The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-29 00:00:00

of money upon wars, not one of which has been
upon our own shores or in defence of our hearths
and homes !" We are in some degree con-
soled for the hitherto idle talk of the
orators of the Arbitration Conference, by
their endeavour to dissipate the ignorance of
the multitude in regard to facts like those just
indicated. Let them continue to act thus, and
they will gain the respectful consideration of the
multitude ; but don't let us hear any more
twaddling yet awhile of disbanding our armies
and reducing our navies to a few "bum-boats," and
breaking up our artillery to be melted down in
the smelting-pots, or any other nonsense of this
preposterous description.

It is really lamentable to observe the incapacity
displayed by General GODWIN in conducting the
war against the Burmese Government. The Kafir
war was nothing to the luckless conflict which has
now been so long sustained by our troops along
the banks of the Irrawaddy—nothing, we mean,
in regard to deplorable blundering and disas-
trous procrastination. Ample means were at
the very outset of the campaign at the
disposal of the Commander-in-Chief for the
subjugation of our antagonists. Soldiers, guns,
and ammunition were there in abundance. Be-
sides this, General GODWIN had the extraordi-
nary advantage of a fleet of war-steamers capable
of bringing the contest, if properly directed, to a
summary- termination. Yet doubts, delays, and
hesitations were so long " the order of the day,"
that the seasonable opportunity vanished. Our
army in these regions continued for such a pro-
tracted interval loitering among the swamps, in-
stead of marching upon the cities, that the soldiers
were given up to a very inglorious destruction
—they were decimated not by bullets, but by
pestilence. Our navy, in these same regions,
remained so long hesitating about adventuring up
the river that time was given to the old Admiral
in command to get ill and die off unexpectedly.
Every fresh mail has brought us only additional
testimonies of the evil resulting from this pottering
system of continuing hostilities. Perhaps the
most melancholy proof yet received of the folly
of this systematic procrastination is that afforded
by the accounts contained in our last intelligence.
From these despatches, it appears, as will already,
we doubt not, by our more observant readers,

have been remarked that our forces have again
encountered a very unfortunate discomfiture.
Happily, our defeat has been, in a manner, com-
pensated by a subsequent victory, but that
scarcely renders the circumstance less unsatisfac-
tory in itself to a people altogether unaccustomed
to mishaps upon the tented field. The particulars
are briefly these—that an advanced post of merely
440 men having most imprudently been estab-
lished at Pegu—a spot situated about sixty miles
beyond Rangoon, and within easy distance of a
very formidable body of Burmese stationed at
Spoy Gyre—the latter were, of course, not long
in attacking the British garrison, and, after seiz-
ing a convoy of munitions on its way to the post,
and harassing our troops by a series of murderous
assaults, effectually cut off all communication
between Pegu and Rangoon. As if this
Were not enough in the way of calamity—it
appears that several of our vessels of war having
on board 150 marines, and 300 soldiers (all
Europeans), the vessels being accompanied and
supported by a war steamer, were repulsed with
considerable loss, acuer vainly endeavouring to
carry succour to Pegu by forcing a passage up
the Irrawaddy. Dismayed, it would seem,
by these deplorable misfortunes, the Commander-
in-Chief then, at the eleventh hour as it were,
after all the danger had been incurred, and all
the loss above-mentioned had been sustained, des-
patched from Rangoon, to the assistance of
the ill-fated garrison at Pegu, two columns,
composed of 2,400 men, who—on their way
to the endangered post encountered the
Burmese forces, and defeated them " with great
loss"—the first success of any noteable kind yet
gained by General GODWIN in this mismanaged
enterprise. Additional particulars will, in all like-
lihood, reach us on Monday, informing the
country, we trust, that the perils incurred by
our troops at Pegu have in truth been effectually
dissipated. This, however, will by no means be
sufficient to allay the popular anxiety in this
country in reference to the conduct of the war
aguir s'.; the Burmese Government. The nation
will rot rest satisfied until the system of

giving to old worn-out generals and to old
worn-out admirals the command upon all
great OCCf sions of our military and maritime ar-
maments have been abolished—until officers of
this obsolete description have been replaced by
others younger and more energetic. As a signal
example, we shall yet look forward, in hope, for
the recal of General GODWIN, and for the appoint-
ment of some more competent Commander-in-Chief
to bring to a close this miserably protracted contest
with the forces of the Burmese Government. We
should remember that every white-headed admiral
is not by necessity a HowE, and that every military
octogenarian is not inevitably a RADETZSITH
that NAPOLEON was twenty-seven when he con-

Tiered Lombardy, and that NELSON was forty
seven when he expired in the arms of victory ai
Trafalgar.

Few, probably, of our readers are aware of the
elevation gained by Sir CHARLES WOOD in obtain-
ing the office of President of the Board of Con-

,rol.

From a Clarice!lor of the Exchequer he

is become the Monarch of India—one, indeed,
who reverses the conditions of ALEXANDER SEL-
KIRK'S rule ; for of all .::he country of which he is
monarch he never surveyed a single acre. Noy is
our description of his power merely figurative.
That grave authority, Mr. G. R. POE,TER, states,
"that this important functionary is, in fact, the
Supreme Governor of India, using the Court of
Directors as the instruments of his will ; and
exercising, under the sanction of an Act of Parlia-
ment, a power over the destinies of that part of
the British Empire greater than the Monarch can
legally exert in that or any other quarter." His
dignity has, to be sure, one great deduction—a
hostile vote of the House of Commons compels
him at any time to abdicate his throne,
of course to be immediately refilled ; and
he has for coadjutors the principal Secretaries
of State, the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, and six other persons. Of these,
however, he is in practice independent, since he
uses their help only when he thinks he needs it.
Such is the Indian Board of Control. It means
just now, Sir CHAS. WOOD, Member of Parliament
for Halifax, in Yorkshire.

But Sir CHARLES' has a certainly rather singu-
tar adjunct to his absolute Monarchy. The some-

times heard of, but almost unknown Board of
Directors, what are they ? and what are their
privileges and powers ? They are twenty-four
worthy gentlemen, selected by the proprietors of
India Stock, six of them retiring annually in rota-
tion, but eligible for re-elec;7:on, and generally
soon re-elected. Their power and patronage is
very great. All the subordinate appointments
are in their hanes, though the Government of

Le day always shares a part with them. They

nominate also the Governor-C caeral and the
Governors of the Presidencies, but as these
nominations must have the approval of the
Crown, they are considered as belonging to it.
The Board of Directors has also the absolute and
unquestioned power to recal any of these func-

tionaries; a power indeed but rarely used. It
was, however, employed in the case of Lord
ELLTrynoRouGH in 1844, much against the wishes
of Sir R. PEEL'S Ministry. These sober gentle-
men could not understand his Lordship's Som-
nauth Gates Proclamation, and his fondness for
military displey ; it did not look business-like
'enough, so they ordered him home ! The prompt
appointment of Sir HENRY FIARDINGE, however,
gave full satisfaction to all parties.
-But, doubtless, our readers are aware that

the East India Company has now done with
trading ; and some may have occasion to ask,
Who and what are the proprietors of India Stock
who elect these Directors ? And thereby hangs a
tale. In 1833 it was found that previous par-
tial openings of the trade had successively demon-
strated so clearly the vast superiority of the pri-
vatip trader to the Company in energy and skill,