The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-11 00:00:00

CHINA.

CHUSAN, Nov. 7, 1840.
There has not bean a ship in for the 1 ist six or eight
weeks, and there is not much prospect of one at present, as
the monsoon is dead against any vessel getting here. Since
my last letter, sickness and misery have much increased
amongst us, and death is daily making further ravages ;
but do not imagine that we are the only sufferers, for the
other regiments, in proportion to their strength, have been
the victims to disease nearly as much as we have. The
45th have lost 45 men, the 18th 29, and the Bengal
Volunteers 70. Our being so much more unhealthy than
the other regiments arose frora our being encamped on a
high hill, at least a mile and a half from the shore, whence
the men were daily obliged to bring their proehions for a
length of time, and, although they went down early in the
morning in the hope of getting back before the heat of the
day ; yet they were frequently obliged to wait lingering on
the beach for several hours before the boats brought the
rations from the ships, and when they did come there was no
alternative but to ascend the hill, heavily laden under a
burning sun, and unfit for the work from inanition ; be-
sides this, the duty fell heavy on us and the volunteers, as
the 42d being on shipboard took no duty, and the 18th
had only then two companies. The 49th disembarked on
the sth of August, and were encamped at a place called
West Point, where their provisions were brought to them
by waiters, which relieved them from much labour. The
18th were quartered on the beach, and had no hard work,
and the whole of them had not art itel

The duty and constant fatigue parties from the hill to the
beach, and the insufficient and unwholesome provisions,
have completely knccked our men down. Fresh pork was
indeed issued twice a week, bat this came too late to be of
any service, even if it had been wholesome, but it was of
such a soft and flabby nature that the men could not eat it,
though impelled by hunger to eat almost any thing. We
just now get f esh beef twice a week, but it has as yet
effected no favourable change.
You now see the good, or !Alter bad reasons, why death
and sickness have been so busy with us. Whether Etet.er
arrangements could not have been made is not for me to
determine. I have stated general facts. It was reported
the other day that the Admiral said " He had never seen
a more helpless set of men than us." We are, indeed,
helpless now, but who has made us so? When this re-
mark was made we had 500 sick, and more than 100 dead.
We brought 900 men on shore, and never were men in
better condition ; all we have now remaining, taking off
the non commissioned officers, band, and servants, is about
150 men for duty, and many of these more or less ill
Graves are for ever open, and those who assist in paying
the last duties to their ill-fated companions look as if they
would soon follow. _ _

(From another Correspondent.)
CIIUS•N, Nov. 10.

Our men continue desperately ill, and are dying fast. I
was present at the burial of seven in one afternoon. When
this sickness will stop God only knows. There seems to
be a fatal indifference to our sufferings. Eleven officers
have applied for leave to go to Calcutta, but have not ob-
tained it.

(Extracts from a Private Letter.)
" Her Majesty's ship Wellesley, Tongkoo Bay,
Nov. 23.
" We arrived here only two days ago with the lk e,
1 Lville
(flag-ship), Blenheim, and Modesto, leaving at thelseati-
lential island of Chusan the Blonde (in command), Con-
way, Alligator, Nimrod, Pylades, and Algerine ; and
steamers Atalanta and Madagascar, far the general pro-
tection, if necessary ; but a truce between the Imperial
High Commissioner and the Admiral was agreed to on
the 6th instant, pending the negotiations between the
two countriez, and supplies in abundance of bullocks,
sheep, poultry, and other essentials have already been sup-
plied to the island by the authorities of Ningpo, and one
cannot but hope that those fresh provisions may tend to
arrest the awful mortality which for so long a time has
teen daily thinning the ranks of our gallant military
comrades on shore, said to be attributable, with other
co-operating causes, to the bad salt provisions and flour
supplied to them from Calcutta.
The following is a copy of the officio' account of the
military de ths to the 11th of November, two days before
our sailing for Tongkoo :-
44 DEATHS FROM AGUE, FEVER, AND DYSENTERY, IN THE
LAND FORCES AT CIIUSAN, FROM THEIR ARRIV4L ON THE
STH OF JULY TO I ITH OF NOVEMBER, 1840, INCLUSIVE.

fij -2O -5 4 2 ,—;
EUROPEAN TROOPS. = E ..6. . .2 .2 ..2
'a
18th Royal Irish
26th Cameronians..... 896 37 82 42 161
49th Regiment .....
Madras Artillery
uE n '
tr e I te
r 0 s 0 r i i :
6232:37
292
490
252
9413
1 •.. ... 1
Ben.NgalANTlOl'
IGluandrLasasScaapx.r.s...:
.. : .. :
67
...
...
...
...
Tnt n 1 } 3,420 112 184 103 309

Tot al ..................

" It Rill be observed that amongst tl,e Madras'Sappers
the mortality is considerably less than in the Beligal Va.