PICTURE OF DELHI.

Colonist, Issue 18, 22 December 1857, Page 4

PICTURE OF DELHI.

Tjie Athenmim, in reviewing some pamphlets on the Indian question, thus sketches the ancient city of Delhi :— " Like all the rest of England, we dream that Delhi may have fallen. But. bur knowledge of the place inspires little hope that such a consummation is "nigh* All that strong hands and strong hearts ca%do will be done to cfush the rebellious city; but'since the clays* when a blast of trumpets threw down the walls of, Jericho,/no military miracle has occurred more astounding than would be a successful attack on Delhi with the irbops now under its walls. "Let the reader imagine himself advancing^from Agra northward to the ancient capital of India, ttis road is through a wide plain everywhere covered with ruins. Among prostrate walls and -masses of masonry, overgrown with tyeeds and jungle, here and there rises a broken obelisk, a gilt dome, or slender minaret. These are the ruins of ancient Delhi. To the 'right flows the Jumna,'or Yamuna, Daughter of the Suti, and, according to the legend, 1 gentle sister of the dread Yama, the Hindu .Minos. On a rocky ridge, at the very' of a "b^andh from this!river,, which "leaves,,the main stream- five" agiil«ts, to th% north of the city, and rejoins it two miles to the south of the wall's most sqiitherp. angle, is modern Delhi, built by Shah Janan, in 1631, it may be, to be razed by the English two centuries later. A wall, scalloped at the top, and about 25 feet high, runs from the Wellesley Bastion, the point •to the entrance, south-east, where the city touches the river» -five miles in an, irregular semicircle to Selim Gahr, an old fortress which rests upon the stream to the northern extremity. Along the river, or eastern, side of the city, this wall is replaced, for oiie-third of the extent, to the north, by the walls of the King's palace, which is about half-a-mile long from north to south. The interval to the Wellesley Bastion has slighter defences, but is protected in some measure by the river, or rather its branch, between which and the main stream there is an island, more or less sandy, and covered with meloivgardens. The ditch between the city wall is about 50 feet broad and about I*s feet deep, and the glacis so covers the wall that it cannot be seen from a distance. The city has eleven gates. To the-south-east is the Delhi Gate, and advancing to the west and north the Turkaman, the Adjud Gate—-outside of which is the vast mausoleum of Crhazi IChan> were the rebels were encamped ]to the number of 3000 — j then?the Furush Khanah, the Lahore Gate, I adjoining the Burn Bastion, so called from

Colonel Biirri f,> the gallant defender of the city against tlolker, in 1804. Next comes the Kabul Crate, clOse to the canal-r-the ]Morea Gate-—the Kashmir Gate —and, close to the Selim Gahr, the Calcutta Gate. Tracing the river are tee Lai and Raj Ghat •Grates. "The western side of the city is a sea of houses, many of them strongly built. To pass such streets, defended by good marksmen, would be dangerous -to an attacking force. The northern quarter of the city, from the Kashmir Gate to the King's palace, might be defended when the rest was won. A wall, or even a barrier of ruined houses and timber, would render this a sort of citadel. The city has probably a hundred thousand armed defenders. The main street, the Chandur Chauk, is very wide, and along the centre of it runs an acqueduct. Here is the mosque in which Nadir sat during the terrible massacre of the inhabitants by his army. ".Delhi has many noble buildings worth preserving.. The palace itself ranks next Windsor as a kingly residence.^ Its gateway is 'far' handsomer than tiat.of the j Great Bazar at Kabul. The throne-room |is matchless. The roof rests; on massive columns of white ; marble, and beautiful mosaics adorn the halU1 In .-the. centre is 'iihe'Vvhite marble dais on which ,pnce stood -|lje/ famous^ peacock, throne, jf he King's private chapel is of the whitest marble and a perfect gem of art. A quarter of a mile to the west of the palace stands t]ie cathedral mosque, vast, massive, grand. " The attrocities of the modern rebels of Delhi call for signal retributioni •; but we | are not of the number who wish to see veri- ! gearice wreaked indiscriminately, or who would have beautiful edifices destroyed for I the guilt of the inhabitants. Let the people of Delhi suffer^—let the armed mutineers be exterminated—but let ;the palaces of Delhi remain a monument of Oulf triumph and self-control." ?# ■