The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-16 00:00:00

LATEST N E WS.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.
(Front Second Edition of Daily News.)
We have received our despatches from India,
China, and Persia by the Overland Mail via Mar-
seilles. Their dates are, Bombay, Feb. 16 ; Cal-
cutta, Feb. 7 ; Bushire, Jan. 23, and Hong Kong,
Jan. 30.

11;YKNING, MA RC H_ 16, 1857.

settling up long-outstanding accounts, which par-
ties had dunned' him to settle up for months before.
Oue of these parties was one of the owners of the
steamer Shamrock, and during the arrangement of
accounts Allum was particularly anxious to be as-
sured of a passage for his family to Macao tie next
morning. Suspicion immediately alighted more
particularly on him. Had it depended on our
Government to pursue and capture him, he would
have escaped, but for a want of precaution on his
part (supposing him to be the guilty man.) The,
steamer Shamrock had been supplied with the
bread from the Esing shop, and all who partook of
it experienced the same effec's as the parties 9n
shore ; this aroused the suspicions of the captain
of the steamer, Mr. Antonio (formerly of the En-
deavour, lorcha), and he knowing he had the baker
on board retained him and his family, be-
lieving that the bread delivered in Hong Kong
would be of the same kind, and that all supplied
with it would have been poisoned. A very
active private citizen, Mr. W. M. ttobinet, did
what the Government should have done, and
chartered a private steamer, the Spark, which
got under way at 11 o'clock, and reached Macao
from two to thrree hours after the Shamrock: Mr.
Robinet finding Allum detained on board that ves-
sel had him arrested, and he was delivered over by
the Macao authorities to the police officers sent after
him in the Queen, and he was brought back next day
in the Shamrock. There was naturally a great excite-
ment, but Lynch law is out of the question, for
many reasons, in this colony ; and so the prisoner
is undergoing the usual examination before the
magis'rate.
The atrocious attempt has, we are thankful to
say, failed in every case, and although two or three
hundred people must have partake❑ of the poisoned
food no lives have been lost. Many suffered very
severely—none more so than the family of Sir John
Bowring—Lady Bowring more particularly. Two
children who were incautiously allowed to eat some
of the bread a second time were at one time in con-
siderable danger. A careful analysis by the other
medical men of the colony has shown that the poi-
son was arsenic.
The following additional items are chiefly taken
from the Hong Kong Register :
News from Amoy show a rather unsat'sfactory
state of affairs commencing there. No disturbance
has taken place, but the Chinese are throwing up
batteries—they say not for offence, but defence, in
the event of our operations. The foreigners are not
very easy, and the receiving ships are fitting out.
The Sir Charles Forbes has been chartered by the
Admiral, and will, we believe, be placed under
command of a Lieutenant, with a crew of forty
men, and armed with two guns. Lieut. Curme,
first of the Nankin, is spoken of as the probable
commander, and—no disparagement to the other
gallant officers now here—we imagine a better choice
could not be male. Lieut. Curme is long and
favourably known to every one in China. The
vessel left yesterday, Tuesday, morning, in charge
of Mr. J. Tully, Master's Assistant of the Barra-
conta, with a temporary crew supplied by that
vessel ; the Hong Kong, having been thoroughly
repaired, is also to be chartered, these with the first
detachrnenb of gun boats which ought to be here
shortly, will enable the Admiral, we hope, to cut
up and sweep away the scum of mandarins,- rebels,
and pirates now infesting the river.
After the Chinese fashions Allum's uncle has
been making an appeal by a proclamation in Chi-
nese freely pasted about the walls. He sets furth
his version of the story, and calls for the sympathy
of the colonists. In ordinary times such placards
may be treated with contempt, but in the special
position in which we now stand it would be as well
to show the Chinese, that if they want to live
quietly, and do nothing in any way calculated to
disturb the peace, such as, in this case, issuing in-
flammatory placards, as we are still under the law,
Allum will have a fair trial—that he may depend
upon, and that also notwithstanding the general
feeling is against him.
Particulars of the attempt to poison the whole
community by bread from the Esing Bakery will
be found elsewhere. The partner of the firma, Allum,
arrested at Macao, was brought back, and after an
examination before the magistrates, was committed
with nine others to take his trial at the crimi-
nal sessions this month. The trial will commence
on Monday next. On Wednesday last an ap-
plication was made to the court to have the
money seized on Allum's premises given up to
pay for his defence. The Attorney-General, backed
by the affidavit of two of Allum's creditors, re-
sisted the application, stating in his usual
courteous manner, that he did so to prevent the
money being plundered or squandered in his de-
fence. The counsel, in support of the motion,
seemed to think the Attorney-General was using
strong language, when, of course, the Attorney-
General repeated the expression, adding that he
did not object to the bill for Allum's defence being
paid out of the money, after it was laid before and
approved by his lordship. His lordship very pro-
perly sustained the Attorney-Genera), except of
course as regarded his insinuations. The prisoners
will be well defended. They have two attorneys
and two barristers.
It is satisfactory to find that the Deportation
Ordinance is not, like that of registration. to be-
come a dead letter. The police have been making
numerous seizures ; but from 147 taken ono night
in Tai-ping-shan, only 8 were deported ; and of
about 200 apprehended in the Lower Bazaar,
including several well-known pickpockts, not a
single man was detained, for all readily found
security, and were allowed to go free. The Phcebe
Dunbar was chartered to take 200 to Hainan]. ;
but left yesterday morning (January 28) with only
168, made up of the 3 emissaries above-mentioned,
8 of those seized in Tai-ping-shan, 37 beggars, and
120 pickpockets and others in gaol for petty lar-
cenies. The guard sent with them consisted of a
lieutenant, a serjeant, and 50 men of the 59th, and
a serjeant and six European police constables, who
go on to Singapore, and return by the mail
steamer. The Chinese, we understand, are not to
be landed at one place, but a boat-load here and
there on various parts of the island.
The _North China Herald reports that on the
Bth December a great engagement took place be-
tween the imperialists and insurgents. It seems
that Chang-kwo-leang, the second in command of
the Imperial troops, was decoyed. into Keu-yung
with a number of his forces, on the suppo-ition
that the insurgents had left the place. The latter,

however, were only in ambuscade within the
city, whence they came out on hearing that
the Imperial forces had entered. They soon
overpowered them and drove then back. During
the attack the imperial general received a gunshot
wound in the thigh, which is said to be rather se-
rious. On the 13th, the chief iv. command of the
imperialists, Ho-chun, attempted to make an en-
campment on the west side of the above city, on
the high road to Nankin. He was warned not to
do so by his subordinate, who, from his formerly
belonging to the rebel party, was better aware of
their tactics than his superior officer. 110-chun,
however, was fully confident of his own abilities,
declared himself to be a man of valour, and had
already—at least according to the Gazette--proved
himself to be a hero in many fights. He planted
his camp at a little distance from the city, and in
the course of the same night the insurgents sallied
out in great force, swept through the camp, and
obtained a complete victory. Many of the impe-
rialists were killed in this encounter, and it is said

also the Generalissimo was wounded in the arm.

The same Journal says—
"We hear that the rebels have retired from
ing-kwoh, of which they have been long in Pos-
session, and were observed by some of the native
tea-merchants to be retiring towards Whei-chow.
The place has been accordingly occupied by the
imperialists. It is also reported that two of their
important strdngholds, Wuchang and Han-yang,
have been evacuated by them, but no doubt after
having been well drained.

SINGAPORE•
SINGAPORE, FEB. 8.

Here at Singapore matters have settled down to
something like quiet, the Chinese being afraid of
the great military preparations that were made to
punish them if they carried out their threat of ex-
terminating the European residenst. The danger,
however, will continue so long as the war lasts in.
China.

Her Majesty's ship Spartan, Captain Sir Wm.
Hoste, is the only vessel of war at Singapore.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ships Manilla and Rajah, intended to run between
Singapore and Manila, are here. It appears the
negotiation with the Spanish Government has been
broken off; so the Rajah proceeds to China and the
Manilla to Bombay.

We are daily expecting the arrival of the gun-
boats and ships from England.
Troops are anxiously looked for from England
and India for service in China.

__—
The Madras Atheiamm, of Feb. 14, says :--
"-A message was received by electric telegraph,
late on Wednesday evening, ordering troops to be
sent to Singapore on account of the disturbances
it 4 China, lii csmegAnco a WI request the

14th N.l.—which was about to embark on board
the Oriental for Burmah—has been ordered to
proceed-to Singapore ; the regiment embarked yes-
terday morning. The Singapore merchants have
protested against the despatch of the troops to
China, and have notified to the Governor that they
will ho:d the East India Company responsible for
any loss which may accrue to them therefrom."
The Straits Times has the following warnings:

We think it well to caution masters of vessels
taking passengers hence (Singapore) to China to be
cautions of receiving on board. Chinese, without ex-
amining theirbaggage. The recent outrage onboard
the steamer Thistle, in the Canton river, is evidence
that too much vigilance and examination cannot be
exercised ; for had the baggage of the passengers
been examined the weapons clandestinely taken on
board would have been discovered, and the lives of
those on board, as also the steamer itself, would
not have fallen a prey to the treacherous conduct
of the Chinese passengers on board. The influ-
ence of the Mandarins and other authorities in China
—the gross ignorance and barbarity of the lower
classes—may tempt Chinese from the Straits to ports
in China to cut off vessels in the hope of ob-
taining a reward. There is no outrage too gross,
no cruelty too severe, or treachery too base for the
lower orders of the Chinese ; whilst the official pro-
clamations recently issued by the Chinese authori-
ties at Canton, offering rewards for the heads of
foreigners, clearly prove the encouragement which
Chinese officials are prepared to give for murders
and the worst of crimes. We are not alarmists, but
only perform a duty in drawing the attention of
ships' masters and others to this subject.
While on this subject we may mention that the
bark Fuzil Currim, which arrived at Swatow yes-
terday, was attacked by some of the Chinese pas-
sengers on board, but they were got under and some
of their number killed.