The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-28 00:00:00

THE IXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 28, 1853.

body is still slumbering, and will probably continue
to doze for the next century. Intellectual life is
springing into existence in the Presidency capitals,
and European knowledge is pouring in in a geome-
trical ratio of progression ; but the millions of the .
interior are, and must long remain, in a state of
darkness. The fact is the professions of philanthropy
with which we usually accompany our attempts at
instruction are naturally discredited by people who
see in our acts a very general tendency to oppres-
sion and extortion. hut as the people of the Presi-
dency capitals begin to think for themselves, and to
throw off their servile dependence ou the local go-
vernments—es they now begin to organise schools,
unconnected with .the state, nod to educate their
youth on a system of self-respect and self-depend-
enee,we mar look forward eventually to this good
seed producing good fruit.
It is rather a curious fact, and more humiliating
than curious, that with all our 'wealth, enlighten-
ment, and religious profession, we are behind other
European nations in our system of education both at
home and in our Oriental dependencies. Had India
been a dependency of Franco instead of England,
there can be little doubt that the spread of education
iu the interior would have been far greater than it
has hitherto been under the government of the East
India Company.
The railroad as far as Tannah, an old Mahratta
town at the extremity of Salsette, twenty-two miles
from Bombay, is to be opened on the 4th of April.
This section of the railway has been completed with
great care and skill, and rivals in appearance most of
the European lines.
As it progresses onwards into the bowels of the
land its advantages will be more apparent. At pre-
sent it brings Tannah within three quarters of an hour
of Bombay.
The Burmese war is decidedly unpopular, though
the annexation of Pegu appears now less gees
tionable than it did at the first moment. It is
not generally known here, but is not the less a fact,
that the removal of Sir Henry Lawrence from Lahore
to the north-west was the result of a serious quarrel
between him and the Governor-General, who has not
had the magnanimity to issue any general order in
approval of Sir Henry's most meritorious services at
Lahore. This is a piece of littleness in the most
noble marquis that we were hardly prepared to
expect.
Lord Falkland's term of service expires in May.
His lordship has been generally popular with those
who have shared his hospitality, which has been on
an extended scale, but his government must be ad-
mitted to have been a failure. It can hardly be
otherwise with men of his calibre, who come out to
India wholly unacquainted with Indian affairs. The
best governors are those selected from the best Indian
servants. Witness Mount Stewart Elphinstone,
Malcolm, Thomason, of the north-west provinces,
and, though last, not least, Sir George Russell Clerk.
Advices from China to the 12th state that Nankin
had fallen into the hands of the rebels on the 19th
of Febrnary, and it is said to be the prevalent
opinion that nothing but help from those " outer
barbarians," the people of Europe, could keep the
Emperor of China on his throne.

CHINA.

The following is from the Overland Friend ofl
China of the 11th March :

Our lengthened practice in the business of investigating
reports of trouble in the interior, renders it much less diffi-
cult to pronounce news as in probability truthful, than when
we first commenced chronicling details of the great rebellion ;
and, but fur such experience, the manner in which a report
in Canton is believed by generally well-informed people
that Nankin fell to the rebel um*, as on the 12th day of
the Ist Chinese moon, 19th ultimo, we should almost be in-
duced to overlook the short period of time the news has
had to travel in, and the still more auspicious circumstance
of there having been nothing of such an occurrence known
when the Shanghae mail left on the 26th, which, were it
so, could hardly have been the case—Shanghae and Nankin
being such a abort distance apart. But "coming events cast
their shadows before," and it is not improbable that our next
arrival from the north may bring intelligence of the ancient
capital being invested by one of the four divisions into which
the insurgent army is said to be divided. This Nankin
report was not officially known to assist's in government
offices in the city at their closing hour on Wednesday.
" The Peking Gazette of the 12th month 20th day (30th
January) contains a stringent edict upon lieu's report of the
capture and sacking of Wuchaog, the capital of Hoopih ;
Seu's previous assertions of his ability to raise the siege,
Ins dilatoriness in passing from Chang-sha to Wuchang,
and g I backwardness, being dealt with in terms of
severe reprehension ; and, as a punishment, his Majesty
directs that ho be divested of his peacock's feathers
and all dignities, and only hold office as acting Gover-
nor of Henan and Hoopih, co-operating with Kuban
and Lukh-kin-hing, the newly appointed imperial commis-
sioners, in their attempts to retake NVuchang. San, in his
memorial, ascribes the rebel succeed to their ingenuity in
springing mines, and to their great ferocity. It is said of
the slaughter,that the stench from the unburied was so great
that the inhabitants of the city were forced to evacuate their
dwellings, and it was feared that there would be a general
pestilence. The Peking Gametee above mentioned notifies the
appointment of the Manchu Shu.hing-ha, Governor-General
of Kansuh and Shensi (in conjunction with Yue-tsuey,
Manchou General in Snechnen) to the command of a large
body of select troops despatched to the borders of Hoopih,
there to unite with the other commissioners in a final at-
tempt to crush the hated rebels. Several Portuguese armed
Lorchu have been engaged by coast mandarins to defend
their stations from attacks of the numerous pirates in outer
waters.

" Keying, we hear, has been despatched on a special mis-
sion to Kiang-si. His old and able colleague, Heang-gon-
lung, hu also been again taken into imperial favour, and
is rapidly advancing in rank, though still disengaged from
active service.

" By the way of Shanshae we learn that the people of
Konen are greatly enraged with the soldiers from the
Kirin and the Amour, who have been sent for their " pro.
tection." Their rapacity, it is stated in a memorial to the
Throne, is beyond all bounds " to us," they say, " they are
as tigers, to the rebels as raw" Some of the villagers
having prayed Tien-teh for assistance against them, a body
of men wu sent, who, after driving them away, decapitated
several civil magistrates for htving winked at such liwlese
proceedings."
HONG KONG.—The health of the troops in garrison
is still good. No deaths during the past half month,
and none seriously ill.