The Express.
London, England, 1861-08-15 00:00:00

INDIA.

By the arrival of the overland mail we receive
advioes from Calcutta to July 8 ; Madras, July 14.
The creation of the order of knighthood has been
announced in a royal notification, of which the fol-
lowing is the preamble :

Whereas we, tilting into our royal consideration that it bath
been the custom for princes to distinguish merit, virtue, and
loyalty by public marks of honour, in order that eminent
service* may be acknowledged, and to create in ahem a
laudable emulation, and we, being desirous of affording to
the princes, chiefs, and people of our Indian Empire a
public and signal testimony of our regard by the institution
of an order of knighthood, whereby our resolution to
talcs upon ourself the government of our territories
in India may be commemorated, and by which we may,
at the same time, be enabled to reward conspicuous merit
and loyalty : Know ye, that we, of our special grace, certain
knowledge, and mere motion, have instituted,erected, con-
stituted, and created, and by these presents do institute,
erect, constitute and create, an Order of Knighthood, to be
known by, sod have for ever hereafter the name, style, and
designation of "The Most Exalted Order of the Star of

The Order is to consist of the Sovereign, the
Viceroy as Grand Master, and 25 Knights, with
"any princes of the blood royal, being descendants
of his late Majesty George the Fist," as extra
knights, and any foreign princes as honorary
knights. The seal of the new order is to have en-
caved on it :—Azure, a star of five p&mta ; Argent,
impaled with the royal arms, with this circumscrip-
tion :—" The Seal of the Most Exalted Order of the
Star of India." The Grand Maxtor is empowered
to *oder the title, degree, and honour of Knight
Bachelor on such persons as the sovereign shall
nominate, and to invest such with the insignia of
the order. A secretary and registrar are attached
to the order, and statutes will be immediately pub-
lished defining the duties of all the office-bearers,
and the qualifications requisite for knights. It is
said that a majority of the 25 knights will always
be natives, and the honours will be so conferred on
Europeans that at 'least a third of the English
knights will always be present in India, to give
dignity and eclat to the Order.
Tlse sittings of the Calcutta commission for
arranging the details of the amalgamation of the
armies, suspended foe a time on account of tie
statements by Sir Charles Wood in the House of
Commons, have now finally closed. The members
have drawn up a report on the formation of the
staff corps, which is now before Lord Canning, and
a series of answers to 150 questions started by the
Amalgamation order of 10th April, which will
authoritatively set all doubts at rest. Meanwhile,
the new staff corps has been formed. But the
majority of Indian officers of twenty years' stand-
ing hang back till the decision as to the amount
of pension bonus to be offered for their retirement
is made known.

The Friend of India sari :
Of the famine we cannot report much abatement not-
withstanding the bury fall of rain throughout the country.
Nor do we expect an, considerable mitigation of the misery
till October next. it should not be forgotten that in litt7
the months of July, August, and September were those in
which the affliction was the greatest ootwithstanding the
rein. The Secretary of the Delhi Relief Committee re-
ports that expressioos of gratitude towards goveniment and
the Christian community are frequent among the starving
wretches who are fed.

From Madras we learn of the trial of three
officers of the Madras army for the manslaughter of
a native, before Sir C. H. Scotland, the new Chief
Justice. The facts are briefly these :—The three
accused were dining together one evening, and after
dinner' about 11 o'clock, they went to the stables
of the host to look after a sick horse. They found
the horsekeeper lying on the ground hope-
lessly drunk, and after ineffectually attemping
to revive him by throwing cold water on
his person they determined to duck him
in a neighbouring pond, which up to that
time every one bad believed to be very shallow.
The borsekeeper was raised to his legs, and, su
ported by an officer on each side' was led towards
the water. When near it the horsekeeper broke
loose, and jumped or tumbled in. He never rose
again, notwithstanding that two of the officers
plunged in after the man, and did all in their
power to recover the body, which was not found
till next day. It was then discovered that there
was a well in the pond down which the deceased
must have gone, and as, according to the medical
testimony, the man was seized with cramp while in
the water, his melancholy fate is thus accounted
for. The learned counsel who appeared for the
accused admitted that in attempting to duck the
man they were doing an illegal act, but

contended that they wane not responsible for the
fat& consequence, as the man bad broken loose
from them, and bad himself jumped into the
water. The jury, after a deliberation of about 20
minutes, acquitted them.