The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-10 00:00:00

NEWS FROM CHINA

AND,
THE 14: AS T .

(From the Times.)
By an extraordinary express, in anticipation
of the overland mail,, we have received despatches
from our correspondents in China, India, and all
parts of the East.
Our dates are from Chusan to the 20th of De-
cember, from Macao to the 27th of January, from
Singapore to the 25th of January, from Calcutta
to the 18th of February, from Madras to the 20th
of February, from Scinde to the 22d of February,
from Bombay to the Ist of March, and from
Alexandria to the 25th of March.
The steamer Enterprise had arrived at Cal-
cutta from Macao on the 14th of February,
bringing despatches for the Home Audio-

rities, which were forwarded to Bombay
by express, and thence transmitted to Suez
by the Victoria steamer. In appears, that in
consequence of the insincerity and tardiness dis-
played by the Imperial Commissioner prepara-
tions were made on the morning of the 9th of
January for attacking the outposts of the Bogue
forts. About 700 Sepoys, 200 European soldiers,
and 400 seamen and marines, were embarked
under the command of Major Pratt, of her Ma-
jesty's 26th Regiment, in the steamers Enter-
prise, Nemesis, and Madagascar, and landed in
the vicinity of the fort of Chumpee. At the
same time her Majesty's ships Calliope, Larne,
and Hyacinth opened a cannonade on the lower
battery of the fort, while the steamers Nemesis
and Queen threw shells into the upper tower
which commanded it. The latter was soon
taken possession of by the British troops, who
poured down a heavy fire of musketry on
all the lower works, and quickly drove
the Chinese from their guns. In two hours the
fort was in possession of the English, with a lOss
of only 3 killed and 23 wounded; that of the
Chinese is estimated at from 500 to 700. Many
were killed in the attempt to escape by jumping
down from their embrasures, a depth of 20 feet,
to the rocks below. The ships and crews escaped
unhurt, although the fort mounted 35 guns.
At the same time the fort of Tycocktow was
attacked by another squadron operating about 3
miles to the southward, under command of. Cap-
tain Herbert, of the Samarang, supported by
the Druid, Modeste, and Columbine. A heavy
fire was opened on the fort, and promptly re-
turned, but the Chinese guns were speedily dis-
abled, and a party of seamen landed to seize the
fort. The Chinese made a spirited resistance,
but were soon overpowered, and the fort cap-
tured. The first lieutenant of the Samarang was
wounded in the assault.
The steam-vessels then attacked the fleet of
junks lying in Anson's Bay, but owing to the
shallowness of the water, only the Nemesis could
approach them, towing twelve armed boats from
her Majesty's ships. Her first rocket set fire to
the powder magazine of one junk ; eighteen
others were blown up by their own crews, and
the rest escaped into the inner waters. Next
morning her Majesty's ship Blenheim began to
throw shells into the batteries at Wantong, and
was preparing to attack the chief fort of Anung-
hoy, when the Chinese Commander-in-Chief
made a communication to Captain Elliot, who
thereupon desisted from further hostilities. On

the 20th of January, a circular was addressed by
the British Plenipotentiary to her Majesty's
subjects in China, announcing that preliminary
arrangements between the Imperial Commis-
sioner and himself had been made to the follow-
ing effect :
" 1. The cession of the island and harbour of
Hong Kong to the British Crown. All just
charges and duties to the empire upon the com-
merce carried on there to be paid as if the trade
were conducted at Whampoa.
"2. An indemnity to the British Government
of 0,000,000, $1,000,000 payable at once, and
the remainder in equal annual instalments, end-
ing in 1846.
"3. Direct official intercourse between the
countries upon an equal footing.
"4. The trade oldie port of Can ton to be opened
within ten days after the Chinese New Year, and
to be carried on at Whampoa till further arrange-
ments are practicable at the new settlement.
Details remain matter of negotiation."

55,000 effective men. On the other hand, we are
assured that Ahmed Menikli Pacha, who has been
sent as Governor to Beni Youssouf in Upper
Egypt, has received orders to send down as many
men as he can lay his hands on, and that al-
ready droves of conscripts, fettered with pieces of
wood (in slave fashion) are escorted to Cairo. It
is believed that the independent Chief on the
Upper Nile, Melik Nimr, has defeated Ahmed,
the Pacha's Governor of Kartoum, and that a
general rising may be expected there against his
authority.
Another sign of Mehemet Ali's high opinion
of his own strength, and his intention to set the
hatti-scherif of the 22d of January at defiance,
may be found in the fact that 40 vessels; laden
with 230,000 ardebs of corn, the tribute in kind
which Egypt yearly pays to the holy cities of
Mecca and Medina, and which had already left
Suez for their destination, have been recalled,
and the holy cities are left to the care of Provi-
dence. A vast number of residents, as well as
pilgrims, in Arabia, depended on this supply,
which had grown into a trade, and from which
the Pacha frequently reaped a profit of 30 fold,
as the whole monopoly of supply was in his
hands. Now it appears of more importance to
him to make his power felt by causing a famine
in the Holy Cities.
Dr. Grassi has returned from Tanta, where the
plague had ceased. He has left 800 men at arms
in the desert engaged in burning, purifying, and
compelling the villagers to wash themselves,
clothes, and cattle. Disease is now confined to
the Delta. This year it has been accompanied
in various places by the small-pox, which has
been nearly as fatal. In Alexandria since my
last the plague cases have varied from eleven to
thirteen daily, chiefly among the soldiers and
sailors, who are allowed to sleep with their
families in the filthiest huts in the world, per-
haps. Eighty-eight are still in hospital in the
city, but the majority die before they are brought
there. In the country parts there are no hospi-
tals, and anybody attacked is looked on as dead.
Hardly one has recovered during the present
visitation. Dr. Grassi saw twenty-eight persons
carried dead out of the house of an old Bey at
Jahn Jallech, and himself, the Governor of the
village, was carried off the last of his household.
The mortality is now ceasing, of course !
The Oriental steamer arrived here before sun-
rise on the morning of the 17th, with the Indian
mails and passengers, after an excellent passage,
of which the following are the points :—Left
Falmouth at two o'clock p.m. on the 2d of
March; arrived at Gibraltar at half-past three
o'clock a.m. on the 7th ; sailed thence at two
o'clock p.m. the same day, with the Company's
steamer Lotus in tow, and arrived with it at
Malta at seven o'clock a.m. on the 12th, about
fourteen hours later than if the Oriental had
been unencumbered; left the Lotus there to un-
dergo some trifling repairs at noon on the 13th ;
and arrived at Alexandria at three o'clock a.m.
on the 17th inst., all well. The passengers
started off with the mails all together for Suez.
The latter, however, now proceed by land to
Cairo, after leaving the land at Atfe, whilst the
passengers, unencumbered with luggage as they
are, proceed up the Nile to that city.
Great dissatisfaction prevails also in the Pacha's
own ranks amongst the Syrians still detained in
Egypt, contrary to the Napier Convention and
the Pacha's repeated promises to send them all
home without delay. This, and the non-fulfil-
ment of the promised freedom of commerce, I
understand, were the chief points upon which
the coolness between the Pacha and the Corn
modore arose.

1 On the 2:2d inst. M. Cochelet made his formal
visit to the Pacha pour prendre conge, and Baron
Tanbenheim, Stahlmeister of the King of Wur-
temberg, was presented, on his arrival from
Syria, with two beautiful horses, which he had
purchased for his master, and with which he de-
parts in the Oriental for Malta and Europe. The
next day M. Cochelet had a long confidential
audience with the Pacha, at which only Boghos
Bey and Artem Bey (the Prime Minister and
the Chief Interpreter) assisted, and the following
day a third.
The four alabaster columns destined for the
new church building by the Pope have arrived
from Tourah at Rosetta, where they will be em-
barked for Italy.
The Indian steamer Victoria arrived at Suez
on the 22d inst., having been delayed on her
trip from Bombay two days in the Red Sea by a
strong N.W. monsoon, and obliged to put into
Kosseir, where ten passengers landed and entered
Egypt by that route; 33 more have come on
hither with the mails.