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¦ was on detached dtrty at a short distance with two companies of his regiment . They irruthried on the 6 th of June , "but allowed their officers to escape . The ensign then wandered about trie country , disguised as a native , -until he reached the English camp , when , having joined the volunteer < jorps of cavalry composed of officers , he advanced with the army on Oawnpore . Among the passengers % y the R ' rpon , which ar-Tived from the East on Friday week , were the Kev .
Mr . Hay , an American missionary , his wife and children , who narrowly escaped from Meerut , vith the loss of nil their property , and with owly a few shillings in their possession . Mrs , Hay was confined on board the Ilipon with a still-born child , her fright and sufferings having caused premature labour . A . nrother of the passengers "was a Miss Stallard , a young lady who was on the point of being massacred at " Meerut , but who escaped by swimming across a liver- She "was afterwards in a carriage with five others , "three of whom were murdered by the
mutineers . A sergeant in theSOtli Koyal Rifles writes from Camp Guznee de Nagger , June 3 rd : — " They ( the enemy ) took up their position in front of a large walled village , and . fought lik « devils . We drove them into the village and set fire to tit . We were oo liged afterwards to go through the fire and drive them out . At last we broke them . A small band , aTsotrt thirty , got together at the back of the village , and . stood their ground till the whole were killed . They actually crossed bayonets with oars , and met their death like Trojans . We returned to camp about nine p . m . At two . o ' clock the next , day , they came out again , and fought 1 iie same < battle over agaiu . We drove them from , their
position , and that was alL They . numbered about 6000 , with a great many . guns . Their cavalry chaTged 'our guns over tiad over again . Both men and officers who iiave fougbt side by side with them , say they « oald not have imagined that any of the native troops could have fought so well . 1 had several very narrow escapes , but one particularly so . In . the village , I * went into a hut ; one of tbe . gents was behind the door ; as soon as I . ahowed my 3 iose he made a chop . I twigged iiira in time , took a , step to rear , fired through the door , and cooked his goose . Th « -officer 'Commanding my company Lieutenant 3 $ apiec f the second day was shot in the Jeg ,
"which has since been amputated . We -expect . to join the forces of the officiating Commamder-in-Girief to-day or to-morrow . As soon as that takes place we ' re off ibr Delhi ; no quarter to l > e given , as they give us < none . We were obliged to shoot their wounded . They fought more desperately when hurt than when whole . We . picked up several of our old rifles , -which were lodged in the Delhi magazine . Delhi Fort now mounts upwards "of . 150 heavy guns and field pieces innumerable , ammunition , shot , . and shell in abundance , so that we may expect rather warm work . " The same soldier , on the 14 th of June , states : —
" Delhi lies in a hollow , surrounded on throe sicles by very high and steep walls ; on the fourth side is the river Jumna . After we got the gentlemen out of their first line , they retired , disputing every inch of ground for eight miles ; at the sixth we halted , had a drain of rum and a biscuit served out to us , rested for half an hour , and then fallowed them up ; in the meantime they had lined the tops of the hills . The Rifles were ordered to | advance in skirmishing order , which we did in fine stylo , and , by an able flank movement , which does our commanders who planned it the greatest credit , we took possession of tho -whole range , captured the guns , and drove the enemy into the city . It was fine sport for our fellows . We kept beliind tho rocks as we advanced , and all tho niggers could see was tho flash of our pieces . Our first point is to look out for cover—up a tree , behind
a tree or rock , in a hole , or , in fact , anywhere ¦ where we can see without being seen . We took and shot two Europeans this day ; one of them confessed that there were ten more in the service of tho King of Delhi . Captured seventeen guns this day , with a very large store of ammunition , shot , &c . They came out in great force at seven r . * i . the same day , and tried very hard to dislodge us , but it was ' no go . ' They have been out six times since , driven back with great loss each time . They are getting reinforcements everyday ; the ( 50 th Native Infantry and 4 th Native Regular Lancers joined them from tho waterside tlie day before yesterday , at two p . m ., and gave us as tight a fit as wo lmve had yet . If it had not been for a stratagem , I think they would have taken our heavy guns and ammunition . Our colonel ordered us to hide just as it was getting dusk , and then he Bounded the retire . ' "
them down « uoely -with . grape . I must not forget to mention , that Colonel Platt was Jike a father to the men , arid when he had au opportunity of leaving them and joining a European corps last 'summer the men , petitioned him to stay . He bad bean upwards of thirty years with them , and when the riot took place he had so smich confidence in them that be Tode irp to their lines before we . could get out . When we found him next . morning , both cheeks were fclcswn off , his back completely riddled with balls , one through each thigh , his chin smashed into his tnotrthj and three sabre cuts between the cheek bone and temple ; also a cat across the shoulder and the back of the neck . Two others were killed , one native Indian and one < savalry officer—toial three . I never saw such mangled bodies in my life , and never wish to see ths like again . Had the colonel not been so rash , we should not have
lost a man . J&ut I am wandering from my story . When the battery was ready , away we went , : the blaze from tbe officers' quarters serving to light us on our way ; as we were going there were several shots fired at us , but we could not see the offenders , as they . generally came from the backs of houses , &c . However , < wbee ve > gat into their lines balls came pretty fast , so we uullmbered and gave them three rounds of grape and round -sbat , from fire 91 b . . guns . and one 241 b . howitzer . As eoon « is the first round was fired they fled to the other side of Che river . We then came back to our little ^ garrison , hat ¦ got no sleep that -night . Next morning we mounted eight . guns on the ^ bastions , two at each corner . We b , « ve he&a h ard at work ever since . The first four / nights imd days we got no re 3 t . My face and arms are « kinned the same as if they had been scalded , and my lips -are at the present moment one mass of scabs with the heat of the . sun . "
A plea for tempering justice with TDercy hi our anode of dealing with 'the mutineers -is put forward by the Aborigines Protection Society , who have addressed a memorial to Mr . Vernon Smith , President of the Board of Control . The writers eondeniTv « he incitements to indiscriminate slaughter which , -have been uttered nud printed both here and in Indiaincitements which they characterfze as opposed to the spirit of Christianity . They express the most entire sympathy with our suffering fellow countrymen , and countrywomen in the East , and horror aft the atrocities committed on them ; but they attribute the outbreak to our injudicious meddling with the Hindoos , more especially in connexion with their < reh ' gkiGn : —
" The Sepoys , in common with the other Hindoo inhabitants , have , with Bome * xceptions , been remai'ka'ble fortfceir confidence in the . tolerant spirit > of the fjEast Jodia '] Company , and * or the fidelity with Which- they •¦ have nerved in many hard-fought battles . Butthtactmiidence has been gradually weakened , as the native ¦ pop ulation of Indiahavenot meiely foundthenrfaith assailed , but , with eyes gradually opened to the truth , they < have ^ een themselves borne down by excessive and impolitic taxation , their customs interfered with , and tbeir Tace despised . The setting nside of the law of adoption , which most materiall
were skinned . We ^ wentoirt next morning ( 20 feh ) , but they retired after a heavy artillery ^ action . The -weather 5 s very toot . . 1 had « eventy-two hours' outpost duty on a plain , without the slightest shelter . I felt during toe day -as if I ibad a hot iron going into any head . " ' ' +. ¦ Lieurfcenarit-Coioiiel IiTxard communicates to the Times a copy of Ensign Davenport ' s ( 12 th Bombay Native Infantry ) account of * he rising at Neemuch on June 3 rd . We here read : — * ' About a week before the mutiny , I volunteered to do duty with the ( J-walior Contingent ( 7 th , Infantry ) . I was ordered to take up-my quarters in the fort , where Macdoaald and I remained day and night with the Tight
wing ( three companies ) . The left wing ( five companies ) was quartered in a vacant hospital « ome quarter of a mils distant from the fort . On the night of the 3 rd , Macdoaald and I laid down in our clothes , but not to sleep ,-as we had -reason to suspect that all was not right . At half-past eleven , p . m ., we were aroused byaTepoxt of a -gun , which in a few jninutes was followed by another . This was the signal for the row < to commence , and many moments had Jiofc . passed ^ wben we saw our bouses blazing all round . Lieutenant Gurdon , who was at the hospital with the left wing , ; under the command of Lieutenant Rose , also at the hospital , was aroused by a subabdar telling him that guns had been fired , and the disturbance commenced . Lieutenant Eo 3 e and he got
the men out of-the hospital and marched them to join xis in the fort . A shot was fired on the way to the fort , it . was said by a Sepoy , at Lieutenant Rose . When they had joined us , we placed the men . along tbe ramparts , \ served out ammunition to them , and ordered them to : load . They obeyed all our orders with apparent cheerfulness , and one and all swore to defend the place wifhj their lives . I was placed to defend tbe gate , with a ; snbahdar of nearly fifty years' service , two European / sergeants , and twenty picked men . "We remained in a ; most anxious state of suspense for nearly four hours , ' during which time we saw cavalry men riding about , and thrusting lighted torches , placed at the end of long poles , into the -thatch of tbe bungalows , when we
heard the 7 . 2 nd Bengal Native Infantry , the Bengal Cavalry and Artillery , approaching . Just as they passed the political agent ' s house , about two hundred or three hundred yards from the fort , two more guns were fired . This was the signal for tbe Gwalior men to be up and doing . Immediately on these guns being fired my old hero of fifty years' standing ordered his picked and brave men to lower the gate , wlueti I did my best to prevent , and fox my pavns received a gentle intimation that if I did not hold my tongue and be quiet 1 should be treated to a little cold steel in the shape of a dozen
or so of bayonets . I then asked them to let me go and report progress to the major ; this they granted . I made my report , after which Macdonald , Rose , Gurdon , and myself went among the men , who were assembled in the court-yard fixing bayonets . Macdonald addressed the men to no purpose . We then tried to takeaway the colours , but this they would not permit . They then toolc us outside the gate and told us to go , and oa our hesitating said if tbe Bengal Infantry , Cavalry , and Artillery saw us we should be murdered , and that they could not and would not try to save us . We then went away . "
y affected their social system , ami tho employment of native troops on distant -service , -may be cited among-at some of the causes of offence winch may have brought on the present state of things , which , all deplore , and which many eye-witnesses had foreseen . It is jio indifference towards that religion which we revere , and whose sacred dictates moat strongly inculcate the merciful policy which wo advocate , that prompts us to regard it as no part of the duty of the 'Government of India to put down , b y law , tho profession of the native faith , when the practices to which it leads nre not tcpUgnant to moiality . "
Ultimately , the party , together with some women and children , arrived in safety at Kairwarrah . An officer of artillery , writing on July 23 rd , thus describes the state of things at Mhow : — " Since I last wrote to you , we have had some very liaid work . On the 1 st of this month , the troops broke out at Indore , fourteen miles from here . We wore ordered out with our battery ; but , -when we had gone se-ven miles and a half , news came that the insurgents had . taken another load , so we returned and found the station in great alarm ; some of tho rebels had brought up two guns whilo we were away , but they were tuken by the cavalry - Two of our horses dropped down dead jast as we came in , so you may imagine tho rate at which
In the Vienna correspondence of the Times yr& read : — *' As everything connected with India must noccs-• sarily be of interest , it is not necessary to apologize for laying before you some news forwarded to this city from . Patrra by a Human Catholic bishop . On the 3 rd of July , the house usually inhabited by . the bishop and . tho TA-theural were attacked by several hundred Mahometans . The bishop had gone some days previously ¦ with the school children and orphans to a village at no great distance from Patnn , but Dr . Lyall , who with a
w < s went there and back , having six horses to each g-uni imd six to the waggon . After dinner we were ordered to clear out of the barracks into the arsenal , and we got most of the things in by dark . About half-past eight r-M . one of tho native infantry officers came galloping ! in , saying that the Tegiment vras up ; in camo another from the cavalry with the same story . Out horses were so knocked up thnt we placed tho guns inside , so as to play through the gate in case of an attack . Wo "hadi forty of the native infantry on gnard inside ; next up came Colonel Platt and said they were outside and the battery mnat be brought out . We could not , Tor tt takes hnlf nn hour to put in horses and get reach ' . The
detachment of troops endeavoured to save the catliedral from the fury of tho populace , was shot , and his body cut to pieces . Several other Europeans were wounded . ' The insurgents called on . tho people to take up arms in deifence of their faith , but , fortunately , the appeal was made in vain , ' On tlio Gth of July , the bishop and his ¦ flock were obliged to quit tho neighbourhood of Patna , and go to ' Bankiporo' ( probably Baugulporo is meant ) , res great numbers of deserters camo down tho Ganges in b-oats from Dinnporo . ' We arrived at Banlciporc on tho lltb of Jul y . Fourteen of tho insurgents have been hanffed and Bixteen condemned to hard labour in chains . '
first thing we did was to disnrm < he gnard wo had inside , which -was dono promptly ; we found cvevy man jwith his piece loaded , and some of them withthrco balls . Thero was only one shot fired on our side , and not one on theirs ; tho reason of this was we had them in front of our guns nnd could have sent them to 4 kingdom come' in no < iino . During the time this was going on , Colonel Plait ruahed outside nlong with one of the ofticers of his regiment and tried to pcnuuulo them to como back . Wo wero ordered to firo ; the port fires were lit ; ivnd as soon us they saw that away thoy went , bo we had no -faring inside . It waa a great pity tho old colonel waa in tho gateway , or wo should hnvc mown
. Althoiigh the foregoing intelligence is but meagre , it as or Boinc importance , ua it shows that the 13 uhar district tfl in a very disturbed state . " The Qitebna Chronicle stutes that the Oltawa Militia . Field Buttery have offered their services in India . Tho following is a tmn&hitiou of u letter from itlic French Ambassador to the Lord Mayor of London , in connexion with tho fund for relieving the sufforcrt l > y the Inditiu revolt : —
This writer states that " a messenger luul been sent from the Delhi urtillerymen , that , if pardoned , they will surrender . Of course , a favourable answer lias been sent them . " Alluding to the sortie on the 19 th ot June , tho sergeant says : — " After a very hard light , which lasted till ten , p . m ., wo wore obliged to retire for tho night , when , owing to tho dnrknoBS , tho 75 th mid one of our guns lircd three rounds into our company . Wo had one ollicer killed , two wounded , and about thirty men killed and wounded , borne of tho woundud could not bo found ; thoy -were picked up tho next morning , moat horribly mutilated . A wo ot them ( one a married man with a lur ^ o family )
Untitled Article
3 STo . 39 £ > , Settembeb 12 , 1857 . ] T W E LEABE R , ^ 67
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 12, 1857, page 867, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2209/page/3/
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