INDIAN NEWS.

Colonist, Issue 15, 11 December 1857, Page 1

INDIAN NEWS.

On account of the general interest manifest in regard to the state of-affairs in-British India, "we resume our extracts from the latest papers:— PARTICULARS OF THE FALL OF DELHI. ~ The Madras AtJiencenm of the 10th Oct. publishes the following copy of a letter from the Acting Lieutenant-Governor at Agra to Lord Elphinstone, one, dated Sept. 27 •' — " I have the greatest satisfaction in stating the complete reocupation of the city and place of Delhi on the 21st inst., the intelligence of which has just reached me in a despatch from Colonel Beeclier, QuatermasterGeneral of the army. The Princes who have been the leaders of the mutineers and rebels in this stronghold of crime , and intrigue have been taken and shot. Their bodie sare lying at Cutwallie, where our countrymen were murdered, and their bodies exposed to the public gaze. The King is a prisoner. The despatch contains no further particulars, except the mention of her Majesty's victory over her enemies having been declared with hearty cheers in the Great Hall of the Place, and of the detachment of a column in pursuit of the fugitives, of whose flight in this direction, altogether broken and disorganised, we have had intimation during the last two days." Express from Neemuch of Ist instant encloses copy of a letter from Colonel A. Beecher, dated Delhi 22nd Sept. to Captain Nixon:—"All going "wonderfully well at Delhi. The King and Begum Zeenut Mahall are close prisoners. The Princes Meerzah Moghul, Aba Buker, and Theysur Sultan were brought in from Hamayon's Tomb and shot at the Delhi Gate, (their bodies were exhibited at the Cutwallie, where so many of our poor countrymen were murdered. A pursuing column under Col. Greathed of 1600 infantry., 18 guns, and 600 cavalry has been organised. Dellji, a perfect picture of desolation, aiid a vast amount of property was left. On. night of 21st, the Queen's health was proposed by the conqueror of Delhi, and drunk with loud cheers in the Dewan Khana of the palace. The cheers were taken up by the gallant Goorkas, and the old buildings rang with .cheers." (From the Madras Spectator, October 7.) We regret to record the death of MajorGeneral Clough "of the 28th NrL—-the melancholy event' occurred at-Bangalore on the'3rd!instant. ' •'—--■• ;-:,-'r M In addition to the1 Eurppeail and Native Cavalry already sent.oh from Scounderabad, the Ist Native Infantry under Colonel Carpenter, have also loeen pushed oh towards Kamptee. ; ' Our Deccan con|tem\)orary has heard that the Joudpore Rajah has met with a reverse in an attack which he recently made upon his mutinous legion with a number of newly raised levies. The mutineers beat off these levies with heavy loss, and in the action the Rajah's Minister was killed. ...Our'contemporary also mentions that .a letter had been received at Mhow from an officer of the Guide Corps at Delhi, iii which it was stated that 70.00 of the mutineers and rebels had been cut up by theforceunder General Wilson during and since the final assault. DEFEAT OF THE INSURGENTS AT '~-•; HISSAR. ; The following' is ah account of the action at Hissar oh, the. morning of the 19th! instant : — Captain-.;" -Mildhiay,' ' Lieutenants Hunt and"Bolieau, Dr. Lamb, Mr.v-.Taylor, and myself, had just breakfasted, and were enjoying, our cigars in Mr.' Taylor's: house, where the unfortunate' laolies'hadbeen murdered, when we heard firing at rtheNagoj wree gate.; In a moment we all got ready together with pur forts, and repaired to the scene of action. The doorway Was, .of course, closed upon the besieging .insurgent's, and the company or the Kutamo6kee-regi-ment mounted upon the TampaVtsj and while they were exchanging shots with the besiegers, we went to another gateway, and sallied but with the Cavalry to take the besiegers. in flank. On pur appearance, the insurgents, amounting to, between SfQOO or 4000 foot of Ramghurs, and about 3QQ irregular Cavalry sowars, fled, leaving, hpw;eyer, a considerable number of foot concealed in the houses of the suburb. . Captain ■Mildmay, Lieutenants Hunt and Bpileau, and Mr. Taylor, with the cavalry, went in pursuit.of the runaways,.and cut up upwards of .25(0 of'them. I had such ,a jkicking rearing :brute of a horse,.that I,could dp j nothing with,.so dismounting, led the com-! pany of the Kuttars among t the. .houses, where ...the .insurgents had hid-.themselves.. They of course fought, desperately, but theKuttars polished them off right well. they,, however, had four of,their men wounded." While .congratulating ourselves upon this. victory, we cannot but. regret that poor! Lieutenant Boileau-should have received a ; most dangerous sabre wound, on the left. side ; of his face.; both, the upper■ and.lower; jaws-haye been, laid open. IJe is, howeyer,,. in the hands of Dr. Lamb, and, I ; doubt not, will survive. On.the nighti.pf the 17th; instant, General Van Cortlandt.receivediii-{ timation that the Ramghur rebels of several villages.intended; plundering, Hissar on- the ■ mpr^mg. Jpf the l&tK ' ; The General there-' : fore sent ; a jforce ; oF.albput 700: cavalry to its' ; relipf. . We ; skrted'about 3 a.m. that morhi"i^g, ; and reached Hissar about, an hourand; ; a-half after the rebels h,ad decamped j,as ; j they, had intimation of pur corning. They-

.expected we would return to Tlansi this morning, but they were regularly let in fof such a- thrashing as they richly deserved* Our loss is triflingj 'some fourteen mere wounded* while that of the enemy actually counted exceed 300. We have also about 30 prisoners, among whom have been identified 'several sepoys' of' the Hurrianah' Battalion and Irregular Cavalry sowhars. The insurgents were led on by some Saza--dah.—Hissar* 19th August, 1857. — Lahore Ctironicle. • , _. . ■< BATTLE OF NUJUFFGHUR. < A correspondent sends the following: " One of the most brilliant actions in the' present campaign took place on the 25th instant,- at Nujuffghur, about twenty miles from the camp at Delhi, of whichT propose' to give, you a brief account. Information was received in camp, that a force of the enemy to the number of 7000, of all arms* with 18 guns, had marched from Delhi with the view of crossing the Nubbjuffgher Jheel' Drain, in order to operate on our rear, and. cut off our supplies. A moveable column* under the command of Brigadier-General Nicholson, was ordered to march on the 25th instant, at 4 a.m., to Nujuffghur, to check such a movement. This column consisted of squadron of Lancers, under Captain Sarel; the Guide Cavalry, under Captain Sandford; H.Ms. 61st, undef Colonel Renhey.; Ist European Fusiliers, under Major Jacob; Coke's Rifles \ ■ Green's 2nd Punjab , Infantry; '.Ivjajor: Thomb's troop of Horse Artillery, and .that commanded by Major Olpherts;'the'Mooltan Horse, and a party of Sappers and Miners, under an engineer officer, for the purpose* of blowing up the bridge at t Nujuffghur^' making a total of about 1000 Europeans, and 2000 Native troops. • On arriving at a village, some nine of ten miles from camp, a halt was made, fof, the purpose of reconnoitering the road, and gaining information of the enemy's move-' mentß and position. A cavalry picquet was discovered some distance ahead,- which tried to intercept our reconnoitering party but did riot succeed. From |he reports, of the villagers, we heard that the enemy had crossed the bridge, and were encamped* or were preparing to encamp, at Nujuffghur* The march was immediately resumed, and after a further ten-mile march (in the course of which we had to cross the extensive sheet of water about three feet deep) arrived at Nujuffghur at half-past five p.m. Here we found a sharp fire of musketry and light guns directecTon the advanced column which was halted there. Brigadier-General Nicholson then gave the order to the Ist Europeans and the 61st foot to form line; and addressed a short speech' to - them pointing out how, in the Crimea,-the gallant 93rd and other regiments achieved such brilliant successes by the careful reserve of their fire, until close to the enemy* and exhorting the men in the present instance to emulate that example. 'A' troop of horse artillery formed on either flank of this line and1 galloped forward, and opened fire on a Serai which the-enemy had occupied in :force -■'■ with "four guns in rJosition* At the same , t time,the word was, given 'llineysdllMyance!? and '^th^fixe^ ;bayonets the whole stepped off as steadily as on parade, straight onto the Serai. When within a; short arid' with a British' cheer, they rushed, fpr*ward arid captured the building with its 4 guns, doing great execution among the defenders. The enemy, beaten from here, retreated towards the bridge, several other guns being taken en route. They again attempted to niake a stand at the bridge, but were speedily broken by a-well directed fire of Artillery, and four more guns were taken here. A Company of the Ist European Fusiliers were now sent' to hold the bridge as a covering party, while preparations were being made for blowing it up* The enemy had managed to carry off two or three guns, from which they opened a well directed' fire on the bridge, of round shot and grape, one of the former blowing up an ammunition wagon which had been abandoned by the enemy, so severely injuring several men of the Ist; two were also killed by round shot. They, however, managed to hold the bridge in spite of this very heavy fire, nor did it deter the Engineer Officer, Captain Genpste, from laying his charges for destroying the bridge. Several times the enemy tried to recapture the bridge, but the Europeans' now increased to three Companies, managed uniformly to repulse theni. Unfortunately (through some mistake, I suppose) the grog for the men had not arrived, nor Commissariat rations, and it was wonderful how they bore' up against the privations of a long march, some hard fighting and no food. A little grumbling was occasionally heard, but good humour and cheerfulness were the order of the day. At about two o'clock in the morning, the charges were laid and everything ready. Accordingly; the covering party wajs withdrawn to camp, and some minutes afterwards, the explosion took place! On visiting the bridge ,next morning, it had completely disappeared leaving literally not a wreck. This will, I believe, effectually prevent Pandy again attempting, to harass us in the rear. All the baggage being.behind, the men had to sleep oh the damp ground during the night,'at least such as could sleep at night at all, many being employed in dragging in the captured guns: very large stores of ammunition, &c, were destroyed, ten or twelve waggons being blown up, no carriage being available; some of the regiments were fortunate enough to find some bags of rupees—one man I heard of, having managed to get 900 rupees.. Coke's irifles and : the 61st Foot suffered much,; I am sorry to sayi'm an attack on a village, the commanding officer of the former, Captain Lumsden, being killed, and, two officers, Lieutenants Gabbet and Elkington of the latter." We marched homewards next morning at 4£, reaching the half way house at about 12, where we halted for two hours, and then to camp, where we arrived very tired, but .in (Continued on our fourth facje.)