bithoor, onij ten miles from Cawnpore. when the mutiny bloke out, and'rbe promptly marched opon that city, at ibe head of the 200 soldiers who constituted his feliriup, plundered ' and burnt the treasury, and took possession of the magazine. The story of the gallant defence of the entrenchment, in which 900 hftm&n Deingg were'cobgregated — 160 of whom were women and children —of the appalling sufferings they underwent, and of the miserable condition to which they were retraced, & too painful for repetition. 1 Enough to say tbajt at jthe ejpirstion ot Seventeen days J^ana Sahib sent a mesroge toP.Crdfieral Wheeler, the heroic ,|eader of the little band which had now' been reduced to 450, offering him a safe conduct for all the Europeans to Allahabad, provided they would give up*all ibe treasure and stores. This was agreed" ib; and the contract Was ratified by ft solemn oath on the part of Kana As soon as the fugitives had entered the .boats which were to convey them fi«QM the river, a signal was given, and volley after volley of mufeketry WSB 'fired opon the defenceless men, women and children, who were exposed to the marderoos bullets of their treacherous aseailante. 'Thoao who were not killed, were seized and carried buck (o Gawnpore, where (he men were Bnbi, and the women Imprisoned. This event was celebrated by the issue cf a proclamation, in which the ferocious Weher expressed his thankfulness to Almighty God that ," the yellow-faced and Barrow-minded people bad been to ibjell^ apd Cawnpore ,bad been conquered/ General Havelock, who had just landed at Calcutta, pushed on with speed to Khsga, iiearFattenpore, where, 2^oo men un<ler his coromana, he encountered and repulsed the rebele, driviDg them bick toCawopore. Naoa Sahib, findtrig that notbiog could lefteck ttib advance of the avenging Column, gave orders for the immediate .murder of the European women and thildreri in his hands— mot bne'iof whom Bflca'ped the msssacre. ' Their oodies •were cast into a well, and when this bbody deed bad been aceompllshed, its author flOd to Bitboor, pursued by General.fiaveTocVa victorious troops, '.whOjVeVe almost maddened by tbe .horribleapectacle pregeated r to them in Nana's shambles. ''The soldiers are aiid to' K»7e divided (he tresses of one poor reordered girl, and to have sworn that for every hair of her head a Sepoy shbuia die. And they kept iheir word... At this poiot Naoa Sahib disappears from rifie scene, and although Tantia .Topee waa captored and executed, and the Nawab of Furuckabad, whose atrocities were second only to those of Nan*, was tried, convicted, and exiled, and ihe fiaja Jeylbll Siog was hanged ■in (rontol Kaiser Bagh, at Lucknow, for having massacred upwards' of 20 Europeans on that spot, and the Rajah of MiUpwlee was transported for life lo the' Andaman Islands, the greatest miscreant of all escaped tbe righteous retribution of his crimes for a period of 16 or seventeen years, notwithstanding that a price was set upon his head, and that tens of thousands of European civilians and soldiers were prepared to make sacrifice for the capture of so Consummate and fiendish a villian. At length, however, he has fallen into the hands of the people be has outraged aod the power he das insulted and defied, and the story of his flight and concealment will no doubt prove to be as lull 6f interest as his career has been pregnant with atrocious crimes.