The Express.
London, England, 1853-05-16 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

IVs have received by Special Express our de-
spatches from India and China, in anticipation of the
Overland Mail. The dates are, Bombay, April 14 ;
Madras, April 11 ; Calcutta, April 7 ; Colombo,
April 12 ; Hong Kong, March 28.
On the 19th of March, Sir John Cheape, with a
force of 1,500 men from Prome, captured, after
severe resistance, the principal stronghold of Mea
Toon—the robber-chief himself escaped. We had
two officers, and sixteen men killed, eleven officers
and seventy-nine men wounded. By the latest dates
the robbers were said to be hemmed in and at our

mercy, the chief himself was said to have been killed
by a shell. The deputation from Ave was ex-
pected at Promo on the 25th. There have
been some slight disturbances on the Pun-
jaub frontier. India otherwise is tranquil. A
frightful hurricane occurred on the Madras coast on
the 27th and 28th of March, in which nearly twenty
square rigged vessels and nearly twice this number
of native craft are supposed to have been wrecked or
lost. Considerable surprise was occasioned by the
intimation received last mail that Lord Falkland was
to

__ be continued another year as Governor of Bom-
bay; Mr. Jonathan Duncan and Mountatuart Elphin-
stone being the only governors who have had more
than five years allowed them for the past century.
Money market easy.
The following is the summary of the Bombay
Times :

Our last intelligence from Burmah extended
from the 22nd of February to the 10th of March.
and our dates now come down to the 23rd idem.
Sir John Cheape having
.marched out from Prome
with a force of 1,300 men in quest of the robber chief
MeaToon, came in front of his principal stronghold on
the 19th—the enemy were numerous and strongly
posted; their resistance was determined and pro-
tracted; the loss on both sides was severe. Mes 'loon

unfortunately escaped. Operations commenced at
nine a.m., and lasted four hours. We had 18 killed
and 84 wounded; amongst the former were Lieut.
Taylor and Ensign Boileau, amongst the latter Majors
Wigston Reid, and Armstrong, Lieutenants Cock-
burn, Rawlins, Wilkinson, Clarke, Woodwight,
th, and Trevor, and Ensign Woolley. No par-
beyond this have since been received, but it
was generally believed at Rangoon that the robbers
were hemmed in and at our mercy, and that the
chief had been killed by the bursting of a shell.
General Steele's force were by our latest advice. at
Toonghou, and Major Bogle was busily engaged in
laying off the boundary line of our territory. Capt.
Phayre had left Rangoon for Prome, where tho de-
putation from Ave was expected about the 25th.
We are very imperfectly informed as to the state of
affairs at the Burmese capital and as to which of the
parties are at present in the ascendant. There have
been considerable disturbances of late on the north-
western frontier of the Punjaub, and a
force has been sent out to chastise and repel
the marauders. The Bahwulpore revolution appears
likely to settle down peaceably. The Nizam's
country seems to be in that eminently unsatisfac-
tory condition in which it has been for years. India
generally is gradual. At the Presidencies, consider-
able excitement prevails on the subject of the charter
discussions, and the natives on the whole are grati-
fied by the attention that has been bestowed on their
representations, but bitterly disappointed that in
spite of these and in want of information on the sub-
ject, ministers seem determined to pass the act as it
now stands. The month of March closed with a tre-
mendous hurricane in the southern part of the Bay of
Bengal and all over South Western India. It com-
menced on the 26th, and travelled across the country
towards Ceylon, throwing off a branch to westward.
At Madras, the ship Serampore, 873 tons; the Abou-
kir, 816; the Lutchimi, 432; and Portuguese brig
Nana Senhora De Monte, with five native brigs and
tea boats, were wrecked, six boats foundered. At
Pondicherry five French vessels were stranded. At
Negapatam the brig Jupiter went down at her
anchors, another brig was wrecked a little to the
southward. Several vessels were lost off Ceylon, and
a number of native boats were wrecked to the north-
ward on the Malabar coast. Traces of the gale were
clearly discernible at Bombay, four hundred miles
at least from the nearest boundary of the
region over which it prevailed in its violence,
and rain and squalls occurred as far north as
Deem. A full account of the mischief occasioned
by it can scarcely yet be made up. The
Bombay Railway opens for general traffic on Mon-
day, the 18th inst., and the directors have resolved
to run a monster train to Tanna on the 16th with an
invited varty. There will be no further formal de-
monstration at the opening, the authorities not
having thought it worth while to remain at the pre-
sidency to celebrate one of the most important events
that ever occurred in the history of India. The
Governor and Commander-in-Chief with their re-
spective suites are at Mahableahwar ; the Governor-
General and Governor of Madras are at the presi-
dencies. The Commander-in-Chief of India will by

this time have reached Simla, and will, we presume,
spend the ensuing, as he spent the last, summer in
Tibet. Letters have been received by the last mail
intimating that Lord Falkland is to be continued
for another year as Governor of Bombay.
Since the despatch of last mail. the correspondence
betwixt the government, the Budder Judges, and
the Advocate-General, has been published, and the
conduct [of the authorities appears worse and worse
from each additional light that is thrown upon it.
The grounds of Mr. Grant's removal remain as dark
as ever ; the Gazette, on whose accusations the
measure of government appears to have been
based, acknowledges that at the time the
paper teemed with abuse of the Budder
court, the editor " had never so much as heard
them charged with partiality, much less corruption,
and entertained for them consideration and respect,"
and there is no reason to suppose the present imputa-
tions lees creatures of the imagination than the pre-
vious ones are confessed to have been. On referring
to the printed papers of Mr. Luard it will be seen
that the attacks of the Gazette on the members of tho

civil service are confined to the parties he assails, and
that the loves and hates of the Bombay journalist and
ex -judge of Surat are the same. Mr. Grant states,
that he had before repeatedly applied to government, 4
' pressing them to call on Mr. Luard to bring for- I
ward charges against him. This government de-
clined, expressing their entire disbelief of the elan-
den published on himself and brother judges, as was
believed by a brother civilian. Government stated ,
as the ground of the dismissal that libellous charges
had been brought against the judges, of which the
Advocate General stated that it would be impossible
for them to clear themselves by criminal informa-
tion in a court of law. Mr. Le Geyt, having taken
the opinion of two of the ablest members of the
Bombay bar, they both stated that he had not been
sufficiently slandered to get into a court at at—that
the charges were against the S udder bench in gene-
ral, and could not be brought home to himself in par-
ticular, and that the opportunity he would other-
wise have had of clearing himself was thus lost to
him from not having been adequately abased. His
removal then, it would appear, is due, not to his
having been maligned or to his being unable to clear
himself in court, but to his not having been maligned
enough so as to get into court at all. A rumour,
and rather more than a rumour, of a very disagree-
able complexion is gaining ground ,which, tt true, will
cover the Bombay government with shame, scorn,
and contempt. It was broadly hinted in an article
headed " Communicated " in the Bombay Times of
the -ith ultimo, that the real cause of the removal of
Messrs. Le Geyt and Grant from the Sadder Bench
was a very different one from that assigned
in Mr. Secretary Lunuiden's letter of the 4th of
March, and that those gentlemen in truth and fact
owed their deposal to their own plain dealing with
the eases which came before them in appeal, and the
freedom with which they censured the 'Mofussil au-
thorities for official errors and misconduct,
and the open manner in which defects and
mistakes were pointed out and corrected.
Of course, if this be a true picture of the case, the
judicial power in India must be taken from the exe-
cutive government. Here is a case which, before any
tribunal, must be fatal to the longer continuance of
• s judicial system under an Indian government, and
if it is established against them before parliament,
their conviction will be followed by a change of aye-
tear, and the advocates for things as they are will 130
heard of no more. While then is some diversity of
opinion as to the merits or demerits of the judges,

the newspapers are perfectly unanimous as to the
ettreme misconduct of goverament, which now finds
scarcely one single defender. A severe rebuke is ad-
ministered to them by Mr. Reid, for some time senior
member of council under Lord Kilkl.ind, iu his reply
to the attacks made on him iu the Daily Sews. lie
states that during his residence in India „he had
ever held the freest intercourse with the natives,
before the fear of libutput (secret influence) had
raised a barrier betwixt the governors and the go-
verned :" clearly alluding to the circular of last year,
specifically forbidding the course which he and other
distinguished civilians, on the strong recommendation
of Sir Johu Malcolm, had pursued. The occurrence
of the Sadder Judge discussion at the present june-
ture must be deemed auspicious by all Indian re-
formers, whatever may be their views of the merits
of those who are parties to it.

A parliamentary paper has just been received is
reference to the affairs of Ceylon, from which it
appears that the inquiry connected with Lord Tor-
rington's administration had cost the State some
8,0001. The Baroda and other investigations, which
have occurred since 18.50 in connexion with the pre-
sent Bombay administration, will probably coat not
much under a similar sum. Granting that the justi.
fication of the two noblemen in question shall have
been made out by these means, could not governors
be found for our colonial possessions whose recti-
tude might be assumed, or, if called in question,
might be established on somewhat more economical
terms than these? During his term of service,
which has, it would appear, in consideration of his
merits, been extended for another year, Lord Falk-
land; will have cost the country above 120,0001. for
doing nothing. It is rather hard that the Treasury
should be taxed to the extent of sonic 8,0004
more to show that he has attempted nothing so
bad that it may not be justified by the favour of the
secret committee. Yet this is a state of things to
the continuance of which the committees of par-
liament declare themselves favourable. Mr. Luard
has declined to inform! government whether he be
or not the author of the letter bearing his name,
which we published with some observations on the
14th March, in which he stated his readiness to con-
vict the Hon. Mr. 8011, member of council, and Mr.
Simeon, Mint Master, both formerly judges in tho
Sudder Adawlut, of gross misconduct ; but he recom-
mends government to proceed as they have already
done—put the case into the hands of the Advocate
General, and, if the gentlemen in question cannot
clear themselves, dismiss them as Messrs. Le Geyt
and Grant have been dismissed. In place of
acting consistently and impartially, govern-
ment suspend Mr. Luard for six months
from pay and allowances, that is, they im-
pose on him a rine of two thousand pounds, and there
they stop. The intelligence received by last mail,
that ministers had determined to pass the Charter
Act almost unaltered, before a traction of the evi-
dence required on the subject had been taken, and
that Lord Aberdeen was atraid to pass the bill for
one year only, for fear of exciting or protracting
agitation in India, has produced a somewhat dit-
terent effect from what was expected. It was said
that had the I)uke of Wellington conceded, in 1030,
the enfranchisement of Manchester and disfranchise.
ment of Gatton and Old Sarum, the reform discus.
sions, with their turbulent concomitants and con-
sequents, would have been averted; and had the
Aberdeen ministry granted the exceedingly simple
and safe reforms which all the ablest servants of the
East India Company declare most desirable, the
present agitation in India, such as it is, would have
been silenced at once, and the people of Hindoostan
have been content with any concession, however
small, which promised to advantage the country.
They have at present not the most remote
dream of sharing in the councils of the nation,
or taking any part in the administration of go-
vernment ; they desire more and better roads,
more attention to the education of the people,
a larger share fur themselves in those subordi-
nate appointments for which Wellington, Bentinck,
Munro, Elphinstone, Clerk, and all the illustrious
men connected with India, have pronounced them
qualified; a modification of that cumbrous system
of administration which takes five years to answer a
letter, and seventeen to commence a work after it has
been resolved upon, an extinction of those monstrous
boards which retard business at a charge of a quarter
of a million annually, and the abolition of the three
sinecure councillorships, which cost 22,0001. a year,
while some of those who hold them rarely enter the
council-room, and are fit for nothing but mischief
when there. An improvement, which all men admit
to be indispensable—and no man more than Lord
Campbell—in our present judicial system, and an ex-
tinction of the civil service monopoly, so far as those
offices are concerned, the duties of which may be
better performed by men from home at one-third the
charge; and in this catalogue is comprised the bulk
of their present wants.
The remedy is in the hands of ministers. If such an
inquiry is permitted, and such a bill conceded as to
meet the views of some of the ablest men who have
served in India, the natives will be content, and
settle down in quietude at once ; perfectly willing to
submit themselves to the administration of the people
of England, if they would only once set themselves
to the task of governing India for the general good,
in place of for the advantage of the monopolisers
of public patronage. If it shall be shown that
Use ministry are determined to resist all im-
provements, however moderate and rational, ques-
tions that are now secular will become religious.
It has now become known that the Governor-Gene-
ral, under instructions from home, will permit no
relief to the Indian newspapers in matter of postage,
beyond the third taken off for distances exceeding
four hundred miles; for all distances short of this,
papers are to pay threepence as at present, or for a
daily paper close on 0/. annually, a third more than
the price of the paper itself ; the charges on English
papers are to be doubled. This is retrogressive
reform with a vengeance; condemning Indian
newspapers to that local cast of discussion which is
generally made their reproach, while English news-
papers are virtually excluded from India just at the
time when salutary reading, such as they supply, Is
allowed to be most needed. We have only to take
another step, when it may be made, as it formerly
was, penal to reprint debases in parliament on Indian
affairs, unless, indeed, the same end be supposed an-
swered by excluding English journals, while the
dimension of those of India are kept by the Pest-
office regulations such as to deprive them of space for
such a purpose.

We understand that Lieutenant-Colonels Ilennell and
Duff have applied for the bonus from the Retiring Fund;
but, owing to the distressed state of the finances of that in-
stitution, arising from the great arrears of subscriptions
of the members, many of whom are of the senior grades,
it is doubtful whether these steps may not be lost to the
infantry.
Consequent upon Brigadier-General Robertson" &pm-
tura from India, the following changes are likely to take
place:—Brigadier Stalker, C. 8., to the command of a divi-
sion with the rank of Brigadier-General; Colonel Wood-
burn, C. 8., will become a Brigadier on the establishment,
and Lieutenant-Colonel Cracklow will succeed to the tem-
porary command of a Brigade.
The Commander-in-Chief left the Presidency yesterday
morning for the Hills on a tour of inspection, which will in
his case cease to be the mockery it has for the past ten years
proverbially been. His Excellency will, we presume,
spend the hot weather at Mahableshwnr, and so severe
is the shock his constitution has received from his
over exertions on his arrival before he could be
convinced of the dangers of the climate, that
his medical advisers will not in all likelihood suttee him
further to expose himself until • more fitting season for
out of door movement sets in. He will then proceed through
the principal out-stations, and carry his original plans into
effect of visiting all our great military posts.
Brigadier-General Robertson, lately in command of the
&lade division of the army, returns to England by this
day's steamer, and does nor, we-believe, at pre-
sent purpose to come back again to India;
—he entered the service in 1806 ; was promoted to ensign
12th September, 1807 ; lieutenant Ist October, 1813 ; cap-
tain 26th Februa, 1822; Major 16th December, 1829;
lieut.-colonel 25th July, 1836; brevet colonel 9th Novem-
ber, 1846; colonel, 28th February, 1848. General Robert-
son went through the Mabratta war of 1817-18, and has
received the medal of India. He has commanded every
division, nearly every brigade and station, and nine different
regiments of the Bombay army. During the whole of his
lengthened period of service he has never once been visited
with the displeasure of government. He has ever been an
assiduous, kind-hearted, and estimable officer, esteemed and
respected wherever he has been known.
It is with deep regret that we have to announce the death
of Dr. Watkins, civil surgeon, and formerly garrison sur-
geon to the presidency. The melancholy event took place
at his house in Breach Candy, on the morning of Saturday
the 2nd. Dr. Watkins was in extensive private practice,
and intimately known to a very large number of the mem-
bers of the community. He was a man of considerable
lability and great good sense ; of large and varied acquire-
, menta, sterling uprightness, and much warmth of heart.
Eminently skilled in his profession, he was, what might he
termed, is remarkably satisfactory medical visitor; his

_
• ts telt. that he Wily uodentond their ailments
. oserlooked no symptom however tri-1
. spa slighted no esplanation however tedi-
•• h., looked on e b7.glit and hopeful side
est•—, • ‘•
~t,,ndo and always left them with that sense' iou i,f etc(
ort winch so otters so oaten illy assists iu
lost ,'sootenfe. The feeling of regard end esteem
:JI loin by :all who knew him deepened into
and .ithetion ansomrd those whom he visited, end his
1,, in the prime of life and in the midst of his useful-
'ol; 1.4
iiworrasions a feeling ei deep end general sorrow. 119
it,: been I A KAM netii4 suffering from dysentery, which,
..,rtra.ll: took so storming a tarn as to prevent
t.. of his I/4 removed from the pre.
iiasey •eel for the vast ten days he bad been
dassreriu4y ill that the announcement of the sad event
winch !as win occurred would at no time have occasioned
egasubeseet. 110 bad been for some years a widower, mid
tsar iliddren being educated at home. In May last lie
sawed tlie w.duw of Mr. lloyrenson, who hes thus become
bwaved seco
a io
nd time within a twelvemonth of her mar•
e sets occasn left with an infant • few weeks
;ird: or Watkins served with the 3rd troop Morse
Artil-
key daring the whole campaign in Scinde and Alfghan-
,Ani
sal eaksailer Sir J. Means, and was present at the storm
turc of tibuz nee. He received a fahusnee medal.

NIZAM'S
We have many rumours too tedious to relate, but
'adduction is arrived at trunk the general character,
that though the Nizam has given his assent to Col.
Loa's propositions, yet practically he evades them in
tch particular instance. lie could not give a better
proof of his intention than by retaining Suraj-00l-
Wolk to carry out the accomplishment of the pro-
.oo.olmeasures. I fear everything is lost to the
!ialco. It is difficult to understand whether the
10171 is influenced by incapacity, which cannot
comprehend the views of the Governor-General, or
by Li" duspicions, which ascribe to them a sinister
statics. It is just possible too he may be puffed up
w,th a false sense of his consequence, and may pro-
pude to himself the rejection of the propositions u
humiliating
.to his dignity. What strengthens
min the opinion beyond the common rumours of the
day. that there is entire rejection of the Governor-
(horrors proposals by the Nixon], is, that instead of
an acti% c communication between the parties, which
would have waited upon a good understanding and
the earning out of mcasoree, there seems to be an
entire suspension of it. Hence lam disposed to be-
here that Col. Low may have reported to bis govern-
ment that the Nizam is inaccessible to good advice
end altogether impracticable. The Governor General
wel of course bide his own time (there is always
wisdom in that) for carrying out his measures.
The natives do not understand the delay and be-
come confirmed in their opinion that because the
Goveruor-General does not act, he dare not act. This
opinion is generally expressed by. the more reflecting
io adverting to the moral restraint which treaties
sod the English people impose upon the Indian go-
vernment by the mass to his lordships fears of a con-
;let in arms.
The Friend ,f India says this country is in no
weer condition than it has been. Lord Dalhousie
du affirmed the contrary to the Nizam himself. I
take this to be the better authority, and yet I believe
his lordship is not informed of one tithe of the mis-
deeds of this minister. Take it once for all that the
"we'd violence and rapine is such that capitalists
do not quit their houses till they have provided ee-
cone from their military friends.—Madras Spectator,
March 30.

THE PCNJAUB.
We have to report another inroad on the frontier,
mush lower down, however, than the Sheoranee out-
break recorded the other day. Four hundred men of
the Meet and Lisharee (Ooorcharee) tribe came
down on the village of Digree, south-west of Dhera
Ghsose Khan, on the morning of the 21st of March,
and carried off all their cattle. Two of the villagers
were killed, and three of the unfortunates wounded.
A small detachment of some twenty men, of the 3rd
Punjaub Cavalry, is posted at IJigree. They sent
immediate information to the parties on their right
and left, and to the garrison of Hurand, but before
a suitable force could be collected, and assistance
given, the marauders had made good their return to
the hills.—Lahere Chronicle, April 2.
We are happy to learn that Brigadier Hodgson,
commanding the Punjaub irregular force beyond the
Indus, has, at last, made up his mind to give the
Sheoranets a lesson, and we trust it may be a right
good oue. The exciting cause has been the raid they
made the other day in the vicinity of Theban, where
Captain Bruce managed to give a fair account of
some of them ; but there is a long arrear of offences
to be settled with them, and we hope the thing will
be done handsomely, and in proper workman-like
style. The brigadier came up from Dhera Ghazee
Khan, on purpose to see to the required preparations,
and having made all the necessary arrange-
ment., and collected what he considered the re-
quisite amount of troops, was to enter the Sheo-
ranee Hills, on the 29th of March, at the head of
some two thousand men of all arms, aceameamia lry
two guns, and by Major Nicholson, the deputy-
commissioner of Dhera Ismael Khan. If with sush
a force, and so led, the brigadier does not yield a
good return of those who imagine they may come
down into our plains, plunder, burs, and murder
with impunity, and then rush back with their booty
to the hills and laugh at us, we shall be surprised,
that is all. Successful amongst tne Sheoranees, he
should follow up his blow and give the Khusranees
and the Mutes the beat possible reasons for be-
lieving that they are not allowed to do with impu-
nity jest as they please with what is not their own.