The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES,—Some six months have elapsed since we
first introduced to the public a subject of obscure but
ominous import. To wards the close of last May a
brier( telegram from India announced that a British
Envoy, who had arrived at the capital of Bhootan
on a conciliatory mission from the Government of
Calcutta, had been treated with flagrant indignity
in open Court, and had actually been compelled to
purchase the safe return of the mission by ceding to
the offenders the rich province of Assam. We ex-
plained at the time, as far as explanation was pos-
bible, the nature of the adventure thus reported, but
we regret to say that things have since gone from
bad to worse, and we are now actually at war, if so
dignifying a term can be used, with the Govern-
ment of Bhootan, and that an expeditionary force is
on its march over the route which a peaceful mis-
sion had the greatest difficulty in traversing. It
must have been a most unfortunate complicetion-of
circumstances which could have drawn us into
these extremities, and imposed upon us the obliga-
tion of so unpromising :a campaign. Any map of
India will show the reader a slip of territory at the
foot of the Western Himalayas distinguished by the
name of Bhootan. It lies directly north of ',ewer
Bengal, and is conterminous with our province of
Assam. Its distance from Calcutta is inconsiderable,
but the country is so impracticable, its inhabitants
are so savage, and the whole region is so wild and
desolate, that the State is virtually out of reach.
Once or twice, in the earliest days of our Indian
rule, some interchange of courtesies passed between
the British Government and the Court of Bhootan,
but for nearly a century these barbarous people
have been left undisturbed and unnoticed in their
seclusion. Sir John Lawrence, in his recent procla-
mation on the subject, can refer to nothing later
than the treaty of 1774 as delineating our relations
with the Bhootanese, and the renewal of these trans-
actions has proved a very deplorable occurrence.
However, about a year ago a Mission, or Em-
bassy, was once more despatched from Calcutta
to Bhootan under the direction of an eminent
civil sbrvant, Mr Ashley Eden, From the
first intelligence of this transaction we were
induced to think it a voluntary expedition, under-
taken with the forlorn hope of opening tp new
channels of trade. It now seems that this was not
exactly the case, and that the Government of
Bhootan had so repeatedly given cause of offence as
to provoke remonstrance and admonition. The mis-
sion, however, was in the main conciliatory. It con-
sisted only of four Europeans, with 200 collies in
attendance on them, and it could not, as far as its
composition and appearance went, have inspired
any suspicion or alarm. Still, we are now told on
authority, that Mr. Eden was charged with other
proposals besides the mere overtures of trade. He
was instructed " to demand the surrender of all cap-
tives, the restoration of plundered property, and
security for the future peace of the frontier," Re-
qnisitions so likely to be unacceptable enable us bete
ter to understand the events which followed. The
Government of Bhootan received the message with
barbarian insolence, grossly maltreated the Envoy
and his suite, and finally extorted from him as the
price of safety, the cession of a British province.
Of course so absued an engagement was instantly
repudiated, but the insult itself was then taken up,
and the result, in default of satisfaction, is the ex•
pedition or war which is now beginning to figure in
our Indian intelligence. When or how it will end
is a question which it would be very difficult to
answer. The military strength of Bhootan, mea-
sured by population or resources of any kind, is
absolutely contemptible. The people possess the
martial obstinacy of savages, but if they were fairly
accessible to our forces they could be coerced and
subdued as easily as any of the Hill Tribes of Cen-
tral India. What nrotects them is their country.
At the foot of the Himalayas lies a belt of jungle
so unhealthy that the very natives avoid it, and
when this pestilential tract has been traversed a
most wild and impracticable region opens upon the
view. The mountain passes and defiles, the precis
pices, snow-drifts, the frost and the cold, are said
to exceed anything known in Affghanisten. The
narrative of Mr. Eden's mission reads like some
unueu ally desperate enterprise of Alpine travellers,
and a route scarcely practicable for scientific ex-
plorers has now to be traversed by a military force,
with its munitions and impedimenta. The object
of the expedition is distinctly defined. The army
will march into the Bhootan country, but it will
not attempt to penetrate to the capital. It will
content itself with occupying the " passes" between
the highlands of Bhootan and British territory, and
will thus confine the turbulent savages to their own
country. The districts seized will be permanently
annexed to the Queen's dominions, so that the
Bhootanese will be punished by loss of territory,
while the measure will suffice at the same time to
protect us from their incursions for the future.
This, if the expedition were to be undertaken at
all, is probably the best shape that could be given
to it; but we have not got to those passes yet, and
when we do get there we shall be exposed to new
liabilities, at least as serious as those which we ex-
pect to terminate. Already, though the worst of
the march was yet to come, the unhealthiness of
the country had made itself felt, and the enemies in
front were savages who, if they made no stand in
the field, would have no scruple in resorting to the
devices of barbarous warfare. They may allow us
to occuy the passes, but they can still descend upon
cur garrisons at any minute, and we may have to
hold a worthless conquest at heavy charge against
fever and fatigue. We think it most unfortunate
that we should have been hurried. or driven, or
seduced into an enterprise threatening so much
cost and promising so little gain. We cane
not affect to doubt,.in one sense, the justice of the
war. We can readily understand that the Bhoo-
tanese have really committed the offences laid to
their charge—that they have plundered our sub-
jects, or even carried them away into slavery—that
they have persisted in their misdoings and have
refused redress. It is also beyond question that the
indignities inflicted on the British Envoy would
amply justify the exaction of atonement if we
thought fit to make the demand. But we can hardly
persuade ourselves that the government of India
was compelled to take this notice of the insult. On
the wisdom and prudence of Sir John Lawrence we
may place entire reliance, and it is, perhaps, only
reasonable to suppose that a resolution adopted by
so experienced a statesman could not be escaped.
We should remember, too, that our territories on
the border of Bhootan have recently acquired new
importance. Assam is the country in which the cul-
tivation of the tea plant is now so successfully con-
ducted, and it is rapidly becoming the seat of a
most extensive and productive industry. We cane
not permit a horde of savages to interfere with these
promising operations, and it is possible therefore
that disturbances which might have been over-
looked in times past may call peremptorily for no•
tice now. It is not improbable, indeed, that consi-
derations of this kind may lie beneath the motives
mono vaguely expressed in the proclamation of the
war, but those who are best acquainted with Indian
history will be the first to regret this discovery of
a new enemy on a frontier hitherto disregarded.
POST.—The Postmaster-General's Report for
1863 is, upon the whole, high:y satisfactory ; and if
at first sight one is disposed to demur to the late-
ness of the publication, a closer examination of its
contents shows that the compilation of such a mass
of statistics must necessarily be a work of time.
These figures, too, though they relate to a period
which, at the rate we now think and move, has
already become historical, possess a peculiar and
perennial interest. Ten or 20 years hence it may
be that the present grand totals, which at present
would be incredible if they were not officially
vouched, will cease to be marvellous. The progress
they record may then be dwarfed into insignificance
by comparison, but they will still indicate the solid
foundation of the national prosperity. To-day, howa
ever, and to men who have just turned the corner of
middle age, there are matters in this statement for
very serious consideration, and, so far, its appearance
at a season when people are more than ordinarily
inclined to look back before they look forward is
opportune. The PostmasteraGeneral of course de-
scribes the requirements his department has had tc
meet, and they have been met and carried out, with
husinessslike accuracy,only here and there distinctly
alluding to the obvious inferences ; but the story
he tells in a dry and prosaic form is one that, ex-
tended by the imagination it is calculated to inspire,
and amplified by the thought it awakens, might be
told round the Christmas fire, and which ought to
enter largely into our New Year's meditations.
During the year reported upon no less than 62,800
inhabited houses were added to the metropolitan
postal district ' • and while 161,000,000 of letters
were delivered in that district, 642,000,000 were
delivered throughout the United Kingdom—and
this by an expenditure of £3,000,000 sterrng—the
receipts of the Post-office being £4,000,000 st cling.
Such is the rough, 'eland um-sneezy of an account
that is remarkable from every point of view. There
are other features which are not so pleasing, as, for
example, there were 2,000 applicationsfor missing
letters containing money, in coin, or in post ige
stamps; still, for this the public is primarily answer-
able, inasmuch as by the payment of the reduced
registration fen practical security in the transmit.
sion of money letters meld be obtained. It ie,
however, close under the surface cf those facts tbet
the ore may be found which will best repay the
trouble of ft careful analysis, There may be seen,

even at a cursory glance, what this country is, what
it is capable of, and at what rate of speed it is ad.
vanciag. There may be traced from cause to effect
the springs of our commercial greatness, the ins
dustry which is the source of our wealth, the force

of character which distinguishes us among the na-
tions of the world, the perseverance which coin'
mends success, the enterprise that, combining dis'
cretion with daring, is without parallel, and the
ambition which, being great in itself, achieves
greatness. The millions of letters represent
mense wealth, the desire to increese that wealth,
and the never ceasing energy which is employed in
its accumulation. It must be recollected, too, that
the Post-office is anticipated by the Electric Tel°:
graph, and that, to get au adequate idea of the sub.
ject, this report of the number of letters transmitted
should be supplemented by a return of the telegrams
that were flashed along the wires during the stole
period. But there is here more than sufficient evidence
of a prosperous and prospering condition, and the
people who have such a correspondece in hand 11381
be fairly assumed to be able, intelligent, free, well-
governed, and equal to all that men should aspire
to. One does not require to go very deep to arrtre i
at the conclusion that the mercantile position s
sound and strongly fortified, that its opulence is
real and substantial, and that its vast pecuniary
resources are admirably administered. We turn
our money over, put it out at interest, and, while
the capital increases, live comfortably upon the
dividends. All this is plain enough, though we co-
not see it in everyday observation as we do through
an array of figures which bring out the aggregate
in columns that may be readily cast up and aPPre'
heeded. But this is not all. No one who bestows
much thought on the postal statistics can fail to
perceive that, beyond the commercial prosperity
they explain, there arc questions suggested by tbeul
which also claim some attention, Many thousands
of the letters which pass through the Post-office
every year speak of other things than the price of
stocks and the rate of exchange. If their content°
could be known they would supply material for
reflection on the social relations, the morality °'
the people, the emotions which powerfully influence
a community, the affections which hold society
together. There is, then, a great deal more than
pounds, shillings, and pence to be read between the
lines of the PostmastereGeneral's Report. Letters
of friendship and of love, and begging letters o°,l
letters of charity, as well as business letters, fin'' ,
their way into the postman's bag; and they would
show another side of the picture of national life
varying very much in its shades of light and
dark. Now unfolding the secrets of pure
and loving hearts, now disclosing sent"
ments that arrive *.t their denouement in the
scandals of the Divorce Court, and now por-
traying the wre.chedness of poverty, the tempts`
tions to sin, and the vices which grow up rank in 6
hundred guilt gardens, these letters would point
out forcibly that the nation which seeks after true
riches must not be content with gold alone. More'
over, though the Post-office returns are commonly
supposed to indicate the progress of education, it
is by no means certain that they are in this re-
spect a safe guide. The educated classes have
availed themselves of the reduction of the postage
to a very great extent, but it is exceedingly doubts
fed if the uneducated, those of them who are able
to write, use the privilege further than they can
help. tis good that the poorest can afford to pal
for a letter, yet practically the poor have neither
the leisure for correspondence nor friends to corres
spond with. Nevertheless, making every reserves
tion, there is abundant reason to rejoice at the result
of the postal reform which has been accomplished,
and to believe that it affords, in the main, a reliable
index of the condition of the country. If, however,
it proves one thing more incontrovertibly than a°-
other it is the rapid increase of wealth ; and while
riches, within the limits defined by honesty, honour,
and prudence, render a country powerful with its
allies and formidable to its enemies ; if, on the other
hand, they are abused, or made the bo-all and the
end-all of a people's existence, material prosperity
commonly tends to produce moral infirmity, and
the wealth which should be a blessing becomes a
curse.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

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ROCIIESTER-TUESDAY.

There was a fair attendance at our market to-day, con.
sidering the season of the year, and the stands were very
well supplied with samples, the dry weather having much
ireprevtd the cocditiou of the wheat. The prices of last
week were current. B trley in rather better demand, and
at late prices. Beans and peas were firm.