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Leader (1850-1860), 26th September 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 916

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      thaYjolirnal picked up some scraps of paper among the cIotfoaB ^ of— Uw-wemen- -who ~ w-e * e"Baur < 3 ered- l > y ~ Nena Sahib * - *— .. . .. , ; ., ¦ , ., , ' . H . Uw ^; The . mournful -memorials .. are shotted -wit h blood , arui . eontatBLthe following , iuscribeiupon thenvin pencil , in : female-handwriting . Both : the-scraps . seem to . be le a * es-from the private journals of two different persons , : 8 S the writing ia : not the same . One o £ these pieces of p » I « t runs asforllaws ^^ - ' Manama died ,. July 12 . * Alice died ,: July 9 . | ' George died , June : 27 . J Entered the barracks , May 21 . Cavalry left , June 5 ~ . First shot fired , June 6 . UncleiWilly died , June l& . f Aunt ifcBykdfirae 174 - Left : barracks , June 27 . Made pri-« onera ;« s-aoon as . we , were at ^ febe river . * ¦ .... ¦¦ ^ jt {> . . i ., I

      " The other is in the following -words : — We went into tie barracks on the 21 st of May ; the 2 nd Cavalry broke out at two o'clock on the morning of the 5 th of June , and the other , regiments went off during the day . The next morning , while we were all sitting , out in front . of the ban-acts , a twenty-four , pounder .. came flying alojigv ; and-hit the mtren < ftment , and from that day the firing-went on till the 25 th of June ; then the enemy sent a treaty which the general agreed to , and on the 27 , th we all lef t the B . togo down to A . in boats . When we got to the river , the enemy began firing onus , killed all the gentlemen and some of the ladies , set fire to the boats ; some were drowne . < lyand we were taken . prisoners , takea to a house , and pufc ^ ll in one room . '" . Richard Douglas , a private in the 10 th Foot , writes from Dinapore , on July 13 th : —

      " At a station called Fyzabad r two native regiment 8 of foot and oneof horse , "with a battery of guns , mutinied and kiUed sorno of their officers . ; one colonel ' s lady saw her&usband shot in . front of her eyes , she then went paying mad through the jungle with her two Infants . I bad this from a survivor , one that escaped in a boat with about twenty more Europeans , principally women and children ; be- saw the lady with her children on the bank and called her to him , but she looked at them for a- jnoment and then ran screaming away , dragging her Children after her .... They could not land to pursue , beca . use . tae Sepoys were coming down on , them . at the time to ; murder them . I , have since heard that the lady has

      peep , rescued , but is . still . a maniac . . . At another station 4 &ey ; haye murdered fifty-four Jijuropeans—the place is called Jhansi ; one pnicerrkiiled no less than twenty-six of ; the . ruffians before he was killed himself A . sergeant and his . wife and two children barricaded themselves in theii ^ b-QUse ; the woman , said , she would ,, shoot the first naan that entered , and she was . as good , as her word . $ he . did so , and then was shot herself . . Tie husband escaped ,. and . ihe two .. children : in attempting to follow fijni . were caught . and . tbroAyn ,. intp . the flames , as they had set fire to . tije house / . ' - " ['[ ,. ' - " / ,, . . ;' . iV . writer frpm Calcutta tlivis arraigns tihe conduct ^ f . tlie . Go ^ ernprrGene ' ral : t- ^ 7 . ] . ¦ .. ¦ .. "'¦

      . , " LorU , Canning has shown himself throughout utterly imbecile " and incompetent . ' . What can you . think of a man who . Jhas . 'invariably pook-poob . ed all idea , of danger vw $ i \ , it : has actually broken out , ; w . ho refuses to disarm Sepoys who have not revolted , / until the very last inoinent ^ when they are on the-: point of rising ; who Allows h » s wife . openly to pity tlpe / , poor , dear Sepoys ; ^ hp , declines and ridicules the offer of the citizens , of £ /^ cu tta to , be " comp *' yolunteerB ,, . uu ^ jT'lie"t ints ' they are ac tuall y necessary , ^\ yhen he accepts fJtteir , off « r with sqch bad grace as to disgust them all ; who ,. Jwhen a large deputation of gentlemen wait upon him to request that he will allow the 5 th Fusiliers to stop an hour at Dinapore . to disarm the regiments there , refuses to do so until

      the consequence is a regular outbreak ; who declines to prevent the sale of fire-arms to natives until all are disposed of ; who accepts , declines , and again accepts , when too late , the offer of tlie ruler of Nepaul ; who , when every one is congratulating himself that we shall at all events have 5000 of the Chinese troops -to save India from being lost entirely , quietly writes to Lord Elgin to say that 1500 will be enough , and allows the rest to go on to China , and the country to go to the dogs ? What can you think of a man who gaga the English press because it exposes hia unntness ; who dallies and puts oiF , and has no foresight , no system , no great views ; who

      cannot make up hia mind , and who can scarcely do a single thing worthy of his name and of the position -which ho fills ? Such is the general opinion hero of George , Lord Canning , at present governor of one hundred and fifty millions of people , , The sooner he goea home to the Post-office again the better !! ' . The Bombay troops at Dliarwar ( nc « ording to a letter from India ) have mutinied , and the right ¦ wing of ft Madras regiment , under Colonel Hughes , liaa been ordered to start for the scone in order to suppress -the movement . This statement , however , liaa been contradicted ; but it aeonis to rest on good authority .

      , TDhe English merchants at Calcutta have transmitted a petition to Parliament , in which they say : — < l In the country desolated by the rebels there are

      hundreds ot civil Wvfmts ' , * judges , magistrates , and coll-QOtorsj- ^ village—o howkedare ¦ and ' policemen—in ~ ten » -of thousands , and more 4 han-two thousand commissioned military-officer *—European and native ; -and yet , , if ¦ « may believe the , Government , there was not iir all this -vast-establishment to be found one person'to acquaint the authorities of the existence of a * conspira'cy spread over countries - many , times larger , than the area of tlie British Isles , and . in which upwards of a hundred thousand soldiers have joined . "* ¦ . ; u The rebellion , broke out and found the Government - r ' ' ^^ T ^^ T ^^^ TTT ^^ " ^^^""*

      totally unprepared . No efficient commissariat ,. no organized means of procuring intelligence , and , with a few brilliant exceptions , no men of sufficient capacity for tbe emergency . At the commencement of the outbreak , Delhi , the largest arsenal of ordnance in the north-west of India ; - the important military depot of Cawnpore , and the fortress and arsenal of Allahabad , the key of- ' tlie Lower Provinces , were without a single European soldier to defend them . The two former fell into the hands of the insurgents . „ .

      " On the 25 th of May last , when a number of regiments were in , open revolt , when many treasuries had been plundered and various important stations fallen into the ^ hands of the rebels , the Secretary to the Home Department officially informed the inhabitants of Calcutta , in answer to loyal addresses tendering aid and personal service , that ' the mischief caused by a passing and groundless panic had already been - arrested , a : nd that there was every reason to hope , that in the couise of a few days tranquillity and confidence would be xestored throug hout the Presidencv . '

      " From that hour to the present , the policy of Government has not undergone the slightest change . In the teeth of events the most startling ,, in defiance of warnings the most emphatic , they steadily persisted in ignoring the fact of danger for which they bad made no preparation . . " On the 13 th of June they paased a law which destroyed the liberty of the press , and placed every journal in India at the absolute feet of the executive authority . " Your petitioners refrain from , here commenting on this act of the Government , uncalled for by the occasion , repugnant to British feeling , and subversive of the principles of the British constitution . This was done at a time when the Government were receiving universal support from the English portion of the press . " The petitioners then prophesy an immense increase of the Indian debt , and conclude thus : —

      " The ; system under which the country has been hitherto governed , utterly antagonistic as it has ever been to the encouragement of . British settlement and enterprise in India , has entirely failed to preserve the power of the Queen , to win the affection of the natives , or to secure the confidence of the British in India . Tour petitioners , therefore , humbly pray ,: tb ^ at ., yp . . ^ hOn .. House will adopt such , msnxsnrea as may be necessary for removing the government of this country from the East India Company , and substituting in its place tbe direct Government of her Majesty the Queen with an open Legislative Council , suitable to the requirements of the country and compatible with the British supremacy , Queen ' s courts presided over by . trained lawyers and with the English , language as the official court language . "

      The state of financial matters in India at the last dates , is thus described in the Times :- — . " In , the , . neighbourhood of Calcutta , and ia the eastern district , trade had shown some little tendency to revival , and considerable parcels of goods had , &t a slight decline , been disposed of . Yarn , especially , had been in request , and had even realized an advance . The exports of produce were beginning to be affected by short arrivals , sugar and saltpetre having shown a heavy falling off . Silks and hides , on tlie contrary , had been largely shipped to Europe , while thero had . also

      been considerable consignments of rice to China . The yield of indigo this season seems to bo estimated at about 85 , 000 maunds , or about 35 , 000 maunds below an average crop . Two factories , it is said , had already been burnt . A Government six per cent loan for one year had been announced in the Punjab . At Calcutta the subscriptions to the new five per cent , loan , which ia offered on terms equal to six per cent ., were extremely limited . The Bank of Bengal , whose stock of bullion had been reduced to 1 , 143 , 421 ? ., had resolved upon a rise of two per cent , in its rates for advances . "

      Subscriptions have been , collected , and further meetings in aid of the Indian fund been held , at Eixoter , Warminster , Liverpool , Sheffield , Bradford , Selby , Torquay , Bedford , Iluddersfleld , Christchurch ( Hampshire ) , Edinburgh , St . Ilclier ' s ( Jersey ) , Leeds , Portsmouth , Plymouth , Brighton , Devonport , Bristol , Stoko-upon-Trent , Lincoln , Norwich , Manchester , Glasgow , Sunderland , Newbury , Maidstone , Windsor , King ' s Lynn , Busingstokc , Ilaverfordwest , Torrington , Isleworth , Wnlfcham Abbey , Islington , and Clerkenwell . The London Committee have formed themselves into a Relief Committee , a Finance Committee , and a Correspondence Committee .

      A .. detachment of , tho 21 st llcgiment of Madras Native Infantry , stationed at Cohnbatore , haa subscribed S 6 rupees 3 annas towards tho . fund , out of sympathy , vr f tli ,, tho , distressed , and / horror at the atrocious crj , in . e , s , perpetrated , by . the Sepoys .

      f TneVSultan ' of $ M& ' nas ^ nsW ^ W ^ bal -gftdor > n-trt > ndocHt > -forwani- to the Lord-Mayor ilie aum ; of : 1 OOO / ., ; as his donation ' to thefund . - It is reported tlmtithe-Kltan of Kelat . lias received certain Persian letters , calling on him to aid the mutineers ,, and that he has forwarded them to tlip B ombay-Government . / . . An officer writes from-before Delhi on Jnlv-7 th : — : ¦ . :.. •• , ¦ ¦ ..- ¦ ¦ - ¦< , ; ; ,-. . . , J " Mercy seems to have fled from usfor ever , and if ever there was such a thing as war to the knife , we certainly have it here . The Sepoys stand well to their guns and work them fully as- well as ourselves , which is little ' to be wondered at when you think of the pains we have taken to teach them gunnery . The astonishing thing i 3

      to see how different the story becomes when Pandy ( camp name for the enemy after ' Mungul Pandy , the first mutineer hanged ) sees a bayonet pointed at him We have all read and heard much of « the British cheer , ' but its effect must be seen to be appreciated . I never saw it better than at Badli-ka-Serai . Pandy ' s guns were all in position , and d beautiful position it wasevery gun was in full play , and our advance column under Brigadier Grant , with -which I was , had got round Paddy's flank to his rear . Nothing was to be heard but heavy guns and the rattle of musketry , in the very teeth of . which her Majesty's 75 th . and 1 st Europeans were marching up as if on parade , when thafe British cueer saluted our ears . Jt was like magic , livery gun except

      our own was silent immediately , though certainly not for very long . Even musketry seemed almost to have ceased , and we knew that the bayonet was doing its -work on all who waited for it . It was some little time before the enemy ' s guns opened again , and when they did I can assure you they did not forgive the advance column for out-manoeuvring them . 1 had not up to this time paid much , heed to the shot flying all around me , for , galloping along at full speed with horae-artillcry and cavalry thundering after you is some small excitement to a ' griff , ' and as I was the guide to the column I felt somewhat interested in taking up our position quickly . But it is a very different story standing quietly under heavy fire

      for the first time , with nothing to do but to look on . I quite envied the gunners who were so hard at work , for it is no small satisfaction working to such good purpose , and I cannot say that I felt my heart breaking at the sight of these rascals getting their deserts . This is war in its very worst phase , for generosity towards an enemy seems to enter into no one ' s mind . . If any one owes these Sepoys a grudge , I think- I have some claim to one ; but I must say that I cannot bring myself to put my sword through a wounded Sepoy . I cannot say that I grieve much when I see it done , as it invariably is ; but , grieve or . not , ins . yQU : plesse »; & . e is . a .. clave * man who can keep back a European from driving his baronet through a Sepoy , even if in the agonies of death . "

      A writer from India ( though from -what part does not appear ) makes , under date August 6 th , some very ominous statements with respect to the gurrison of i ' attyghur : — " I fear there is little doubt that the garrison of Futtyghur have been murdered by that fiend Nena Sahib . I hear tlie deposition of a sorvant has arrived here , stating that after a struggle of nine days the small bau < l waa overcome , that the Nawab of Furruckabad furnished them with boats , and that they were all killed by Nena in cold blood after passing Tihitoor . Of the 10 th Native Infantry , this includes , I believe , Brigadier anil . Mrs Smith , Munro , Phillott , Phillimore , Fitzgerald and wife ,

      Simpson , Swetenliatn , Henderson , Eckford , Dr . lluathcoto and family ; then there were the Rev . Mr . L'isher and wife , Mr . and Mrs . Lowis , Major and Mrs . Robertson . Tucker , the clothing agent , was shot through the head when looking through a loophole . " I have just seen the' servant ' s deposition ttikcn at Ghazcepore . It appears tliat the fugitives moored their boats near Cawnpore ; their boatmen ran away ; the gentlemen gave the villagers money to > induce them to get more men , instead of which they told Nona , who sent conveyances for them , confined them in the Assembly-rooms , and , when Brigadier-General llavelock beat his troops and took his guns , ho bad the whole party butchered .

      " Ho is reported to have said he could now dielmppy » as ha had killed one thousand ' Feringhces , ' « iid I fancy he has completed about that number , including the Christians at Cawnpore and the Futtyghur . refngw * ( in all about a hundred and fifty , including those \ vli <> » early in Juno ) . " Tlie following narrative of events has been prepared by order of the Government at Calcutta : — " Agka . —A letter from the Lieiitenant-Go \ ornor , dated Juno 30 , accompanying , gives the occurrence * > 'i the North-West Provinces up to that date . Lust news up to July 19 . The fort ia still occupiedand tranquillity

      , liaa boon restored in the ciLy and cantonments . < J > ' 5 th of July five hundred <>» " the 3 rd Uegimcnt , with the European Horse Battery , moved out to attn < k tho Mcerut mutineer . Two ammunition w « ggon » ljlliW " > and want of ammunition compelled tbe troops to retire , which was done in an orderly nuuuior . Tlio rcnulL was tho removal of tho troopa into th « fort , whuru 110 European inhabitants hud already been nnHoniblucJ . A " . Agra governmont has been , downed to open a ooamiuiuca ( i « n daily with . Delhi , us well as with C ' awnyorc .

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      > , * Mrs . G . Lindsay . ; , f Daughter of Mrs . G . Lindsay . , . , ... Son of Mra . G-. Lindsay , Ensign > vth NAtivo Infantry . ,,. . ' ., , . ¦ , .. ,, „ ,., „ ,.,, „ , ; § Mtiw W . Lindsay . , ,. ,, , 11 % ^> V . Xindsay . , , , ,

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      916 THE LEADER , [ No . 392 , September 26 , 1857 . . ¦ J M **^— ~™*^~~ Tr ~*~ n ¦ " ii

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 26, 1857, page 916, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2211/page/4/