The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-28 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

A few days ago we published a telegraphic mes-
sage from Trieste in anticipation of the Overland
Mail. We have now received ,our papers by the

same route.

The following summary of Indian intelligence is
extracted from the Bombay Times of July 20 :

From Burmah the news continues to be of little
interest. One man, Moung Sing, had been collect-
ing revenue in the British district of Sarawah, and
forwarding it to the Court of Ava ; but Captain
Grant, the Deputy Commissioner, managed easily
to apprehend him. Dacoity (which now signi-

fies all kinds of violent robberies) will not
be thoroughly suppressed, it is thought, until
roads are made, and a mounted police force
is established. There had been au insignificant
skirmish with some of Goung Gyee's force, and
shortly afterwards Mr. Brown, one of the Com-
missioners, nearly captured the freebooter himself,
who managed to escape, not without being wounded
by a musket shot. Unless there is another re-
volution in Ava, there is no chance of war breaking
out again ; and, in the case of a revolution taking
place, it is not thought that either party could
command a sufficient number of men to con-
stitute an army which could venture to meet
our troops, or to attack our posts. Of the
Nugent, which sailed from Madras with the head
quarters and 300 men of the 25th Regiment
M.N.I. and the Staff of General Sir S. W. Steel,
nothing whatever has been heard. It is feared that
she has been blown upon the Andaman Islands, in
which case the survivors would have to protect
themselves from the attacks of the ferocious natives
of those islands.

The rumours from Cabul in regard to the intrigues
of Russia in Central Asia are of a quieter kind than
they have been for some mouths back. It was be-
lieved everywhere in that part of the world that
the Czar was daily gaining a footing in the domi-
nions of Turkey, and that Persia was inclined to
support him in every ay, except by overt acts.
20,000 Persian soldiers are said to be stationed at
Meroo in order to enforce the Shah's demands upon
the King of Bokhara and the Khan of Khiva, the
former of horn has already made friendlyadvances
to the Persian Court. The Chiefs of Can?ahar,
along with Sirdar Sultan Mahomed Khan at Cabul,
are also attaching themselves to Persia. The Orbeg
Chiefs of Shiburgan and Suripul have offered to
the Affghan Governor of Turkistan to become tri-
butaries to Dust Mauomed. It is rumoured that
Dost Mahomed has communicated to the British
authorities his readiness to prevent the Russian
army advancing to invade India, should it ever try
to do so, on condition that he be now placed in pos-
session of the Affghan territories taken from him
fUrmerly by the English. This is quite improbable,
and such a proposal, if made, would, of course, not
be entertained for a moment. A Russian invasion
of India is such au improbability, such an impossi-
bility even, that it would be absurd to trouble our-
selves, at present, seriously about. it. The real
danger, if there is any, lies in some future union
of the Mahomedan powers in the East, moved by
Russian intrigue and Russian gold.
From the' Punjab, the North-West Provinces,
and Scinde, there is no news of sufficient impor-
tance to be summarised.

From Hyderabad, in the Nizam's dominions,
there have come news of another serious Rohilla
quarrel of the old kind ; but the Minister is deter-
mined to discover the gulty party, who is concealed
at present.

At
Lucknow.the Minister, in an interview held
Idtely with the British Resident, said that he had
been dephted by the King to express his Majesty's
sympathy with England in the Russian war, and
that, had his treasury not been exhausted, he
would gladly have offerel a large loan of money.
But not being able to do this, he offered to place
twelve battalions of infantry, each a thousand
strong, a thousand horsemen, and a thousand
guns at the disposal of his ally, and march these
troops to wherever they may be wanted. If
this offer has been made in perfect sincerity, it is
convincing that the King of Oude is by uo means
so disaffected towards the English as he has been
represented to be. Such offers are not to be met
with every day, and are not to be despised, because
,if anything were to happen on the north-west
frontier, his troops and guns might be of much
service. Doubtless the Government will acknow-
ledge this offer in a friendly and suitable spirit,
and give all duo thanks to the King of Oude for
his kind and most liberal intentions.
From Calcutta the piece of news of most import-
ance is the running of a locomotive and carriage on
a portion of the Bengal Railway, which natu-
rally enough created immense excitement. To
ignorant natives who understand nothing of
the means by which the ag ka gharic, or fire
chariot, is moved, few things could have been
more astounding or more convincing of the mi-
raculous
power possessed by the English. One
curious explanation was that the locomotive was
made to go simply by the hookum or order of Lord
Dalhousie. Baboo Pro,ouo Cotnar has been ap-
pointed to fill the responsible office of Deputy Clerk
to the Legislative Council of India.
The Bauk of Madras has declared a dividend,
fur the half-year just passed, of five per cent., being
an increase of half per cent. on the preceding half-
year. Lord Harris has been unable to visit, as he
intended, certain districts under his jurisdiction,
owing to the state of the only steamer at his com-
mand. We reget to say that information reached
Bombay on the Ist instant of the wreck of the
barque Euterpe, Captain Morton, which left this
port on the 11th of June bound for Liverpool, and
wrecked off the Coast of Canara, near Byndoor,
with serious loss of life. Out of the crew, the
master, William Grew, mate, James Thompson,
steward, and a Siddee boy, name unknown, have
perished. The second mate, William Foster, and
the rest of the crew, in all 17 or 19, have reached
the shore. A great deal of cargo is washing on
shore.

Our local news is not devoid of interest. Cap-
tain Haines, who was removed from the Resident-
ship at Aden because of defalcations in the Trea-
ury there to the amount of 30,0001., has been
brought before the Grand Jury of Bombay, and,
a true bill having been found against him on
five out of six indictments for embezzlement, he
will in a few days be tried before the petty jury.
Some discussion has arisen regarding the state of
the Semiramis, the steamer which takes this mail
to Suez. The Bombay Times was the first to call
attention forcibly to the state of this vessel, and
though 'a committee appointed by Rear-Admiral
Sir Henry Leeke, who is still the Commodore of
the Indian navy, has pronounced her seaworthy,
yet the effect of their admissions allot of the state-
ments of her commander, have, to say the least,
left a very unsatisfactory impression as to the de-
pendence to be placed on the vessels of the Indian
navy, most of which are in a very miserable state.
The order for sending the 10th Hussars to Turkey
has not been literally carried out : in fact, owing
to the present state of the vessels of the Indian
navy and the difficulty of crossing the ocean in the
monsoon, it could not be. They will not leave
till the end of September or later. Last Sunday
was observed here, as all over India, as a day of
humiliation and prayer for the success of the
British arms, by natives as well as Europeans. So
remarkable was the conduct of the natives, both as
a testimony to the equity and kindness of the
British, and as a proof that old superstitions will
speedily break up, that we may be justified in giving
some account of it. The movements of the native
community on this occasion have possessed remark-
able interest. Their sympathy with their British
rulers, whom after all they know to be their best
friends, their indefinite fears of the advance of Rus-
sia to India, and their apprehension of loss by the
limitations and restrictions of commerce, led them
in great multitudes to resolve to unite in the religious
solemnities of the day of humiliation. Their cessation
from work was far more extensive than was ever
known ,to be the case on their own religious high
days when the feeling of superstitious " unluck"
has been to them a great restraint. In the manage-
ment of their religious services, the leading minds,
as might be expected, in originating the services of
the higher castes, have not been the ordinary
Brahmins and other priests, but their educated
members ; and, in accommodation to their views,
the God of the Universe has in some of the prayers,
in consequence, taking the precedence of the Gods
of the Pantheon.

To the Parsees must be given the credit of having
first, of the native sects, moved in this matter, tra-
ditional usage having authorized them in so
doing.
The assembly of them at their principal Atesh-gahs
or Fire Temples was unprecedentedly great. Their
services there were principally conducted in the
ancient Zend language, the priests being the great
officials.
Lords Elphinstone and Frederick Fitzclarence
are at Poona. The fall of rain hitherto has been
ample ; the quantity gauged at the Presidency is
upwards of 42 inches. Trade in general is dull,
but the money market is easy.