The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-02 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH '2, 1855.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

INDIA.

We have received our correspondence and files
of papers from Bombay to the 31st of January ;
Calcutta, 23d of January ; and Hong Kong, 15th
of January.
The following is taken from a letter from Cal-
cutta, dated January 23 :

" While the whole of Europe is in a state of convul-
sion, to whichlt has been a stranger for the last 40 years,
India is enjoying the most profound repose. It is
scarcely possible to imagine a greater contrast than that
which is presented by the intelligence we receive from
Europe and that which we are enabled to transmit in
return. We have neither wars nor rumours of wars to
announce—nothing, in short, to send but the tame and
dull recital of material improvements and political re-
forms. There is no intelligence of any importance from
our north-west frontier. The native officer who con-
veyed the Governor-General's reply to Dost Mahomed,
reciprocating pacific dispositions, and offering to meet
the wishes of the Ameer by the conclusion of a treaty
of alliance, has reached Cabul. He was received with
all honour on his approach to the city, and was con-
ducted directly into the presence of the Ameer, who
treated him with distinguished courtesy and attention,
but up to the latest date nothing in the shape of business
had been transacted. You were informed that, although
the Government of India had wisely withheld its consent
from the proposal to send British officers to organise the
army of the Khan of Kokan, and enable him to resist
the pneroachineiits of Rumeia, permission, and even en-
couragement, was given to our native troops on the
frontier to enlist for the Kohat service, and enlistment
has been general throughout the Punjab frontier
force. The Burmese envoys have returned to Ran-
goon, and were about t) take their departure for Ava,
to report the result of their mission. It has been
said that, when at Rangoon, they announced
their intention to give a different version of the
reply of the Governor-General to the request they
made for the restoration of Pegu, so as to render their
report more agreeable to the Royal wishes ; but it was
pointed out to them that the truth must eventually be
known when our commissioner proceeded to Ava two
or three months hence to return the compliment of the
mission on the part of our Government, and that the
deception, which could only be temporary, would in all
probability draw down on them the severest displeasure
of the golden-footed Monarch. They are reported to
have made the wise resolution to disclose the whole
truth to him at once—an event which has not happened
at Ava for half a century.
" The electric telegraph has been completed between
the various capitals of India, which are now placed in
immediate communication with each other. The Euro-
pean intelligence received at Bombay by the steamer is
in circulation at Madras, Calcutta, Agra, and Lahore
within two or threehours. Perhaps there is no instance
on record of se magnificeat au undertaking completed
within so short a time as that for which India is in-
debted to Dr. O'Shaughnessy. Nearly 3,000 miles of
telegraph wires have been erected in a little more than
12 months ; the cost has been 421. a mile. The tele-
graph in India belongs to the State, and no other party
is at liberty by law to establish a line without an official
license. The line is to be open to the community for
private messages on the let of February next. The tariff
of prices has been fixed at a lower rate than on any con-
tinental or American line. Perhaps nothing places the
rapid march of improvement in India in so strong a
point of view as the fact that Peshawur at the mouth of
the Khybur Pass came into our posse,sion only seven
years ago, and we can now send a message to it for Be.
in three hours. Considerable progress has been made
in the establishment of a line of telegraph between
Rangoon and Procne, and it will be continued from
that town to Akyab, the capital of Arracan, and
thence to Calcutta. When it is completed, Government,
wherever its seat may be, will be enabled to receive a
daily report in a. few hours from this newly-conquered
province.
"The railroad is to be officially opened from Calcutta
to the collieries at Raneegunge, a distance of 120 miles,
on the 3d of February, after which date it will be con-
tinually open for public traffic. But we have not as yet
the means of running a train daily backward and forward
to that point. I believe the entire number of engines
we possess does not exceed ten, which is altogether in-
sufficient to maintain a daily communication of such
It has therefore been determined that for the
present, and until our means and appliances are more
abundant, the train shall run from Calcutta to Ranee-
gunge one day and return the next.
" I mentioned, in a former letter, that the Legisla-
tive Council had determined to open its doors to the
public. Circumstances have hitherto prevented the
completion of this design, but on Saturday last, for the
first time in the history of British India, the public were
admitted to hear the debates of our Legislature. The
council meets for the present in a large hall at the Home
Secretary's office, but it is intended to erect a separate
edifice for it in Calcutta, in an eligible position, and in a
style suited to the diguity and importance of the depart-
ment. The Governor-General has hitherto presided in
person. The council meets only once a week. There is
an official reporter of its proceedings, and when the
public are admitted there will doubtless be a reporter of
the speeches.
"The Governor-General is expected to go to the
Nielgherries about the 15th of February.
" Meetings have been held at all the Presidencies to
raise subscriptions in aid of the Patriotic Fund, and the
contributions already exceed 12,0001., and will probably
run up to 30,0001. before they are closed. Among the
largest contributors as yet in the native community is
Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, who has forwarded 5001. to
the Fund.

"The contributions from India to the Exhibition in

.. ...... --...... .--
Paris have been forwarded ley the Government, and are
said to exceed in value and variety those which were
sent to England to the Crystal Palace."

(Front the Overland Bombay Times, Jan. 31.)
The tidings of the abolition of Haileybury have occa-
sioned universal gratification. The seminary bad not
only outlived the exigencies which had called it into
existence, bet its mechanism was unsuited to the age,
and condemned India to suffer from the services of the
friends of individual directors selected without regard to
merit, in place of enabling her to secure the best men
that could be had for the money. The simplification of
the mechanism of government and total extinction of pa-
tronage, would secure to India nearly all that can be de-
sired for the present in the way of reform—the grand
curse of the country being that, while those who govern
it have the strongest motives for supporting incompetent
kinsmen unable to provide for themselves, they have not
the slightest interest in the welfare of a people who
submit to any amount of maladministration without
complaints. The concession of the railway guarantee
by the Court of Directors over 3,000,0001. of additional
capital, comprising that required for a railway in Scinde,
will probably be the means of transferring the balance
of a quarter of a million sterling, which the country
has hitherto cost, from the debtor to the creditor side
of the account. If the irrigation schemes, to which
Government have expressed themselves so favourably,
are only carried out with honesty and sense, India may
speedily be able to boast of a surplus surpassing the pre-
sent deficiency in her revenue. The tree producing the
gutta percha is said to have been discovered in the
Madras Presidency, and is said to abound in many parts
of India, rich everywhere in vegetable and mineral
treasures, of which nothing is known, and for which
nobody seems to care. Tho 10th Hussars, with their
horses' nearly 400 strong, have just quitted the presi-
dency for Suez, and will probably be at the scene of
action by April, in about the same time as they would
have reached by the Cape, and at about one-fourth the
charge. Large detachments of infantry and cavalry are
under orders to follow them, under circumstances still

more adverse to expedition and economy. Tb€re are at
present 27,000 Queen's troops in India, or 7,000 more
than the act of Parliament allows ; with peace so.uni-
versa' as it is at present, and prospects of tranquillity
so favourable, 10,000 or 12,000 might be spared with-
out inconvenience.

Never was anything ever heard in India equal to the
singing of Miss Catherine Hayes, and the violin playing
of Madame Frery.
Affairs are ii a
.disturbed state in the Persian Gulf.
The Persians have captured Bunder Abbas, after a des-
perate resistance on the part of the Arabs, and the Imam
of Muscat is preparing an expedition to attempt the re-
capture of the place. The Company's cruisers in the
Gulf have alse had some sharp fighting against a pirati-
cal-Arab chief, and their operations appear to have been
attended with complete success.

at 16 to 21 taels ; 3,000 boxes of gunpowder, at 14 to
20 taels ; and 3 chops of Canton congou at 17 to 26
taels. There have been no fresh arrivals.

Export from Canton from July 1, 1854, to lb.
January 10, 1855
I, Shanghai, from July 1, 1854,
to December 31, 1834
Of Foochow, from July 1, 1654,
to December 23, 1854

49,900,000

Export from Canton from July 1, 1853, to lb.
January 10, 1854 27,690P0
t, Shanghai and Foochow, from
July 1, 1853, to December
30, 1853

51,200,000
Exchange on England, for six months' sight bills
4s. Bd. to 4s. 73/4d. _ _ .

Exchange on'lndia.—Company's accepted bills, 230 r.
per $lOO.
Freight.—One vessel has been engaged for London
at 51. . . .

From Shanghai our advices are to the Ist inst. Im
ports had been passed off to some extent in barter. In
exports a fair business has been done.
Exchange on England for six months' sight bills,
6s. 7d. per dollar. On India Company's accepted paper,
328 r. per $lOO.
Freights to England, 51. ss. for tea and 6/. for silk.