The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-13 00:00:00

INDIA.

CALCUTTA, Jan. 8.

If I were asked what is at the present moment the
most pressing of India's wants, I should say the want
of timber. It is us difficult to realise this fact in a
country one-third of which is supposed to be covered
with forests as it was lately to believe that our
E astern Empire is so under-populated as to render
the immigration of Chinese and others desirable.
But the want of wood is more and more felt every
day, and the country is scoured by contractors eager
to supply railways and other public works. Take
the one item of railway sleepers. India is a country
where damp, dry-rot, and white ants consume the
best sleeper in six years. For the past ten years
all over the country we have been busy in laying
down new lines, and all attempts to use iron or
stone sleepers have proved unsatisfactory. We
have still nearly 2,000 miles to complete, besides the
numerous feeders and branches which are being
constructed. Creosoting has been tried, but it is
doubtful if-that is of any advantage: ___
meat the railway might be open to within 12 miles
of Delhi right from Calcutta, instead of only to
Agra, if sleepers could be procured. And what
will Government and the shareholders say to the
cost of renewing the sleepers, which, on the Cal-
cutta and Delhi line alone, is estimated, at present
prices, at £130,000 a year ? Except in Burrnah,
where Lord Dalhousie strictly shut up the forests,
so that now, under a good system of conservancy,
they yield perennial supplies, we have cleared
the forests away wherever we have gone. In-
deed, the old rules for grants of waste land insisted
on a certain extent of clearing every year under
pain of forfeiture, The result is that wood is not
to be got in our own territories, unless in very in-
accessible places, and timber from the north of
Europe begins tofigure largely in our imports. Not
only so, but by clearing away trees, especially on
the sloping ridges of hills, we have made the cli-
mate in some places rainless, and in others, because
their is no belt of wood to catch and keep the
periodical rain, the district has become barren, just
as Palestine is, and from similar causes. With
some degree of thoughtlessness, Lord Canning gave
away to Sir Jung Bahadoo r, of Nepaul, our finest
forests, which he has closely shut up as a hunting
ground; and in another case, after the late Viceroy
had promised a district, containing our next best
forests, to a Mussulman chief for loyalty in 1857,
he had to submit to the humiliation of asking it
back when he found that there was no other well-
wooded tract in the North-Western Provinces. The
waste land rules provide for the State reserving
wastes covered with marketable timber or good as
grazing grounds. Assam, where, under Lord Can-
ning's rules, there has been the greatest rush of
capitalists to purchase land, is covered with small
wood, which the Bengal Government will allow the
settlers to clear away. If this is done on the ridges
of the hills, as well as elsewhere, there is reason to
fear that the physical character of the country will
gradually deteriorate from the want of belts of
forests to collect and utilize the periodical rains.
All these considerations have left the Government
of India seriously to consider how it may best con-
serve and extend the few timber tracts left, with-
out interfering with what is so desirable as the
spread of settlers and the clearance of really un •
healthy jungle in the plains. There is a conserva-
tor of forests in every province of India except
Bengal, and one is now about to be appointed there.
Dr. Brandis who has done so well during the last
seven years in British Burmab, the country of the
teak tree, is now in consultation with the Public
Works Department as to a general system of con-
servancy fur all India.
A roost deplorable story has just been made pub-
lic by a court-martial held at Mooltan. Lieutenant
Jackson, of the Engineers, was stationed at Dera
Ismail Khan, on the Punjab frontier. On the 25th
of June last he was robbed of some silver plate,and
suspected his servants. Not one would confess, even
when sworn on the Koran, and the master took ad-
vantage of their superstitious belief to call in a Mus-
sulman priest, who administered to each the ordeal
of rice. It is supposed that fear will eo influence
the guilty person that be will not be able to chew
a grain of rice. All the servants passed the test ex-
cept a table attendant named Munnoo Khan. He
wis pronounced the thief accordingly, and urged
to confess. He refused, and was tied up to a tree,
where, when he had received a few blows with a
cane, he began to abuse his master. Jackson—l
take the statements in his own defence—very much
irritated, himself gave the man 10 blows, when the
cane spit, and he sent for switches, which were cut
from:a neighbouring date -tree. He confesses that,
with intervals of a few minutes, the man was
flogged for three-quarters of an hour. The man re-
ceived at least 50 blows, when Jackson ordered the
flogging to cease, and went into his house. Work-
men were repairing it, and their noise, he says,
prevented him from being aware that the flogging
was continued by one of his servants in his ab-
sence. Some neighbours saw the occurrence, and
sent for Major Nicolls, the Deputy Commissioner,
on whose arrival Munnoo Khan was released and
sent to the hospital, where he died in 10 days.
After much doubt as to how Jackson and one of his
servants should be tried, be was brought before a
court-martial, which sat at Moultan from the 12th
to the 23d of December. Colonel Boyle, of her
Majesty's 89th, presided; Mr. Scoble, a Bombay
barrister, assisted the accused, and a military °fa-
cer in civil employment prosecuted. Jackson was
tried on a charge of murder, under the Penal Code.
His fate hinges on the medical evidence. In his
defence he expresses deep contrition, declaring
that he meant to do no more than to give the
man a " sound thrashing" and turn him out of
his service. The majority of the medical witnesses
prove that the man was diseased from smoking a
drug known as " churrus" and from bronchitis at
the time he was flogged. Otherwise he was a
healthy, muscular fellow, whom flogging with date
switches for three-quarters of an hour at intervals
would not have fatally affected. Others, again,
considered the bronchitis the direct result of the
flogging. I doubt if a court-martial is a fit tribunal
to try such a case as this, or to decide so difficult a
question on conflicting medical evidence. The case
has excited great interest in India, not only because
the accused is the near relative a a member of
.the
Governor-General's Council,
initnbduiat.belctauissea,
mistake,tln
it is without a precedent
made and propagated by new-comers or casual
visitors to India, to suppose that
abusingA u g 1 ot
hien dni aant
veere
s!
Those who r
in the habit of beating o
are guilty of this are young men ontheir
first arrival, who are ignorant of the language,
hot-
blooded, and irritated by the climate. They soon
discover their mistake, for no servant will remain
with a master who is harsh or unjust to him, while
the natives are not slow to have recourse to the
equal laws and courts for protection. Equally
mistaken is the supposition that English gentlemen
in India are in the habit of calling the natives
" niggers." In all my experience I have never
heard the expression, either in the interior or in the
Presidency towns, from the mouth of any one who
had 1:e. en six months in the country. Mutual
respect and goodwill are essential between master
and servant in India as well as elsewhere, and an
ordinary amount of careful housekeeping will check
the pilfering tendencies of the latter till they are
no worse than those of English servants at least.
New-corners, moreover, generally engage one of
that disreputable class of menials, who, turned
out of all respectable employment, and not lin"

gemAt thlW m '

Peace continues to reign in the neighbourhood of
Shanghai, but active preparations are on foot there
for the intended attack on Nankin by Colonel Bur-
govine's force. As the Imperialists will have no
aid from the Allies on this occasion, their success
may be doubted. The Taepings are numerous and
well equipped, and have materially strengthened
the fortifications of Nankin, as has been ascertained
very recently by the commander of the gunboat
Bouncer. They are said to suffer from want of
supplies within the city, but there is no confirma-
tion of the success claimed by the Imperialists, as
reported by the last, mail. At Shanghai several
murders among the Chinese have drawn attention
to the disproportion between so large and mixed a
population and the protecting power of the police
of the settlement, as well as to the necessity of a
more effective system of local government. The
last problem is not one of easy solution

Several questions connected with foreign trade in
this country, in addition to those on which the
Shanghai Chamber of Commerce has taken action,
are assuming important dimensions, and will require
prompt settlement. By a decision of Mr. Bruce,
goods sent from one treaty port to another, but
transhipped at Hongkong, are treated as coming
from a foreign port, although protected by a duty
chop and fully identified. This decision particu-
larly affects the trade of Canton, whence a large
proportion of exported goods is brought hero in
steamers, and transferred to vessels on the berth
for the several coast ports. The rapidly increasing
preference of the Chinese for foreign bottoms, before
Irotieedrm+ther abstiree elstlperiGl
revenue from the system of transhipment under
very simple checks, renders it most desirable that
so obstructive a decision should be reversed.

The extent of the powers of the Foreign Com-
missioners of Customs and the area of their several
jurisdictions require to be defined. British subjects
in this country believe that, under the treaty of
Nankin, the provisions of which are incorporated in
the subsequent conventions, and under the Queen's
Order in Council of June 13, 1853, they are entitled
to the protection of the Consuls against irregular
acts on the part of Chinese officials, equally as
against other Chinese. In this view they claim
consular investigation of all cases of seizure or con-
fiscation by the Customs' authorities whenever hard-
ship or injustice is alleged. The Consuls, however,
refuse to entertain all such applications, acting, it
is believed, under orders from her Majesty's Mini-
ster at Pekin ; and as the Supreme Court disclaims
jurisdiction in appeal over the Consuls, there is
apparently no remedy for aggrieved parties short
of going to the-Privy Council. This state of things
has just been exemplified by an argument before
the Supreme Court in a case " Johnson v. Mid-
hurst." Again, the Foreign Commissioner at Foo-
chow has lately seized several foreign vessels at
Keelang, a port in Formosa. Some at least of these
vessels were there under license from the superin-
tendent (Chinese) of customs at Tamsin—the treaty
port of the island—full dues having been paid to
him, and the ship's papers deposited with him.
The provisions of the treaty in clauses 9, 12, and 47
are contradictory. By the first two British subjects
" are authorised to travel, for their pleasure or for
purposes of trade, to all parts of the interior under
passport . ." and "to build or open houses, ware-
houses,&c., whether at the ports or at other places,"
if they desire it, on making fair arrangements to
acquire the land or buildings; but by the last Bri-
tish merchant vessels are " not entitled to resort to
other than the ports of trade declared open by this
treaty. They are not unlawfully to enter other
ports of China . . ." and " any vessel violating
this provision shall, with her cargo, be subject to
confiscation by the Chinese Government." No in-.
terpretation of clause 47 can make the presence of
foreign vessels, as at Keelang, in ports not open by
treaty " unlawful," when in possession of a Govern-
ment pass granted under the circumstances detailed
above ; for it can scarcely be argued that the onus
of verifying the powers of Chinese officials lies on
the unfortunate masters a vessels holding. their
licences. The fact that, in the present instance, the
seizure of the ships at Keelang was commuted to a
fine, in nowise alters the merits of the particular
case, or the principle at issue.
Many points of difficulty must arise in the pre-
sent transition state of trade in China ; but they
ought to be settled with more reference to the liberal
spirit of the treaty than has hitherto prevailed at
Pekin ; and representations from this aide might be
materially furthered by the East India and China
Association of London, but for the deep lethargy
into which that very respectable but inert body has
for some years fallen.
Niugpo furnishes no news for this mail. The
Tien-Wang was reported to have left Nankin in
view of the Imperialist preparations for its attack ;
but it is doubtful whether he has done so.

Rumours of grave events come from Japan, but
they are not to be relied on. The seizure of the
Mikado, by the son of the last Regent murdered at
Jeddo, and the violent death of the father of the
Prince of Satsuma are reported, but not believed.
The departure of the Daimios from Jeddo, however,
continues, and it seems certain that there is strong
political excitement among the governing classes of
the country.
Ex-Governor-General Laos, of Canton, has been
appointed to the government of the Kwei-chow pro-
vince. The Russian steam frigate Bogatys, with the
flag of Rear-Admiral Popoff, is now in the harbour.
The Admiral proceeds to her to Singapore in a few
days, and, after a short stay there, will return to
Chinese waters. Nothing further is known of the
reported Russian offer to assist in putting down the
rebellion.

The French mail steamer Imperatrice left for
Suez on the 26th ult. The London mails of Nov.
10 were received on the 24th per steamer China,
and those outward will be despatched to•day at 2
p.m. by the steamer Malta.

THE ALABAMA AND FLORIDA, CONFEDERATE
CRUISERS.—NEW YORK, Jan. 30.—The Escort,
Whitmore, which arrived here last evening from Vera Cruz,
reports that when off the south-west side of Cuba she was
in company with a vessel supposed to be the Confederate
steamer Alabama, which approached quite near at ngh
but kept away during the day. She was under
the time. She
dersai having
her propeller hauled up, it blowing a
gg any
cap demonstration.tured
and
Amer
burnt the Winward (
Advises from Havannah, dated the 24th of January, state
that the Confederate steamer
finally left the escort without making
m
Florida,n
from I,latanzas for
Portland, with inanbrig), aale
molasses, about four miles off the former
port on the 22d. Next morning the Florida burnt the Corris
Ann brig, of Machias, Philadelphia, for Cardenas, between
Cayo ne
dro and Cayo Mono. She soon after captured two
more brigs just out from Cardenas, one of which she burnt,
ad the other sunk. A schooner, which arrived at Havan-
nah on the 24th, reported having seen the Florida with the
English flag flying, steering for the Bahamas. The Eagle,
Adams, from Havannah, which arrived here yesterday, re-
ports having seen a largo body of smoke in the eastern edge
of the horizon, supposed to be from a vessel on fire, 2Gth of
January, at 10 30 a.m., in let. 30 N., 79 W,
PAUPER DEPORTATION.—An extraordinary ease
of pauper deportation, that will be probably noticed
in Parliament, was the subject of investigation by the
Board of Guardians at Westport hat week, Lord J.Browne,
M.P., in the chair. The facts of the case were thus certi •
fled by Dr. Johnston, the medical officer of the Union
" Patrick Bourke, aged 73, who was admitted to the hospi-
tal un the Ist inst., labouring under chronic bronchitis,
weak heart, and general debility, was removed from Leeds
to Westport, by the Leeds Board of Guardians, in
he
very
t
inclement season. Immediately after his
tadmissionithst ned
severe diarrhoea, under which he sank,
on the
13th
lust.
the greatest care and attention, and diedt?
such state
I consider his removal at such a time and in a n
his death." The man
in-
judicious, and calculated to haste
alleged that he had resided 43 ylars in England, and the
last 7 years in one parish
at Leeds. He stated that he was
taken out of a bed of sickness aad " hauled" off to a railway
station, that ho was shaken almost to death in a third-class
carriage, and that he would have died on the open deck of
the steamer if the sailors had not given him shelter. The
investigation was held in consequence of a motion by one
of the guardians, Mr. Burke, solicitor, that the case be in-
quired into, " and that the Chief Secretary for Ireland, as
one of the Poor Law Commissioners, be called on to pro-
secute for manslaughter all the parties concerned in the in-
human and improper treatment this pcor man had received
and by Which he I,st his life."