THE EXACT POSITION OF AFFAIRS IN INDIA.

Colonist, Issue 97, 24 September 1858, Page 3

THE EXACT POSITION OF AFFAIRS IN INDIA.

(From the ITelbournc Herald, September 9.) What will the coining mail tell of the state of things in India? Will it add much to what we already know on that score? Will it largely supplement our existing information on the subject, by accounts of fresh triumphs gained in the interval since our previous advices, by our gallant countrymen over their swarthy foes? Will it report another advanced point of progress made by our troops towards the complete restoration of British supremacy in India ? What will it tell ? It is questionable if it will have much to communicate with respect to actual operations in the field. The present is the rainy- season, when active campaigning is almost an impossibility in India; and the European's mail apprised us of the general withdrawal of our troops from the field into quarters, at the close of June, to await the cessation of the rains before further pursuing the course of the war. It may indeed turn out that either the exigencies or the opportunities of the moment were of a character to prevent the adoption of this forced truce; and that the British troops have had to encounter the fearful hardships of an Indian campaign in the rainy season. At all events, whether this should be the case or not, the news that will be received by the coming mail will open a new chapter of the insurrectionary war in India.

A short retrospect will make this very obvious. It will have another advantage too. It will serve to give a clearer idea of the exact position of affairs in India at the present time, and will render more intelligible the advices daily expected to arrive by the usual channel of postal steam communication. And this is the more desirable, inasmuch as the last accounts from the theatre of hostilities brought to ;a close the first clearly defined and distinct di-vision-of the events of the war, —the concluding passage of which told of the satisfactory result achieved in the restoration of British ascendancy in Central India.

After the siege of Liicknow, the capital of Oude, from which upwards of 100,000 of the native troops made their escape, Rohilcund, and the border country generally, lying north-west of Oude, became the theatre of hostilities. And in order effectually to dislodge and disperse the enemy, and restore the communication between Calcutta and the north-west territories of British India, a combined movement of our troops converging upon that locality from different quarters of the country, was determined on by the general government. More than one-half the Lucknovv rebels, numbering from 60,000 to 70,000 men, had become concentrated at and around' Bareilly, in Rohilcund. Some were scattered through the remote parts of Oude, the adjoining province of Allahab.id, and to the south of the river Jumna—the three chief seats of rebel occupation in this latter quarter, being Banda, Jhansi, and Calpee. The converging forces directed by our generals against the rebels thus located, consisted, in the first place, of the army of Madras under General Whitlock, and of the army of Bombay under General Roberts, both of which advanced from their respective presidencies upon Rajpootana; in the second place, of the separate columns of the main Bengal army, under the command of Sir Hugh Rose, Sir Hope Grant, and General Walpole, respectively, who directed their march towards the south and west districts of Oude; and lastly, of the head-quarteTs or grand division of the main army under Sir Colin Campbell in person, who advanced against Bareilly in Rohilcund. These different co-operating forces, successfully and speedily carried out, with some trifling reverses, the task respectively assigned to each, namely of routing the enemy in the different localities mentioned, and so dispersing their numbers as to prevent them from re-uniting their scattered sections either very soon or in very large bodies. The mission of the co-operating British force was in fact to break up into comminuted fragments, and to disperse in confusion and disorganisation, the thronged host, half soldier, half rabble, of which the 25,000 disciplined mutineer sepoys, who had in a body escaped from Lucknow, formed the nucleus and grand central bond of union and concerted action. And this they accomplished effectually, and with wonderful despatch, considering the frightful heat to which the troops were exposed in the mouths of May. and June, the great distances they had to march fr^'ii one point to another in carrying out the operations of the campaign, and the large numbers by which their ranks were thinned through sickness and fatigue. The only subsequent and secondary operation that was rendered necessary, through the dispersion of the enemy having been not quite complete in one quarter, occurred in the case of the Bareilly insurgents, who, although utterly routed by Sir Colin Campbell, were nevertheless so strong in numbers (70,000 men), that a large division retreated- in a compact body, after the battle of Calpee, into the Mahratta kingdom of Gwalior; and there fraternising with the rebel troops of King Scindia, drove that prince from his throne, took possession of his capital, and prepared to make a stand there against the British. But they were not allowed much time to concert any plan of action. Sir Hugh Rose, with a strong column, was sent against them, and in one decisive engagement that officer completely routed their forces, and restored Scindia to his throne. This occurrence took place on the 19th of June; and with this successful achievment, the first and, it is to be hoped, the chief campaign of the British forces against the rebel sepoys and their allies, was brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

It was at this distinct line of demarcation between the first and future passages of the war, that our latest advices left off, in the history of this extraordinary native and sepoy revolt in India. Actual fighting had for the .time ceased, owing to the impracticable season of the year; our troops had been sent into quarters ; our ascendancy had been almost entirely re-established in Central India; and the communication between the seat of government at Calcutta and the northwest territories, which had been cut off previously, had been restored; and henceforward the course of events must necessarily assume a new phase, and constitute the second chapter in this " strange eventful history." • '

One feature only in the details is required to be added, in order to complete the sketch thus presented of the .actual position of affairs in India at the departure of the last mail in the first week in July, and that refers to Oude. The government of the province had been entrusted to a new commissioner, Mr. Montgomery ,e-*-Sir James Qutram having been summoned to assist in the Executive Council of the central government at Calcutta. Mr. Montgomery, who is described as an able aud prudent politician, finding that the Governor-Ge-neral's unfortunate decree of confiscation, directed against the land-holders and great baronial chiefs of the province, could not be carried into operation —except at the peril of keeping the province in a condition of chronic insurrection, confusion, and bloodshed—demanded and obtained full discretionary powers in ; the matter from the central government at Calcutta. Thus secured from interruption in pursuing a soothing policy, he was making great progress towards conciliating the loyalty of the great chiefs and the people generally, and in restoring order and tranquillity throughout the province. By not unnecessarily disturbing the land-titles of the talookdars, the zemindars, and also the smaller proprietors; and by adopting a species of village land settlement, which has been generally well received in other parts of British India, he has succeeded in gaining the goodwill of the people generally, and there appears thus to be good grounds for the expectation -that Oude may not ultimately prove so great a difficulty as it at first appeared likely to become. .

This resume of the history of recent events, and of the actual state of affairs in India up to the latest advices received from that country, may serve to extricate the subject from the confusion in which the fragmentary accounts in the Indian papers have involved it; and at the same time may render it possible to understand more clearly, and to.estimate more correctly, the intelligence that will reach us from Calcutta by the coming mail—a matter of some importance seeing that that intelligence \«11 refer to a wholly new and hitherto scarcely hoped-for turn in the cour.se'of evonts in India at the present time.