The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-20 00:00:00

INDIA.

By the arrival of the overland mail we have re-
ceived our private correspondence ..nd files of
papers, from Bombay to the 28th of January and
from Calcutta to the 19th of January.
The following, says the Times, is the letter of our
Calcutta correspondent :

" CALCUTTA, Jan. 19.
" It may seem strange that thougn the English
have been masters of India for a century, and for
60 years have been lords of its central districts,
t here are provinces in the interior the size of three
Englands, a report on which now reads like a tra-
veller's description of an unknown country. What
is known generally as Central India, and now more
correctly as the Central Provinces, administered by
Mr. R. Temple, who acts as Chief Commissioner,
nas never been officially reported on since the days
of Sir John Malcolm and Sir Richard Jenkins till
within the last few months. Since we extinguished
the Mahratta Peishwa and made him a State pen-
siener ; sit ce we punished the treachery of the
Rajah of Nagpore in 1817 in the affair of Seet-
abuldee, Central India has remainen sealed to the
outside world, and even to the offices in Calcutta.
The Saugor and Nerbudda territories, which consti-
tute one.half of the CentralProvinces,were neglected
by the North-West Government, which had too much
to do. After Nagpore was annexed by Lord Dal-
housie nine years ago, the Calcutta authorities never
got an official report of what went on, though they
called for it again and again, and finally dismissed
the Commissioner in disgrace. His successor broke
down from bad health, and a Punjab civilian wag
sent to amalgamate Nagpore with Saugor, and the
Nerbudda territories with the Central Provinces, to
reduce superfluous expenditure, and to tell the
world, Government included, all about the country
and people. This Mr. Temple has done most tffen"
tualty.
" The Central Provinces are the second best
cotton fields in India and will daily rise in import..
ance. To benefit them the navigation of the Gods'
very is being opened, and a branch of the Great
India Peninsular Railway from Bombay will have
its terminus at the capital, Nagpore, 12 months
hence. If an equilateral triangle, with a base of
550 miles from east to west, be placed on the centre
of a map of India, it will nearly represent these
provinces. With an area of 150,000 miles, their
population is estimated at 9,000,000. The Sat-
poor% Hills running from east to west, south of the
Nerbudda, divide the provinces into two nearly.
t qual halves, the hill districts being the region of
forest and no little wealth of iron and coal as well
as diamond in olden days, and the plains below being
the great cotton country,partly drained by theGode-
very ; the provinces, both hill and p.tr.in, are pretty
well included in the ancient Gondwana. The Goode
were certainly in pima historic times the finest sod
most powerful of the aboriginal races of Indid•
Vast architectural remains still testify to the splery
dour of their dynasties and to the greatness of the
c.pitais of their four kingdoms—Mundla, D, ogbur,
Kherls, and Chanda. As the Hindoos spread down
into the Peninsula the Gond Chiefs retired before
them into the hills, the people degenerating into
savages, who offered human sacrifices, and the chiefs
priding themselves on acquiring, by marriage Witt'
tin it conquerors, some Rsjpoot blood. The Ma'
hommedans followed and made Nagpore a depell'
denay of their great Vice-Royalty of the Deccae,
and- vynt-n the Mogul Empire broke up with tautens'
zebe's death in 1707, Ceni rat India was swept b. 9
hordes of Mahrattas and Pindarees. The Mabratte
house of Scindia took the Saugor part of the pro'
vinces, and the house of Bhonsla the Nagpore part.
The descendants of the Mahommedan Gond princeo
of Deoghur and of the Hindoo Gond princes of
Chanda still exist as State pensioners, bu
of the other two Gond kingdoms areot abliltlertra6teced!
The Bhonsla family possessed Berar as well eS
Nagpore, but atler the great Mahratta war in 180
we gave that fine province to the Nizam of Hydera-
bad, and we now again administer it us a security:l
for the payment of his military contingent. 1-4°l.a
Canning and Sir C. Wood were both eager to unite
Nagpore and Berar in 1860, once more as a Lieu'
tenant- Governorship,
SO asput the whole cottoo
field of Central India under one ruler. But the
refused to
Nizam p
allow this, except under pressilf:
and it yet remains to be done in the future.
1803, also, Cuttack was ceded to us, and a British
Resident was placed in the Court of Nagpore.

FRENCH MEN-OF-WAR IN THE EASTERN SEASP.°
According to the last advices the French ships Giron:,
Calavadas, and Lynx welt; at the Island of Reunion; tat
Imperatrice and Alphas were at Suez; the Perle waB 6
the Mettrititte:; and the DDWitii was wet in thojted P 361

I

~'~

i in New

3, 1863.
:d Grand

Doblado,

trouble to

army and

farina of
ld.)

L a letter
ich trans-
uary
Orizaba,
that place

men, for
With this
• the road

lent army

arison of

meet the

their in-

ill inter-

Orizaba

►ava been
y assured
who sup-
it of these
and the
ikes some

anthori-
all those

recture of

z, direct-
abordina..
a French
ly, what-

in. 24.

acelleytey
trmy, the
t-martial
'asos, for

to execu-

tits, after

•e shot in

e follow•

an. 31.

we have

de Cuba
the 17th
,ouisiane,

s nothing