The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-16 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA.

Some days since we published a tehlgraphic
mesvoge from Trieste-in antieitiatlifiroUtfie Over-
land Mail ; we have now received'our Ittters and
papers by the Marseilles route.
The following is the letter of the Times corre-
spondent at Bombay, dated April 14th :
The latest news from Burmah extends to the
23d of March. I mentioned in my last that a com-
bined attack was about to be made for the third
time on the stronghold of the robber chief Mya.h
Thoon by 1,500 troops under Sir J. Cheape—the
boats of the Queen's and Company's men-of-war
under Captain Tarlton, and a body of Karians
under Captain Fytche. The attack was made on
the 19th of March by Sir John Cheape's force,
which had to cut a road through a dense jungle in
order to approach the Burmese position, the out-
lets of which were guarded by Captain Tarlton and
Captain Fytche to prevent the enemy's escape.
After four hours' hard fighting, and after sustain-
ing a loss of 102 rank and file killed and wounded
(including 13 officers), Sir J. Cheape succeeded in
carrying the enemy's position and bayoneting its
defenders. Myah Thoon unfortunately escaped for
the time with 100 or 200 followers, but Captain
Fytche and his Karians went off immediately in
pursuit, and were thought certain of catching him.
No particulars have as yet been received, but the
following demi-official note from Sir J. Cheape
(dated 20th of March), in anticipation of the di-
spatches, has been communicated by Government
to the Calcutta papers. _ _

" Under the impression that authentic information
will be anxiously looked for regarding the operations of
the force under my command, I hasten to inform you of
the total dispersion of the enemy's forces under the chief
Gua Myah Thoon. His stronghold was captured yester-
day morning after a most determined and protracted re-
sistance. The loss on both sides has been heavy. Our
casualties are as follow :

" KILLED.

"Lieutenant Taylor, 9th Madras Native Infantry ;
Ensign Boileau, 67th 8.N.1.

" WOUNDED.

"Lieutenant Cockburn, 18th Royal Irish, danger-
ously ; Major Wigstone, 18th Royal Irish, severely ;
Major Reid, Bengal Artillery, severely ; Major Arm-
strong, 4th Sikhs, severely ; Lieutenant Rawlins, 4th
Sikhs, severely ; Lieutenant Wilkinson, 80th Regiment,
severely ; Ensign Woolsey, 80th Regiment, severely ;
Lieutenant Clarke, 67th 8.N.1., severely ; Lieutenant
Woodwright, 80th 8.N.1., slightly ; Lieutenant Ma-
grath, Madras Horse Artillery, slightly ; Lieutenant
Trevor, Bengal Engineers, slightly. Non-commissioned
officers, rank, and file :

Killed. Wounded.
Artillery
Sappers and Miners
18th Royal Irish
51st King's Own Light Infantry 1 ... 12
80th Regiment
67th 8.N.1 1 ... 6

4th Sikhs 0 4
Itaingurh Irregular Cavalry 0

... 16
... 0

18 84
" I cannot speak too highly of the conduct of the
troops in the performance of this service, in which there
were many hardships to endure and difficulties to over-
come, it being necessary to cut a road through a forest
of the most dense description, intersected by lakes and
deep water-courses. The two field guns, rocket tubes,
and rockets, which unfortunately fell into the enemy's
possession on the 4th of last month, have been recap-
tured, the guns having been used against us in the action
of yesterday."
It is to these guns mainly that the heavy loss
on our side is attributed by private letters. We
are sorry to say that Lieutenant Cockburn, 18th
Royal Irish, is described as being mortally wound-
ed ; one letter even places him among the killed.
The sergeant-major of the 4th Sikhs is also reported
killed, and Conductor Lisbey, of the Rocket Troop,
severely wounded. The operations commenced at
9 a.m., and ended at 1 p.m. The sick and wounded
have been sent to Rangoon in the steamers Phle-
gethon and Mahanuddy. Great mortality from
cholera and dysentery had prevailed among both
troops and camp followers during the expedition.
The camp followers had also suffered much from
smallpox.
Much uncertainty prevails regarding the actual
state of affairs at Ava. The late King's brother-
in-law is now believed to be fully established in
power, but it is said that he will not hear of any
cession of territory; that, true to the traditional
policy of the Burmese, he is endeavouring to gain
time 'at any expense of truth and promises ;' and
that, flushed with his recent success over his own
Sovereign, he manifests no anxiety regarding our
threatened advance on his capital. ' The confi-
dence of his advisers, moreover,' says the Friend of

India,
" Appears to have been greatly increased by the
recent affair at Donabew, and by the desperate resist-
ance of the Dacoit leader, who repulsed our troops on
that occasion. This chief, Myah Thoon, was an outlaw
during the reign of the old King, but his recent success,
and the desperate stand which he is still making in the
jungle, have wiped away the recollection of his crimes.
The Court have not only sent him, as a recompense for
his fidelity, a string of titles, the highest in their power
to bestow, but have invested him with legal authority
over the entire district to which his operations have been
confined, and this, we believe, since the publication of
the Governor-General's proclamation."
The recent defeat of Myah Thoon by Sir J.
Cheape will probably induce the King to alter his
tone ; if not, as the rains will set in very shortly,
and Ava will be in six weeks as accessible as Prome,
our troops will advance on his capital, and the fact
of additional troops having been ordered up to
Prome appears to indicate that such a measure is
already in contemplation.
The Bombay Government lately removed two
of the Sudder judges, because their private moral
character was considered liable to newspaper attack,
on the assigned grounds that the character of Go-
vernment was implicated in that of its high officials.
A few days after this decision M. Luard, a civil
servant of high standing, wrote to the papers to
say that, if he was allowed the opportunity of a
public inquiry, he would prove that two other still
higher officials had been guilty of infamous con-
duct in the exercise of their judicial functions.
Government thereon suspended Mr. Luard, but
they have declined all inquiry, and taken no steps
to clear the character of the high officials thus pub-
licly attacked. This inconsistency has exposed the
Government to severe animadversion, and the
local press is again unanimously arrayed against
Lord Falkland. Mr. Luard's allegations are
such as will not be allowed to pass in England
without the fullest parliamentary inquiry, the
result of which will be a blue book, certainly
not less voluminous or less damaging to the
Bombay Government than the Outram contro-
versy. The intelligence received by the last
mail, that it was supposed the Government in-
tended prolonging the East Indian Company's
charter, without material alterations, for 10 years,
without so much as waiting for a sixth part of the
evidence of even the carefully selected witnesses
that the Indian Parliamentary Committees had
proposed examining, has excited a feeling of indig-
ill
nation
to the
bitter
treat
fruits.
Queen'suai
ts.colony
It
tis subjectsoffe l
Et
uitnbr
oalptne
nda t
bhlao that
Ministrydw
at the injustice of the Imperial Government
daret
n
b containingr
100,000 inhabitants, the wyei
• , as present Ministry are
prepared to treat the 100,000,000 of British India.
Had Mrs. Tyler deferred her late attack on the
English people for a few weeks,
she could not have
failed to make a telling point of the fact
English Ministry, is prepared to assert in act, if
not in word, that any system of Government or of
law, however defective in its working,however
impoverishing
impoverishing to Hindostan, or execrated by its