The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-23 00:00:00

INDIA.

By extraordinary express, in anticipation of the
Overland Mail, we have received our letters and

papers from Bombay to the 26th ult. The follow
ing is from the Bombay Gazette of that date :

" The news from China has come almost to a
dead lock; and expectation for the time takes the
place of ascertained facts. The latest papers that
we have received notice the arrival of the 67th

Regiment from Calcutta, and tho 3d Buffs were
daily expected. Various are the rumours which

have come to us from the North-West as to troops

being held in readiness for China, but nothing de-
finite has yet reached us. The receipt of the dis-
patches from the home Government regarding the
enlistment of the discharged soldiers for service in
China was followed by a general order, in which the
Governor-General stated that he had 'received au-

,hority from her Majesty's Government to grant the

boon of two years' service to those men of the local
army who had not taken their discharge under the
General Order, No. 883, of the 20th of June last,'
and that his Excellency had also received authority
to permit • such men as have taken their discharge,
and are not compromised by part taken in any act
of insubordination connected with the question of

discharge, to enlist for service in China in any o
her Majesty's regiments of the line, or her Majesty's
artillery or marines, which may be now in China,
or proceeding thither ; soldiers so enlisting will re-
ceive a bounty of 50 rupees, upon the condition
that they enlist for ten years' service.' This order
means a great deal more than the words imply. It
means, in fact, that the men have just claims for
bounty, and it may in time to come be a source of
embarrassment to the authorities should the
example of the discharged soldiers he followed by
others for the purpose of obtaining the redress of
grievances,, whether real or imaginary.
"If a war with China should be decided on, it
would not, perhaps, be prudent to enter on it with
a force numbering under 15,000 men. We have no
doubt the feelings of the people in England must
be averse to again entering into a new war, after
all the exertions made in the Crimean campaign, the
suppression of the Indian rebellion, and the expen-
diture of money and life which both entailed. But
admitting that we have not committed our-
selves to a contest out of which we could not retreat
until our objects were attained, it is a question if
the Chinese Government will be brought to terms
and be induced to carry out the conditions of the
treaty by any other means than by force of arms.
" The actual state of the rebel army in Nepaul can
perhaps be better estimated by a calculation of what
it must be, than by our reports. The rumours are
perfectly contradictory ; it is now stated that the
Nana intends to maintain his position—then that
he intends to retreat. One report is that he
is dead, another that there was a consultation
in his camp, and that the several leaders
agreed to unite their forces and place them
under his orders. Side by side with these
reports are details of the dispersion of the Nana's
followers in all directions, and the miserable plight
to which they are reduced for want of food and
clothing. One thing is certain—that our troops
have taken the field against the rebels ; the 54th
Queen's have proceeded to the Goruckpoor fron-
tier, and one or two engagements have already
taken place, in which as usual the rebels retired,
betaking themselves to jungles and out-of-the-way
places. It is now stated that Jung Bahadoor is
going to assist us in expelling the" rebels from his
territories. About eight or ten thousand Goorkha
troops, with 40 guns, have already marched down
the hills, and Jung will join the army at Bootwal.
If this be the case, the discomfiture of the rebels
will be a quick and easy work.
" According to a letter to the Englishman
from the Nepaul frontier, it is believed that the
rebel force in that quarter consists of about
6,000 of all kinds, of which about 1,000 are
so wars ; this number includes also camp fol-
lowers, women, and children, so perhaps besides
the sowars, only 3,000 sepoys remain. The
greater number of these are encamped in the
Dhang and Dukur valleys, over the first range of
hills, but still small bodies are dotted about at the
edge of the Terai jungle all along the Nepaul fron-
tier. They have still remaining with them about
two elephants' load of Government ammunition.
The sepoys have had no regular pay from their
chiefs since they loft Lucknow, but until Nana
Rao's death they were always regularly fed. A few
Christian drummers from the mutinous regiments
are said to be with the rebels, but they have turned
Mahomedans and live with the sepoys. Some re-
ports state that there is a European sergeant with
them, who also has turned Mussulman, but this has
not been corroborated. From further inquiries
which have been made, there is no reason at present
to believe that there is any European man or wo-
man now alive in the rebels' hands, as some papers
have stated.
" In Central India, it is feared that it will be
necessary to carry on the war in the jungle. A
body of rebels, under the notorious Bhagojee
Naik, lately found their way to a village about 12
miles from Nassick. About 100 of the Ahmednug-
gur and Nassick police, led by Mr. Souter, went
after them, and succeeded in capturing the leader,
who was hanged on the spot where he killed Capt.
Henry a year ago, and in killing another chief and
51 men. Minor insurrections are going forward in
other parts of India. The hill tribes in the Deccan
are giving some trouble ; and a party of Rohillas
have been creating disturbances near Hingolee.
Troops were sent after them, and they were sur-
prised in a ravine a few miles from the cantonment
of Hingolec. Fifteen of them were killed, includ-
ing their leader, the Rohilla Jemader Shereef Khan.
'The Rohillas have also advanced on some villages
near Hyderabad, and we fear that their move-
ments will not be checked without considerable
bloodshed.
" At last the official papers on the subject of the
claims to compensation for losses sustained during
the mutiny have been published. The following
scale is to be adopted in the case of those claimants
who have sustained losses in buildings, factories, and
crops, including merchandise and stock in trade .
If the claim do nc' exceed 2,000 rupees, the sum
awarded will be—half the loss proved. If it exceed
2,000 rupees, the snm awarded will be half the first
2,000 rupees and one-third of the rest. The other
class includes cash and jewels, and articles of per-
sonalty, with respect to which the compensation is
limited to one-third of the admitted loss, the largest
amount in the ease of any single claimant being
fixed at 5,000 rupees,'
"The venal,+itl
Qf war are coming out in new