The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-02 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA.

We (Times) have received by our ordinary semi-
monthly express from Marseilles our -letters and
papers in advance of the Overland Mail, which left
Bombay on the 29th of January.
The following is the'letter of our correspondent
at Bombay : _

Since the dispatch of the last mail nothing new
-of consequence has been reported from Burmah.
General Godwin's voluminous dispatches concern-
ing the relief of Pegu have appeared, and are any-
thing but creditable productions. General God-
win's own account of his manoeuvres before that
town are alone quite sufficient to show tl4t he is as
incapable of handling troops under fire as df writing
correct English. " First, he tells us," says the
Calcutta Chronicle, "that he inclined to his right
in order to attack their left, which was their'
weakest point ;" then "he changed his mind, and
determined upon attacking their right, because it
was their strongest ; then he would lead us to infer
that Major Seaton pitched into' the enemy's out-
posts, ' exchanging musketry' with them ; then he
dispatched Major Seaton to attack the enemy's
right ' • then he recalled him, thinking the point
aimed at too strongly guarded (all this, by the bye,
within 400 yards of the enemy's position); then he
paused to count his reserves, and to amire the
' interesting sight' of our little columits moving
up to this host of people so strongly posted, and in
a plain where every object was visible ; then the
attack was made--how, whence, or by whom, we.
are not informed; and, 'after the action the troops
rested in the shade of the tope for an hour." The
general impression regarding these operations is,
that, notwithstanding the absence of artillery and
cavalry (for which deficiency he was himself only to
blame), he could have brought on a close action, in
which the Burmese would have suffered severely,
had it not been for the indecision he manifested in
altering his plan of attack two or three times when
within 400 yards of the enemy. It is said that
the Burmese right was so closely stockaded in rear,
flank, and front, that had he persisted in his ori-
ginal intention of attacking their left flank, which
was completely open, he would have hemmed in a
large proportion of the Burmese force ; whereas,
by attacking their right, he left the open end of
the position clear for their retreat. General God-
win states that the Burmese force he attacked were
known to be the flower of the Burmese army, and,
with the intention of conveying as high an idea as
possible of their courage,, he says, that " some of
the -men that were drawn up before him had been
killed on the walls in their assaults on Pegu." In
military circles, Major Hill's defence of Pegu is
much praised, and spoken of as the only brilliant
exploit of the war.
General GOdwin left Rangoon for Prome on the
29th of December. No intelligence has been as
yet received of his arrival, at Prome and subsequent
operations, but it is reported that the Burmese
force which threatened Prome, and the conquest
of which the General had reserved for himself, has
evacuated its position, and retired on Meaday.
Another rumour is current that there has been a
revolution at Ava' but it is not generally credited.
The expedition which I mentioned in my last as
likely to be dispatched by General Godwin all the
way by land from Moulmein, for the attack of
Sltoygeen, has left Matarbar. The dispatch of
this expedition by so long a land route, through
thick jungles, against a place which can be ap-
proached by water by way of Pegu, within some,
40 miles, is generally condemnd. The com-
mander of the expedition, General Steel, is,
however, considered the most able officer of his
grade with the army of Burmah. The bri-
gade of elephants required for the land carriage
of General Godwin's guns, in the expected
advance on Ava, are only now passing
Arracan. Major Maling, who is observing the
Burmese force occupying the Aeng pass until rein-
forcements arrive which will enable him to force it,
is making every effort to occupy the enemy's atten-
tion until he can pass the elephants along the rear
of the British posts. Unfortunately, throughout
the whole march of the detachment southward,
their left flank will be exposed to attacks from the
numerous pathways which diverge from the diffe-
rent passes. Major Maling has, however, rein-
forced the elephant escort by 300 of the Arracan
local battalion. The Burmese force occupying the
Aeng pass is stockaded on a ridge said to be 4,900
feet in, height, the only ascent to which is along a
narrow spur completely commanded by the fire of
the stockade. They have two guns in position, and
are expecting nine more. Their position is impreg-
nable except by shelling. Major Maling has made
an attempt to turn it, but after two days' efforts
he found the jungle too dense to be penetrable.
Meanwhile his little force is suffering very severely
from jungle fever. The Governor-General is, how-
ever, shortly expected at Arracan, and will doubt-
less expedite the dispatch .of the artillery that
Major Maling requires. Sickness is on the increase
among our troops in Burmah.

The little war in Assam is over. The Thibetian
force being awed by the preparations made to re-
ceive it have not ventured on an invasion. Their
General has sent an humble message to the Com-
missioner, begging him to forward the head and
hands of the defaulting Thibetian that he is in pur-
suit of, and if that is considered objectionable, that
he will at least " report that the defaulter is dead,"
in order to enable his force and himself to return
to Lassa with credit and safety. This request has
been, of course, refused - and cholera is said to
have broken out among the Thibetian troops.
The north-west frontier is at present tranquil.
Sir Henry Lawrence, President of the Punjab
Board of Administration, has been appointed agent
for the Governor-General in the Rajpootanah
States, in succession to Colonel Low, transferred
to the Nizam's at Hyderabad, on the retirement of
General Fraser. The Nizam's financial difficulties
continue to increase, and every sort of disorder
prevails throughout his dominions.

Mr. Wyatt, of the Bengal Civil Service, Judge
of Rungpore, has been suspended for corrupt prac-
tices. The Calcutta press blames the Bengal Go-
vernment for not having taken this step much
earlier, as it is alleged that the Rungpore Court
has for years past notoriously had the character
throughout Bengal, and among all classes, from the
highest to the lowest of " being venal andi corrupt
almost beyond credibility." Cases of this sort are,
happily, very rare among the civil servants of the
East India Company, but it is the opprobrium of
that service that, whenever they do occur, the
offenders are either screened from inquiry, or else
let off far more easily than either the uncovenanted
or military servants of the State would be under
similar circumstances. For instance, about a year
ago, a high civil official in Bengal was convicted of
having directly, by letter, offered to sell the pa-
tronage of his office to a native gentleman for a
pecuniary consideration ; and though he was re-
moved from the service he wa3 allowed to retire on
his pension of 1,0001. per annum. Under similar
circumstances a military officer would have been
inevitably cashiered with every circumstance of
ignominy. Many similar instances might be
cited. In one of them, which occurred some years
ago at Bombay, a member of the civil service
of considerable standing, and holding an im-
portant political appointment, directed a very
young subaltern, in command of a detachment
about to proceed in pursuit of some insurgents, to
give them no quarter if he came up with them, and
the subaltern obeyed the orders, shooting the men
he__ .aught ; he was tried by a court-martial,
cashiered, and utterly ruined. The Court reflected
y severely on the civil political servant under
whose orders thesd .unfortunate boy had acted, but
they had no •11 • iction over him. He was merely
suspended fora3n
be employed in few months, and declared unfit to .
future in the political department,
but he was trans'
poin,tment in the ed
to an equally lucrative ap-
_ A report which revenue branch of the service.
effect that the arrivedpresentch the last mail, to the
for one year only, in
order
ratrter was to be renewed
for fuller inquiry before tioaegive Parliament time
Act, has oiven universal satisfaction of the new
India. Tire feeling is general among
throughout
the service as well as out of it, th:tgtlPe classes, in
the last 20 years is altogether unsuitable
tCharter of
sent: dvanced and advancing state of o.the pre-
The
witnesses already examined by Parliament are
gene-
rally thought to have been purposely selectedfrom
those interested inthe maintenance of the present
order
t
order of things. I forward by this mail the peti-
tion of the Christian inhabitants of Calcutta and
Bengal regarding the renewal of the Charter. The
petition confines itself to pointing out existing evils
and abuses, and asks for a year's postponement of
the Charter to give time for fuller inquiries regard-
ing them ; but it leaves the remedy to the wisdom
of Parliament. The Friend of India, which well
merits the high character for moderation and talent
given it by Mr. Willoughby, in • his evidence
before the Lords' Comillittee, and which, being
conducted by a Government stipendiary, has
a leaning in favour of the existing state of
things, is compelled to admit the general
correctness of the allegations contained in
the Calcutta petition ; but states, in extenuation,
that " no allowance has been made for the all insu-
perable difficulties of the Indian Administration."
The following, is from the Friend's review of the
petition
"That there 19
no one will,gain; much truth in many of the statements
lower province,. a 3% The police, more especially of the
table, conditinZis in a most lamentable if not disrepu-
clubmen in Great big Z 'd open day elm ars collect armies of
went, and disturb the
almost under the eye of Govern-
cutta; and the law ctes
inot Of
the districts around Cal-
Dacoitioi (gang robberies) are not, does not, reach them.
r were, of nightly occur-

rence, and life and property were thereby rendered more
insecure in Bengal than in the Punjab. The police re-
quires a thorough reformation." . . . "The civil
courts cannot be said to dispense justice, and they are a
source of infinite vexation and expense to suitors ; but
this is becanse, first, we have followed the model of the
English courts ; secondly, a native is far more gratified
when he gains his cause by his success in intrigue than
on the ground of its intrinsic merits ; and, thirdly, there
is no truth in the country and no credibility in evidence.
We might in the same manner go over nearly all the
paragraphs in the petition, and show that, with some
exceptions, there is generally a substratum of truth in
the assertions with which it abounds, although the sub-
structure too often exhibits the morbid feeling of the
writer. The colouring is so deep and sombre ILS to leave
an involuntary impression on the mind that the petition
does not give a fair representation of the case, and that
it makes no allowance for the all but insuperable difficul-
ties of the Indian administration."

If these are the admissions of a friendly witness,
it must be allowed that it is the duty of the Impe-
rial Government to institute a much fuller inquiry
into the working of the Indian administration than
any that has yet taken place, before it confirms the
existing order of things for so long a period as 20
years.
The London Mail of the 24th of December ar-
rived at Bombay on the 26th of January by the
East India Company's steam-frigate Queen. Though
the, weather was calm, and there were no accidents
to the machinery, the Queen took 14 days between
this and Aden, being at the rate of something less
than five miles an hour, and the other Government
steamers are just as slow. In the European seas
there are steamers (the Banshee for example) which
have kept up a speed of 16 miles an hour on the
average of a year's running, and from two to three
times the speed of the Bombay Government mail
steam-boats is now constantly attained by the Ame-
rican Atlantic steamers.

P.S. The following are extracts from the Cal-
cutta Englishman and Bengal littrkaru received
by the post just arrived :
"By the Berenice we have received the Rangoon
Chronicle, a new paper, to the 12th inst., in which we
find the following intelligence, but no particulars of the
important event announced
By the Hon. Company's steamer Proserpine we
have received news from Prome of the downfall and de-
thronement of the King of Ava, and the desertion by its
defenders of the town of Yathay. General Godwin, it
is said, intends to destroy the defences at this place, and
immediately follow the enemy to the town of Meaday.
" We have the following, per Berenice, from Rangoon,
and dated the 13th inst.
" General Steel's column left this for Martaban on the
4th inst., and he was to make his advance about the
14th, not before, owing to the want of carriage and
other arrangements. The enemy, about 8,000 or 10,000,
came down again the other day to Pegu with the view
of harassing the garrison. They attacked the picket on
the bank of the river near the Commissariat Wharf, killing
some of them. They had planted themselves on the
opposite side of the Pegu river, behind a long brick wall,
which protected them from our men. On the Bth or 9th
the whole force of the enemy were seen going off in the
Shoygeen direction, forsaking Pegu. No doubt the know-
ledge of the arrival of General Steel's column at Marta-
ban had caused this retreat. A steamer came in from
Prome yesterday, the 12th. The stockade at Ithimen is
deserted, also that at Meaday. There has beeen a sort
of revolution at Ava. The King has gone off ; the heir
apparent has taken possessibn of the place and recalled
his troops from the above-mentioned places, and directed
hostilities to cease ; still it will he a long time before we
can look for peace. The province of Pegu must have
more troops here to do this. Sickness at Prome is
great. Lieutenant and Adjutant Miller, 40th Bengal
Native Infantry, died of dysentery. Every steamer
nearly brings some poor fellows going away on sick
leave. In time this will be a very agreeable spot, but
much is required to be done in it."