The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-07 00:00:00

INDIA.

We have been favoured with files of Bombay
paperi to 27th August, in anticipation of the regular
Overland Mail, which supply some items of informa-
tion not already given. The following arc extracts:
Sir Thomas all.Mahon, who is still at Poonah, is to r• tire
in February from the command of the Bombay army, and
to return with his family to Europe. The natural term of
service of the Commander-iii-Chief expired in Feta uary,
1815, and he has been c,ntinned in office two years be-
yond the time, by two successive extensions, the last of
which concludes at the ,lute ref.... 1 to. Dosing the
period of his command. 8010 ay has been under the tele of
five administrations—that of Sir J. Carnac, Mr. Ander-
son, Sir G. Arthur, and Mr. Reid. Mr. l'ringle has been
appointed provisional Fourth Member of Council at Bom-
bay. and Mr. A. Millet to officiate as chief secretery to
government. The retirement of Mr. Jeffrya, the Archdea-
con of Bombay, was shortly expected. The Bishop of Bom-
bay was to leave Ahmediniggur for loonah. Colonel
Vandeleur, of the 10th Hussars, has l.csen appointed to com-
mand the garrison of Bombay.
We learn from good authority that the government being
sensible of the ads antages that would accrue to the state ley
extending the Customs system to the Jullundur Dooab, have
determined upon establishing a line in that country. It is
to commence from the Sutlej—fullewing the oourse of that
river till it meets the Beare—and then run along its banks.
A deputy-collector, with the requisite number of patrols and
assistant pan'', have been appointed to carry out the mea-
sure, and °sicced to join without delay. e are glad to
find that an addition of 50 rupees p-r month is to be made
to tit, pay of the assistant patrols dining their employment
in the Juleundur. Cholera had again broken out among
the men of the 7atli Highlanders, but the deessisc, happily,
was not of a fatal character. The decease of Mr. J. M'Kenzie,
of the firm of Messrs. Leckie and Co., an esteemed member
of the mercantile community, is announced.
Letters have reached us front Kurrachee to the 16th ult.,
containing a good deal of valuable intelligence. Some por-
tion of the news has already been laid before the reader,
through differ-sit channels, and in a different shape. One of
our correspondent., who emphatically characterise-a Seinde as
the " land of death and desolation," affords us some particu-
lars relative to the lamentable effects of cholera in her Ma-
jesty's 86th, which it is well worth our while to transcribe.
Ile observes that the unfortunate regiment in question is
very nearly destroyed, and that it sell take a long time
to renovate it at all. On tile 11th Jute, the disease broke
out in its ranks with such violence that on the
following day upward* of seventy men were buried,
sixty on the 16th—.and fifty-four on the 17th—making is
total of ISt no n in three clays ! The loss no to the date of
our friend's letter, was as (Awes : serj• ants, 16; corporals,
13; drummers, 2 ; privates, 218; wenn a, It.; children, 12;
total, 276. There were, besides, beta( 070 and 80 in hos-
pital. All the stall-serjeants had died, with the exception
of the quarter-utast( r sergeant and armotirer. The regiment
had lost its serjeant-major, band-serjeont, paymaster's clerk,
orderly room clerk, master tailor, schoolmaster-serjeant, and
hospital-serjeant—a sad slow this to the unfortunate corps.
Strange to say, those who MI victims to the scourge were
principally the finest, strongest, and nrsst powerful nt• n in
the regiment : the weak men, and patients who were in the
hospital, almost all recovered ! Of thirty-four grenadiers
who died in four slays, she average height was a frac-
tion more or less than six feet: in fact, the front rank of
that company had been mown down as if by a chain
shot. Nine of the band had died. No fresh cases
had occurred slice the 12th, when three were admitted, one
of which proved fatal. The weather had improved, but was
still very hot. It was computed that at least 9,000 natives
' had diet in and about Kurraehee. The Fusiliers and Rifles
had lost altogether between 90 and 100 men each ; the 12th
Na,tive Infantry about SO or 90; the Bela/thee battalion
uewards of 100. The 3rd Native Infantry had been more
furtunAe, having only lost about o 0 men, but the disease
bat not yet left. theta. Only three officers in all had died,
viz., Captain &ton, of the Fusiliers; Lieut. Dawson, of the
12th Native Infentre ; and the Governor's nephew, Captain
J. M. Napier. The viaduct of the officers of her
Majesty's Stith. during the dreadful scenes that took
plus* while the pestilence lasted, is described to have I
been most exemplary. Front mornieg to night they were
constantly in tile hospital, endeavouring to keep up the
spirit* of the men, who were enthusiastic in their ex-
pressions of gratitude for such attention. Many of the un
happy sufferers are said to have expired without pain: they
merely complained of being sick, lay down, and died! One
of our informants states that it was more like a plague than
anything else—so rapid and awful was the mortality—so
inexorable the angel of death. It is supposed, as stated by
us on Monday, that the scarcity and badness of the food pro-
-1 curable at Kurrachee,were the chief cause of the malignancy
of the cholera. " The congriviting," says a correspondent,
"such an immense force of Europeans at Kutrachee was,
without exception, the most foolish act ever perpetrated,
particularly during the hot season, and with two regiments
and: r canvas. The resources of the place were wholly in-
n& quote to their support, and the eon /ell:nee was th .t, for
a month before the pestilence broke out, nothing but com-
mon carrion could be purchased in the Bazaar. The food,
therefore, given to th • men, was of the worst description,
and although, had it been better, cholera would still have
appeared, yet the want of proper nourishment predisposed
the men to the disease, and consequently the mortality was
infinitely ereatei than it otherwise wools! have been.—One
proof of this is to be found in the escape, in a great measure,
of the offieers, who of mune procured comparatively whole-
some fod, and out of ISO of whom only 6 were attacked—
one of them (Captain Napier) basing ?seen in such a state of
ilt Leath previously that the slightest disease, of any kind,
would have carriedliim off. The circumstance of IL M. 86th
laving suffered to a greater extent than the oilier regiments
is attri'euteel to the fact th4l they had been more than two
years and a halt in Seinele, —had been stationed at Hyderabad
during the hot season of 1844, where they bu-
rial in one month upwards of 20 men, struck
stead by the sun, and had returned to Kurrachee in August,
more like invalids than working men. They had marched
nearly IMO miles to Bliawulpare and back, we re at arly four
months and-r canvas, an.l on tl.eir arrival at Kurn.chte,