The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-02 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA•

emi-
We (Times) have received by our ordinary s
monthly express from Marseilles our letters.,..dt
papers in advance of the Overland Mail, whichef
Bombay on the 29th of January.
The following is the letter of our correspon( lent
at Bombay :
Since the dispatch of the last mail nothing new
of consequence has been reported from Burr nab.
General Godwin's voluminous dispatches cone err-
ing the relief of Pegu have appeared, and are any-
thing but creditable productions. General God-
win's own account of his manoeuvres before that
town are alone quite sufficient to show that he is as
incapable of handling troops under fire as of writing
correct English. " First, he tells us," says the
Calcutta Chronicle, "that he inclined to his right
in order to attack their left, which mil
their
weakest point ;" then "he changed his mind, and
determined upon attacking their right, bec.9.use it
was their strongest; then be would lead us to infer
that Major Seaton pitched into' the enemy's out-
posts, exchangingsmusketry ' with them ; then he
dispatched Major Seaton to attack the enemy's
right • then he recalled him, thinking the point
aimed at too strongly guarded (all this, by the bye,
within 400 yards of the enemy's position); then he
paused to count his reserves, and to amire the
interesting sight' of our little columns mowing
up to this host of people so strongly posted, amd in
a plain where every object was visible ;' then the
attack was made—how, whence, or by whore, we
are not informed; and, 'after the action the troo,ps
rested in the shade of the tope for an hour."' The
general impression regarding these operations is,
that, notwithstanding the absence of artillery and
cavalry (for which deficiency he was himself only to
blaMe), he could have brought on a close action, in
which the Burmese would have suffered severely,
had it not been for the indecision he manifested in
altering his plan of attack two or three times when
within. 4001 yards of the enemy. It is said -that
the Burmese right was so closely stockaded in in ear,
flank, and front, that had he persisted in his ori-
ginal intention of attacking their left flank, which
was completely open, he would have hemmed An a
large proportion of the Burmese force ; wherl3as,
by attacking their right, he left the open en.d. of
the position clear for their retreat. General God-
win states that the Burmese force he attacked were
known to be the flower of the Burmese army, acid,
with the intention of conveying as high an ide a as
possible of their courage, he says, that " some of
the men that were drawn up before him had 1 n
killed on the walls in their assaults on Pegu." In
military circles, Major Hill's defence of Peg uis
much praised, and spoken of as the only brilliant
exploit of the war.
General Godwin left Rangoon for Prome on the
29th of December. No intelligence has .been as
yet received of his arrival at Prome and subsequent
operations, but it is reported that the Burmese
force which threatened Prome, and the conque st
of which the General had reserved for himself, has
evacuated its position, and retired on Meaday.
Another rumour is current that there has been a
revolution at Ava, but it is not generally creditetil.
The expedition which I mentioned in my last as
likely to -be dispatched by General Godwin all tin)
way by land from Moulmein, for the attack of
Shoygeen, has left Matarbar. The dispatch of
this expedition by so long a land route, through
thick jungles, against a place which can be ap-
proached by water by way of Pegu, within some
40 miles, is generally condemned. The com-
mander of the expedition, General Steel, is,
however, considered the most able officer of his
grade with the army of Burmah. The bri-
gade of elephants required for the land carriage
of General Godwin's guns, in the expected
advance on Ava, , are only now passing
Arracan. Major faling, who is observing the
Burmese force occupying the Aeng pass until rein-
forcements arrive which will enable him to force it,
is making every effort to occupy the enemy's atten-
tion until he can pass the elephants along the rear
of the British posts. Unfortunately, throughout
the whole march of the detachment southward,
their left flank will be exposed to attacks from the
numerous pathways which diverge from the diffe-
rent passes. Major Maling has, however, rein-
forced the elephant escort- by 300 of the Arracan
local battalion. The Burmese force occupying the
Aeng pass is stockaded on a ridge said to be 4,900
feet in height, the only ascent to which is along a
narrow spur completely commanded by the fire of
the stockade. They have two guns in position, and
are expecting nine more. Their position is impreg-
nable except by shelling. Major Maling has made
an attempt to turn it, but after two days' efforts
he found the jungle too dense to be penetrable.
Meanwhile his little force is suffering very severely
from jungle fever. The Governor-General is, how-
ever, shortly expected at Arracan, and will doubt-
less
,expedite the dispatch of the artillery that
Major Maling requires. Sickness is on the increase
among our troops in Burmah.
The little war in Assam is over. The Thibetian
force being awed by the preparations made to de-
ceive it have not ventured on an invasion. Their
General has sent an humble message tp the Com-
missioner, begging him to forward the head and
hands of the defaulting Thibetian that he is in pur-
suit of, and if that is considered objectionable, that
he will at least " report that the defaulter is Ileadr
in order to enable his force and himself to return
to Lassa with credit and safety. This request has
been, of course, refused and cholera is said to
have broken out among the Thibetian troops.
The #orth-west frontier is at present tranquil.
Sir Henry Lawrence, President of the Punjab
Board of Administration, has been appointed agent
for the Governor-General in the Rajpootanah
States, in succession to Colonel Low, transferred
to the Nizam's at Hyderabad, on the retirement of
General Fraser. The Nizam's financial difficulties
continue to increase, and every sort of disorder
prevails throughout his dominions.

Mr. Wyatt, of the Bengal Civil Service, Judge
of Rungpore, has been suspended for corrupt prac-
tices. The Calcutta press blames the Bengal Go-
vernment for not having taken this step much
earlier, as it is alleged that the Rungpore Court
has for years past notoriously had the character
throughout Bengal, and among all classe'sfrom the
highest to the lowest of " being venal and corrupt
almost beyond credibility." Cases of this sort are,
happily, very rare among the civil servants of the
East India Company, but it is the opprobrium of
that, service that, whenever they do occur, the
offenders are either screened from inquiry, or else
let off far more easily than either the uncovenanted
or military servants of the State would be under
similar circumstances. For instance, about a year
ago, a high civil official in Benaal was convicted of
having directly, by letter, offered to sell the pa-
tronage of his office to a native gentleman for a
Pecuniary consideration ; and though he was re-
moved from the service he was allowed to retire on
his pension of 1,0001. per annum. Under similar
circumstances a military officer would have been
inevitably cashiered with every circumstance of
ignominy. Many similar instances might be
cited. In one of them, which occurred some years
ago • at Bombay, a Member of the civil service
of considerable standing, and holding an im-
portant political appointment, directed a very
Young subaltern, in command of a detachment
about to proceed in pursuit of some insurgents, to
give them no quarter if he came up with them, and
the subaltern obeyed the orders, shooting the men
he caught ; h
e
cashiered, was tried by a court-martial,
and utterly ruined. The Court reflected
-very severely on the civil political servant under
whose orders the
they had no jurisdiction
boy had acted, but
fewio:, over him. He was merely
suspended for a 7nntills, and declareU unfit to
be employed' n: future
but he was transferred to
,an
political department,
hrannequally lucrative ap-
pointment in the -revenue
A report which arrived y cth_ of the service.
effect that the present Charbter hweaslast mail, to the
for one year only, in order to give
_torrbe renewed
for fuller inquiry before the pasrinao, lament time
Act, has given universal satisfaCtion otifi the new
India. The feeling is general among all classes
:r e in
the last 20 years is altogether unsuitable to the pre-
sent sent advanced and advancing state of India. The-
witnesses already examined by Parliament are gene-
rally thought to have been purposely selected from
those interested in the maintenance of the present
order of things. I forward by this mail the peti-
tion of the Christian inhabitants of Calcutta and
Bengal regarding the renewal of the Charter. The
petition confines itself to pointing out existing evils
and abuses, and asks for a year's postponement of
the Charter to give time for fuller inquiries regard-
ing them ; but it leaves the remedy to the wisdom
of Parliament. The Friend of India, which well
Merits the high character for moderation and talent
given it by Mr. Willoughby, in his evidence
before the Lords' Committee, and which, being
conducted by a Government stipendiary, has
a._leaning in favour of the existing state of
things, CoMpelled. to admit the general
'ecbe'3s of the
hat`,kit.t, .
no
allowance
petition ; but states, in extenuation,
perable dittouiwa!ice has been made for the all insu-'
The following ties of the Indian Administration."
petition g is from the Friend's •
review of the
That there
no
one
will 0
irwarcuch truth in many of them statements
lower provinces, i 38..• ne
table .63ndition. 1,11. a most iwuenotartieespecially of the
not disrepu-
clubi:TA in open day, pence 74"aidars collect
nient, disturb the pea°,:t i.ln.hder the eycetoafrGmies of
ctitta,- ti,bd the law cannot,°ort-de the
arounodvecrn-
Daceifibi (gang robberies) are, oes not, reach thetaul:
or were not, • t nightly occur-

rence, and life and property were thereby rendered more
insecure in Bengal than in the Punjab. The
" Thep civillice re-
quires a thorough reformation. . .
courts cannot be said to dispense justice, and they are a
source of infinite vexation and expense to suitors ; but
this is iecanse, first, we have followed the model of the
English co' uta ; secondly, a native is far more gratified
his cause by his success in intrigue than
when he gali. a •
on the ground olemerits , and, thirdly, there
*crib- r t in evidence
is no truth in the et:
intrinsicm
untry and no credibility
overii
We might in the sa2le-:l,anannedr ynearly all the.
paragraphs in the petilat. • goshow that, with some
a substratum of truth in
exceptions, there is generals.,
-lids, although the sub-
the assertions with which it abou_
bid feeling of the
structure too often exhibits the mo. nbre as to leave
writer. The colouring is so deep and Soh_
an involuntary impression on the mind that..*he petition
does not, give a fair representation of the case,
it makes no allowance for the all but insuperable
ties of the Indian administration."
If these are the admissions of a friendly witness,
it must be allowed that it is the duty of the Impe-
rial Government to institute a much fuller inquiry
into the working of the Indian administration than
any that has yet taken place, before it confirms the
existing order of things for so long a period as 20
years.
The London Mail of the 24th of December ar-
rived at Bombay on the 26th of January by the
Ra-st India Company's steam-frigate Queen. Though
the weather was calm, and there were no aceidents
to the machinery, the Queen took 14 days between
this and Aden, being at the rate of something less
than five miles an hour, and the other Government
steamers are just as slow. In the European seas
there are steamers (the Banshee for example) which
have kept up a speed of 16 miles an hour on the
average of a year's running, and from two to three
times the speed of the Bombay Government mail
steam-boats is now constantly attained by the Ame-
rican Atlantic steamers.
P.S. The following are extracts from the Cal-
cutta Englishman and Bengal Burlcaru received
by the post just arrived :
"By the Berenice we have received the Rangoon
Chronicle, a new paper, to the 12th inst., in which we
find the following intelligence, but no particulars of the
important event announced :
"By the Hon. Company's steamer Proserpine we
have received news from Prome of the downfall and de-
thronement of the King of Ava, and the desertion by its
defenders of the town of Yathay. General Godwin, it
is said, intends to destroy the defences at this place, and
immediately follow the enemy to the town of Meaday.
" We have the following, per Berenice, from Rangoon,
and dated the 13th inst.

" General Steel's column left this for Martaban on the
4th inst., and he was to make his advance about the
14th, not before, owing to the want of carriage and
other arrangements. The enemy, about 8,000 or 10,000,
came down again the other day to Pegu with the view
of harassing the garrison. They attacked the picket on
the bank of the river near the Commissariat Wharf; killing
some of them. They had planted themselves on the
opposite side of the Pegu river, behind a long brick wall,
which protected them from our men. On the Bth or 9th
the whole force of the enemy were seen going off in the
Shoygeen direction, forsaking Pegu. No doubt the know-
ledge of the arrival of General Steel's column at Marta-
ban had caused this retreat. A steamer came in from
Prome yesterday, the 12th. The stockade at Ithimen is
deserted, also that at Meaday. There has beeen a sort
of revolution at Aya. The King has gone off ; the heir
apparent has taken possession of the place and recalled
his troops from the above-mentioned places, and directed
hostilities to cease ; still it will be a long time before we
can look for peace. The province of Pegu must have
more troops here to do this. Sickness at Prome is
great. Lieutenant and Adjutant Miller, 40th Bengal
Native Infantry, died of dysentery. Every steamer
nearly brings some poor fellows going away on sick
leave. In time this will be a very agreeable spot, but,
much is required to be done in it."