The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-27 00:00:00

tux +

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 27, 1862.

INDIA AND CHINA.

By the arrival of the Calcutta mail we have re-
ceived our private correspondence and files of papers
from Calcutta to the 23d December, and from
Hongkong to the 15th of December.
There is not much of importance in the news
from Calcutta. We take the following from the
Bengal Hurkaru of Dec. 24 :
" The Bengal Chamber of Commerce has recorded
a minute on the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Baird
Smith, in which they express their sincere regret
for his loss, as well as admiration for the eminent
talents with which the deceased officer was endowed-
Mr. Laing, our financial minister, is now busily
engaged in carrying out the organisation of the cur-
rency scheme, which comes into operation in Feb-
ruary or March next. Although slightly indisposed
on his return to Calcutta he is now, we are glad to
say, perfectly restored to health. All look upon him
as the only man able to complete these great finan-
cial reforms which were inaugurated under the aus-
pices of the much lamented Mr. Wilson, and which
he has so successfully done up to the present moment.
Mr. Laing, however, quits India for ever in May
next, and some anxiety is felt by the public at the
long interval likely to occur before a competent
person will be appointed from home to succeed him,
and the irretrievable confusion in which our finan-
cial affairs may in the meantime be reduced once
more by the temporary appointment of a civi-
lian financier. The chief commissionership of the
amalgamated Central Provinces has been conferred
upon Colonel Elliott, instead of Mr. R, Temple,
as was at one time expected. Major
Spence is to be Commissioner of Nagpore, and
Major Snow has a chance of obtaining another pro-
vincial commissionership. Mr. Perkins is likely
to be secretary to the Chief Commissioner, and
Major Shakespear, it is reported, will be appointed
Deputy-Commissioner of Chindwarra. The British
Indian Association have addressed a letter to the
Bengal Government with regard to the prevalence
of a dangerous epidemic in some of the populous
villages in the districts of Hooghly and in Baraset,
praying the Lieut.-Governor to adopt speedier
measures of relief for the mitigation of the disease.
The villages most affected by it are Tribany, Halis-
howar,Kutchraparah,and Godulparra, in Hooghly,
on the one side, and the villages in and about Ba-
raset on the other. The mortality is described as
fearful. Whole families have been swept away by
the disease. In one village alone 400 individuals
have died in the course of two months. The epi-
demic is of a typhoid kind, and as the poor inhabi-
tants are without any medicine or proper medical
aid, they easily fall victims to the same. The death
of Lieutenant Singer, who was murdered at Now-
gong not long ago, has been avenged. Twenty of
the rioters have been shot, and 200 have been made
prisoners."

letter of the new treaty has just been coolly violated
by our own nation in the passing of a Chinese anti-
immigration bill through both houses of the Sydney
Legislature. This will not be a very graceful piece
of information for Mr. Bruce to communicate to
Prince Kung in this early stage of their friendship.
Were our plenipotentiary to meet with the fate of
Su-shun, whose decapitation we recorded a fortnight
ago, we would think Prince Kung rather a vigorous
man, and not so unjust as our countrymen of Lamb-
ing Flat distinction. This proceeding on the part
of the Sydney legislature puts us all so thoroughly
in the wrong, that we shall soon lose what little
self-respect our dealings with the Chinese have
left us.

The communication by sea with Newchwang and
Tientsin will soon be closed up by ice ; but as was
the case last year, an overland route will be opened
between Chefoo and Tien-tsin, for letters only. A
similar route will c.3nnect Newchwang with Ta-
lien-wan.

The intelligence from the Yang-tsze river con-
tinues to be satisfactory ; and at Hankow, the ex-
treme port in the interior, all was going on
smoothly according to the latest accounts. The
steamboat traffic on the river promises an immense
increase in the ensuing year.

The alarm caused by the proximity of the rebels
to Shanghae
withdrawn
, and those dreaded bands
have
molesting the city; they
has
without
tahtoeu abated,
were as near as three miles, and the smoke of burn-
ing townships and cottages that marks their move-
ments was visible from Shanghae. Bat at Ningpo
the panic arising from the same cause has not
altogether abated ; all who could had fled away, and
by the last accounts the place was almost deserted.
The foreign residents consider that they will not be
molested, and most likely they are right ; if nothing
else secures them, the high position of Mr. Roberts
in the rebel camp may act as a protection to their
persons if not to their goods.
The business that required the presence of Mr.
Harry Parkes at Shanghae, just as he was on the
point of embarking for England, has not yet trans-
pired; but there is little doubt it has some connec-
tion with the rebels, and that he has proceeded to
Nanking for the purpose of obtaining a thorough
to the places in
asW e are supposed to
nwnhdieerhstEanudroinpgeauweitehrethreeeicdbenietf.s
demand the same freedom from molestation in carry.
as we now receive
ingfro on
mthteraldmepferroimalitshtse;inasnudrgitenistsjustly enough sur-
mised that the business of Mr. Parkes ie to make
English fully known that we shall resent any interference
as promptly in their case as in that of their oppo-
nents.morethan this in proportion as diplomacy may demand
Perhaps
the rebels grow
weak, but at present they are sufficiently formidable
to make us respectful, and even fair, in our require-
ments ; at the same time the civil war in China is
not in a condition for us to throw the weight of
English influence into either scale. When the mo-
ment arrives, we shall have tne" cause of humanity"
plea ready for use; and one thing is certain, that if
this plea is ever to be urged in favour of interven-
tion, it would be more becoming to urge it now,
when the devastation isspreading, than afterwards,
when the rebel cause shall have exhausted its force.
From the other ports we have no intelligence of
importance. .
At Manilla matters are quiet, some of the Cus-
toms grievances having been ameliorated.

Canton, since its restoration into Chinese hands,
has begun to resume some of its old importance.
The rebuilding of houses is proceeding at a great
rate.

The emigration offices at Cant.= are receiving
numerous applications from Chinese desirous of
trying their fortune at Demerara. The men come
voluntarily to the agents, at the rate of about 40
per diem, and no kind of canvassing is required.
The cold weather is setting in.

AtlMacao, a resident of this colony was recently
fined 500 dols. for contempt of court, in despising
a judge's mandate.
There is no local news. Two ships with naval
and military invalids will leave for home within the
next week. Thermometer in Hong Kong at 70.

is on the decline, and " permit " immigrants only
will hereafter be received. In the frontier districts
the demand is as great as ever.
The prospects of agriculture this year in the Cape
Colony are good. The progress of oidium in the
vineyards has been checked by the timely applica-
tion of sulphur. The wine trade is depressed, the
merchants complain of the " alcoholization scale."
An attempt at cultivating cotton is to be made in
the division of Worcester by Messrs. Tulleken and
Keyter. During the previous month 730 tons of
copper ore were shipped for England. The Customs
duties for 11 months realised £260,138, being an
increase of £13,553 over the corresponding period
in the previous year.

White and Pontac wines are quoted nominally at
£lO lOs and £l2 lOs per pipe; sweet wines, £36.
Wool, unwashed, 5d to 10d ; washed, is 6d to is
Bd. Wheat, per muid, 27s ; barley, 14s ; oats, Os
3d; butter, per lb., is to is Id; beef per tierce, 955.
Ox and cow hides—dry, 17s ; wet, 41d per lb. ;
horns, 43s per 100. Argol per 100 lb., 65s 6d ;
aloes, 37s 6d. Ivory per lb., 5s 9d. Ostrich feathers,
100 s to 180 s; quality and black, 12s,
The screw steam frigate Narcissus, 51, Captain
Joseph G, Bickford, flag of Admiral Sir Baldwin
W. Walker, K.C.8., from Inyac island, arrived in
Simon's Bay November 19, and was expected to
leave shortly for the West Coast. The screw steam
gun vessel Penguin, 3, and the screw steam sloop
Pantaloon, 11, Commander William R. Hobson, 89
days from Plymouth, December 17. She touched
at Lisbon.

The screw steam corvette Cossack, 20, Captain
R. Moorman, 41 days from New Zealand, whither
she had conveyed' Governor Sir George Grey, re-
turned to the Cape on the 21st of December. She
touched at the Falkland Islands, and has on board
the son of a New Zealand chief, who is going to
England to be educated.

The Spanish war steam ship Circe, from Cadiz,
arrived at the Cape Nov. 11, and left on the 22d for
Manilla. The St. Patino, from Cadiz, arrived Nov.
24, and followed the Circe Dec. 19. The Nether-
lands war ship St. Sindora, 6, Capt. Jengh, from
Flushing October 1, and Teneriffe, October 30, ar-
rived December 1, en route for Batavia. The French
transport Sybille, from Rochfort October 16, with
five officers and 150 soldiers, bound to Reunion, ar-
rived December 20.

The new mail steamship Briton, Capt. Clarke,
made the passage from Plymouth to the Cape in 39
days, having arrived Dec. 15. She took out a large
number of robin redbreasts.

On the 21st December Lady Drummond Hay,
in the presence of the Lord Bishop, laid the foun-
dation stone of a new church in Longwood parish
in the island of St. Helena.

The screw steam gun vessel Espoir, 5, Comman-
der Sholto Douglas, left St. Helena Dec. 3, with fo-
rage for Ascension.

The Athens left at Ascension her Majesty's screw
steamship Arrogant, 47, Commodore Edmonston,
and the Torch, the Wye, the Industry, and the
Meander, also the merchant barque Mangerton.
For the last five days the Athens experienced
strong gales from NW. to SW., with a very high
sea.

A USTRALIA.

PLYMOUrir, SATURDAY.

The ship Moravian, 968 tons register, Commander
William Edward, belonging to Messrs. George
Thompson, jun., and Co., of St. Helen's-place, Lon-
don, 66 days from land to land, or 69 from Mel-
bourne, is gone up Channel, bound for the Thames.

She left Port Phillip November 17th, got clear
of Bass's Straits on the 20th, sighted Campbell's
Island on the 25th, rounded Cape Morn, December
12, crossed the line on the 2d January, 1862, and
cleared the North Tropics on the 9th.

The Moravian brings 16 passengers, among whom
are Mr. 'and Mrs. Sando, Misses Bunce, and Messrs.
Trebor, M'Kenzie, and M'Donald. Her gold freight
is 50,000 ounces, valued at £200,000, and the cargo
includes 2,844 bales of wool.

The following ships left Melbourne on the 17th
November, with the Moravian, and continued in
company until the 20th, when they separated on
clearing Bass's Straits, viz. :—The Monarch, 1,283
tons, Capt. J. W. Gill, belonging to Messrs. Green,
which has 42,558 ounces gold dust, and 1,601 bales
of wool ; the Indemnity, 653 tons, Capt. B. Sayers,
belonging to Mr. Vickerman, with 12,448 ounces of
gold; the Cluthia, of Glasgow, Capt. W. Wilson,
belonging to Messrs. Potter and Co., with 22,660
ounces ; and the Transatlantic.