The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-31 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

INDIA.
By the arrival of the Overland Mail we (Times)
have received our private correspondence and jour-
nals from Calcutta to the 23d of April ' • Bombay,
the Ist of May; and Hong Kong, the 15th of April.
Our Calcutta correspondent writes as follows :
" CALCUTTA, APRIL 23.
" The latest intelligence from Beemali is rather
unfavourable to the prospects of peace. Reports have
arrived at our frontier station from the capital of
the occurrence of another palace revolution, which
has terminated in unseating the King and elevating
the heir-apparent to the throne. The King was of
*lneek and pacific disposition, anxious to cultivete
. ceful relations with his powerful British nei3.h-
, • rs, and to promote the interests of commerce.
While he continued in authority we were enabied
tit feel confident that there would be no renewal of
hostilities with us, but the heir-apparent, who
had placed himself at the head of the war party in
the Cabinet, has been thirsting to revenge himself
on those who had wrested the most productive pro-
vinces from his kingdom, and is most anxious to re-
gain possession of them. He was indignant at the
deputation of an embassy to Calcutta from the Bur-
mese Court, and was reported to have left the c:q)i-
tal when the envoys were returning, placed them in
confinement, and taken possession of the presents
sent by the Governor-General. He is now said to
have succeeded in deposing his Sovereign, in the
hope of having an opportunity of carrying out his
hostile designs. He has the sympathy of the great
body of chiefs with him, and may be urged by the
force of circumstances, as well as by his own dis-
position, into acts of hostility. The arrival of the
adventurer D'Orgoni at Ava just at this juncture is
a misfortune. He will omit no occasion of inflam-
ing the spirit of animosity which prevails there
against us, and the false representations he will not
fail to make may tend to increase the arrogance of
the new King and his chiefs, and to hasten the
crisis. His own importance depends on the recur-
rence of hostilities in which he may take a promi-
nent part ; but we have at present nothing but
rumours, although they come from sources on which
considerable reliance can be placed. At the same
time that the report of the revolution reached
Promo, it was also announced that the war party
at the capital had determined to commence hosti-
lities by burning down our cantonments in succes-
sion ; and this rumour received a degree of confir-
mation almost immediately by the conflagration
of the station at Promo. It has been three times
on fire within a few days ' • on the last occasion the
whole cantonment would have been entirely de-
stroyed, with immense loss of life, but for a pro-
vidential shifting of the wind, which carried the
flames away from the magazine and its vast
stores of powder and ammunition. A few days
will give us more definite information. The Go-
vernor-General will not engage in a war unless
it is absolutely impossible for him to avoid it.
But he will not—he cannot—tamely submit to
aggression ; if our outposts are attacked, we must
repel the invaders, and there will in that case be
no alternative but to march to the capital and ex-
tinguish the dynasty. Of this, however, we may
be certain, that if Lord Dalhousie is constrained to
send an army to Ava he will never restore the capi-
tal to the Burmese, but annex the Upper Pro-
vinces likewise to the British dominions. This is
not a consummation to be desired, although we
shall find in the case of Burmah, as we did in the
case of the Punjaub, that the same military force
which was required to protect the frontier and
guard against hostile attacks from beyond it will
be sufficient to maintain our authority in the
enemy's provinces after they have been occupied
by us, and that the extension of our power will
not entail a proportionate increase of our military
establishments.
" The peace of the north-west frontier beyond
Peshawur has been again disturbed by the rest-
less and predatory tribes, whose hereditary voca-
tion is plunder. Six months ago we flattered our-
selves that they were disposed to live in pea:;e
with their neighbours, but the habits of twenty
centuries are not so easily eradicated. Govern-
ment is taunted with having indulged in prema-
ture congratulations on the pacification of those
valleys ; but eighteen months of freedom from out-
rage might well excuse the indulgence of sanguine
hopes. At all events, those hopes have not led to
any relaxation of vigilance. We knew that we
were in an enemy's country, that the slightest cir-
cumstance would be sufficient to rouse the tribes,
and that nothing was so likely to provoke hostilities
as the supposition that we were not prepared to re-
pel them. On a recent occasion a small force was sent
to chastise the Busee Keil Afredees, but they effected
nothing except the burning of some stacks of wood
intended for the Peshawur market. Another
expedition has just started for the Meeranzie
valley, consisting of 2,000 or 3,000 horse and
foot, light Punjaubee troops, accustomed to
mountain warfare, with a good complement of
artillery. Major Edwardes, the political agent,
accompanies the expedition, which is under the
command of Brigadier Chamberlain, one of the
heroes who has been trained to generalship at an
early age in the wars in which we have been en-
gaged for the last 15 years.
" The traffic on the rail continues to increase, ex-
cept in regard to the number of passengers, which
is stationary. Between Burdwan and the collieries,
the population is exceedingly scanty. Indeed, but
for the north-west passengers ou the great trunk
road, who are happy to avail themselves of the faci-
lities of the rail, the carriages between Burdwan and
Raneegunge would be comparatively empty. Our
average receipts are at the rate of about 60,0001. a
year. We shall require double that amount to afford
a clear dividend of 5 per cent. There can be little
doubt, however, that this increase will be obtained
as soon as sufficient facilities are available for the
conveyance of the coal. The largest quantity of
that mineral which has yet been conveyed by the
rail does not exceed 200 tons a-week ; but the mines
yield 100,000 tons a-year ; we have therefore as yet
the means of conveying only one-tenth the supply.
We have now sufficient data for determining with
certainty the fact that the gross returns on the col-
liery line of 120 miles, supposing it to have cost at
the rate of 10,0001. a mile, will be equal to 10 per
cent. on the outlay. From this sum it will be
necessary to deduct Averl;ino; expenses. The expe-
rience which hang been e .2(1 at successive stages
of developmentZuring ti ;t eight months proves
clearly that the Gangette use will yield a clear re-
turn of 5 per cent, dividend as soon as the rail is
opened, and that it will soon rise to 6 and 7, and
possibly 8 per cent. The railway engineer in the
north ,west provinces, Mr. Purser, has completed
his survey from Agra to Lahore, and recommends
that the rail from Agra to Delhi should run on the
left bank of the Jumna, and it is to be hoped that
this extension of the line will be sanctioned without
loss of time.
"In my last communication I alluded to the in-
troduction of the canal question into the Legislative
Council, and the proposal made by the Legislative
member to appoint a select committee to report on
the propriety of tinkering the old Canal Act. It
was thrown out by the votes of the majority. The
evil which was complained of jias now been reme-
died by a simple order of the Lieutenant-Governor,
to whose province the question belonged, and the
tedious aid of the Legislature was unnecessary.
He has officially declared that the levying demur-
rage on boats, detained involuntarily in the canals,
is an act of injustice which ought not to be allowed.
He has left it to the Revenue Board to provide for
the immediate correction of the abuse, and stated
that if there be no other mode of removing the
grievance he will abolish demurrage altogether.
The Legislative Council is working with the great-
est diligence and assiduity in its vocation. New
laws for the redress of all sorts of grievances, and
for lubricating the administration are coming up
rapidly for consideration, sonic of which will ci sa.te
no small stir in the community. We are to have
a stringent Riot Act, and au act for the establish-
ment of a kind of county courts throughout the
interior. The Executive Governments are also
employed with the most laudable zeal in introduc-
ing improvements, and it may now, I think-, be
said with more propriety than at any former time
that India is governed in India ' • and that all we
require from the Court of Directors is their con-
currence, and from the board that it shall neither
delay nor obstruct.
The progress of the public works loan is
Zaca• It is said that the natives avoid it from
supposing that the loan is intended not
for material imprOvements but for the current
expenditure of Government,' and that they have ,
only to hold back to force Government to open a
6 per cent. loan
Our Bombay correspondent says :
" The fortnight that BOMBAY, MAY 1.
eased since I last wrote
haP
lute not been marked by the occurrence of any event
of public importance ; nor, indeed for—supposinci
moment that such subjects could be of
to you—could I very readily find l any interest
Mal Occurrences
or topics of conversation of which
to tell
,was Bombay known eyou.
Never, as I own to u 0 so
remain be-
hindthe hills so full. Those who
empty, orfancy they have, little to talk about
but have, or out
omp romisin fact—the
but the one stern and unc
11 le pant mong th of April
heat. After an unusua
we have it at last, and the ground on the esplanade
at one
Nand on the hills is so burnt and brown
of the gr
ou read this
ass thmust be
1. lecbid think the very roots
01114 rated. A month hence, when y ,
You - feel how unpleasantly such a prospect must
centr t with reminiscences of the green luxuriance
of nri, ly English summer.
•
"IQ "mei has arrived from the Pero= Gulf to