The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-19 00:00:00

portion of the English territory adjoining their
dominions. This report, however, turns oat to be
Unfounded ; the Government of Bhootan remains as
obstinate as heretofore, and no choice is left to us, if
We would vindicate our own authority and protect
those who live under our rule, but to continue hos-
tilities until we have obtained sufficient reparation

for past outrages; and secured adequate guarantees
against the commission in future of others of a
similar kind. Our quarrel with Bhootan is of long
standing, and however eager we may have been in
other regions of India to avail ourselves of any
plausible pretext for invading or annexing the ter-
ritory of our neighbours, it cannot with justice be
said that we have pursued a similar policy on the
present occasion. The Bhootans inhabit a hilly range
which runs down, in a south-easterly direction, from
Thibet towards the plains of Assam ; and, :availing
themselves of the inaccessible nature of the country

in which they live, they have for many years been
in the habit of making incursions into the lowlands
and carrying off the cattle, crops, and other pro-
perty of the inhabitants, and in many instances
consigning the latter to hopeless captivity. Against
these outrages the Indian Government again and
again protested with no other result than to receive
from the Government of Bhootan assurances of
future good conduct—assurances, however, which
were violated as soon as made. At length the Indian
Government decided on despatching a special mission
to Bhootan. Mr. Ashley Eden was selected as the
envoy, and this gentleman, together withhis retinue,
despite the serious physical difficulties presented by
the country he was compelled to traverse, succeeded
in penetrating to the capital of Bhootan. The jour-
ney, however, proved woise than unavailing ; for
not only did the Bhootan Government refuse to
make the required reparation and liberate their cap-
tives, but they made the envoy himself a prisoner,
and liberated him solely on condition of executing
in the name of his Government a treaty which pur-
ported to cede to the Bhooteans the territory which
had been the scene of their previous depredations.
When Mr. Eden returned to Calcutta, it is needless
to say that the instrument thus obtained by coercion
was forthwith repudiated by the Government, and
that preparations were at once made to avenge the
insult offered to the Ambassador, and to secure the
population of the plains from future incursions.
0 wing to the mountainous and, for all military pur-
poses, practically inaccessible nature of the country
occupied by the freebooters, the Indian Government
at first resolved on merely taking possession of the
several passes opening from Bhootan into the ad-
joining plains and annexing them to the English
territory. For this purpose a strong military force
was despatched about a twelvemonth since to the
frontier, and not without some little difficulty ; and
on one occasion at the cost of a discreditable, if not
a very damaging, repulse they succeeded in making
themselves masters of some of the principal defiles.
The commencement of the hot weather, however,
necessitated a suspension of hostilities, whilst at the
same time the ravages made by fever were such as
to threaten almostthe total annihilation of the troops
engaged in the campaign. Every succeeding mail
brought accounts of the heavy losses incurred through
pestilence, and it became apparent that if the war
was to be prosecuted with success, the Government
should resolve on annexing, not only the lower defiles,
but the higher grounds abovethem, where the troops
might enjoy that health which was denied to them in
the jungles at the foot of the hills. For the ap-
proaching campaign a force has aiready been told off
which many seem to consider too large and numerous
for the duty which it will be called upon to perform,
but as probably a considerable portion will be retained
as a reserve, whilst the remainder is employed in the
hills, the numbers will not prove to be unnecessarily
great. The Government have not yet decided on the
choice of the commander of the expedition ; it is,
however, believed that the post will be given to
Gen. Showers, an officer well versed by experience
in all the dangers and difficulties of Indian campaign-
ing. Of the final result of such apetty war as that in
which we are now unfortunately engaged there can,
of course, be but one opinion ; the oly doubt which
it or any wars of a similar kind can ever excite in
the mind is whether the price we may be compelled
to pay may not prove rather extravagant, consider-
ing the smallness of the returns we can reasonably
hope to expect. Confident in the natural strength
of their country, the Bhooteas have not only set us
at defiance, but have within the past few months
refused to pay the usual annual tribute to the Thi-
betan Government, and treated its envoy with the
same disrespect that they showed to Mr. Eden. It
is therefore scarcely probable that we shall reduce
them to submission if we merely content ourselves
with taking possession of a few of the outlying
passes which mark the boundary of their moun-
tainous home. It is considered at Calcutta that an
attack should be made on one of the most important
of their posts, known as Punakha, but which, from
its elevation above the plains, and the rugged nature
of the approaches, cannot be taken by troops with-
out much difficulty and danger. With Punakha in
our possession, it would be unnecessary to garrison
the lower defiles, and' the important advantage of
obtaining healthy quarters for our troops would be
secured. But Punakha, it is conceded, will not be
taken without a struggle, and military men do not
require to be reminded of the difficulties which be-
set thG path of an attacking force in a narrow
mountainous defile. But if we had nothing more
serious to contend with than the prowess of the
Bhooteas we might well be satisfied with the pros-
pect before us. Disease, however, not unfrequently
destroys more than the sword, and our experiences
up to the present have not been encouraging. Some
of the regiments have suffered so severely from the
ravages made by what is termed the jungle fever
that they are said now to be merely regiments in
name. Added to this, the supply of medical offi-
cers in India is so scanty that, in their extremity,
the Indian Government have been compelled to
telegraph their wants to the authorities. The
Government, however, have only themselves to
blamelf they are now without an efficient medical
staff. If they refuse to offer suitable inducements
to educate gentlemen tip enter their service, they
must not be surprised if, as on the present occasion,
their troops are left nearly destitute of medical
assistance.

‘4 The Saturday Review" on the Bristol
Disappointment.

No on who has a human heart to feel will doubt that
the Brisfel operatives have been very hardly used. A cus-
tom which in this age may be called venerable, as it has
now extended over ten years, has established that a Prime
Minister's vacation is the lawful property of provincial
audiences. It is evidently only by a piece of extreme mal-
administration that Lord Palmerston has had the gout at
such a time. It is a defiance of the lawful prerogative of
the working-man, and an interference with his most im-
portant interests. A Prime Minister may be useful during
the. session of Parliament in passing measures which faci-
litate the workman's labours. But his business during
August and September is far more vital, because he then
interferes with the workman's enjoyment of his holiday.
To those who have no sympathy with the spirit of the ago
it is, indeed, a strange kind of holiday. The only salient
point of the speech which the Prime Minister would have
made, if ho had gone to Bristol, would have been a bad
joke about the young women present, and the probability
of their being soon married. A joke of equally good calibre
would probably have been furnished them by their own
rector, whenever he undertook to improve their minds by a
suburban lecture. But it is something to hear a great
Prime Minister make a very small joke. The conscious-
ness that a man for whose decision Fiance and Russia have
looked with anxiety is improvising small chaff to grinning
females for your amusement, is ennobling to humanity,
and raises a man in the scale of sentient beings. Besides,
the appearance of a Prime Minister as part of an autumn
raree-show is in itself a sublime testimony to the progress
of civilisation in our great country. There was a time
when the working-man was content with far less elevat-
ing sights. The agility of a long-tailed monkey, or the
conjuring tricks of a mountebank, used to furnish the holi-
day enjoyments of those who now insist upon Prime Mi-
nisters and Chancellors of the Exchequer. Every symp-
tom of a more fastidious and more delicate taste in the
working classes is to be hailed as an improvement, no
matter what the nature of the enjoyment upon which it is
exercised. That distinguished politicians are now required
to excite the same curiosity which used to be easily raised
by the grosser performers who preceded them, shows that
the working men are becoming thorough connoisseurs.
The fact ought to take its place in the catalogue of merits
by which Mr. Baines annually establishes their right to
the six-pound franchise.
The regret, however, has not been confined to the in-
habitants of Bristol alone. Their loss is easily repaired.
There are plenty of younger "lions" about, even if the
king of autumnal exhibitors is away. They have already
made an attack (though an unsuccessful one) upon Mr.
Gladstone, who, if he cannot provide jokes for the women,
can preach a lay- sermon as well as any man ; and there
still remains Sir Charles Wood, whose speeches, if they do
not charm the ear, impose a severe and profitable exer-
cise on the understanding. The Bristol folk will make a
great mistake if they do not send for Sir Charles Wood,
for they hardly know what a Minister really is until they
have seen and heard him. Whoever they may succeed in
trapping, their show will be just as lively. But this refusal
cf Lord Palmerston has an ominous look. Graver interpre-
tations are affixed to it than the newspapers care to print,
and doubts are freely expressed whether he may not be
compelled some months hence to forego a meeting of more
importance than the Bristol gathering ; and the substitute
proposed by the men of Bristol naturally suggests the in-
quiry whether Mr. Gladstone will be "sent for" to replace
his chief at a more distant period. The position of Mr.
Gladstone in reference to the succession of the leadership
of the Liberals, which must fall vacant before long, has
altered a good deal within the last few months. His mis-
hap at Oxford was due to a variety of causes, some of them