The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-16 00:00:00

THE ISTHMUS OF DARIEIV.

The first general meeting of the directors of the 401°.
tic and Pacific Junction Company was held yeshAe.---
The directors present were—Lord Wharncliffe $ll
Messrs. J. S. Brownrigg, T. R. Crampton, Edward 61
per, J. C. Ewart, W. J. Hamilton, H.
n• ~ n. T. Aer' t,
Montoya, M. Wilson, L. Haslewood, A. Wilio
Mackinnon, and Admiral Moorsome. The soli G:
Mr. Charles Freshfield ; the engineer, Mr. Lionel
borne • and the official auditor, Mr. J. E. enle>,,i.
were also present, together with the secretary, Dr.l3 1, le
After Sir Charles Fox had given an outline of his Ile
proceedings in relation to this great undertaking,' an
communications with her Majesty's Government, the
with that of the United States, were laid heler"hst
meeting and cordially received. It was announneucrejit
the 24,000/. caution-money will be duly paid to the, -gar
of the republic of New Granada with the Bank °L
land, and it was unanimously agreed that the an 2-4,10
of 75,0001., required for preliminary expenditure,
of of
reasonable and fully justified by the clear prosPeard
remunerative results on the ultimate capital. 113 e btlted
was also informed that a communication is to be exPe:dor
in the course of a few days from the British Anlhass
Bi
in Paris, through the Secretary of State for Foreige neh
fairs, to fix a day on which the Emperor of the Fre;tr A
would give an audience to Sir Charles Fox, and A.,1",?i
tation from the company, in whose arrangenien'_:, ma". e
hoped, that France and Russia, as great ine',o
powers, will co-operate with the British and Arc'
Governments.
The necessary resolutions for the further proceed
the
of the board of directors were then agreed to, and the
meeting separated, after the usual vote of thanks ti°
noble chairman.

CAPTURE OF THE AENG STOCKADE''

(From the Bengal Hurkaru of Jan. 27-)
of
Connected with the subject of the frontier passe:
of
Burmah, and more particularly the formidable onto,
Aeng (possession of which we lately reported had ore
obtained by our troops), it is with great pleasure 71,,0tails
able to communicate to the public the following
of the bold and soldier-like attack upon the stoci;a
erected upon the Narigan-hill, whereby its capture
effected, and the most formidable position in the
secured to us.
ding
In October last, it was reported to the cowman
_;00
officer Arracan, that the Burmese had taken posse 7,4,
of Narigan, en the summit of the Toomer Mount
fg4
and were erecting a stockade. Captain Barry
op
ordered to advance against them, and, if practica":;;
attack and dislodge the enemy. From some deficient
of information concerning the route intended to ;93 followed with the purpose of turning the en,,ellllo
flank, his party became disordered, '131,4" I;as
was obliged to retire. Subsequently, u° rer— 'th-
made of the impracticability of taking the•tian
oPslockets and
out a strong reinforcement, and a suPP-Y r
mortars being sent down from the Presidency. It
however, since been carried hy the coup de main-chly
another officer, whose dashing conduct, we think, ri
deserves the marked approbation of Governme.nlit. 0
may, perhaps, fall into slight error in detailing
transactions, because our inforniation is indirect, butte'
believe the general accuracy of our account may ne
lied on.
eroP
A chief named Nakeekay t
had described the en he/
position, leading our officers to suppose that fire
might advance to a point commanding a fiankingia
on the stockade. It was necessary to be cart: "a
of the truth of this man's evidence, and Otailirai
knowledge of the nature of the ground and the gene ar-
character of the enemy's defences. For this Aso;
pose Captain Nuthall was sent under 00 in
from- Major Maling (commanding the trwt
Arracan) to gather information previous to an anemiaka
being made to force the Aeng Pass, and take the stoc
Tota
on the Narigan-hill by a flank movement. The duty lets
accordingly undertaken, but followed with more comp of
results than had been anticipated, for within six di,s4
Captain Nuthall's entering the pass (having mad3,l the
one halt at Thorowa), he had not only reconnoitrade
enemy's position, but was in possession of the st°,`Ther-
itself. Captain Nuthall, accompanied by Captain Pli„,,hed
land and a party of the Arracan Battalion, re tad
Thorowa on the Ist of January, where they avif;lsta
the arrival of the Kyeng chief, Nakeekay, frail bad
they learned that the Governor of Meng-don dod
proceeded to attack Prome, after which he interrlass•
to return and invade Arracan by the Aeng the
It had also been stated that the removal the
head-quarters of the Arracan Battalion fro"sare"
neighbourhood of Aeng had made the encznY beiof
less in guarding their post. Every available man - arch
collected at the advanced post under Narigan, the tclas-
was begun on the morning of the sth through tilei'oet
gle, pursuing a line parallel with the Toomar moony— A
and so turning the enemy's left flank; At 9 till'on
halt was made within about 800 yards of the pa6;oin
the Burmah side of the Tooniar range. Carod-
Nuthall, accompanied by Nakeekay and two at,
ants, advanced to reconnoitre, putting these men i°,„acis
bush to watch -whether any communications were ""iti
between the Burmese stockades of Tsetmeeg half
Narigan, which appeared about three miles and a-
ere
or four miles apart. Just before dusk the men ass,
moved up to within 200 or 300 yards of thePir
so as to debouch upon the road and make 3 2".. on
noissance before sunrise the following morning; (01r
the 6th they were under arms at 2a.m.,_
nbut
ot fain
strutted by the thickness of the jungle) did ' ekal,
upon the road until after 4 a.m. Guided by.Natvegtot
they then marched up the pass towards Narigan (uioeet
rather more than two miles), every one remaining
trelit
perfectly silent, so that they could have beat are
„aver
had their been a necessity, and their advance 'dor'
have been known to the enemy. Shortly before bAr-
break they halted near the rear of the enemy e re,
ricades. Captain Nuthall himself proceeded teterior
connoitre them, and being enabled to surrey the in, the
through the interstices of a gate, he perceived that or
enemy were asleep, and capable of being taken by A to
prise. He immediately ordered Captain Sutherlelijioo
advance in full force against the gate, at the seine ow
posting a body of men on an adjoining eminence, hied,
manding the road by which alone any enemy from_ibee an
could approach. • Sutherland with his men Inaucap.
instant charge, and as they entered the stockade, the
taro Nuthall fired a volley over their heads illi°l3„ffect
still sleeping inmates of the defences. Th. „- an'
was paralysing : the enemy, so completely taa-eeri-
awares, never for an instant rallied, but fled inu;ifig
minately, leaving Captain Nuthall in possession, h3ded,
captured even their muskets, which were found intros
but had been left behind, together with twoj hr
howitzers, ammunition, the chiefs pony, and sevel7oc-
signia of Burmese rank. The only accidents the
tho
curred were three sepeys wounded, and Captain diCuthigb
himself rather severely, the cap of the knee en„ged 179,
bone both being exposed, the wound being ea"- had
one of the bamboo spikes with which the Burmese
studded the approach. the
The prompt and soldierlike manner in whin f the
capture has been effected reminds us of some
boo
daring deeds of the Peninsular War. We and
no doubt the services of Captains Nuthall
Sutherland will have been
properly rePresethst
to the Government. We are very glad to heard the
on his return Major Malin g and the officers, -not
68th , Native Infantry gave a public enterta'n dart
to Captain Nuthall to testify their a,:dmiranisfo-cl•
for the great tact and courage he had ulf excel.
We cannot too highly praise the judgment an ebsoa
lent tactics of this spirited officer, and We app in
military men will acknowledge it no small feather
an
a man's cap to advance several days' march onto
enemy's position to penerate a formidable aLetuthere
pass, and fall upon an important stockade, wiuhnsi by
being any suspicion of an hostile approach ; and.a „owls
rapidity of marches, circumspection, and most ja°_':. jay
arrangements, wrest from a foe one of their
portant positions—in fact, the most important fro liosto
entrance into a country. We think many soon
earned a C.B. for smaller services ; and we hope 041„nis
congratulate Captain Nuthall on having his gals
duct and most excellent judgment' properly rec e
and rewarded by Government,