The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-07 00:00:00

THE ATTACK ON PETROPAULOVSKI.

Amongst the passengers per the Atlantic, West, from
New York, at Liverpool, was Commknder Forsyth, pro-
moted frOm her Majesty's ship Virago;.tyho was present
at the Allied fleets' attack on the Russian possessions in
the Pacific.
The Anglo-French fleet had arrived in San Francisco,
and had brought with them the Russian prize-ship which
was taken off Petropaulovski, the Russian port which
they had lately besieged. Colonel Fremont had been
invited to a public dinner, which he declined in a letter
full of gratitude for the proffered honour. Admiral des
Pointes, commanding the French squadron, had paid a
friendly visit to General Wool, and it was said the gene-
rsl would return the compliment on board one of the
French vessels.

Her Majesty's steam•ship Virago, Commander Mar
shall, arrived at San Francisco on the 28th October, in
a passage of 6 days from Victoria, Vancouver's Island.
President, 50, Capt. Berridge ; Pique, 40, Capt. Sir
F. Nicholson ; and the French frigate Forte, Admiral
des Pointes, remained in the harbour of San Francisco.

EAST INDIAN RAILWAY. t

The last overland mail brought details of the working
of the East Indian Railway during the seven weeks
from its partial opening on the 15th of August. The
length of the line at present is 42 nines from Calcutta,
20 of which, from Hooghly to Pundooah, was opened
only on the Ist of September, and it passes through no
town of importance, while Pundooah, the village, is no-
thing but a large village. The receipts, however, for the
seven weeks, averaged nearly 4601., and, allowing for
the Sunday traffic, which had not yet commenced, it was
calculated that the net profit might be considered to be
ut the rate of nearly 6 per cent. per annum, or 1 per
cent. above the interest guaranteed to the shareholders
by the India Company. At the same time, it is stated
that the traffic thus far had been carried on under all
the disadvantages of incompleteness and inexperience,
and that the transit of goods, which was looked to as a
chief source of revenue, was not expected to be developed
until the line shall have been carried further. Under
these circumstances great confidence seems to have been
established at Calcutta in the financial results of the
undertaking, and, although it was admitted that, as it is
the first railway opened in the presidency, no positive
conclusions could be drawn from the traffic during the
immediate excitement of such an event, a strong impres-
sion appeared to prevail that, not only would the ulti-
mate returns be great, but that they might, even from
the present period, be expected to show a steady pro-
gress.
The best mode of raising the necessary funds for the
rapid extension of the above railway is understood to
have been lately under serious discussion between the
authorities in Leadenhall-street, the Board of Control,
and the company, and an impression is entertained that
the conclusion arrived at is to raise the guarantee of 41
per cent. on the Extension Shares to 5 per cent. This
will enable the company to make calls of sufficiently
heavy. amount to obtain such sums as are immediately
required, without issuing at present any additional
4 shares.