The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

The following is from the summary of the Bom-
bay Times, of Dec. 17 :
" The only tidings that have reached us from the
Persian 'Gulf since the departure of the fleet, in
the middle of last month, is the intimation that
the steamer Assaye, with the transport Rajah of
Cochin in tow, had passed Muscat on the 20th No-
vember. Despatches are now expected daily,
though we do not look for tidings of any great pith
or moment. We at Bombay continue to be as
much bewildered as ever as to what could
be the object of sending forth an army, or what
may be intended to be done. There seems no
longer any reason to doubt that Herat has fallen,
after a long and most inglorious siege. It is not
certain, indeed, but that the people themselves
preferred a Persian to an Affghan or au indepen-
dent indigenous administration. The force of
Brigadier Chamberlayne, mentioned in our last as
having been within five marches of Cabul, is said to
have gone on a demonstration against some recu-
sant tribes, who paid their arrears without a shot
being fired, when they saw opposition hopeless.
It is affirmed that there were several motives
besides the ostensible one for the march—one
being to determine the fact of whether a route
might not be fou❑d into the Cabul districts
without the necessity of penetrating the Khyber
Pass ; •ud this, it is said, has been satisfac-
torily determined. There is a talk of troops mus-
tering at Peshawur with a view to an advance, and
of our sending whatever succour may be required
to Candahar. The Friend of India, whose specu-
lations not unfrequently indicate the supposed
♦iews of government, speaks of an armed occupa-
tion of Affghanistan. The present, like the former
Afighan war, is purely an affair of the administra-
tion, opposed, we have no doubt, now, as formerly,
by Leadenhall- street, and by all who are competent
Ito guide our com.sels. Russia meantime is said to
have seized on Astrabad, as a material guarantee,
and will in all.likelihood be but too glad for an ex-
cuse for the occupation of Teheran. Where the
silver cross banner streams, it is not very easy to
put it dawn again; and if in the course of the next
five years it sweeps over a larger expanse of Asia
than now, England will have to answer for it.
Dost Mahomed is at present said to be in confer-
ence with Sir .tohn Lawrence at Peshawur. The
60,0001. and 7,000 stand of arms we have sent to
Candahar are just as likely to be used against us as
in our favour. If it be true that an army is beinc,
organised in the Punjaub for an advance north-
wards, the march cannot be commenced till spring.
In December and January the snow frequently lies
several feet deep all over the country, and in 1842
the thermometer at Cabul stood 40 deg. below the
freezing point.
" Tranquillity reigns throughout the British
dominions in India, and this renders our columns
nearly newsless. There have been some disturbances
in the Madras Presidency, but apparently of no great
moment. .

" Our railway works are proceeding with unpre-
cedented activity, and the Great Peninsular is em-
ploying nearly 50,000 people, each man receiving
about ten times as much as the total of his ordinary
emoluments. Peace improvements forms our true
defences against foreign enemies, they are so easily
carried through, so singularly advantageous to the
people during their progress, and so certain in the
magnificence of their returns, that the miracle
is that other Works should be thought of while fields
of enterprise so magnificent as those India provides
remain unimproved."
The Calcutta Englishman learns that a strong
force, containing a larger proportion of Europeans,
will be immediately despatched, under the com-
mand of Lieutenant-General Sir H. Somerset, to
the Persian Gulf, to support the force previously
sent.

Mr. Grant's bill, legalising Hindoo widow mar-
riage, produced its first fruit yesterday, when a
Hindoo gentleman of high caste and social position
was married to a young widow of good birth and
family, ths ceremony being attended by a very large
assemblage of the most influential natives of th•
Brahminical order and other high castes, who fully
approved of the step that had been taken.