The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-18 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA.

We (Times) have received, by express from
Marseilles, dispatches in advance of the mail which
left Calcutta on the 3d of June, and Bombay on
the 30th of May. The following is the letter of
our correspondent at Bombay :
Seven days only have elapsed since the dispatch
of my last, and the only important news that has
arrived at Bombay during the interval has been
the intelligence of the Burmese Commissioners
having refused to sign the treaty proffered by the
Governor-General.
The final interview between the Burmese En-
voys and the British ,Commissioner took place at
Prome on the 7th of May. The Burmese tried to
put off giving a definite answer, and asked for a
second period of thirty days for deliberation. This
was refused them. They were told that they must
give a categorical answer at once ; but it is stated
that, to induce them to give a favourable reply,
the British Commissioner offered to remove the
proposed frontier line still further to the south-
ward. Such concessions were, however, of no
avail. On being pressed for a definite answer, the
Burmese Envoys refused explicitly to sign away a
I single rood of the Burmese dominions on any con-
' sideration. On this they were given twenty-four
hours to reconsider their answer, or to quit the
territory occupied by our troops, and they did so
depart within ten hours. It is stated that the
Burmese Envoys did not evince any anxiety to
bring matters to an accommodation.
Immediately after the departure of the Burmese
Envoy the Medusa and two gun-boats were sent
up from Prome to Meaday, to strengthen our ad-
vanced post there, and to blockade the river, with
a view of preventing the transit of rice from the
lower provinces to the capital.
It is not yet certainly known what steps will be
taken in consequence of the breaking off of these
negotiations. General Godwin is understood to be
in favour of an immediate advance on Ava, but he
has written to the Governor-General for instruc-
tions. Our present force at Prome is thought
rather weak for such an advance, but it may readily
be reinforced to any necessary extent now that the
rains have begun and the river is again open to our
large steamers. Before the commencement of the
rains there were five river steamers and two flats
off Prome, and the Medusa and two gun-boats at
Meaday. The redoubted Nemesis had just arrived
at Rangoon thoroughly refitted, and her sister-
steamer the Phlegethon was daily expected. Cap-
tain Phayre has made such progress in training the
new local levies, that it is thought that the regular
troops might, now that the river is open to our
larger steamers, be almost wholly withdrawn from
the annexed provinces, thereby becoming available
for an attack on Ava.

Sir A. Campbell made his last advance with a
force scarcely exceeding 3,000, of all arms, and
General Godwin has, altogether, six or seven times
that number under kis command at present. But
the Englishman states that Lord Dalhousie will
order General Godwin to stand fast ; that no fur-
ther advance is contemplated unless absolutely
necessary ; that any further advance has even been
positively interdicted by the Board of Control ;
that our troops are merely to stand on the defen-
sive, unless an attack is made on them ; and that
by blockading the river, and intercepting the sup-
ply of grain from the lower provinces to the capital,
the Burmese may be starved into submission. _
The _Englishman observes, that Lord Dalhousie
bases his calculations on a very remote contingency
if he relies on a scarcity of rice reducing the Burmese
to submission ; the success of such a course would
be doubtful, and it is Certain that its adoption would
be incompatible with humanity. Its effects would
be felt first, and most severely, by the peaceable
inhabitants of the country. The adoption of such
a line of policy would be most injurious to the
spirit of our army in Burmah, which, to judge
from private correspondence, is already thoroughly
disgusted and disheartened at the way in which the
campaign has been conducted. It is, however,
stated that, should any attack be made on our new
territory by the Burmese, we shall retaliate by
immediately advancing on Ava, and dethroning
their King. Whether or not such an attack will
be made by the Burmese is doutful ; their prepara-
tions at present seem entirely for defence. They
have collected a considerable force immediately
north of Tongho, as if to bar the further advance
of General Steel's column ; a second force covers
Ava • and a third is being collected and established
by Meatoon, in a fortified position half-way be-
tween Meaday and Ava. Meatoon has received
many honours and titles from the court of Ava,
and appears to be at present its most trusted gene-
ral.

The rains began at Rangoon on the Bth of
May ; though the weather had been intensely hot,
the troops at Rangoon enjoyed excellent health,
the hospitals being nearly empty. The monsoon
had not commenced at Prome at the date of the
latest accounts, and the troops were suffering very
severely from dysentery.
The following is from the Bombay Times:—
" The annoyance which the management of the af-
fairs of Baroda has of late years occasioned, and the
scandals to which our connection with it has given rise,
has at last determined the Government at home to make
over the charge of Guzerat to Bengal, and the arrange.
ment, deeply as it reflected on the local authorities,
seems an eminently wise one. Highly as we approve of
the measure, independently and by itself, it forms, in
connexion with the qualified apology of the Court of
Directors (or rather of the Board of Control), for the
Bombay Government, a specimen of that miserable
drivelling and temporising which characterise our ad-
ministration altogether. Oh, you are not at all to
blame,' say the Secret Committee, neither is Colonel
Outram, whom you condemned. It is very true you
have managed Baroda so badly that we must estrange it
from your hands, and pass it into those of an authority
1,200 miles away, but don't take this the least to heart;
you will ail be allowed to remain out your natural term of
service, and your hon. president gets an extra year just
to soothe his feelings."
Much anxiety is felt regarding the health of Lord
Frederick Fitzclarence, the Commander-in-Chief of the
Bombay army, and it is feared that he will be compelled
to leave India very shortly. The heat of the present
season at Bombay, and in India generally, has been
almost unprecedented, and the rains are not expected to
set in before the 10th of June.

Trade Is unusually dull, even for the time of year.

CHINA.

The screw steam-ship Bombay had arrived at Cal-
cutta just as the mail was leaving, with advices from
China to the 14th of May. The following account of
Sir G. Bonham's expedition to the seat of the rebellion
is contained in a private letter published in the North.
China Herald :

" Her Majesty's ship Hermes returned to this port on
the sth instant, Sir G. Bonham having been in com-
munication with many of the insurgent chiefs, both
in the vicinity of Nankin and Chin-kiang-foo. Mr.
Meadows was within the walls lof the former
city, and reports it in a state of ruin, while the
whole district is filled with anarchy and confusion.
Nankin is held by the rebel forces, who are strongly de-
fending it • they are also in possession of Chinkiang ;
the whole line of river between the two cities is in a
very complete state of defence, and they are said to be
awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from the south,
when they will proceed on their way to Pekin.
" The information gained regarding the character of
the insurgents and their objects seems to be of a most
curious and interesting nature. A very correct transla-
tion of the Bible is freely circulated among them, and a
zeal amounting to fanaticism is leading them on to
attempt the destruction of the whole Tartar race, while
strictly moral duties are not only prescribed, but en-
forced and practised.
" The visit of the Hermes, too, has been successful in
clearly
explaining to the insurgents the neutral position
which all foreign Governments are disposed to hold dur-
ing the struggle.
"On her return from Nankin, and while passing
Chingkiang-foo, the Hermes was fired upon from two
forts garrisoned by the rebels, and, after receiving four
or five round shot in her rigging and hull, she opened
fire, which quickly quited the forts, and immediately
afterwards she was visited by an officer of rank, who
apologised for what he said was a mistake arising from
the fact of there being square-rigged vessels below
Ching-kiang, which had on one or two occasions attacked
the insurgents, and that the Hermes was supposed to be