The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-04-27 00:00:00

INDIA.

Tim ARMY AT Luoitwow. The total of the
Queen'. troops with this army on the 28th of February
numbered 16,347. The proportions of sick to well in
that force, acoording to the weekly return, was 1 in 27
221-576; of deaths to strength, 1 in 3,2291 ; of deaths
to sick, lin 1,174-5. On the advance to and occupation
of the Dilkooslia, Biblepoor, and Mahomed Bagh, we
suffered the following losses I—Killed—Naval Brigade,
1 man. Wounded. —Navel Brigade, lman ; 9th
Lancers, 1 officer, 1 man; 2nd Punjabeem, 1 man;
sth Putijabeee, 1 man ; let Sikh Punjab, 1 officer,
1 men; 34th Regiment, 1 semi; 38th Regiment,
2 men; 42nd Regiment, 1 men; 4th Punjab Rifles, 3
men. Total 2 officers and 12 men. Miuing.-9th
Lancers, 1 man. Horses.-5 killed, 15 wounded, and 3
missing.
INDIAN TRADE.—The total value of the merchandise
and the treasure imported into the several presidencies of
India in 1856-57 amounted to 28.60.82,855 rupee.,
against 25.24,89.453 in 1855-56, and 14.77.09.286 in
1854-55. Bombay figured for 11.89.50.606, Madras for
2.54.07.396, and Bengal for 14.17.24.853. The exports
from India in 1856-57 amount to 26.59.18.811, against
23.64.04.541 in 1855-56. The area of the territory of
(hide, lately acquired, is estimated at 25,(8)0 square
miles, the population at 5,000,000, and the revenue at
£201,935. Peuge end Martaban are 32,250 square miles
in area. The population is 570,180. and the revenue
£317,010; while Nagpore in Berm', is 76,432 square
mile in extent, ha population is 4,650,000 and its
revenue £529,127. In 1857 there were 3,092 Europeans
and ludo Britons in the uncovenanted service of India,
and 2,846 natives, of whom 2,560 were employed in the
judicial and revenue service. The English are almost
equally divided between this service and the "general,"
there being only 151 in the political service.
THE TELKGRAPH.—Never since its discovery, says
the Times correspondent, has the electric telegraph
played so important and daring a rile as it now
does in India. Without it the Commander-in-
Chief would lose the effect of half his force. It
has served him better than his right arm. By it he is
enabled to direct the marsh of his battalions, the move-
ments of his artillery and cavalry, to receive news of
their successes, to survey, as it were, at any one time
the whole position of his army and of its auxiliaries, to
communicate with the Governor-General and with his
subordinate Generals, to sift the truth from the false-
hood of native information, to learn what posts are like-
ly to be threatened, where the enemy are in force, to
spare his staff and his messengers, and yet to send mes-
sages with clearness and despatch. So much for its
importance. As to the daring action of the telegraph,
which includes of course those who direct it, I need only
observe that in this war, for the first time, a telegraphic
wire has been carried along under fire and through the
midst of a hostile country. Part passu, from post to
to poet it has been moved on with our artillery, and
scarcely has the Commander-in-Chief established his
head-quarters at any spot where he intended to stay for
a few days when the post and the wire were established
also. The telegraph was brought into communication
with the Governor-General at Allehabad, with Outrani
at the Alumbagh, with Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and
the most remote districts over which the system is dis-
tributed. It is mainly to the seal, energy, and ability of
a young officer of the Bengal Engineers, Lieutenant
Patrick Stewart, that these advantages are due. He is
assisted, it is true, by a few men, but he it is who
devises and superintends the execution and the extension
of the line from place to place. At one time his men
are chased for miles by the enemy's cavalry—at another
time they are attacked by the Sowers, and they and the
wires are cut into pieces—again, their electric batteries
are smashed by the fire of • gun, or their tart knocked
to pieces by a round shot, but still they work on—creep
over arid plains, &arose watercourses, span rivers, and
pieroe jungles, till one after another the rude poles
raise aloft their slender burden, and the quick needle
vibrates with its e&nt tongue amid the thunder of the
artillery. While Sir Colin Campbell was at Cawnpore
lie could learn from Sir James Outram the results of an
attack before the enemy had disappeared from the field.
hut he advanced towards Lucknow the line was carried
with or soon after him; a tent was pitehed near his, s
hole was dug in the ground and filled with water, and
down dropped the wire from the pole stuck up in baste,
dived into the water otter-like, the simple magnet was
arranged, the battery iet in play, and at ones the steel
moved responsive to every touch. Owing to the ex-
treme drynesa of the atmosphere and the power of the
sun—which at this season hakes the earth like a brick,
the insulation of the crarrent is nearly complete. The
wire is thick, and is not protected by non-conducing
coatings of any kind; it is twisted round the top of •
rude pole 15 or 16 feet high, and, under ordinary states
of the atmosphere, it is found to answer perfectly. We
had not been very long in the Itilkoosha ere we saw,

In dim perspective, the line of posts advancing towards
u. and soon the wire wu slipped into one of the draw-
ing room windows, and now it is at full work, surrounded
by all the shattered splendour of the palace, inquiring
after the Ghoorkaa, asking for more of something or
other, exchanging ideas between Sir Colin and Lord Can-
ning. or flurrying along a newspaper message to yourself,
amid the whistle of the bullet, the roar of the round
shot, and all the feverish scenes of war. I only hope it
carried my message for the Bombay mail of the 9th of
March.