The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-28 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA.

By the arrival of the Calcutta mail we (7inies)
have received our private correspondence and files
of papers from Calcutta to the 23d April, Hong-
kong to the 15th. April, and Shanghai to the 2d of
April.

INDIA.
The following is the letter of our Calcutta cor
respondent :

" CALCUTTA, April 23.

" The Viceroy and the whole of the principal
members of Government left Calcutta last week
for Simla. Three months' experience of the new
rule has proved what immense advantagea are pos-
sessed by a Governor-General who has that know-
ledge of the language and the people of the country
which alone can enable him to begin his work at
once. Sir John Lawrence has not lost a day since
he has been here. Toe quantity of arrears that
have been cleared up in every office almost exceeds
belief. Departments had done their work just
when and how they pleased for so long a time, that
when a searching supervision came they were un-
prepared to meet it, end the sharp rebukes of the
Viceroy startled all the sinecurists in India into
unwonted activity. This has been a part of Sir
John Lawrence's work, but that work has not
stopped here, He has originated or pressed on some
social measures of great importance. The Sanitary
Commission, presided over by Mr. Strachey, is
busying itself with the condition of towns
and cantonments, and its efforts will in all pro-
' babiiity add much to the comfort of the soldier in
India, no less than of the general population. The
attempt to mitigate that great evil which sends a
third of cur army into the hospitals, by the adop-
tion of a strict system of supervision, can scarcely
be otherwise than successful under the cautious
regulations recently decided upon by the Supreme
Council. Minuter social matters then these have
received attention. The greatest—at this season of
the year nearly the only—variation in the mono-
tony of Calcutta life, is the outbreak of a fire.
Somebody sees the thatch burning upon a native
hut, and goes off to fetch the engine. With in-
finite screaming and yelling coolies drag it along,
and by the time the fire has burnt itself out, and
destroyed probably a hundred huts, the engine is
got safely to the spot, and then pulled back again
with the same ceremonies. The performance has
been repeated very often latterly, and at one large
fire at Kidderpore the Viceroy was present with the
Lieut..-Governor of Bengal. There have, no doubt,
been many things in Calcutta which surprise a man
who has never indulged in apathetic listlessness
himself, and never allowed it in others so far as he
could prevent it ; and the way in which a whole
ff
street is burnt down hero with hardly an
save it could scarcely have been the leas( of these
surprises to Sir John Lawrence. Dr. Hathaway id
resolved to organize some better system of dealing
eort
with these accidents, and he is also trying to estab-
lish a Humane Society, and institution for the
relief of European vagrants, of
whom there are
large numbers in the Presidency towns. Sir John
Lawrence's last public act in Calcutta was to lay
the foundation-stone of a Sailors' Home. These
are not great matters, but they
serve to illustrate
the thoroughness with which the Viceroy has set
about his work. As a good many officials know to
their cost, there is scarcely
a petty detail of the
Government machinery which tee has not personally
examined. It is not at all likely to prove a com-
fortable administration for that class of public
servants who consider that in drawing their salaries
they have done all that the country can fairly ex-
pect of them.

.........

We take the foLoCwilinlgNsAllDmarY of news from
f the
summary we spoke
the Overland China Maildo
meatthinatCthhienala.
ttelrn
coiutyr last overland
premature.
The Taeping rebellion is still the chief subject of in-
teresth
surrendered Awapgril
of the surrender of Liyang and Kintang. The announce..
The garrison, it is true, had expressed their intention and
willingness to surrender, but, unfortunately, the Im-
perialist forces who were to have kept Chang-chow-
foo in check and its garrison employed while Gordon
opeiated against Kintang, fell back upon Woosih three
days before Kintang was attacked. That city was, there-
fore, strongly reinforced from Chang-chow-fa° very shortly
before Col, Gordon appeared in front of it, The rebel force
thus thrown into a city which was about to have surrendered
consisted of teen flora the Two Kwang (Kwangtun and
Kwangsi), and are the most hardened of all the Taeping
troops. These are what maybe termed the original rebels, and
are the men who made all the mischief. They are brave,
remorseless, and cruel beyond anything ever recorded of
their opponents. Colonel GOrt101:1'0 force has witnessed the
most bitter evidences of this in children slain and young
girls shamefully mutilated.
From Japan we have no definite news of importance.
The Tycoon and Mikado are said to be on good terms, and
the foreign question still engages the serious attention of
native statesmen.
The intelligence from Shanghai is purely local. The
steamer Tsatlee has been restored to her owners, Messrs.
Russell and Co., and the pirates who took her have been
committed to gaol; those belonging to American juris-
diction have already made their escape from prison, a fact
which casts a stigma upon the United States' gaol authori.