The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-19 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

WE have received our despatches in anticipation
of the Overland Mail from India. _ - .

The dates are—Hung-Kong, 30th March; Cal-
cutta, Nth April; Madras, 14th April; Bombay, 17th
April; Ceylon, April 15.
Our correspondent writes as follows:
BOMBAY, Aram 17.
Lord Falkland is expected at Bombay, from the
Mahabulishwar hills, so as to be in time to ad-
minister the oaths of office to Mr. A. Bell, who sw-
ards the lion. Mr. J. I'. Willoughby as member of
council on that gentleman's retirement, which will
take place on the 28th inst. His lordship will re-
turn to the hills immediately after the despatch of
the overland mail of the 3rd May. Mr. Bell, who
at present occupies a seat on the Sudder bench,
will, it is rumoured, be succeeded by Mr. A. Spens,
our active and praiseworthy chief magistrate, whose
removal from that office will be much felt, as it is
no easy. matter, with the training they usually un-
dergo in the Mofussil, to procure the services of a
qualified person from the ranks of the civil service
to perform the duties of a magistrate, according to
the requirements of English law, in a satisfactory
manner. _ .

The investigation into certain alleged frauds in
the wheel tax department are still progressing, and
will probably occupy another fortnight before they
are completed. The evidence already taken displays
the most deplorable dereliction on the part of the
late collector, Captain Baynes, in the supervision of
the conduct of those under him, that can well be
imagined. No charge of actual delinquency seems
likely to be established against any of the Europeans
' first named as implicated, but the laxity of the model
of doing business seems to have been so monstrous as
Ito have tempted to villainy. Just fancy gentlemonv
of incomes betwixt 1,2001. and 2,0001. a year, never
keeping any accounts of any sort—not knowing how
much money they had, or what claims existed against
them, and tearing up all receipts and accounts the
moment they were received!—and these in the charge
of important public offices. There are, however,
strong grounds of accusation against some of the
native establishment employed by Captain Baynes,
. -al of

and it is highly probable'thiit several of them will be
dismissed from their employment, if not proceeded
criminally against in the Supreme Court for em-
bezzlement and fraud. The amount ascertained- to
have been embezzled is about 26,000 rupees (2,600/.)
but the whole of the accounts have not yet been
examined by the present collector, Mr. J. H. Wil-
son, who has intimated to the committee of inquiry
that owing to the state of confusion in which he has
found all the books, he will not be able to submit
his final report for several months to come.
The very interesting ceremony of bestowing di-
plomas on eight medical students, who have just
passed their examinations at the Grant Medical
College, was performed on the 15th instant, in the
presence of a large and distinguished audience,
assembled for that purpose in the principal lecture-
room of the college. rho chair was tilled by Sir
Erskine Perry, Kt., Chief Justice of Bombay, who
delivered a most eloquent and impressive address on
the occasion ; as, also, did the principal of the college,
Dr. C. Morehead, and the lion. Mr. Willoughby.
This is the first occasion on which diplomas have
been granted to students of medicine in Western
India, and it was very appropriately designated as a
"great epoch" in the civilisation of this important
division of our Indian empire.
Dr. Coles, assistant garrison surgeon at Bombay,
hos been appointed acting deputy assay master, in
the room of Dr. E. T. Dimities, who has been pro-
moted to the office of assay master pro tem., during
the absence of Dr. Kays, the actual incumbent, who
is on furlough in England. It is not certain that Dr.
Kays will return, but should ho not do so, the ap-
pointment wilt be filled up directly by the Court of
Directors of the East India Company, in whose
gift it is.
A new iron steamer, named the Falkland, has just
been launched from the new slip at Bombay,intended
for the navigation of the Indus. She is of large size.
being 230 feet from stem to stern, and 33 feet beam,
and when laden will draw from 18 to 24 feet water,
and will, with baggage boats in tow, be able to carry
a regiment with all its traps. This vessel was con•
structed by Mr. Laird, of Birkenhead, and was put
together here by artificers sent out for the purpose.
The ceremony of naming the Falkland was performed
by Mrs.Daridson,the lady of the commissary-general.

. -
Mr. G. St. John Richardson, of the Bombay Civil
Service, has been appointed to the post of Oriental
translator and deputy secretary to government in
the Persian department, vacant by the resignation of
Mr. C. J. Erskine, absent in England on furlough.
Major-General Stavely, C. 11., has assumed the
command of the northern division of the army, and
Brigadier-General Robertson, now at the Presidency,
proceeds in a few days to take the command of the
S. D. A., the head-quarters of which are at Bel-
gaum.
The Governor-General quitted Peshawar on the
18th ult., having visited Jumrood, at the lower en-
trance of the Khyber Puss, the day preceding. lie
was at Naoshera on the 19th, and meant to have
crossed the Indus on the 21st, but was detained by
the floods till the 24th March. It is mentioned to
the Bombay Times of yesterday, that his lordship
has lately written to the Bombay authorities, inti-
mating that " the charges made at the Byculla Club
dinner by Sir C. Napier, against the supreme govern-
ment, in reference to Mr. Arathoon, are groundless
—that they were utterly uncalled for, and unjusti-
fiable if true, was obvious at the time—and has
directed, a copy of his letter to be placed at the dis-
posal of the Chamber of Commerce, in whose reports
it will, we presume, appear."
It is rumoured that the noble marquis will return
to Calcutta during the ensuing rainy season, and the
Calcutta papers mention that the Court of Directors
have intimated, in terms more plain than agreeable,
their disapproval of his long-continued absence from
the seat of his government.
The Khybemes have not, it appears, agreed to the
terms believed to have been offered to them by the
Governor-General. It is stated, in a letter of the
23rd ult., published in the Mofussilite newspaper,
that

Two thousand men have been ordered to proceed to the
, Khyber Pass, to ravage the land in cultivation belonging
to the Khyberries. Orders have likewise been received
here to imprison every Khyberrie found in cantonments,
and to hang all such as shall be apprehended for robbery.
A detachment of the Guide Corps is also ordered to march
to Shukkuddur." These are all the on dila hero just
now. It is time, methinks, that some such stringent mea-
sures should be adopted towards these lawless tribes ; em-
boldened by the supine indifference of our government
towards the lives and property of their subjects, they were
by degrees growing more audacious, and some of their last
depredations have been marked by circumstances of singu-
lar atrocity. But we may now, I trust, look forward to a
speedy amelioration of affairs.

-It is further stated, ky the Delhi Gazette's Pun-
baub correspondent, that Sultan Mahomed Khan, the
rother of Dost Mahomed Khan, the ruler of Cabul,
who caused Major Lawrence to be taken prisoner in
his flight from Peshawar during the last Punjaub
campaign, is now at Ali Musjecr, at the upper en-
trance of the Khyber Pass, with a body of 5,000
Affghans. Nothing positive as to his object in com-
ing there seems to be known, but it is probably con-
nected with some arrangements with the Khyberrics,
having in view to annoy and ember's. British in-
terests in that quarter as much as he possibly can.
The following items are extracted from the Bom-
bay Times overland summary of this date:
A heavy fall of rain had occurred around Attok on the
23rd, and the Indus so swelled in consequence that the
bridge of boats was swept away. A severe dust storm, the
fiat of the season, occurred at Lahore on the 25th, followed
by some showers of rain. The harvest round Delhi is
commenced ; the crops are so abundant, that the prices of
grain are unpreeedentedly low—the want of the means of
conveyance prevents it from being carried to a distant mar-
ket. The Rajah of Bahawulpore was on a visit to
Delhi.—A Zemindar in Kerowlee, having refused to
pay tribute, has shut himself up in his fort,
where it is supposed he means to defend himself ;
a force will be ordered up from Agra to bring him to reason,
should he persist in recusancy.—The commander-in-chief,
Sir W. Gomm, was expected at Tjinballa on the 27th.—
Mr. Thomason, governor of the north west provinces, will
by this time have reached Simla.—Prands of a serious de-
scription are said to have been discovered in the Bengal
Military Orphan Fund,—the defalcations are said to exceed
3,oool.—The five per cent. loan has been closed, the state
not requiring further accommodation for the present.—We
stated in a former issue the destruction by fire of the ship
Bt. Clan; the accident occurred amongst the Maldives:
and is supposed to have been occasioned by the spon-
taneous ignition of the coals which formed her cargo.
The ship Kurramany, bound to the Mauritius, with emi-

rants, was burnt on the Hooghly on the 4th April, and it
is feared that many lives have been lost—A report has
lately been received from Major Lang, intimating the en-
tire extinction of the practice of infanticide in Yattiftwur.
'The steamer Atalanta, the engines of which were sometime
since transferred to the Fire Queen at Calcutta, is hereafter
to be made use of as a floating church for the accommoda-
tion of the Indian navy and other seamen belonging to the
vessels of the port : fur this very excellent and much-re-
guired arrangement we arc indebted to our worthy et nuno-
dom. Captain Lushington, R.N. A couple of iron steamers
of very large dimensions, for usage on the Indus,
have in the course of the past fortnight been launched at
the presidency, where we have at present a larger amount
of public work in progress than we ever recollect of.
The cutting and embanking of the railway is rapidly ad-
vancing; a common sewer, three miles long, eleven feet
deep and twenty across, floored and built of atone, and
vaulted over with brick, is in process of construction. A.
breakwater 810 feet in length, 120 feet across at the foun-
dation, and thirty betwixt the parapets, is advancing rapidly
towards completion—it was begun in 1847. There are sup-
posed to be not fewer than 5,000 workpeople at present em-
ployed at the public charge, 3,000 by the Board -of Conser-
vancy alone.
- • •

The Calcutta journals mention a rumour being
current there that it is the intention of the Governor-
General to appoint Lieut.-Colonel Mackeson,
to the important post of Commissioner at Peshawur,
on his return from England. Lieutenant Lumsdca
is at present acting in that capacity.
CALCUTTA, APRIL 7.
The following Calcutta Gazette Extraurdinary
was published this morning :
Fort William, Financial Department, 7th April, 1851.
Notice is hereby given, that the Five per Cent. Loan which
was reopened on the .sth of October, 1846, is closed from this
date at the Public Treasuries in Calcutta and at the other
Treasuries under the three Presidencies of Fort William,
Madras, and Bombay, as well as at all treasuries under the
Agra government from the date of receipt of this advertim,-
meat, after which dates no further subscription to that
loan will be received. . _

The Four per ------ will continue open as heretofore.
l'ublished by order of the Honourable the President of
the Council of India in council.

J. A. DoniN,
Secretary to the Government of India.
CEYLON.

The event of the month is the assembling at
Colombo of a court martial for the trial of Captain
Albert Watson, of the Ceylon Bilks, on charges
connected with the celebrated proclamations.
The Colombo Obs,rrer of April 15 says :
The question of coffee adulteration, and the closely allied
one of the equalization of the coffee duties, are naturally
exciting much attention in Ceylon. The change proposed
by Sir Charles Wood have given universal dissatisfaction.
Ihe tampering with the chicory adulteration has disgusted
honest men of all parties; while his threepenny rate on
coffee is considered as going too far by the protectionists—
as not far enough by the free traders. A protectionist pc-
tition is being got up, and the mail is looked fur by many
with much more anxiety to hear to hear the fate of the
coffee duties than to know the result of the ministerial
crisis.

As the season advances it becomes more and more evi-
dent that the low estimate of the coffee crop published in
our columns at its commencement is likely to prove
correct to its full extent. Indeed, us compared with Lot
year, there is a considerable decrease on the export of every
staple article save cinnamon. Everything continues, how-
ever, to promise well for the coffee crop of next season, and
coffee planters seem to have good hopes for the more distant
tuture, if we may judge from their proceedings. No fewer
than 3,000 acres of fresh coffee land, we are told, have been
cleared, holed, and planted during the season fur such
operations. Impediments to immigration were at one time
feared on the part of the Madras government, and the
planting community ought to feel highly indebted to the
spirited gentlemen who addressed the governor in caused
on the subject, with a result so satisfactory.

CHINA AND THE INDIAN

ARCHIPELAGO.

The Overland Frirml of China, of March 30, gives
the following in its summary of intelligence:

The intelligence from the disturbed districts, na received
during the month, has been of a vague and conflicting
nature. At one time we had reports of distinguished success
on the part of the imperialists, at another that similar for-
tune remained with the insurgents. From the (*Macre
Repository, of February, we learn that—
" The insurgents are believed to possess most of the
southern departments in KwAngsi, making Sin-chau-fu
their head-quarters, and have raised their chief to the im-
perial dignity, under the title of Tien-teh, or Heaven's
Virtue. They levy a revenue from the general commerce
on the Pearl river, from Wuchau-fu westward, and have
crippled the operations of the imperialists to a very serious
degree."
Since the publication of the periodical from which this is
extracted, we have heard that Kwei-lin-fu, the capital of
the province of Kwangsi, has been taken possession of by
the rebels. This town is but a short distance from the pro-
vince of Hunan (bounding Kwangtung on the north). The
whole tract of country reported to be in possession of the
insurgents is about the size of Englund and Wales united,
and circumscribes a population of some four millions and
upwards. Again, in opposition to the report regarding the
taking of Kwei-lin, we are informed that the Imperial
Commissioner Li has ordered Changluen-yau, an under
graduate of Mang-than to come to him at Kwci-lin, and
assist in devising plans for putting down the rebellion.
Chan-Tieu-tsioh, formerly Governor-general of the two
lake provinces, has been appointed Fu-yuen, in place ,if
Ching, the degraded governor. It was, we believe, this
functionary who was once removed from office for his
excessive cruelty ; he, in order to cure those he governed
of the habit of opium smoking, having practised upon a
good many the cutting off the lower lip, and so effectually
prevented the use of the lethargic pipe.
On the 14th instant as many as 36 individuals were
decapitated at Canton.

Iwo American gentlemen, Messrs. Cunningham and
Mauigault, ou the morning of the 3rd of March, started,
with a Chinese guide, on an excursion to the White Cloud
mountain, distant some half a dozen miles front Canton.
They were returning in their chairs, and, wile* about half-
way home, in a lonely place, were set upon by about a
dozen miscreants, who, after beating and severely wounding,
robbed them of their watches, valaables, and outer gar-
ments. Resistance was perfectly futile., nor had they
anything excepting umbrellas with which to defend them-
selves.

The case of the Lady Mary Wood steamer, which
has given rise to so much discussion of late on the
subject of smuggling at the open ports, has at length
come to a conclusion in the Supreme Court of Hong-
kong, and terminated in the consular decision being
reversed, and the issue of a decree for the return of
the tine.
SINGAPORE.

---•
The Singapore Overland Free Press says :
The disturbances in the Jungle would seem fur the pre-
sent to be at en end, a compromise having apparently been
effected, by which, while on the one hand the Pagan Chi-
nese pay to their Christian countrymen the sum of fifteen
hundred dollars, as compensation for the injury they have
sustained in the plunder and sacking of their bangsals, on
the other all further proceedings against the perpetrators of
these outrages are discontinued, the enforcement of the
warrants issued by the magistrates is permanently Mil.
apeuded, and matters return to their old course.

SULOO.
DESTRUCTION OF A PIRATE SETTLEMENT,
GREAT SLAUGHTER.

The Spaniards have carried into effect their threat-
ened chastisement of the Sultan and people of Suloo,
but attended with a great sacrifice of human life,
without compassing any ultimate object. There can
be but little doubt the Sultan looked for help from
British, or he would never have so audaciously
flung the daring and contemptible defiance in the
teeth of the Spaniards. One thing is clear: the
Suloos were confident of success. The defiance even-
tuated in defeat: their city has been razed to the
ground, a heap of ashes, and themselves become
fugitives. The particulars of the fall of this nest of
pirates is interesting. The expedition sailed from
Zamboanga on the 19th Feb. ()wing to the effect of
strong currents and other contretemps, the corvettes
i Villa de Bilbao and the Bilbaino both grounded on a
coral reef to the eastward of the island of Panga-
sinan, when the former vessel commenced making 20
feet of water an hour. Both vessels were extricated,
and on the 2fith the expedition sighted Suloo.
Every preparation had been made to offer a most
formidable resistance. A general order having
been issued, announcing the plan of attack,
the disembarkation of the troops commenced early on
the 28th. The shores, forts, and houses, are described
as being crowded with natives eager to begin the
tray, and three of them were so impetuous as to rush
on the first column of troops; two of them were
shot, whilst the third threw himself upon a sergeant,
whom he slew with a lance. This first drawing of
Spanish blood heated the imagination of the troops,
and thleassailant fell amidst a shower of balls. Save
this incident the troops marched on regardless of the
fire of the enemy ; their advance in regular order,
notwithstanding the harrowing influence of the guns,
astonished the Suloos. In the meantime the three
steamers and brig of war opened a brisk and effective
fire on the fortresses, doing much execution ; the cor-
vettes anchored on the right, and discharged bombs
and grenades in such parts of the town where masses
of naives were seen. The success of the firing was
mainly attributable to the circumstance of the en-
gineer officers seating themselves on the masts, from
whence they took the angles of the forts, &c., and
gave instructions for the elevation of the guns with

a degree of sccuracy and precision not otherwise at-
tainable. The tire directed on the left ceased about
midday ; this division was under the personal com-
mand of the governor-general, who made an assault
on fort Daniel, regarded by the Suloos as the
strongest in the place. On the right the
Bring was kept up until half-past one. In advancing
to the assault of Fort Daniel the troops bared their
breasts and pressed on. The fire from the forts is
said to have been incessant and tremendous, and the
resistance offered extremely desperate; every inch of
ground was disputed, amidst cries of " Viva la Reins"
on the one hand, and the war yell on the other. All
their hope of security lay in Fort Daniel; here the
fight was maintained, tho slaughter fearful, each in
succession poseessing themselves of the place ; but
eventually the Suloos were expelled. The Snish
flag was hoisted on the fortress by Father Pascual
Ibanez, a priest of the order of Itecoletos, who paid
for his daring by being slain. The assailants on the
right had little to overcome ; the Sultan's and other
forts in that direction were abandoned. The Sultan,
in escaping from his fort, accompanied by some of
his Datoos and a larg.e force of Suloos, encountered
the right division, which appears to have been panic
struck. At all events the officers were, and two
colonels were immediately after battle placed in ar-
rest, and will be tried by a court-martial for co-
wardice. Ilad these officers acted with decision the
Sultan must have been either slain or made captive,
and his escape naturally vexed the intrepid governor-
general. The left division suffered a loss of 33 killed
and 81 wounded, while the loss of the other division
was a single man.
The defenders of Fort Daniel fought till the last—
everyone of them perished. The whole of the forts
and part of the town were destroyed on the
same night ; the captured artillery, consisting of 130
pieces of ordnance and a quantity of ammunition,
were embarked. Ihe number of the defenders slain
Gould not be ascertained, but must have been consi-
&rabic. The expedition then sailed for Zamboan-
gan, leaving the Spanish flag floating over the ruins!
of the deserted city of Suloo. Owing to the ad-
vamped period of the monsoon, and the difficulties of
following the Sultan into the jungle fastnesses, the
governor•general did not carry out his promised ex-
termination, but he will probably return to the work
when the time is more favourable.