The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-19 00:00:00

[MOLINING POCT.3

Some of our preceding columns are occupied
with official dispatches from India, containing
intelligence of an important and highly gratify-
ing character. After a series of sharp actions on
the 27th and 28th of January, the fortress of
Rungpore, the capital of Assam, surrendered by
capitulation to the force under the immediate
command of Colonel Richards—an event to
which great importance is naturally attached.—
The weaker nations of the Golden Peninsula
having long endured with impatience the yoke of
the Burrnans, are now anxious to become our
allies, knowing, as they do, that our friendship
will be their best protection against the intolera-
ble tyranny of the King of Ava. The hostility
of the Assamese is now reasonably considered as
at an end ; besides which we have the satisfac-
tion to be informed that the Siamese had an
pounced their determination to join the British
as their allies in their attack upon the Bur-
mese. For this purpose, 5,000 of Siamese
troops were understood to be already in a
state of preparation to join our army, full ofl
ardour to engage in the common cause against the
hated foe. The severe tyranny exercised over
the nations successively conquered by the Bur-
these, has been such as to excite the strongest
aversion against them ; and of this advantageous
feeling our Indian Government will not fail
promptly ,and fully to avail itself. Whatever
might be the difficulties of advancing through a
country preienting such numerous formidable ob-
stacles, the disunion that prevails throughout the
Burmese territory will ensure success to the in-
vading forces. Were it not for his Allies,
Cortez might never have reached Mexico ; and
Openparallei to a certain exteht may hold good in
the present instance, though with this differ-
ence, that the natives of the further Peninsula
will not have to dread the cruel fate of the
South Amerfcairis under their Spanish conquerors.
The advanceof the troops from Rangoon was
fixed for the Isth 'of February. A small body
was tostiovel.ll advance, in 'the confident expec-
tation of tming joiner'. by 'the Pecuers, whd had
already deserted the -standard of Ava in great
&umbers; and altionsiderable number of boats

had been dispatched to convey them to Rangoon.
Brigadier-General M'Creagh, who had arrived
at Rangoon, was to take the command on Sir Ar-
chibald Campbell's advancing. The inhabitants
of Rangoon were returning in great numbers
to their habitations, from which they had fled on
the capture of the place.—The possession of
Rungpoor, the ancient capital of Assam, brings
the British within eighty miles, as it is sup-
posed, of the Upper stream of the Irrawaddy.'
The geography of the country is, however,
so imperfectly shown, that no certain dependence
can be placed on relative positions. The dis-
tance from Rungpoor to •Ummerapoora, is com-
puted at 500 miles, but the route that will be
taken is uncertain. We have also a variety of
intelligence from other parts of the seat of war ;
but it is of a less decisive character. On the
side of Cachar the troops under Brigadier
Shuldham continue slowly to advance towards
Munnipoor ; but with the number of pioneers
actually employed, the labour of clearing a road
through the forests and jungles was of course a
task of difficulty. The troops seem to be
entirely in the dark as to the nature of the
country in advance of them. That in which
they now are seems to unite every thing that is
difficult and disagreeable. The force under Bri-
gadier-General Morrison was advancing upon
Arracan, and was expected to have reached it on
the 13th or 14th February. The Calcutta Paper
of Feb. 19, states, that Loadhong (" the key of
Arracan") had fallen into the hands of General
Morrison, without firing a shot. This post is dis-
tant from Arracan about thirty miles. From
Arracan there are three roads through the moun-
tains to the Irrawaddy, to which it is the inten-
tion of General Morrison to penetrate. It is
not expected that he will effect a junction with
the force from Rangoon, but that he will approach
sufficiently near to be supported by it. The junc-
tion between the two armies is intended to be
effected at Prome. The movement up the river
from Rangoon will be under the command of
Brigadier-General Cotton. The land forces
will march under the guidance of Mr. Gibson,
who was in possession of good information of the
route from the Burmese. The Bundoola and
Prince Sarawaddy were understood to have con-
centrated their forces on the bank of the river,
but at what precise point was not stated. On the
whole, the intelligence is of a very gratifying
and encouraging description. Notwithstanding
the difficulties of advancing in a country, respect.
ing which there is an acknowledged great want
of military information, the Burmese will be in-
capable of offering any effectual resistance to the
invading army ; and the next dispatches from Sir
Alexander Campbell, will probably inform us of
the termination of the contest in a manner no less
glorious to our arms, than advantageous to our
interests in that important quarter.

THE PUBLIC LEDGEIt.j
We have received a tile of Calcutta papers to
the 4th of March, and we are happy to say that
they contain very gratifying intelligence of the
progress of our arms against the Burmese. Rung-
pore, the capital of Assam, capitulated to the
division under the orders of Lieutenant-Colo-
nel Richards, on the 29th of January ; and as
native troops were alone employed, this circum-
stance serves to enhance the value of the achieve-
ment, as it shews that they are as hearty in
the quarrel, as they were before lukewarm.—
I f any anxiety prevailed before as to the issue
of the war, it must now cease ; for division
alone in our army could give the enemy any
chance of escaping the baits which his presump-
tion had prepared for him. Though we com-
plained, in common with others, of the tardy
manner in which the war was conducted at first,
it is but justice to say that all our previous wars
in India presented at the commencement the
same appearances, which can only be accounted
for by the vast extent of our empire, and the
consequent dispersion of our troops, which ren-
der it a work of time to bring them to act in
considerable numbers at any one point. As we
have now a force employed against the Bur-
mese fully equal to the exigencies of the
war, we may confidently expect that its fu-
ture operations will be distinguished by that
characteristic energy and brilliant success, by
which our arms were marked on every former
occasion. The Burman Empire, according to all
probability, is at the threshold of an overwhelm-
ing calamity, Unless it be averted by the clemen-
cy, or, more correctly speaking, the policy, of the
invaders. The States that have been forcibly incor-
porated with it, are said to be anxious to recover
their independence, and to expect only the ap-
proach of our troops to carry their desires into
execution. flow far it may be prudent on our
part to encourage this disposition, is a question
upon which we are incompetent to decide. If
they declare themselves independent at our sug-
gestion, we must support them, and cannot con-
clude any Treaty without stipulating for their
independance. To such as consider our Empire
as already overgrown, this would be an insur-
mountable objection ; but is it not one of the
consequences of our power that it should con-
tinually extend itself? whilst it is very problema-
tical whether this principle of continued exten-
sion detracts from its solidity.

[BRITISH PRESS.]
The French Papers which arrived last night
are occupied chiefly with news relating to
Greece. The successes of the Patriots by sea
are confirmed beyond all doubt. % e alluded
yesterday to the plan of the Austrian and Rus-
sian Cabinets for the erection of a Greek Mo-
narchy in favour of Prince Gustavus. the son of
the deposed King of Sweden. This statement
is rendered more probable by a recent military
appointment conferred on the Prince by the Em-
peror of Austria. The Consitutionnel refers to
the contradictory articles in the Ministerial Jour-
nals, as a proof that the French Cabinet is not
agreed as to the recognition of the independence
of St. Domingo. The Journal de Paris represents
the negociations to he far advanced, and ever) on the
point of being concluded, while the Etoile states
that no such treaty is possible. It appears by a
letter hi the Contitutionnel, from Poo-au-Prince,,
that a strange attempt has been made to induce.

the President of Hayti to enter into communica-
tion with an unauthori,ed agent of the French
Government. This person was an Englishman,
named Archibald. He landed from a French
vessel at Port-au-Prince in the uniform of an
English naval officer, with letters from M.Rothes-
child, of Paris, to the Correspondent of a mer-
cantile house at Havre. The day after his arrival
Mr. Archibald solicited a private audience of the
President, who required to know whether he had
brought dispatches fro'm any European Govern-
ment. Mr. Archibald admitted that he had not,
and the audience was therefore refused. Surely
the French Government ill consults its qwn dig-
nity by adopting such proceedings as these.—
The Priests in France are reviving every absur-
dity of the darkest days of superstition. The
Duchess of Berry has given her consent to be god-
mother to a church bell at Rouen, and the King,
to testify his sense of the honour, has ordered
6,000 francs to be expended on the occasion !
When the Duke of Northumberland left Paris he
deposited 6,000 francs with the Grand Almoner,
to be distributed among the poor of the French
capital. The Bishop of Hermopolis has sent the
money to the Cures, in order that it may by them
be applied to the purposes for which it was
intended.

[NEW TIMES.]
The acting County Magistrates in England and
Wales amount (by the Population Returns of
1821) to 4,430. They are all persons of educa-
tion and property, and many of them men of
family and distinction. Whoever has impartially
studied the internal government of the country,
must be aware, that to the Magistracy we are
indebted for almost all that is valuable and use-
ful in the administration of our domestic policy :
and common sense tells us, that if 4,430 indi-
viduals, occupying so important a station in
society, were corrupt or inhuman, tyrannical
or imbecile, there could be little hope of the
other classes of the community. Notwithstand-
ing this, the Morning Chronicle delights in
libelling the whole of this useful and honour-
able body of men in a mass. We are told
in that Paper, that our Justices of the Peace
" iiave been brought up in a savage disregard of
the lower orders;" that they are cruel, just as
the New Zealanders eat Missionaries, because
they know no better ;" and that they are the
" most untoward part of God's creation." To what
purpose this outrageously false and wicked slander
is employed—why the Morning Chronicle should
thus outrage common decency and common
experience—we cannot conceive ; but this we do
know, that if the effect produced on the minds
of the lower classes be at all correspondent to
the malignity of the effort employed, it will be
most fatal to the peace and happiness of the coun-
try. The Press, whose duty it is to instruct and
enlighten public opinion, disgraces itself by
those gross perversions of truth. It is not true,
that our Justices of the Peace are cruel, or that
they entertain a savage disregard, or any disre-
gard, of the lower orders. Out of 4,430 indivi-
duals, there may possibly be some whose humanity
may not always be sufficiently awake, or whose
judgment may be occasionally obscured. We
contend not for infallibility in human nature.
But take these few and rare lapses from duty,
and make the most of them :" weigh them against
the vast mass of liberality, kindness, and good
sense, that is ever awake, ever vigilant for the
maintenance of good order and justice; and, we
hesitate not to say, that, upon the whole, the
Magistracy of England deserve the gratitude,
and affection, and veneration, of their country-
men. SVoe he to the nation, if those sentiments
ever come to be obliterated by means of such
misrepresentations and calumnies as those to
which we have felt it our duty to advert.

[SIORNING CHRONICLE.]
There was much bustle in the Consol Market
yesterday morning. Consols for Account opened
at 91-ht, fell to 914, and closed at the opening
price, with a more steady appearance. The quo-
tation for the August Account was higher than
for the present time.—ln the Foreign Market
there was little business doing, and when sales
are forced the prices are still at a further reduc-
tion, particularly in South American Stocks ;
Colombian Bonds about 85, ex. dividend ; Chile
Stock 79 ; Mexican Scrip 21-1- dis. ; Greek Stock
remained heavy at 121 and 12 discount. Spanish
Bonds 9.21-1. The report respecting the re-
newal of negociations for a loan continues.—
The eminent jobber we alluded to proceeds to
Paris this week, but whether for the purpose of
making an offer to the absolute King, or not, we
cannot say. All other Foreign Stocks were heavy,
but without much alteration in the prices. The
French 3 per Cents. have attracted very little
attention in the London Market ; but as the
time approaches when the holders must give in
their final determination, we have no doubt there
will be much fluctuation. The time is the sth
August at Paris, and London 2d August. There
continues to be much jobbing in the small Shares,
which appear to undergo great changes; among
the principal are the Dye Company, Plate Glass,
the. Steamboats, a Consolidated Tin and Copper
Company, &c. &c. The Mexican and other
Mining Companies are, for the present, neglected,
and report speaks of two new Companies about
to start—the Hayti Mining Company, and, the
Irish Cotton Manufacturing Association.

[MORNING ncnit.r.D.]
A Return has been made and printed of the
number Of private madhouses and of their unfor-
tunate inmates within the bills of mortality and
the county of Middlesex, and we are glad to hear
that at the last Middlesex Sessions, similar Re-
turns have been called for from all the parishes,
preparatory to a motion for the erection of a
Lunatic Asylum for the county, in which it is to
be hoped that more will be done towards the re-
covery and comfort of the wretched objects of
this ,lowest state of human suffering that
can possibly exist in the crowded receptacles
to which most of them are at present con-
signed. From these returns, it appears that
the number of these houses is rather more
than forty, and that the number of patients
fluctuates front about 1,500 to 1,700; of

these 850, or about one half, are confined in'
six houses belonging to one person at Bethnal-
green : and are for the most part, we suppose,
parish paupers, farmed at the rate of about ten
shillings a week. Lord Robert Seymour (whose
attention to this subject reflects equal honour on
his rank and his humanity), in a printed let-
ter addressed to the Magistrates of Middlesex,
says, that " he saw in one house at Bethnal-green,
352 paupers, 192 private patients, and 53 at-
tendants, makng in all 544 persons. Amongst
them were the pauper lunatics of Mary-fa-bonne,
St. George's, Hanover-square, and St. Anne,
Soho. Each of the dormitories, which are very
low rooms, contains from sixteen to twenty
beds ; and on the female side many of the
paupers lie two in a bed, the bedsteads being
eighteen inches from each other; and the ex-
ercising yards of the paupers being more
crowded than ever yet was a dog kennel."
" Yet," adds his Lordship, " I found, upon
inquiry, that if twenty additional patients were
sent' to them to-morrow for admission, they
would be taken in." His Lordship, who, it
appears, is also a Governor of Bethlehem Hospi-
tal, states in the same letter the following facts,
confirmatory of what may be expected from a
different kind of accommodation—viz. that in
1823, of 173 patients, 76 were discharged as
cured ; and in 1824,64 out of 163. That this was
effected chiefly by moral means, with very little
personal restraint ; occupation, amusements,
and principally by the size of the airing
grounds, being such as to admit of bodily exer-
cise and mental tranquillity. While the Magis-
trates and the Vestries are jobbing to the right
and to the left, we wonder that it has not oc-
curred to some of them to take up this subject in
that, their favourite, point of view. Were there
no sons, or nephews, or cousins, to whom the very
building of a Lunatic Asylum would have fur-
nished a good birth—to say nothing of the super-
intendants, &c. attached to it ? But to be serious,
what can be said of that state of society and of
public feeling which prefers crime to misfortune,
and profligacy to misery ? For while gaols are
visited and refined upon by societies, both
male and female, till to become an inmate of
some of them is almost a matter of pre-
ference to a labouring or destitute man,
the same people can calmly look on, and see the
wretched, helpless lunatic consigned to a state of
suffering unequalled by any thing imagination can
devise. And while we hear of societies to abolish
slavery abroad, the same humane and pious
people can behold their fellow-creatures, and
their countrymen, suffering all the tortures
of agonized and perverted reason, in places
more crowded than a dog-kennel! If such
humanity be not humbug and hypocrisy in their
greatest shape, we know not what it is; and we
trust that in the county of Middlesex there are,
at least some persons to be found to rescue a
Christian metropolis from any thing so degrading
to real humanity as these details unfortunately
furnish.