The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-14 00:00:00

CALCUTTA, CHINA, AND AUSTRALIAN

.11Ams

By the arrival of the Overland Mail we have ad-
vices and papers from Calcutta to June 9 ; Madras,
June 15 ; Hong Kong, May 26 ; Melbourne, May
26 ; Sydney, May 21; Adelaide, May 26.
The Calcutta papers add nothing to the intelli-
gence received by the last Bombay mail, They
allude to the rumours of disaffection in the North-
West provinces, but like the Bombay journals, think
that with due precaution there is no real cause of
alarm. The following are the remarks of the Ben-
gal Hurkaru
_ _

"We have already alluded to the fact that an
uneasy feeling has gradually been developed in the
North. West, and every day it is becoming more
defined. We have failed, in common with others,
to trace these sinister rumours to any legitimate
source. Some attribute them to the threatened
advance of Persia upon Herat, and suppose that
this would be the signal for a general rising among
the disaffected. Others, again, maintain that fana-
tics travelling about the country are slowly but
surely disseminating the seeds of insurrection—
and in this view we in a great measure concur.
We do not think there is any real ground for
alarm, but at the same time we are disposed to
the belief that our rulers should exercise re-
doubled vigilance, for the simple reason that dis-
affection is known to exist to a considerable ex-
tent. Thousands, since the mutiny, have subsisted
upon the loot then obtained, and exist in the hope
that 'something may turn up.' These men in the
large cities are more or less dangerous, as affording
willing tools for the disaffected to work upon. The
Persian difficulty would have been eagerly availed
of by this class as promising some remote chance of
future complications, but for the present we have
nothing to fear from this point. An insurrection, or
mutiny, or what you please to term it, would find
us in a very different position now as compared with
1857. We have twice the number of European
troops ; the native army, the real source of danger
no longer exists to an extent t 3 make it dangerous ;
railways would enable troops to be concentrated at
any given point within a very short time, and
numerous disadvantages under which we laboured
in 1857 no longer exist. To be prepared for any
emergency is unquestionably the duty of the state,
and we have reason to know that our resources were
nevermore thoroughly efficient than at the present
time.

"The loss of the ship Blue Jacket, outwardbonnd
for Madras, is reported this morning. The cargo
consisted of rice and sundries. No particulars have
yet been received beyond the fact that the ship is
totally lost, and the crew saved."

CHINA.

The interest in the news from China is confined
to the proceedings of the rebels. The following
extracts are from the China Trade Report of
May 26 :
"Ningpo has been wrested from the Taepings by
a combined British and French naval force, and
restored to the Imperialists. This event took place
on the 10th inst.
" The result of the capture of Ningpo is by no
means satisfactory. The trade which was being
transacted there in rice and opium is jeopardised ;
the hopes that existed of silks and teas finding an
outlet there being also at an end. The rebels have
only retired a few miles in the interior, so that
unless an allied force be left to protect the place,
the Taepings will certainly attack and recapture it.
As for affairs at Shanghae—the powers of en-
durance and vitality of the Taepings in that vicinity
are wonderful. On the 12th inst., the important
stronghold of Tsingpoo, a walled city about 25
miles from Shanghae, was wrested from them by
the allied force. The casualties reported on the
part of the assailants amount to one marine killed
and one wounded. The same tactics were followed
as those practised on previous occasions. Consi-
derable booty fell to the captors, including 100,000
pis. of rice, supposed to have been received from
Ningpo. About 2,000 prisoners were taken.
" The next assault upon the Taepings, however,
showed a very different result, and proved a for-
cible indication of the gigantic and extensive mea-
mires which the insurgents had determined on. It
would seem that, after the capture of Tsingpoo,
the allied force proceeded to attack the rebels at a
position which they had taken up on the opposite
side of the river to Shanghae, and about 23 miles
off. This attack was made on the 17th inst. The
Taepings allowed the allies to bombard their works
without replying. The allies, fancying the enemy
had, as usual, evacuated the post, advanced to the
assault. The Taepings must have kept in ambus-
cade, for when the attacking party had approached
near enough they opened a tremendous fire, killing
and wounding many officers and men. Admiral
Protet, the French naval commander-in-chief, was
amongst the killed. His body was brought to
Shanghae on the 18th inst. The fear is that the
affair is serious, as much secrecy is observed. It is
known, however, that the allies ultimately carried
the post with heavy loss to the Taepings, and that
another rebel camp hard by was being menaced,
and would be forthwith bombarded, &c.
The most singular and important feature in
the case has now to be narrated. Notwithstand•
ing the repeated and sanguinary reverses which
the Taepings have sustained at the hands of the
allies, and the apparent futility of their attempts
to cope with artillery in the field, so far from being
disheartened, they have displayed the utmost
energy to repair their defeats. Chung Whang,
their principal general, who was most probably
with the main body of the army near llangchow
or Soochow, sent down large reinforcements to
Shanghae, and suddenly overran the districts where-
from the allies had but a few weeks previously
ejected the rebels. The unfortunate inhabitants
had again to undergo the calamities attendant upon
a visitation of the incensed marauders. Fire and
desolation-again marked the path of the Taepings.
The people flew in thousands to the banks of the
river, honseless and destitute, in the hope of ob-
taining means of escape. In one district it is stated
that a continuous line of fire extended ten miles.
The Taepings appeared in heavy force in several
places at once, driving the Imperialists before them
like chaff before the wind, They attacked several
of the places wherefrom the allies had ejected them,
and certainly carried such as they attacked, except-
important walled city
ing the of Kanding, the
cap-
ture of which formed the leading feature of th
of the allies advised operationslast mail. The pos-
sessionplace being important,
of this several hun-
dred sepoys were placed there to assist
the Impe-
rial garrison. The Taepings soon
drove in the
Imperialists, and laid siege to the place ; reinforce-
ments were sent from Shanghae both of British
and Indian troops. The intelligence is kept a
profound secret, as is usual when it is adverse,
but the belief, amounting almost to a certainty,
is that 700 British troops were surrounded at Kah-
ding, and are short of ammunition. An
armed boat was sent with supplies, but was cut off
and captured by the Taepings.
" The precise position of the allied force does not
appear. At Shanghae apprehensions are again felt
for the safety of the city and the settlement. Taepe
ing hordes have approached within five miles from
the city. Artillery will have to be sent to Kanding.
It is known that no more expeditions are to be
equipped and that the allied force will simply pro-
tect Shanghae until the expected reinforcements
shall arrive, and that the Taepings will remain un-
disputed masters of the country near Shanghae.
Ningpo will be a sad source of weakness, and the

Yang-tsze trade placed in imminent jeopardy. It is
known that Soocbow is the base of the Tapping
movements on Shanghae, and that their numbers
there are legion.
" There is still an absence of reliable news regard-
ing the operations of the Yang-tsze. The advices to
hand-have all a strong Imperial bias. These state
that the Taepings have sustained several defeats in
the neighbourhood of Nankin ; no particulars are
given_ The insurgent leaders, on the other hand,
proclaim that they have gained important victories.
Theylmperialists have certainl
the Taepings taken__ a fort from
a short distance from Nankin. The
n ofpancy of this fort, was
to seize a number of foreign owned native craft and
appropriate the cargoes. Her Majesty', gun boat