The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-28 00:00:00

CHANGES.

The Dowager Countess of Liverpool, on the Marine-
parade, Dover, from a tour ; the Earl and Countess of
Gioia-I:el, at the Royal Hotel, Kingstown, from their seat ;
the Right Hon. Witham Gregory and Miss Gregory, at
ditto ; Cotztlt Krasinski, at Birmingham, from Devon-
shire. ' • the Hon. Vernon Harcourt, at ditto ; L,rd Segrave,
from Puolc, Dorsetshire, on a cruise in his yacht, in the
Channel ; Sir William and Lady Jolliffe, at Cowes, Isle of
Wight, from Merstbam, Surrey ; Earl Craven, at Eglin-
toun Castle, from Coombe Abbey ; Countess Runaigny, at
the Royal Chateau d'Eu, near Dieppe, from Pans; the
Marquis and ti ,rchioneis or Londonderry and Ladv Fanny
Vane Stewart, at Eghtitoun Castle, from Wynyaril Patk,
Durham.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

EGHAM RACES-TUESDAY.

These races, without laying claim to a first-rate character,
take place in so delightful a neighbourhood, and are, in all their
details, so well cenducted as seldom to fail in attracting a fash-
ionable company ; in general, too, they are well attended by the
middle classes, but wet weather, by an unlucky fatality, so fre-
quently prevails at this period, that the one-horse-shay and pc"
destrian species are, to use a vulgar phrase, choked off. For-
tunately !or the meeting now under notice, the weather was
favourable, and as the list boasted unusually full entries, the
visitors were numerous, and the" lessees" of the various booths
and stands were enabled to turn their speculations to profitable
account ; on many occasions within our recollection they have
had a sorry time of it. We have already mentioned that the
assemblage was numerous ; it was also fashionable, moat of the
gentry resident in the neighbourhood, and many front town,
having participated in the amusements of the afternoon. Be-
sides others whose names we were unable to ascertain, there
were present—Lord Uxbridge, Lord Waldegrave, Lord Cla-
rence Paget, Sir William and Lady Lumley, Sir Gilbert Heath-
cote, Lady Constance Paget, Lady Eleanor Paget, Lady Frances
Hotham, Hon. H. Hous, Hon. W. Fitzroy, Hon. Petre,
Hon. F. Berkeley, Captain Paulet, Captain Peyton, Captain
Seymour, Captain Duff, Captain Bulkeley, Captain Gardner,
Mr. Culling Smith, Mr. Shelley, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Hawker,
Mr. Crommelin, Mr. J. L. Wellesley, Mr. V. Dolphin, Esc.
The bill of fare was more productive than of old. Formerly,
the Cup, the Two-Year-Old Stakes, and a sweepstakes or
plate, in heats, were considered sufficient for the public appe-
tite; but as this appears to be a growing one, the steward
thought fit to gratify it with a double allowance of "heats."
To what extent their good intentions were realized the follow-
ing return will show :
Sweepstakes of 20 sovs each, h ft, for two-yr-old colts, fist 71b,

. .
and fillies, Bst 41b. Half a mile. -Three aubi-
Sir. G. Heatheote's c Sophocles, by Laurel... (Chapple) 1
Lord Albernarks's b f Clove

Mr. G. Bulkeley's borbr f by Emilius, out of Christabel 3
Betting-7 to 4on Clove, sto 2 asst Christabel filly, and 5
to 1 agst Sophocles. Sophocles made all the running, and won
easily by a length.
The Gold Cup of 120 sovs (in specie), by subs of 10 soya each,
the second to save his stake. Three-yr-olds, 7st ; four,
Bst 71b ; five, 9st ; six and aged, 9st 31b. Mares and geld-
ings allowed 31b. The winner to be sold for 6001., &c. Two
miles. Twelve subs.
Sir G. Heathcote's Valaincourt, 3 yrs
Duke of Richmond's Mos, 6 yrs
Captain Cardnor's Toothill, 6 yrs (Chapple) I
3
Betting-6 to 4on Mus, and sto 2 agst Valaincourt. flue
made all the running, Valaincourt lying second and Toothill
third, till they reached the distance, where the two latter at-
tempted to get up. Toothill failed:but Valaincourt succeeded,
was in front in a few strides, and won cleverly by a length ; the
pace moderate.
Plate of 401., given by the Members of the western division of
the country of Surrey, added to a Sweepstakes of 5 sovs
each ; three-yr-olds, 6st 121 b ; four, Bst 71b ; five, 9st; six
and aged, 9st 31b. Mares and geldings allowed 31b. The
winner to be sold for OW., &c. Two-mile heats. Nine

subs.
Mr. J. Sadler's Deceit, 3 vrs
Capt. Williamson's Trie Drama,a, 3 yrs 5 1 3
Mr. Turner's b m Isabella, 4 yrs ... 2 7 2
Mr. Monk's Nominee, 3 yrs
Mr. Webb's Willesden, 6 yrs 8 8 5
Mr. Smith's ch c Caligula, 4 yrs
Mr. .1. Day's b f Science, 5 yrs 6 2 dr
Mr. Munro's b g The Bravo, 6 yrs
Mr. Messer's b g Dr. Wynn, 5 yrs . ............. 7 4dr
First heat-3 to 1 agst The Drama, 7to 2 agst Deceit, and
4to 1 agst Isabella (taken). Deceit made all the running and
won cleverly. Second heat-6 to 4 agst Deceit, 4to I apt
The Drama, and 4 to I agst Science. Dr. Wynn cut out the
work to the last turn, where Tlu; Drama and Science went past
him ; a good race between the two mares was won by The
rrama by half a length. . bird heat,Even on Deceit, and 6
to 4on her agst The Drama. A good race for tne last three
parts of a mile, but won cleverly by about a length.
The Runneymede Stakes of 5 sovs., with 30 added ; three-yr-
olds, 7st 61b ; four, Bst 41b ; five, Bst I Ilb ; six and aged,
Wt. Mares and geldings allowed 31b. The winner to be
sold for 1001., &c. Three-quarters of a mile. Six subs.
Mr. W. Sadler's Specimen, 3 yrs 0 2 1 1
Mr. Turner's b f Maid of the Mill, 4 yrs
Mr. Goodman's bl c Pluto, by Actsean, 3 yis
Mr. A. Gurney us b c May the First, 3 yrs 0 0 dr
Mr. Goodwin's Huckster, 5 yrs
Captain Pettat's Caliph, aced 0 dr
Capt. Gardnor's br cby Reveller—Scurry, 4 yrs 0 dr
Mr. Balchin's. Lady Agnes, 4 yrs, weighed but did not get
to the post in time. Four beautifully-contested heats.
Our introduction was written previous to the Runneymede
Stakes, after the second heat-for which a heavy shower came
on and effectually dispersed the company.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.—We are requested to
state, that Mr. Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to her Ma-
jesty, New Burlington-street, will publish during the pre-
s•:!r.t month, the following new works :-1. Victories of the
Biits;sh Army, by the author of " Stories of Waterloo,"
" Wild Sports of the West," &c., 2 vols. Bvo., with cha-
racteristic illustrations, and portraits. 2. M. de Beau-
mont's " Ireland ; Social, Political, and' Religiutts,"
edited by W. C. Taylor, L. L. D., 2 vols, small Bvo. 3.
New volume of " The Standard Novels," comprising Mr.
Theodore Hook's " Jack Brag," complete, for six shillings.
Agents for Scotland—Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, Edin-
burgh ; for Ireland—Mr. J. Cumming-, Dublin.. Orders
received also by all Booksellers.
INCORPORATION OF MANCHESTER.—The
case of disputed Coronership, involving the question of
the validity of the Manchester charter of incorporation,
was tried at Liverpool on Monday. The verdict was in
favour of the validity of the charter, but a bill of exceptions
was tendered, and the matter will be argued in a superior
Court.

EV IN G EDITION.

LITERATURE.

*CONFESSIONS OF A THUG.'-3 VoLs.
I3tnifey, London, 1839.
About two years ago an admirable article appeared
a, we think, the Edinburgh Review, giving an account
of the Thugs—a fraternity of assassins who for years
and years have pursued 'heir monstrous calling in every
'quarter of India, from Cutch to Assam, and from Cape
Conaorin to the Hitnalayas ; and whose origin is lost in
the remoteness of antiquity. Of this deeply interesting
article we gave •a minute account in The Sun, at the
same tine! furnishing our readers with a slight sketch of
the Thugs, end the revolting circumstances under which
they Perpetrate their wholesale murders. Since then,
the whole iniquitous system has been laid open by
the capture and 'revelations of some of the most noto-
rious leaders of these assassins ; and from the information
anPLlied by these scamps, which the author of the tale
hefe;e, us turns to excellent account both in his preface
a!sd his narrative, we give the following additional par-
fsleulars, a great portion of which will necessarily be
new to the majority of our readers.
The word Thug, (which means a deceiver) is the
general name for certain wandering bands of robbers
and murderers—many thousands in number—who have
front the curliest recorded ages, plied their profession
‘urougheut the entire length and breadth of India.
The sYstem of -Thuggee, as it is called, is supposed to
owe its existence to the vagrant tribes of Alahumei ens
who eeettinu,d to plunder the East, long after its in-
**sign by the Moguls and Tartars. The Ilincloos, who,
4clUtilly with the Moslems, engage in it, claim for the
System a divine origin, and pursue it therefore in the most
inveterate spirit of bigotry and enthusiasm. Their
chief tlivitiity is Blase anee—the goddess of destruction—
``h° hes conaniselened them, they allege, to pursue
4?"-, women., and children to the death, whenever ocett-
alon serves, with the exception of dancing girls, washer-
vvamen, blackstniths,• lepers, and deformed people, over
whom they have power. In committing their mur-
ders, no
however they are to shed as little blood as pos-
sible, which is ediuus in the. eyes of Bhowanee ; where-
fore they use a normal (or handkerchief) with which
they strangle their victims with all the quickness and
"e‘t"itY of a Jeck Ketch. The Thugs are
remark tidy supctstitious, and never set out on
an 'sxpeditioa, without consulting omens, conse-
erlting a pick—se, and eating a bit of holy sugar,
Called goor, which is . supposed to rendei them
callous to al the impulses of humanity. They scour
the. country in. separate bands of• fifty or a hundred,
each of which has its Jemadar, or chief ; its Sothaeese
or inveiglers of, travellers e, its Bbuttotes, or stranglers ;
and its Singh:tees, whose office it is to dig the grave
an,
bur'; the dead:- They have one great and solemn
festival in the vearthe Dasera—when they inaugu-
rate • their new -members, and immediately afterwards
set fertli ott their expeditions, from which they seldom
rttorn without al.tindanee of plunder, for it is a now
w!-11 ascertaiiicd fait, that they are in communication
with many ol ilia native Rajahs and principal authorities
of the more sequestered Indian towns and villages, who
wink et their proceedings, in consequence of their
being ellosed a share of the plunder. It is a curious cir-
`"ls:nnce that the Thugs pride themselves, not only on
the high antiquity and glorious character of their pro-
' sessl°,l, -but, also ea their own strict moral and religious
worth. They look upon themselves as saints, without
spot or stain ; and certainly as husbands, fathers, bro-
thers, and friends, they arc most strict in the perform-
ance of their duties. In general, they are remarkably
pleasing in their manners, mild and good-humoured in
their conversation, full of anecdote and sprightliness,
and will crack a joke with a traveller at. the very mo-
ment when they are about to strangle him. In fact,
could they but keep their hands off a gentleman's
neck, the Thugs, as a body, would leave nothing to be
desired on the score of virtue and morality !
We will give a sketch of their mode of doing business.
A party of Thu Js—amounting, say, to some fifty or sixty
-start on an expedition whose route they have decided
on during ti festival of the Dasera. Should they pick
UP no victims on the road, they encamp on the outskirts.
of some town, dressed in the garb of merchants, who are
associated together for protection ; and immediately
send their Sauthaecs, or inveiglers, to the Bazaars,
in order to insinuate themselves into the acquaintance
of whatever body of travellers may be about to leave
the town. As these Southaees are all adepts at deceit,
winning, and h ghly correct in their general demeanor,
they rarely fail of success. Supposing, therefore, that
the travellers h ire agreed to join the Thugs, and accept
of their escort to the next large town ; the first thing
the -pretemied merchants do, is to send forward their
Sughaces, to dig a grave in the most solitary part of
the road, gcrierally on the confines of a jungle. Having
arranged this preliminary, they nest make preparations
fer rcceiring the travellers with all due hospitality in
their camp ; set before,them a handsome supper—for
they seldom commence operations till night-fall ; join
them in their evening prayer; then engage them in
ahireated conversation, in the course of which,
while the travellers are splitting their sides at the
funny jokes of the Thugs,- a Bhuttote,• or strangler,
't"al's behind each individual ; and, finally, at a given
signel trout the chief, of " give the Jherni !" strangle
the urill,ippy wretches; cut a gash in their bodies to
prevent them from swelling after death ; bury them in
the graves which have been previously dug far their re-
ception ;. anti finish the night by apportioning to each
Irian his share of the plunder. And all this is done
without the slightest remorse or misgiving, in as cool
and- business-like a manner as possible! Sometimes,
as mane as fifteen travellers have been thus des-
Ipitched' On one occasion, the Thugs were inter-
rupted in their proceedings, by the unexpected arrival
(4. two wears-, unarmed old men ; who, the instant they
iSlught sight of the dead bodies, knew that there was no
helle, and tottering towards the Bhuttotes, stretched
Out their necks. for:the fatal 'handkerchief,. and were
strangled without the slightest attempt at resistance!
This horrid profession has now, we believe, received its
(I,dlh-bknti. The Indian authorities have -for the last
four years been Unceasingly on the alert ; and the reve-
lations of one of the great Thug leaders—who boasted
of having killed upwards of seven hundred men in his
lime l—have led to the discovery and conviction of
nearly one thousand murderers in one small district only.
The tale before us, which purports to be the confes-
sions of a Thug Jemadar, or chief, records the pro-
ceedings of these assassins in a minute, graphic, and
truthful spirit. Many of the adventures, especially the
more s‘mtionala al ones, are of course, fictitious ; but not
a few of them hear, in every line, the sad impress of
reality. The episodes which are frequent, are
cleverly
anti pertinently introduced, and relieve what would
otherwise he a mere monotonous tale of blood.
Of such a sort, is the account of the ma-
ratiding expedition of the Pindharee chief, Chee-
too, whose character is delineated with a breadth and
vigor that occasionally remind us of Pope's masterly
portrait of Hassan in " Anastasius." But, tragic and
impassioned as some of its incidents are, there is one
radical defect in the tale—and that is, in the reader's
utter inability to take an interest in the fortunes
of the hero. He is a monster of so atrocious a die—the
deeds that lie perpetrates and glories in, place him so
completely without the pale of humanity—that his suc-
cesses nice us no pleasure, and his reverses call forth
none of our sympathies. But this was inseparable from
the nature of the subject, which notwithstanding its
strangeness and novelty, is unsuited to the purposes of
romanc,

A LETTER TO THE QUEEN ON THE
STATE OF THE .NATION.
Br A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.

This is the production of a mild-tempered, well in-
tentioned eklerly gentleman, without force or depth.
The author is a Conservative, and claims for his part
tiie merit ef having thrown off the errors of Toryism,
and become, as suitable to the events of the age, Con-
servative of the Constitution, or constitutional, rational,
and praetteal Reformers. There is nothing in the
pamp;det so good as the obvious intention of the writer,
who, tLough lie mistakes the means, aims at promoting
the public welfare.

CANADA AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA, A
COMIIIENTAI?Y, Erc.
Br THORNTON LEIGII HUNT.
Mr. Iluot, at present the editor of the Glasgow
Ar,us, has devoted a good deal of time to the study
or questions connected with colonization. He is one of
Mr. Grbbon Wak,field's disciples, and a great advo-
cate for -sorno man or men seizing large portions of
land end selling them to other men. In the olden
time the Pope or the King did this, now it is a Corn-
•
pan: .• • Tle Pope or the King was sometimes generous,
and be g-aoted a whole continent or province, r.ithout
any other consideration but his good pleasure. Such a
disposition extended. itself as Kings fell into in-
eptitude, an.l became the mere puppets of
great
or their servants, and their M'oisz".st
tracts of land, seized by the Crown, were in all
he colonies of
America granted to favourites, or sold or
t
jobbed fur s,rne forrupt considerations. The Republic
it became independent, set a better
of Americ :tiler 3,
example, till set to work to survey and systematically
t() pared cut the territory it t claimed,
.sel,ling every por-
tion of it to :,ay the expenses of sur% e)in,, and all other
public ch.o.,:es incidental to settling it. The price was
fixed re.thcr hie,h, and a great demand arising for land, in
0- nsequenee of the rapid growth of the population and
fhe greater number of persons who overflowed from
Enrope into America, the Govern!ennetrofsig revenuetnheUnited
St atts as gathered a large and a still 'ca
low t'-'' Iv, s'e lands, and has become
Europe
by a resource
:: lii,Al the Kingly Governments of squandered
of
for many 3 ears without a thought. The example
Americo, and the contrast, was not lost on many acute
to
an:l amongst others, Mr•
' he two lines o field saw innst of the consequences of t ,
.„e_
Gibbon N.Va..lte-f
i pulley, arid became earnest in recommending thel, rim
s not
tied!: plan. with some alterations, which are per
' improv,to; t.ts, to the public here.
favour, and South Australia has been colonized on
,t,
He has found much
princip:o. The great difference, we believe, between i
iiTII the Ameticon scheme is, that his schern. ht carci-
fie(' ik,to ex,cmion as a commercial spoculat:on, an
those who gave the management of it are not likely to
lose or krogo any of its advantages. So far as

it has been acted on, the great object which
Mr.'Hunt has in view is to compare its results with the
results of the old system, as established in Canada and
the North American Provinces, and particularly as these
latter are known by Lord Durham's Report. As might
be expected, the modern system is as much superior to
the old one as a steam-engine is to a horse-gin, and
Australia flourishes, while Canada and New Bruns-
wick, in the midst of prosperity, scarcely hold their
own. The ptople go from Canada As well as to it. We
can recommen d Mr. Hunt's bock as giving an enlight-
ened, though partizan, view of the two systems within
a reasonable compass. His remarks are supported by
facts, and the pamphlet is neatly written. It is the
result of lectures delivered to subscribers at the South
Australian Rooms, and takes, perhaps, some of its
colours from the audience to whom they were delivered,
as well as from the bias of the author.