The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-30 00:00:00

OVER LAND 31AIL

INI)IA.

Dispatches have been received by express from
Marseilles in anticipation of the overland mail, which
left Bombay on the Ist instant.
The intelligence thus brought is not of much po-
litical importance.
At Lahore everything remained quiet, the troops
were healthy, and were expecting an early visit
of inspection from the Governor-General. Lall
Singh betrayed great anxiety as the time for the de-
parture of the British forces approached.
From Caubul there were, as usual, rumours of in-
trigues and insurrections. A report that an English
army would invade Peshawur upon the arrival of the
cold season had produced much alarm, and it was
said that proposals for a treaty of alliance would be
made to Lord Hardinge.
An insurrection had broken out in Cashmere, fo-
mented, it is reported, by the Lahore Durbar; and a
force sent against the insurgents by Ghoolab Singh
had been defeated with some loss. Several English
officers who were visiting the country had been
seized, and would be detained as hostages, though no
fears were entertained' for their safety.
Cholera was still raging in Sinde, and provisions
were so enormously scarce and dear that an absolute
famine was apprehended.

At Bombay there was no news. Trade was rather
dull, and all transactions on a very limited scale.
A volcano had appeared on Saddle Island in the
Red Sea.

The mail was carried from Bombay by the steam-
ship Atalanta, which sailed at 6 Pau. on the Ist inst.,
and reached Suez on the 19th, at 10 A.M.
The express through Egypt left Suez an hour and
a half after the steamer's arrival, reached Cairo at
half-past five o'clock in the evening, and Alexandria
at five P.M. on the following day. Her Majesty's
ship Ardent sailed for Trieste with a portion of the
dispatches at half-past twelve o'clock at night, and
the Arid, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, to which we are indebted for this intelli-

gence, started a quarter of an, hour afterwards. The
Ariel reached Marseilles at nine o'clock in the even-
ing of the 26th. On this occasion, therefore, it
would seem that the route by Marseilles has the ad-
vantage.

The intelligence from Egypt is not remarkable.
Mr. Murray, the newly-arrived Consul- General, had
left Alexandria for Cairo, where he was tobe formally
presented to the Pacha. English shipping continued
to be so scarce that freights had reached a most ex-
travagant height, and the merchants were loudly
complaining. Corn and beans had risen rapidly in
price, in consequence of the late news from England,
as well as all other articles of consumption.

F ro
mail theßombay Times, Oct. 1.)
Each succeedingm e us, as it must make the
English reader, aware, that under a thoroughly peace-
(
m
ful Administration there is, in the regions of non-intel-
ligence, beneath the lowest deep a lower still. We are
this month altogether devoid of subjects for relation,
though not without abundance for discussion. Those on
which diversity of opinion must occur are excluded from
that portion of our paper devoted to narrative, and which
thereby becomes nearly a blank. India at large is tran-
quil, and the general peace extends to each individual
province, whether of old or recent acquisition. The
cool season has set in in Scinde, and the climate at pre-
sent seems not only healthy, but agreeable. The natives
continue to suffer from extreme dearth and scarcity of
provisions. No reduction of the amount of troops on
the Indus has yet occurred, and the rumours regarding
it have been transformed into whispers of fresh military
movements. These are understood to originate at Kurra-
chee,
and to be disseminated to mislead as to the great
political changes now rapidly approaching. Some rob-
beries have occurred at Sukkur, and inroads of small
magnitude been made on the border. Our troops con-
tinue pretty healthy at Lahore and in the Punjaub—the
Governor-General taking pains to make the highly
peaceful nature of his policy, and his determined aversion
to war, be understood.
It is somewhat singular, that while assurances of the
resolute determination of the Governor-General to main-
tain peace throughout the British dominions reach us
from the best informed men at head-quarters, and while
all existing appearances bear out the general belief, re-
-1 orts seem sedulously scattered around Kurrachee of
movements to the north—of a march on Bahawulpore,
or foray over the frontier—a little war somewhere, just
to show that a vast army is indispensable in Sinde, and
leaving it to be inferred that when troops are in the field
the presence of the Governor is indispensable.
It is understood that an order has been issued from
the supreme Government for the suspension of the con-
struction of public works on the Indus. The Sinde
horse and Belooch battalions, both a sort of independent
corps, have been incorporated with the Bombay army.
It must be recollected that there is scarcely a single
Sindian in either corps, though their designations would
lead to the inference that they were composed of na-
tives of the country. An additional battalion of the
first-named of the two is at present being raised in the
Deccan.
Swindling to a most alarming extent is said to have
been diecov( red in those supplying the troops with meat,
false weights and improper steelyards having been made
use of fur the purfoses of fraud. The bakers who sup.
plied the bread, again, appear to have been partly paid
in grain from the Government stores, higher prices
Laving been charged for this than those current in the
market; on both points severe general orders have been
issued by Sir C. .Napier. It is said, that singular coun-
tervailing discoveries have been made, so that the parties
presently inculpated may prove innocent, and the blame
be further forwarded to other shoulders.
Lieutenant Balfour, of the Indian navy, had lately
been engaged in examining the channel betwixt Gisree
Bonder and the Indus. his report is favourable • and,
should the anticipations expressed in it be realised, the
advantages of having this line of communication, which
could be maintained throughout the year, opened up,
would be very great indeed.
Vast flights of locusts had made their appearance in
the neighbouring province of Lus, but happily had not
visited Sinde.
A general order had been published on the subject of
the relative precedence of the different denominations of
the Company's and the Queen's troops, the agitation of
which had occasioned many heartburnings and much
misunderstanding. At the funeral of the late Captain
John Napier, the Hon. Colonel Dundas, commanding
her Majesty's 60th, had given this corps the precedence
of Captain Rowland's troop of Horse Artillery, and, the
irregularity being pointed out, he insisted that the royal
army of all arms should on all occasions take the post
of honour. Singularly enough, a thing so perfectly
well established by a long series of general orders, em-
bodied in every military code for half a century, was
parsed on from hand to hand to the Commander-in-
Chief of all India—the Commander of the Forces in
Sinde, and the Commander-in-Chief of Bombay, being
equally competent to dispose of it, by simple reference
to regulations. According to these, Horse Artillery,
whether Company's or Queen's, take precedence of
Dragoons, and Foot Artillery of Infantry, so that had
Dragoons and Foot Artillery been present, her Majesty's
60th would have been placed three steps above the place
they were entitled to have occupied in relation to the
Horse Artillery. A good deal of truckling and tem-
porizing has unhappily made its appearance, and an in-
finity of ill-blood has been generated. The Honourable
Colonel Dundas, through whose ignorance of rule
and intemperateness of disposition all this has
arisen, has, in consequence, it is understood,
of family connexions and public influence,
escaped without censure. The Bombay Govern-
ment, impressed with the monstrousness of permitting
the harmony which ought to exist amongst all divisions
of the service to be thus interrupted, has ordered the
whole correspondence to be sent home. It is to be hoped
that there so gross a breach of discipline will be more
strictly dealt with than it has been in India.
The intelligence contained in our last of the arrival of
the Chief of Meoltan at Lahore turns out to be un-
founded. He has not as yet been prevailed on to come
in, nor is it likely he will readily permit himself to be so
without an abundant guarantee from us for his safety.
The report arose from the circumstance of another de-
linquent of the same name, but lesser note, having
come in to make his peace with the Durbar. The origin
of the report formerly given, and contradicted, of the
death of Raja Lall Singh, is easily explained. Debate
had waxed so warm in council that Heera Singh and the
Wuzeer drew swords, and would have slain each other
but for the interference of others. The past fortnight
supplies not one syllable in the shape of news. The
troops continue quiet and healthy near the Seikh capital,
prepared to retire the moment the prescribed term
of occupation expires.possibly
Lord Hardinge will y
about this time have started on
his tour of inspection
throug the states on our new frontier. Though notably
quiet and uncommunicative, he has never manifested the
conceal or mystify, and is peculiarly
slightest wish to .
to thepolicy unicative as he has deter-
minedfrank and comm
He means minutely
to • •
maintain the
to pursue.
peace an d insist on having it maintained ; to give no coun-
tenance to rumours of imagined or impending wars.lie
is anxious, apparently, to tranquillise and calm the public
mind ; to impress it on the community that the func-
tions of a Governor—the duties of a people—are peace-
ful : that he entertains no apprehension of the weakness
of the vast empire he rules, or the strength of its ene-
mies : that he will be the last to draw the sword—the
last to sheath it after it has been drawn, until its stern
duties have been fulfilled. The Jullundur Doab con-
tinues as favourite, _
healthy, and promising a station as
ever. The temperature was complained of as
something
high, in the the thermometer ranging shade above 100
The only serious sufferers from this
degrees in tents.
in the
cantonments it occa-
sioned those on the march ;
than a little discomfort from noon
sioned nothing moreto three or four o'c lock. It is said that the troops in
the
will
be relieved early weather,and
Doab
that the command between the Sutlej and the Beas will
be committed to Sir J. Littler. It could, we believe, I
fall into no better hands.
BOMBAY, OCTOBER 1, 1846.
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