The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-19 00:00:00

LON DON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1853.

-itHE NEW NOVE L S.
Now rt ady at all the I.ibraries, in 3 vole,
THE COLONEL. By the Author of " The Perils of Fashion."
CHARLES AUCHE-TER Dedicated to the Right Hon. B
Disraeli
ELECTRA. By the.author of "Rockingham." With Illustra-
Wins by LORD GERALD FITZGERALD.
A ILIEFORD ; N Family Histcry. By the Author of '•John
Drayton " (Just ready).
Also, now ready in 2 vols., 21s.
sAM gLicK'S ISE S WS Alil MODERN INSTANCES. Fe-
coed Edition.
Hurst and Blackett, Publishers. Successors to Henry Colburn, 13,
Great Marlborough-street.

NEW MONTHLY WORK BY W. M. THACKERAY, with Illus-
tr-tiors by RICHARD DOYLE.
On the Ist October will he published, Price One Shilling, with Illus-
trations on steel and tticimaD DOYLE,
No. I. of
THE NEWCOMES. Memoirs of a Most
Respectabt Family. Edited by ARTHUR PENDENNIS, Esq.
London: Bradbury and Evans, 11, Bouverie street.

AN ANCIENT PENSIONER.—Died at Fishguard on the
12th inst., aged 88 years, Mary Williams, better known
as Matty Carham. On the French landing near this
place in February, 1797, she was maltreated by one of
the soldiers, being then far advanced in pregnancy. Her
case was represented by the late Lord Cawdor (to whom
the French troops surrendered, amounting to about
1,400 men) to his Majesty George 111., who granted
her a pension by sign manual of 101. per annum, which
she has received for 56 years.
DEATH OF ONE OF THE GAOL WARDERS OF BIRMING-
HAM.—Mr. Cotterill, jun., one of the warders at this
gaol, died last Sunday week. It will be remembered
that, during the first week of the inquiry, the commis-
sioners demanded that he should be brought before them,
seeing that, according to the testimony of some of the
witnesses, he had taken a very prominent and ill-advised
course in the system carried out in the gaol. It was at
once stated by the gaol surgeon that he was in such a
state of nervous debility and excitement, produced by a
knowledge of the institution of the commission of in-
quiry, that it was unsafe for him then to make his ap-
pearance before the commissioners, who, perhaps, having
no great faith in the surgeon's representation, ordered
that Ihe should be produced with as little delay as pos-
sible. It is supposed the terrible character of the ordeal
through which he would have had to pass, as exhibited
in the report of the first week's proceedings, was suffi-
cient to overpower what energy and nerve remained in
him, and he therefore sunk under the pressure of disease
and mental suffering.
PROPOSAL TO CONFER THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY OF
PERTH ON LORD PALMERSTON.—The Perthshire Courier
says :—" In reference to the proposal to confer the free-
dom of the city on Lord Palmerston on the occasion of
his passing through Perth to attend upon her Majesty at
Balmoral, we understand his lordship has agreed—in the
event of his being in the locality, which, however, is
still uncertain—to accept the compliment proposed for
him. We feel assured that upon this subject but one
opinion prevails in the city of Perth, and that it will
afford the very highest gratification to every citizen—
should circumstances permit it—to have Lord Palmer-
ston's name inscribed in our books as an honorary fellow
citizen. We are also glad to be able to say that, should
his lordship he in Perth, there is some reason to believe
that he may be prevailed upon to accept of some more
popular demonstration of the high esteem in which he is
held by all classes of the community."
THE HEALTH OF THE BISHOP OF DURHAM.—A
paragraph has been going the round of the papers to
this effect :—" The Bishop of Durham, who manifested
unmistakeable signs of the effects of age and infirmity
in his recent visitation tour continues to be in a very
precarious state of health. At the confirmations about
to take place in different parts of the diocese, the
Bishop of Manchester will officiate for the venerable
prelate." We have authority for stating that the above
is almost entirely without foundation. The bishop is
now residing at Auckland Castle, and is, we are glad
to state, in the enjoyment of as good health as can be
expected at his venerable age. As a proof of which his
lordship has appointed Tuesday next for the consecra-
tion of the new church at Ferryhill. Some time ago,
when the health of his lordship was very indifferent, it
was arranged that the Bishop of Manchester should as-
sist him with the confirmations, and that arrangement,
We believe, still continues in force,—.Durkant Advertiser.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

We (Times) have received by express from Mar-
seilles our dispatches from India and China, in
anticipation of the Overland Mail, which left Bom-
bay on the 30th of July, and Calcutta on the sth
of August.
The following is the letter of our correspondent
in Bombay :
The Bombay monsoon is now at its height, and,
as is usual at the time of year, everything is as
dull as the weather. Lord Falkland and the Com-
mander-in-Chief are at Poonah, with their re-
spective staffs. The Burmese war is over, the
English mails do not arrive, and there is nothing
talked about but table-turning.
On this subject there is quite a mania. It is
said that at the last meeting of Council the mem-
bers, having no more important business before
them, and bing olgteed for appearance sake to re-
main a certain time in the Council Chamber,
amused themselves with trying to.send the tables
round. The Hindoo servants are lost in astonish-
ment at seeing theft' masters and mistresses stand-
ing in circles round hats and tables, and fancy
that
it is some magical incantation for prolonging the
rule of the Company Bahadoor. I think that
among the English here there are more believers
than sceptics ; many have been converted by suc-
cessful experiments being made with natives, by
setting round a table Sepoys and others who have
never heard of the process and have no idea of
what is to happen, and who are beside themselves
with fright when the tables begin to move. I
have heard of several such cases from those who
have witnessed them, but have not as yet seen any
of them myself. -
The Burmese war is said to be.,over, but the
present state of affairs appearsto be tenerally con-
sidered little more than a suspension of hostilities.
Staff officers, whom the war had called to their re-
giments are not allowed to leave them, and Euro-
pean women are restricted to Rangoon, on the
ground that they would not be safe anywhere else.
The Englishman (the leading Opposition journal),
says, that we are in a state of armed neutrality,
which will cut out work for Lord Dalhousie's suc-
cessor, and even the Ministerial Friend of India
has an article entitled, Is it peace ? ' The former
paper remarks that, if it is the want of provisions
in Burmah Proper that has alone induced a pacific
disposition on the part of the Court of Ava, it is a
pity that the advice of those was not earlier
followed who, at the commencement of hostilities,
recommended the seizure of Prome and the block-
ade of the river. The accounts received respectinc,
our new acquisitions are somewhat contradictory,
but the general impression regarding their capabi-
lities is more favourable here than those entertained.
in England. The following is from the English-
man :

" We observe that the English papers are beginning
to find fault with the acquisition of Pegu, because likely
to be a losing concern. The value of the frontier pro-
vinces of a great empire cannot be estimated by the
Treasury balance-sheet. The question is, whether they
contribute to the security and good order of the whole.
Pegu we consider a very inportant acquisition for rea-
sons which we have frequently stated, and we have no
doubt that under any other management than that of
the East India Company it could be made to produce a
revenue far greater than its expenses."
The Friend of India is much more exultant :
" We have obtained possession of another of those
great Asiatic deltas which -,eein with the luxuriant fer-
tility of the tropics, and have opened to our traders an- '
other river, which may wdl be compared, in its own
size, and the richness of the tracts through which it
flows, with the Ganges or the Indus. . . . We still be-
lieve, as we have always believed, that a third Burmese
war is ultimately inevitable, and that our frontier to the
eastward will shortly be Western China. . . . The
Ministry did not desire the war, the Court of Directors
regretted it, the public were scarcely reconciled to it,
and it was denounced, from the first, by the English
press as a quarrel about a swamp. Yet, in spite of press,
Parliament, and people of the Board of Control, the
Court of Directors, and the Government of India, the
red line, the mark of the British dominion, surrounds
Pegu. We have quitted the peninsula and are fairly
embarked in the affairs of Indo-Chinese Asia, and, if any
one imagines the red line will remain at the 96th degree
of east longitude, he has studied the history of India to
exceedingly little purpose.
Saadut Khan, the Momund chief whose terri-
tories extend along the northern margin of the
lower portion of the Khyber Pass, is again astir
and troublesome. It is believed that, in conjunc-
tion with some allied chiefs to the south,. he is pre-
paring for an attack on our frontier villages and
posts, and the former, it is said, are liable to be
plundered and burnt before any efficient aid could
reach them. At the last accounts the Kohat Pass
had been closed some days, and it was remarked
that " it was a very derogatory affair that a hand-
ful of scoundrels should take up a position on our
side of the defile, and allow no one to pass, and yet
that we did not, would not, or could not, drive
them off."

There appears to be some hitch about the Sudder
judge's appointment. The vacancy created by Mr.
Warden's promotion to Council, which took place
nearly three weeks ago, is not yet filled up, whereas
i▪ n the ordinary course of proceeding the new judge
would have been appointed within the week. Mr.
Le Geyt has demanded to be reinstated, and Go-
vernment cannot with reason resist the demand,
for by appointing him to the bench of the conti-
nental capital of the western Presidency, they
ip•
so facto
. admitted that he had done nothing that
d
disqualified him for the exercise of judicial func-
tions, and, if this be admitted, his removal from
the Sudder bench was an unwarrantable attack on
its independence, and a mistake that ought to be
rectified without loss of time. But Governments
are always slow in acknowledging themselves in the
wrong.
Much anxiety is felt regarding the safety of the
English mails.* They are more than a fortnight
overdue, and it is feared that the small schooner
that was to have brought them from the Red Sea
must have met with some accident during the
recent heavy gales. The way that Bombay is
treated with respect to mail communication is
scandalous. The Court a Directors insist on re-
taining the carriage of the mails in their own hands,
and will not let the Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany have anything to do with them. Mr. Mel-
vin admits that, such being the case, the Indian
Government are bound to provide their western
capital with packets equal to those of the Penin-
sular and Oriental Company, and yet they do pro-
vide nothing but schooners and colliers for our
alternate mails during the monsoon.
I mentioned in my last that the Governor of
Shanghai was hiring and organizing a fleet at Can-
ton, with which to attempt the recovery of the
mouths of the Grand Canal. The attempt has since
been made, and, as was expected, without a chance
of success. Amoy was in a state of considerable
alarm. A large Imperialist force, mustering 10,000
strong, had assembled under arms at Tong-wa, a
place at a short distance from Amoy, and was to
attempt to retake the city on the 19th of June.
The rebels were very much pressed for funds, and,
besides prohibiting the conveyance of rice to any of
the neighbouring towns, had commenced extorting
considerable sums from those reported to be weal-
thy. It is said that the alarm and discontent caused
by these proceedings on the part of the rebels, added
to distrust of each other, rendered the opportunity
a very favourable one for the Mandarins to retake
the place. According to the Friend of China, the
Chief of the insurgents in. Rossea.sion of Amoy, issues
manifestoes as Generalissimo m, the army of the
restored dynasty of Ming ; and, in
quarters where
we have been accustomed to look for authentic in-
formation, we have been confidently assured that
Tien-teh is no myth,
and that he only waits for the
rising to be more general to
.come forward and take
o exte
his position as lawful Sovereignend of th
13th of
to the empire.
Accounts from Niug-1.)
June. All was then quiet there, but alarm was
felt regarding rumours of rebel movements in the
neighbourhood. The opium vessels, which hereto-
fore had never been allowed to go up to the city,
were now encouraged by the Mandarins to come as
close as possible, and the present state of things
rendered opium virtually a free article of commerce.
Accounts from Shanghai extend to the 9th of
June. The unsettled state of the interior and con-
sequent difficulty of transit were seriously dimi-
nishing the demand and price of opium.
Her Majesty's steamer Hermes arrived from
Hong Kong and Amoy on the 7th. The Taoutae
of this place, for the purpose of manning his fleet,
has adopted very active and pressing measures to
get men away from the various ships in port.
Among others, a marine and eight of the crew of
her Majesty's steamer Salamander deserted, and
Captain Fishbourne, of the Hermes, has given a
very efficient caution to the Sir Herbert Compton,
Eliza, and two Lorchas, not to move from their
anchorage until these men are brought back. The
Taoutae has been much embarrassed by this very
stringent measure, which, it is hoped, will also
have the good effect of partially, if not entirely,

" it will be remembered that intelligence has reached us
of the loos of this mail shortly after it was dispatched from
Aden.

breaking up his fleet, now lying near Chin Kiang.
No news lately has been received from Nanking.
Money is exceedingly scarce, and it is impossible to
realise hard cash for bills on London and India.

The following is from a private letter from Hong
Kong :

"News is now coming in of new insurrectious in all
parts of the empire, and the fall of the old dynasty is
become hardly a matter of doubt. With a body of reli-
gious enthusiasts, part of whose creed is war to the
death, in the heart of the country, and engaging all the
feeble energies of the Government, and insurrections
under other banners in nearly every province south of the
Yellow River, it cannot long survive. The ultimate re-
sult is a question only to be decided by time, but the
superior organization, poor as it is, of the Christian rebels,
and their more determined spirit, may justly give us
some hope that in the end they may prevail over their
competitors for empire. They still remain in position at
Nanking and Chinkiangfoo, and, beyond some skir-
mishes with the Chinese foreign ships, in which they are
uniformly successful, nothing new has occurred. It is
much to be feared that the country is rapidly approach-
ing a state of anarchy, a condition of things most detri-
mental to trade ; and we are obliged, further, to confirm
our previous remarks upon the prospects for business.
Imports will be to a great extent unsaleable, and the
amount of produce brought to market must be largely
curtailed."
Lord Falkland expects to be relieved in October
next. It is believed that he will be succeeded by
Lord Elphinstone.