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Leader (1850-1860), 6th August 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 910, A NATIVE LEADER ON THE MUTINIES.

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      another form of expression for how India is to be governed- for he ; who ; can- raise from it . a large revenuej may command the services of all its people and princes , and be its successful ruler . The man who shears us the way to accomplish this will . be a benefaattor both to England and India . For the future financial government of India , however , we must now look to Mr . Wilson .

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      LATEST INDIAN INTELLIGENCE . Wx have this week , received the Overland Calcutta mail of June 18 , followed immediately by a telegram ftom Aden in advance of the Bombay mails of the 5 th July . Oude is free from rebels , and the frontiers so notched that it is not likely any will again be able to penetrate through them from Nepaul . The campaign has been left to the Oiide police , and the Europeans withdrawn under cover for the rains . A line of ppsts occupied "by the police is protected by a second

      line of Sikhs , and supportedby her Majesty ' s 20 th and a battery of Royal Artillery , at the corner of Gorr u ck pore and Oude . The rebels , still 6 , 000 strong , are in terrible distress . The correspondent of the Times says that a light force which recently penetrated into the hills found the road strewed with the d ea d and d ying women imploring mercy , and bearded men still scowling with the old hatred of the Kaffir . Almost all their animals , are dead , and their plunder is wasting away under the necessity of paying for all food they take from the Hepaulese . The Nana , the Begum and Bala Rao are the only three leaders of note remaining , and they are deserted day by day by parties of- their followers ; " Unless Jung Baliadoor gives them an asylum they must be caught in time , though , with the exception of the Nana , they are hardly worth the trouble of capture . .. v The Calcutta Phoenix remarks— " Such rebels as still make a show of bearing arms in the cause of the Begum and her illegitimate son , are reduced to

      " The volunteer guard of Calcutta , raised by the European inhabitant * during the mutinies , has been dissolved by the Governor General , but a despatch has since , it is reported , arrived ,, directing the Government of India to form all Europeans into a militia , capable of acting on an emergency , and practised in the use of the Enfield rifle . The measure , if carried out with due attention to local circumstances and modes of business , will not be unpopular . " Advices have also been received from Bombay to the 15 th ult . The mutiny of the 5 th Regiment is confirmed . Some of the disbanded soldiers are betaking themselves to marauding and acts of violence .

      THE EUROPEAN TROOPS IN INDIA . The telegraph from Aden brings us most unfavourable news with regard to the late Company ' s tr oo ps in India . It is said that the disaffection is on the increase ; that at Berhampore they are in open mutiny , have intrenched themselves in the barracks , and elected officers : and that the Madras Fusileers have followed the example of the Bengal troops . " A general order has been published , to the effect that every non-commissioned officer and soldier in the three Presidencies who enlisted for the East India Company ' s forces shall , if he desires it , be allowed to take his discharge under the provisions of the Act 10 th and 11 th Victoria , cap . 38 . The 5 th European Regiment , at Berhampore , are for the present excluded from the operation of this order .

      the greatest straits , and suffering great hardships in the Nepaul territories . Sickness and our columns have thinned their numbers so as to render the Nepaulese villagers quite a match for them should they again attempt plundering . Unless , therefore , they pay , and pay highly too , for supplies , starvation must be their lot . Jung Bahadoor seems also to be fully alive to the danger of allowing rebels and mutineers in his dominions , and in the vicinity of his own forces , who , like all other native troops , must not be exposed to undue tempation . "

      The following is from the Lucknow Herald : —• " According to the latest news from Nepaul , which may be relied . upon , the rebels would appear to be reduced to the greatest straits . Jung . Bahadoor does not at all relish the idea of his dominions being infested with them ; yet there is a strong party at Catmando which seems disposed to favour them . At one time it would appear that Jung had . determined to expel the rebels , but the chiefs Bala Rao , Nana , &c , sought and obtained permission , for themselves and families only , to remain in the Dang or Dewgurh valley—the Sepoys and others being requested to quit . Accordingly , the Nana , B ala Rao , &c ., have come down and encamped at the mouth of the Goorung

      Pass , leading into the Dang v alley . Mummo Khan wm i n the 'Urju n P as s , four or five miles west df the Goorung , but it was said he would return to the Begum , who was at some place more in the interior . A rather large body of the rebels had made their appearance at the foot of the hills . They would appear to live in the jungles thereabouts , and only come out occasionally to see what they" can plunder in the shape of food , &c . " Hydrabad is quiet . It was believed that the disaffected in that capital were prepared for open revolt . £ ord Elphinstone added three European regiments to tlie garrison of Secunderabad , and the 1 / eaders of intrigue immediately became our most devoted friends .

      An order has been issued reducing all native armed corps of the line . This reduction , whioh -will ultimately amount to a fourth of the strength , is extended to Bombay and Madras , and as ftir as it goes ia beneficial . Nothing , however . Bhprb of the extinction of entire regiments will relieve the finances or release us from the danger of a new native army rising to dangerous fltorength at each call for its services . There w - Ok , rumour that the military police are to » e abolished , but as yot it requires confirmation , w ^ wfle poljce too , aro in danger . The officials * k i 5 ^ ? ? tllQ natives declare them as bad as * ae , ola ohuokUdoxeo troopu .

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      Fkench : View < m ? Inpian Politics . — -The Moniteur de VArmeo is good enough to ftirnjeh , from its own private arsenal of intelligence , the following portscript to the last news from India i— " The native insurrection continues to be organised in Nepaul by Nana Sahib , who keeps up communications with all Central India . A rising in Oudo is expected before the end" of the summer . The Conimahuer-in-Ohief , persuaded that hostilities will be resumed , has refused to allow European regiments whioh were ordered homo to leave . The fate of the coming campaign will greatly depend upon Jung Bahauoor . We greatly doubt his fidelity , and in our opinion the state of the Indian Empire is still very serious , and the immense difficulties to winch it will give rise are likely to absorb all the English military resources for a long while to come /'

      A Native Leader On The Mutinies.

      bombardment of the previous days induced us to believe the Kaisur Bagh would be carried . We never had hopes of turning , the English out of the Alum Bagh , though we knew you were only 4 , 000 strong of all arms . . "We firmly believed the Kaisur Bagh would not fall under a year ' s fighting ; nor did -we despond ¦ when we viewed from the minarets of otu * mosques the splendid array of artillery and the large European force . People believed there was some trickery ( "Jadoo" ) in the sudden way the English obtained an entrance to the Kaisur Bagh . The fall

      of the city would have closed the campaign but for the proclamation forfeiting all lands . That paper gave us hopes , as we all knew the landholders would cling to the Begum as long as they could . But if that was cheering the amnesty was as much disheartening . On its reaching Boondee , I for one took leave of the Begum . I saw her rule was undermined . Throughout the rebellion the sepoys were virtually the rulers ; so far as they permitted it , some semblance of a government , a throne , and a "king -was maintained . They prohibited the slaughter of kine ; even in my village ( purely Mahomedan ) no one dared to Mil a cow . When the Muezzin

      called to prayers , it was in fear and trembling that a bullet from a sepoy ' s musket would stop his devotion . " The Sikhs wavered at first , but on the whole they have behaved right well to the English . " The Nepaulese are not worth much to you ; even at the capture of Ziucknow they sent us messages in case the English were overcome , and we had great hopes in them . "We always fancied and had heard that the English won their battles through spies , but now we know you really can fight . We had no idea you could bring out such -reinforcements ; anyhow there cannot be many more ' gpras , left in England . " The highlanders are fine soldiers ; how i s it they bleed less from a sword wound than any other European ?

      A NATIVE LEADER ON THE MUTINIES . We are enabled to publish one of the most interesting contributions to the history of the mutinies which have yet appeared . It is the statement of a leading mutineer , a man till recently high in the confidence of the Begum , and who surrendered under the amnesty . The disclosures were made not in . the way of evidence , but in the course of long conversations with an European friend , and we have every reason to believe their authenticity . There may indeed be persons yet alive who can confirm the incident of the theft of the box from within the Lucknow garrison . The evidence , i t w ill

      be seen , bears heavily against the Nepaulese , but more in appearance than reality . The Nepaulese Government is" Hindoo , and , had the British power teen extinguished , would of course have foug ht f or its own hand . The fact , however * must not be forgotten when Xord Canning is blamed , as he has been by ourselves , for refusing the first offer of the hillrnen . On the question of the Oude proclamation it will be seen the deponent is entirely hostile to the Governor-General . He at least understood that paper in its literal sense , as implying the forfeiture of all property .

      «' I do not think any particular cause can be assigned for the rebellion' —something of the sort has been expected for the last three years . The Soones , who are more captious on matters of religion than we Sheeahs are , had an indistinct conviction that the Government would interfere with their beliefs , but few had an idea that the army would have broken out en ma s se ; when the army did mutiny , there was a disappointment felt , and a fear that existi n g hopes of the extinction of the English would be frustrated , for who could trust in troops who in one brief moment had swerved from the allegiance of 100 years . . ** Our first cause for regrefc was the early re-capture of Cawnpore ; that fact caused the Nepaulese to waver ; a little later and our negotiations would have been completed .

      " To the peppje of Oude the first relief of Lucknow was the boldest . act the English have ever undertaken , and from the date of the entry into the Baillie Guard a } l hopes of overcoming the garrison except by Starvation were given up . Before that a thousand devices were proposed , digested , and rejected , but no decision could be come to for overpowering the garrison . It was proposed to attack at night , but many hinted we should shoot our own men , and thus increase the confusion . The Parsees

      ( a tribe in Oude ) offered to poison the wells , but it was known the English doctors had an antidote . The Parsees proposed to enter the garrison at night , and shoot with , their arrows the Europeans while asleep . On one occasion two Parsees entered the garrison and thoroughly inspected it \ they discovered the position of thojraagaziine , commissariat , &c . One of the Parsees brought out a little box he had removed from off a table , the other returned with ft bullet in his thigh from having gone too close to an European sentry .

      " The evacuation of the Baillie Guard paralysed all with amazement » we could see that the women and children were being removed , but it never for one instant entered our heads that the English would leave it ; it was so unlike them , and the

      "Do not trust a native army a second time ; even your police" correspond to this hour with the rebels . " The minds of the people are still very unsettled , and will remain so . for five years till 1280 Hijiree , when it is predicted there will be great changes . . "If you have to send regiments to England oa account of the war , excitement will be produced , for all eyes are turned in that direction . " Few people know that an envoy came to the Begum from Herat . "

      That remark about spies is precisely the one made by the Sikhs when they surrendered to General Gilbert . They also had imagined that the Europeans would " outwit them somehow , " but could do nothing at close quarters . The 6 th Regiment of the Gwalior Contingent after their defeat rushed into the capital ; declaring not as a fact but as a new wonder , that they could riot contend against the British . The same idea , prevalent till the mutinies

      all over India , evidently influenced the defenders of Lucknow . The immense arniy brought against them never shook their faith in the Kaisur Bagb . The opinion , we believe , was produced by the incessant flattery it had been the custom of generals and governors to pour upon the sepoys . They who , since 1845 , have never behaved even decently in the fi e ld , received all honour ; while the Europeans , who did the work , were coldly commended for their gallantry .

      One statoment seems to need a little inquiry , though it is supported by some antecedent facts . The deponent declares that the Hindoos were completely dominant in Oude—that he dared not kill cows even in a Mussulman village . It was proved in 1856 that the Hindoos Vere far the stronger and braver race in Oude , but anything like dominance seems almost incredible in the face of a fanatically Mohamedan dynasty .- —Friend of India ,

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      ^ rer THE LlABIl . IPfo- 48 g . Amg . 6 , 185 Q .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 6, 1859, page 910, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2306/page/10/