The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-17 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

We have received our dispatches by the Over..
land Mail, via Trieste. The dates are, from Bom-
bay to the 15th of Nov., and Hong Kong to the
27th October. We extract the following summary
of news from the Bombay Times :
" The latest accounts we have from Burmah are up to the
23rd ultimo; they still represent the country in a state of
anarchy and confusion. Several daring dacoities had taken
place, and, whether justly or not, the king of Ava seems by
general consent to be looked upon as responsible for them.
Captains Latter and Smith, commissioners respectively of
Prome and Sarawah, have been engaged with the dacoits.
The former officer, on the 14th September last, received im-
portant dispatches by the steamer .Medusa, at Prom, and at
once proceeded up in her ; he found that the dacoits had
taken possession of a village below Meyaday, and had driven
the unfortunate inhabitants into the jungle ; he, therefore,
returned to Prome, from whence he took troops, and after
inflicting severe punishment on the dacoits, completely
cleared the village of them. In the conflict the no-
torious Meah Toon was desperately wounded, and
he has been conveyed in a litter, it is said to Ava; so thut
for a time, at all events, the country is freed from his raids.
During the time Captain Latter was accomplishing these
events in the district of Prome, of which he is commissioner,
Captain Smith was also actively engaged in the district of
Sarawah. Gaining information from a spy that a body of
dacoits had arrived at Kanoung headed by their leaders,
whose euphonious names are Moung Koung Gyee and Nga
Shoay Maik, alias Myoo Ouk, he set out accompanied by a
number of Burmese, who had volunteered for the occasion,
and the upshot of the affair was, that the first of these
leaders was captured and hanged, whilst the latter absconded;
nor did this deceit leader find it an easy matter to elude the
vigilance of his foes; for flying from the Sarawah distric;
he unguardedly entered that of Prome, where Captain Latter,
hearing of his arrival, hotly pursued him; thus in
avoiding one enemy he very nearly ran into
the hands of another, and although his capture was not
effected, his followers were completely routed, and their
leader himself is now concealed (not for long) at some place
in Martaban. The results of these successful operations
are, that the districts of both Prome and Sarawah are now
peaceful, that trade has new vigour given to it, and that
merchants and boats can proceed from Rangoon, up and
down the river without much fear of molestation. The
two Roman Catholic priests who, as we mentioned in our
last summary, had arrived at Rangoon confirm the report
of Meah Toon's being received at Ava, and protected by the
king ; they were also the bearers of a message from the
Monarch of the Golden Foot, soliciting permission for his
being allowed to send three white elephants to Rangoon,
with offerings to Shoey-dagon ; but Captain Phayre, to ,
whom the request was preferred, feared the influence the
animals would undoubtedly exercise on the minds of the
superstitious Burmese, who firmly be!ieve that the
sacred elephant is the source from whence power is derived,
and that the animal's presence is only necessary to ensure
the success of any undertaking his worshippers may embark
in; and so the gallant captain, not liking to refuse in dis-
tinct terms the request of the monarch, replied, that on
condition of the Frenchman d'Oorguny being given up to
him by the Ava government, he would have no objection to
the advent of the royal elephants ; of course the government
will not think of parting with their drill-master, upon whom
it' seems they have set a most extravagant value, and Captain
Phayre knowing this has availed himself of the knowledge
to virtually refuse the permission solicited; the name of one
of the Jesuits is Abona, and in addition to the request en-
trusted to him relative to the elephants, he is also commis-
sioned to prevail upon us to save the king of Ava the disgrace
in the eyes of his subjects, of losing Pegu, by agreeing to
give him back the territory for 15 crores of rupees, which sum,
though covenanting to pay, the King would not liquidate,
and the country would then become ours, quasi in default of
payment. The details of the disturbance which took place
in the gaol of Rangoon on the 18th ultimo, and which we
could only briefly allude to in our last overland edition, have
since come to hand. About sunset the convicts seized upon
the muskets of the sepoys, which were piled, and having pos-
sessed themselves of the weapons, quietly walked out of the
gaol, to the considerable astonishment of the guard, who saw
their muskets with bayonets fixed carried off before their
eyes. The convicts made, half of them for the river side,
and half for an old burial ground, and although heavily

ironed, malliuch good way that thi line guards, who 11
this time turned out in pursuit,Totild not head them,
particulatitts the convicts toojia narrow road lying between
two swamps more than knee-deep in mud. In this
state of things, the guards had nothing for it but
to fire at the mutineers as they were seen running
away, and the Peons and Chuprassies cut down
all they came up with , the result was, that out of about
132 prisoners, 13 were killed, 43 were wounded severely,
15 got clear away, and the remainder were re-captured ; so
severe were the wounds inflicted that it is said, all the
doctors in the place were employed the whole of the next
day in taking off legs and arms. It is also reported that
simultaneously with this emeute, another took place in the
gaol at Bassein. We have to announce the death of
general Godwin, C. 8., at Simla, on the 26th ultimo. From
the north-west we learn, although of course we cannot
vouch for the accuracy of the information, that the Sirdar
of Herat had allied himself with the chiefs of Cabul and
Orgunj, and that a son of Dost Mahomed had put himself
in possession of Kelat-i-Ghilzee. It is also stated that the
Candahar chiefs are proceeding against Kelat, where, up to
the latest date, no force had been collected. The commi-
sioner in Scinde is said to have received dispatches from our
old ally the Khan, and it is generally supposed that 'there
is something in the wind's eye.' As we said before,
we by no means wish to be understood as
placing implicit reliance on all the wars and rumours of wars
which are just now talked of in India. What with the ex-
pected third Burmese war ; the reports of the wide-spread
conspiracy that caused, at nearly the same moment, the
murder of Colonel Mackeson, the projectedseizure of Rawul
Pindee, and the attempted assassination of the resident at
Lucknow, &c., one would imagine that we were on the eve
of a hot war, whereas the fact is, that, barring reports,
India never enjoyed more tranquillity than at present.
Major Herbert Edwardes, C. 8., has been appointed to suc-
ceed the late Colonel Mackeson, as commissioner and super-
intendent of Peshawur. The meeting at Umsitser for the
suppression of infanticide in the provinces subject to the ad-
minstration of the Panjab, was held on the 28th, and 29th,
and 31st ultimo. Full details have not reached us as yet,
and we are therefore precluded from saying more than that
there seems every reason to suppose that infantcide will in
the Punjab, be shortly numbered amongst the things that
were.

The camp of the commander-in-chief moved from ICalka
at the commencement of this ;month, and on the 18th will
be at Delhi, from whence it proceeds to Agra visiting
Meerut en route. We regret to state that our obituary in-
cluded Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, the commissioner at Delhi,
who died on the Sd instant. We also regret to state that
the cholera has made its appearance in Bombay, and up to
this date the deaths have been 275. As in England, so here,
the majority of deaths occur in the most neglected districts;
thus at Omercarryu:an undrained and particularly dirty vil-
lage, more than two-thirds of the above number of deaths
occurred. Bodies of troops are now on their way to Poona
to form Lord F. Fitzclarence's military camp, and prepara-
tions for reviews, field-days, &c., are afoot. The order for
a 3d European regiment to be added to each of the Presi-
dencies has given, it is needless to observe, general satisfac-
tion. A meeting of the shareholders of the Commercial
Bank of India was held on the 9th instant, to confirm and
adopt certain resolutions passed at the meeting of that com-
pany held on the 17th ultimo, when it was determined to
increase the capital of the company, and to alter the clause
in the deed of settlement, which debarred any one person
from holding more than 300 shares on his own account.
Resolutions were passed, which, for carrying out the first of
these objects, determined, that one new share for every three
old ones be issued, thus increasing the amount of capital
one-third ; and for the latter that the words six hundred be
substituted for three hundred. The meeting then broke up
We are sorry to add that the state of trade in our local
market is not very encouraging, and that there does not
seem any immediate prospect of improvement.
The following report on the state of the Indian exchequer
is taken from the Bengal Hurkaru of the Ist November :
" About two months ago we gave a rough sketch of the
total amount paid into the several treasuries towards the
Four per Cent. Loan. As anticipated, a notification shortly
afterwards issued, announcing the closing of the Four per
Cent. Loan, and this has been followed by a Gazette Extra-
ordinary on Friday evening, containing the following three
most important notifications :
" 1. That no further transfers of the Five pet Cent. Sicca
Loans into the Four per Cent. Debt will be allowed after
the 28th November next.
dat'e‘ 2.
the That
3o t
ha 1l
of notes
ece ot, flhwBe tthul3e
,obFft
orhi
noe
f dischargedp
Njerao January
ule
an,ryt
0.
aoLllolhont
the
Generale bh bearing.
gt
number Treasury
on theor register,
having the option of transferring the amount into a new 4
per cent. loan. And

" ' The opening of a new loan, bearing interest at the rate
rate of 32 per cent. per annum.'
" The effect of these measures is, that the interest on the
debt of the East India Company is virtually reduced to the
rate of only 4 per cent., and that a large portion of tne
amount payable for the Sicca Five per Cents., the transfer
of which has not yet been effected, willsecimuz: iaatsealyvinbge
converted into 4 per cent., or if there be no time for doing
soth. ebTefhorreect-haend!aButhaiNf
per Cent.
tthoeanp,roecspeeedcias willespecially
as flowthat
e
will enable holders to discount their notes at the Bank of
Bengal at 3 per cent, per annum, thereby
of half per cent. per annum for the period intervening be-
tween this and the 30th of January next. The probable re-
sult of these reductions is obvious. So far from any heavy
calls being likely to be made for cash, holders generally will
be too glad to accept of 4 per cent. paper, whilst a portion
of the surplus cash will eventually flow into the 31 per cent.
loan.

" That these measures on the part of Government have
been accelerated by the almost unprecedented prosperity of
the public exchequer no one can entertain any doubt, for no
state would venture upon so dangerous an experiment with-
out perfect reliance upon the infallibility of its financial
calculations. Viewing the above announcements merely as
an effect of those reactions which periodically occur in the
finances of governments it hardly requires ' any further
comment; but looking upon them in connection with the
increasing demand for capital at home, the high rates of
interest and discount in the world's money market, the in-
creasing exportation of bullion from this country to China
and other places, and with the present state of exchange
on England so favorable to remitters, they afford an un-
mistakeable index of the financial position and stability
of the British Indian Government."