The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-14 00:00:00

LONDON, T UESDAY EVENING, APRIL 14, 1857.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

INDIA.

On Saturday last we (Times) published a tele-
graOin message from Trieste, in anticipation of the
Over land Mail. We have now received our Indian
letters and papers by the Marseilles route. There
semi to l‘e no advices fr3m China by this arrival.
The follow;ng are cur carrespondo3nts,' letters :
" BOMBAY MARCH 19.'

" The late :t news that we have.received from the
Persian Gulf bears date the 25th of
,February.
When t'‘e steamer which brought it left Bushire
prep iritiolis were making quietly but rataidly for
the despatch of a large portion of the force to attack
the Persian forirsss of Mobammersh. This place is
situated on the right or northern bank of the river
Karoon, at the point where its waters join tho,e' of
the alre idy united Euphrates and Tigris. Some 70
mile 3 below, and by narrow and difficult channels,
which however have been of late well surveyed, the
open sea of the Gulf is reached. Above M ihammerah
some 30 miles, and on the Euphrates, is the Turkish
town of Bussorah. Mohammerah, incleea, is afrontier
post of Prrsia, close upon the boundary line be-
tween the territories of the Shah and the Turkish
provinces of Arabia. Commanding, as it does, the
lcurrent of the Euphrates, the Persian force sta-
Coned there have been able to do us not little
damage by intercepting the supplies which our
commissariat officers at work among the Arab tribes
despatch down the river for conveyance to the
camp at . Bushire. Hence the resolution of
General Outran to attack and capture it while yet
the remembrance of the rout at Kbooshab is too
fresh in the minds of the Persian authorities to
render an attack on" Bushire probable. It is, more- '
over, suggested as a motive for occupying'iloham-
merah that, with the mouth of the Karoon thus
opened, an advance to Shuster and thence into the
interior of the country will be comparatively easy.
It is quite possible that this latter consideration has
had weight with the General, and that such an ad-
vance may be contemplated as an ulterior opera-
tion. But at present the question of supplies is
the more pressing one to an army encamped in a
desert country, with a powerful enemy in its front ;
and the great Mesopotamian highway as the prin-
cipal, almost the only, channel of such supplies;
must be cleared and kept clear. For this purpose
Mohammerah must be taken, and a sufficient force_
left in the place to prevent recapture. That done,
the remainder of the force must hurry back to its
camp at Bushire, to act on the offensive or defen-
sive as circumstances may require against the mass
of the Persian army that will have been by that
time got together to meet them.

"Tlie defences of Mobammerah are reported as
'formidable, and it is thought possible here that a
heavy loss on the side of the assailants will be at-
tendant upon their capture. By the latest accounts
they were manned by 14,000 Persian troops, with
14 guiis,•"some of whom were stationed in the forti-
fied town itself, the rest strongly intrenched in a
date grove outside. The town will be assailed from
the river by the steamers, the Semiramis leading.
But the in:renchments in the date grove are not, I
believe, acces,ible by the guns of the fleet, and
must be assaulted by the troops on shore.. The
portion of the force destined for this service, and of
which the embarkation at Bushire had commenced
at the date of the latest letters, consists of the 3d
troop of Horse Artillery, Captain *Aitken's field-
battery (sent straight up to the river's mouth with-
out being landed at Bushire),' and, I believe, the
whole or the greater part-of the following corps :
the 64th, 78th Highlanders,. 2d • Europeans, 4th
Rifles, 30th and 26th Native Infantry, and the
Light Battalion, with- some Sappers and Miners.
Several regiments will leave a company or compa
nies in the camp, and there also remain behind
the 2d Beloochees, the 23d Native Infantry, and
the whole of the cavalry. When •Mohammerah
shall have fallen Brigadier Hall will, I.believe,
be placed in command of the fortress With the
two naive regiments forming his brigade, and
the rest of the troops will, as I have intimated
above, be reconveyed to Bushire with all speed.
At Burazjoons the site of the old camp, from which
they were frightened away at the sudden approach
of the English the day before the battle of Khoo-
shab, the Persians etre again collecting in force.
Probably the General will not be able to repeat the
blow that he so successfully dealt on the previous
occasion without a large accession of strength, wßich
he may await within his intrenchments undisquieted
while his communications by sea and river with
Turkish Arabia are secure.

'But where at the present moment we are to
look for reinforcements on any large scale it is by
no means easy to say. The army of the Western
Presidency has done much, but it was thought that
if aided in some of its stations by troops from Ben-
gal or Madras it might do a little more yet. The
3d Europeans, a lately raised regiment which has
never yet seen service, is lying at Poonah. It lately
received orders to march to Bombay, for embania-
tion, and was already on the way when an officer of
the Quartermaster-General's Department was sent,
up in hot haste with counter orders, and the corps
retunied to its cantonments. It appears that the
Ist Madras Fusiliers, who were to have replaced
their Bombay brethren at Pool)* could not,- it
was thought by the Madras authorities, be spared
fromtheir own Presidency. And without being re-
' placed the Bombay regiment could not well be re-
' moved, for its withirawal would not leave a single
European infantry corps in the Presidency lower
than Deese in the north, with the exception of the
wing of the 96th stationed in Bombay.. We are
sending, then, no more European infantry from
Bombay, though the 14th Light Dragoons are gone,
or going, their last squadron leaving the harbour
to-morrow. Their place is partly supplied by a
wing of the 12th Lancers, of whom part have ar-
rived from Madras, and others are daily expected.
In such another affair as that of Khooshab the
14th will have ample• field to add another to
their many laurels. The charge of the 3d Cavalry
on that occasion, of which I wrote in my last, has
called forth the admiration of a Bengal officer, who
cites it in proof of what horsemen, well led, can do
against infantry. After describing the formation
of the ,Persian square as excellent, steady, and un-
touched by artillery, he proceeds (in a letter to a
Calcutta paper), with so vivid a description of the
charge—of which he had merely heard from eye-
witnesses, not seen himself—that I am tempted to
extract it :

" When Forbes, who commanded this regiment, gave
the order to charge, he and his adjutant, young MoOre,
planed themselves in front of the 6th troop, which.was
the one directly opposite the nearest face of the square.
The other Moore, Malcolmson, and opens came the least
thing behind, riding knee to knee, with spurs in their
horses' flanks, as if racing after a hog. In rear of them
rushed the dark troopers• of the 3,1, mad to avenge the
death of poor Malet at Blishire. In spite of steel, fire,
and bullets they tore down upon the nearest face of the
devoted square. As they approached, Forbes was shot
through the thigh, and Spen's horse was wounded, but
unheeding they swept onward. Daunted by the flashes
arid the fire and the noise and crackle of the musketry,
the younger Moore's horse swerved as they. Came up.
Dropping his sword from his hand and letting' it hang
by the knot at his wrist; be caught up the reins in both
handr,, screwed his bead straight; and then coolly, as if
ridir.g at a fence, leapt him at the square. If, therefore,
any man can be said to have been first, the younger
Moore is that man. Of course the horse fell stone dead
upon bayonets ; so did his brother's, ridden with equal
courage and determination. Toe elder Moore-18 stone
in weight, and Eft. 7in. or thereabouts in height—cut his
way out on foot. Malcolmson took one foot out of his
stirrup when he saw his brother officer down and un•
armed (for his sword had been broken to pieces by the
fall), and, holding on to that, the younger Mporeescaped.
The barrier once broken, and the entrance once made,
in and through it poured the avenging troopers.
On and over everything they rode, till,' getting
clear out, they reformed on the other side —wheeled
and swept back—a second wave of ruin. Out of 500
Persian soldiers of the Ist Regular Regiment of Fars,
who composed that fated square, only 20 escaped to tell
the tale of its destruction. Thus the 3d Light Cavalry,
to use their own phrase, gave our enemies a jewab
I(answer) for the death of Malet Slkib Babadur.'

64 We have no local news of importance.'
" Money is plentiful, and the banks have reduced
their rates of discount a further one per cent.
" Exchange on England, 2s. lid."
" CALCUTTA, MARCH 8.
" I have little to tell you of the war beyond this :
—The Scindian recently stated that a force had
been ordered to rendezvous at Shikarpore, on its
way to Quetta. The names of the regiments weva
given with a most circumstantial minuteness, and
tor a moment the statement was believed. The
Sciiidian, for reasons well understood on the spot,
has excellent information, and rarely publishes an
erroneous report. In this case, however, he has
been misinformed. I am positively assured that
no such orders have been issued. The Government
of India maintains a rigid and most injurious
secrecy in regard to all the operations of the war.
The frank policy of Lord Dalliousie has been aban-
doned, and the 'smallest facts are concealed as care-
fully as if the Persian Court were in communication
u'ith the Indian press. This mystification is a
symptom of the weakness beginning to be felt in
every departraeut of Government. There is a want
of courage, or, if you will, of audacity, iu every

resolution of the supreme authority. Troops, for
instance, could have been sent to China from
Madras with the greatest ease. The safety of Hong
Kong wal endangered in order .to save re.ponsibi-
lity.-- Lord Da!housie airoull have had 10,000 ,men
afloat within a month after the reqUisition realhed
Calcutta. One regiment, the telegraph informs us,
has-at last :keen sent, but a regiment tin do little
more than garrison H. tong.

"NV have had another. mutiny, more serious
than the last. The men of the I.t)th Native Infantry,
at M or-thedabad, heard of the dispute about
t'oe • cartridge paper. By -way bf expressing their
feelings t uey.held a, parade .on t heir own account with
their arms. The Colonel commanding remonstrated
with the native afieers,*;,ivko, u,tial, adhered
after a passive fashiorrtistheir superiors. The men,
however, were still rilractoiy, and he called out a
regiment of cavalry and two guns. The two arms
'in India seldom coalesce, and the c evalry are usually
as tru,t worthy as marines on board ship. The men
were then ordered to ground their arms and return
to their barracks. They agreed if the Colonel would
send away his cavalry. The Colonel appears to
have d' elided the responsibility of an armed con-
flic,, and acceded to the conditions, fir which be
has been rebuked. It was undoub'edly a serious
error Of judgment, as it was .lmost impossible that
the Infantry, should have ventured to attack the
guns, and there were 2,000 Sikh Irregulars within
40 miles. I can r?adily imagine, however, that an
old officer .would from humanity alone be unwilling
to see his own regiment cut to pieces. Terrible as
the necessity may be, however, I question if the
diffichlty will be overcall:re without one -severe ex-
ample. This cartridge question is travelling north-
ward, and will excite every Sepoy regiment in
India, until in some station a determined Brigadier
gives the men the option of obedience or death.
There is" on this subject no weakness either with
Government, or am ,ng: the public. Every man
feels to the bottom of his heart that the safety of
the empire hinges on- the instant suppression of
mutiny iu whatever shape it may appear. Some
punishment will, I doubt not, be meted out to this
regiment. The papers have a story that the King
of Oude is at the bottom of it all. I need not say
this is absurd.

" A. stange and to some 'observers a very dis-
agreeable incident has occurred in the North-
west. A few days since a chowkeydar, or vil-
lage policeman, of Cawnpore ran up to an-
other in Futteghur and gave him two chupat-
ties. These are indigestible little unleavened
cakes, the common food of, the poorer classes.
He ordered him to make ten more, and give
two to- each of the five nearest chowkeydars
with the same order. He was obeyed, and in a few
hours the whole country was in, commotion with
chowkeydars running about with these cakes. The
wave swept province af,er provines with a speed at
which official orders never fly. The magistrates
were powerless, and the chupatties at this moment
are flying westward. Nobody has the least idea
what it all means. Some officers fancy it is a cere-
mony intended to avert the cholera ; others hint
at treason—a view encouraged by the native offi-
cials ; others talk of it as a trifle—a joke. For
myself, I believe it to be the act of some wealthy
fool in pursuance of a vow ; but its significance is
this :—There are some 90,000 policemen in these
provinces. If they should perchance imbibe dan-
gerous ideas, how perftict is their organisation.
" The annual reports contain, wrong other in-
formation, au account ot the progress of Pegu. The
proiincs is becoming prosperous. The people have
got rid of their notion that we were about to aban-
-don the country, and are settling steadily to culti-
vation. The burmese, Karens, and Shans are
thronging into the northern districts; and the area
of cultivation has increased by 136,000 acres in one
ye-sr. The export of rice has risen to 126,000 tons
more than the usual export of Calcutta. The trade,-
which hits sprung from -nothing, has reached two
millions sterling. The revenue is 30 Jakhs of rupees
(300,0001.), and the expenditure' not 20. There is
now-no doubt, even 'among the opponents of an-
nexation; that Pegu in 20 years will pay a revenue
such as in Asia is obtainible only from these rich
deltas. Great efforts are being made to introduce su-
perior cotton, but I have no confidence in them. A
native does not want to be t old to grow cotton. He
willgrow anything that will pay, and increase cultiva-
tion to any extent the moment the price rises. The
demand for j ute doubled last year, and was provided
by the cultivators at once. It pa,d, and the native
prejudices" we are so fond of talking about never
stand in the way of their interest. I saw a Parse
a Brahmin, a Mehter (scavenger), and as English-
man all sitting ou the same seat in the railway the
other day, and all profoundly indifferent to the
outrage on their respective superstitions.

on the 4th inst., which will be found btlow, as coin•
pared with the statement of the 11th ult., inserted in
oar last. shows an increase in the arn-unt of cash from
rupees 7.0,97.726-12 5 to rupees 80,55.118:11 9, and a
d-crease of loans on deposit of Governme-t securities
from rupees 170,74,039.8-6 to rupees 154,58,016-10-0.