where he has still three guns which it is difficult to get at, but it is not likely the enemy will attempt to maintain that isolated position; and as there has been no fire from thence this morning, it is probable he may have abandoned it. This successful operation was attended by the serious loss of one officer and fifteen men killed and missing, one officer and thirty-one men wounded; the officer killed being Major Simmons, commanding her Majesty's 5th Fusiliers, most deeply regretted by the whole army.

Our present prospects have now to be considered. It was the urgent desire of the Government that the garrison should be relieved, and the women and children, amounting to upwards of 470 souls, withdrawn.

The army of the enemy has been beaten in the open field without difficulty. The resistance was more obstinate in the suburbs, and at great sacrifice the troops forced their way to the garrison in Lucknow. The sick and wounded had been left with the baggage in a strong enclosure, called "Alumbagh," five miles from the Lucknow entrenchment.

In considering the heavy loss at which we forced our way through the enemy, it was evident there could be no possible hope of carrying off the sick, wounded, and women and children (amounting to not less than 1,500 souls, including those of both forces). Want of carriage alone rendered the transport through five miles of disputed suburb an impossibility.

There remained but two alternatives: one to reinforce the Lucknow Garrison with 300 men, and, leaving everything behind, to retire immediately with the remains of the infantry upon the Alumbagh, thereby leaving the garrison in a worse state than we found it, by the addition to the numbers they had previously to feed, of the great amount of our wounded, and of the

300 soldiers, who would barely have sufficed to afford the additional protection that would have been required-without adding such strength as would have enabled them to make an active defence, to repel attacks by sorties, or to prevent the enemy occupying the whole of their old positions. At the same time, it would have been impossible for any smaller force than the remainder of our troops, diminished by those 300 men, to have any hope of making good their way back; and that not without very serious loss. I therefore adopted the second alternative, as the only mode of offering reasonable hope of securing the safety of this force, to retain sufficient strength to enforce supplies of provisions should they not be open to us voluntarily, and to maintain ourselves, even on reduced rations, until reinforcements advance to our relief.

Now that Delhi has fallen and released our forces, two brigades might perhaps be spared for this service. But I am satisfied that even one brigade, with two batteries of artillery, could make good its way to the "Dilkoosha" (a position three miles hence on the Cawnpore side of the canal), the route to which, the rains now being over, will be practicable for artillery by the direct road from Alumbagh.

With such a force established at Dilkoosha, we could without difficulty open out our communication and withdraw the whole, or such portion of our forces as may be desired after re-establishing our authority at Lucknow.

Since my decision has been made, I have received a letter from the Alumbagh, in which it is stated that they are in great want of provisions, but from returns of what they have, it is clear that they are not aware of their resources, which were sufficient for some days. I have, therefore, ordered back the cavalry to join them in the night by a circuitous route, with conditional

orders to withdraw to Cawnpore, or to maintain their position, as may be found most practicable. Their only difficulty is provisions, as they are placed in a fortified enclosure, defended by two of our heavy guns, and two 9-pounders, besides other guns taken from the enemy, 250 European soldiers, and a number of convalescents fit to bear arms. I have, &c.,

J. OUTRAM, Major-General. 1st October.

P.S.-The cavalry failed to make their way out last night; the enemy being found on the alert, and in such strength beyond our picquets, it was not deemed prudent to attempt to force a passage; consequently this despatch was brought back, and there will be no means of transmitting it at present.

[The foregoing despatch having miscarried, was not received in Calcutta till December 30th; on the 31st, his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief promulgated it to the army with the subjoined General Order by the Right Honourable the GovernorGeneral in Council:-]

GENERAL ORDERS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

Adjutant-General's Office,

Calcutta, Dec. 31st, 1857.

General Orders by the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India in Council.

Fort William, 30th December, 1857.

The Right Honourable the Governor-General in Council, in directing the publication of the subjoined despatch from Major-General Sir J. Outram, G.C.B., dated the 30th of September, 1857, considers it due to that officer and to others who may have felt disappointment at the omission of it among the despatches which were published in the Calcutta Gazette Extraordinary

of the 23rd instant, to explain that although earlier in date than those despatches it has been received after them, and that its publication has not been delayed.

His Lordship in Council most fully appreciates the valour of the troops whom that distinguished officer, the late Sir Henry Havelock, aided and supported by Sir James Outram, and by the lamented BrigadierGeneral Neill, led victoriously through the hosts of the insurgents and in the face of extraordinary difficulties, to the relief of the garrison of Lucknow; and he desires that every officer, non-commissioned officer, and soldier, will accept the assurance of the entire approbation of Government, as offered to each and all individually.

The Governor-General in Council observes with great satisfaction the supplemental order in which Sir James Outram separately brings to notice the services rendered by the Ferozepore Regiment under their gallant leader, Captain Brasyer. The thanks of Government were given to this regiment in the General Order, No. 1625 of the 22nd instant; and his Lordship in Council willingly reiterates his acknowledgments to Captain Brasyer and his officers and men.

A despatch from the Deputy Adjutant-General of the army, dated the 22nd of December, 1857, is also now published. In it, his Excellency the Commanderin-Chief prominently brings to notice the good service performed by the officers of the Volunteer Cavalry, commanded by Captain Barrow, and the GovernorGeneral in Council embraces with much satisfaction this opportunity of publicly recording his sense of the gallant conduct of Captain Barrow and his devoted band, officers and men, ever forward where hard work and danger were to be found.

R. J. H. BIRCH, Colonel,

Secretary to the Govt. of India, in the Military Dept.

DIVISION ORDERS BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JAMES OUTRAM, G. C. B.

Head-quarters, Lucknow, 5th October, 1857. The incessant and arduous duties which have devolved on Brigadier Inglis and his Staff since the arrival of the relieving force, had hitherto prevented him from furnishing to the Major-General commanding the usual official documents relative to the siege of the garrison.

In the absence of these, the Major-General could not with propriety have indulged in any public declaration of the admiration with which he regards the heroism displayed by Brigadier Inglis and the glorious garrison he has so ably commanded, during the last three months, and he has been reluctantly obliged to defer, therefore, so long the expression of the sentiments he was desirous to offer.

But the Major-General having at length received Brigadier Inglis' reports, is relieved from the necessity of further silence, and he hastens to tender to the Brigadier, and to every individual member of the garrison, the assurance of his confidence that their services will be regarded by the Government under which they are immediately serving, by the British nation, and by her gracious Majesty, with equal admiration to that with which he is himself impressed.

The Major-General believes that the annals of warfare contain no brighter page than that which will record the bravery, vigilance, fortitude, and patient endurance of hardships, privation, and fatigue, displayed by the garrison of Lucknow; and he is very conscious that his unskilled pen must needs fail adequately to convey to the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India, and his Excellency the