The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-07 00:00:00

LONDON, _MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7, 1857.

QCINDE RAILWAY COMPANY. -INDUS
STEAM FLOTILLA.—Notice is hereby given that no further
application for shares in the capital of the Indus Steam Flotilla cm
be received. THOS. BURNELL, tiecretary.
Gresham House, Old Broad-street,
7th December, 1857.

VAST and WEST INDIA DOCK COMPANY.
VAST
The Court of Directors of the East and West India Dock Com-
pany Hereby give Notice, That the Transfer Books of the said Com-
pany will be shut on MONDAY, 'the 14th December, 1857, and open
again on TFEEMAY, the sth January, 1858.
By order of the Court.
GEORGE COLLIN, Secretary.
East and West India Dock House. 111lliter-square,
4th December, 1857.

tion. At the same time, the three Powers, which the
conjoint responsibility of the partition of Poland
has so long united in a close alliance, at present
rather _ maintain ' a defiant position towards each
other. - It may be that one of them - will one
day look with a longing eye to Poland for aid; Po-
land at all times" belonged to Europe, of which she
formed the limit, and, al it were, the sentinel, watch-
ing, in the North and -the East, . the gigantic State
whose frontiers stretch through Asia to the shores of
the Pacific, and whose religion, whose manners, and
whose tendencies have merely received a superficial
and deceptive varnish from Europe. This S-ate, whose
extent greatly surpasses that of Europe--whose re-
source.l are so immense—whose government is the
most absolute, may, by a little foresight and activity,
double its power during a few years of peace. Of
what immense importance to the safety of Earope may
not, therefore, our nation one day belome —our nation
which, hi its geographical position and in its perS'ever-
ing attachment to its lost independence, contains such
guarantees of regeneration. But let us, without pre-
occupyieg ourselves too much with these eventualities,
and seeking to penetrate the secrete of the future,
endeavour zealously to fulfil the duties and perform
the work of each day. Eternal javtice is often retarded.
Bi the ordeal of misfortune God purifies our hearts,
and allows us to acquire merits ; let us, therefore, my
dear fellow-countrymen, strengthen nor faith and our
confidence in a Divine Providence, and learn ever more
to submit cheerfully to His will, and-let us increase in
zeal for His just and merciful law.

ARRIVAL OF THE INDIA MAILS AND
PASSENGERS.

SOUTHAMPTON, Dm 6.

The-Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Ripon, Captain H. W. Powell, arrived here
to-day, at 1 p.m., with the heavy 'portion of the
India and China mails, and also the Southampton
portion of ''the Enieu's Australian mails (which, it
will be remembered were picked up froth a native
boat off Tor), the whole in charge of Lieutenant
G. J. Gardner, R.N., Admiralty agent. This
steamer left Alexandria on the 21st ult., Malta the
25th, and Gibraltar on the Ist inst. In the Me-
diterranean she experienced strong westerly breezes,
and from Gibraltar variable winds, with very
heavy sea.
The Ripon brings 73 passengers, including Rear-
Admiral the Hon. Henry Keppel, C.B. Imme-
diately on the vessel's arrival in dock . to-day Mrs.
Finnis (the lady of the late Lord Mayor of London),
the Mayor of Southampton (Mr. J oho White),
and other members of the Relief Committee went
on board, but no case came under their notice
requiring the administration of relief. We were
informed that some clothing had been distributed
among a few of the passengers from India during
the voyage. The case of a lady named Moir,
who with her two children came home in the Ripon
is deserving of notice from the terrible inci-
dents associated with it. This lady was the wife of
a doctor who was shot by the mutineers in a bunga-
low 600 miles up the country, and he died in her
arms. After this she escaped, together with her
two children, and in passing through the jungle,
where she encountered great hardship, lost one of
them, but to her inexpressible joy the child was
restored to her 01 arriving at Calcutta, having
been picked up on the road by a gentleman, and by
him taken to that city. Lieutenant Campbell,
who escaped from Fyzabad on horseback, is also
among the Ripon's passengers.
On freight the Ripon brings 26 packages of specie,
value 34,5651., and a cargo consisting of 3,274 bales
and 40 cases of silk, five cases of indigo, 10 cases of
t
tortoiseshell, three boxes of China ink, 18 iests of
ta, 7 packages of elephant's teeth,
two b d
saes of
jewelery, and 160 packages of sundries.•
Gibraltar adv:ces are to, the Itt inst. A terrific
storm of thunder and lightning, with oeclvional
heavy showers of rain, burst, over the Rock early
on the afternoon of the 29th ult., and lasted until
about 1.30 a. m. on the 30th. Exchanges on the
28th were quoted a% follows :—London, 90 days'
date, 491 ; Paris, ditto, sf. 32c..; Marseilles, ditto,
sf. 33c. ; Genoa, ditto, sf. 35c. ; Madrid, 8 days'
sight, 1 die. ; Cad:z, ditto, par ; Malaga, ditto,
;
die. ; Seville, ditto, die. Alicante, ditto, 1k die. ;
Valencia, ditto, dis. ; Barcelona, ditt
Spanish pillared dollars 4 per cent. premium, none
—no demand.
The British steamers James Brown and Progress,
from London, arrived at Gibraltar, the former on
the 26th for Constantinlple, and the latter on the
30th for Gibraltar and Palermo.
The Peninsular and Oriental. Company's steam-
ship Nemesis, with the mails of the 20th ult. from
Southampton, passed Gibraltar on the 26th ; she
had experienced heavy weather after leaving South-
ampton.
The Ripon spoke on the 28th of November, in
37.33 N., long. 3.52 W., the screw steamer Arca-
die, steering to the eastward ; 29th, in lat. 36.56
N., long. 1.15 W., the brig Josephine, steering to
the eastward ; and Dec. 5, at 3 p.m., off Ushant,
the Peninsular and Oriential steamer Indus, steer-
ing to the westward.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Candia arrived at Madras on the 31st of October.
A gentleman on board the Ripon has handed us
the following statement of the arrival out of troop-
ships :—The Golden Fleece steamer, at Calcutta,
out 68 days ; the Thebes steamer, at Calcutta.,
out about 74 days; the Caledonia steamer, at Cal-
cutta, out about 8t days; the Nile sailing ship, at
Calcutta, not known ; the Sydney steamer, at the
River Hooghly, out 72 days ; the Bucephalus sail-
ing ship, at Sands Heads, out 117 days ; the
United Kingdom steamer, at Madras, out 85 days ;
the Carthage steamer, at Madras, out 79 days ; the
Aln wick Castle sailirig ship, at Madras, out 98 day:;
the Barham sailing ship, at Madras, out of 105
days ; the John Bull steamer, at Point de Galle.
out 85 days ; the Sussex sailing ship, at Point de
Gallo, out about 80 days ; the Whirlwind sailing
ship, at Point de Galle, out 88 days.

CONVEYANCE OF TROOPS TO INDIA.

Towards the end of April 3,270 Turkish soldiers,
bound to the Hedjaz, crossed the desert to Suez, in
five detachments, which started on five successive
days. They were conveyed by railway to No. 8
Station, and thence by easy daily marches they
reached Suez, in five days from the time of starting.
As soon as the desire of the English Government to
send troops across the Isthmus to India was inti-
mated to the Pacha of Egypt, be expressed his
eagerness to afford every possible facility to their
transit. As 1,200 Turkish soldiers were on one
occasion forwarded in the way we have mentioned,
it is obvious that 1,000 English soldiers might have
been forwarded daily in the same manner, at any
time since the news of the Bengal mutiny reached
England. As is stated in a letter of one thoroughly
conversant with Egypt, which appears in our issue
of this day, the troops could have been carried to
Station No. 8 by railway, and could have thence
advanced to Suez by marches of 12 miles per diem,
tents having been pitched and kitchens placed pre-
viously at the end of each march for sleep and food.
Our correspondent states further, that at any time
since the outbreak in India, " with no other con-
veyance than the mail steamers coming to Suez, 700
men could have each mouth been placed in Calcutta,
400 in Bombay, and 300 in Ceylon. These last
could have been taken on to Bombay by the China
steamers calling at Point de Gallo twice a month,
and these troops have been placed in India without
inconvenience to the passenger traffic, and without
the withdrawal of a single steam transport from the
Indian Government." Acclimatised troops were
stationed at Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu, the greater
'part of which might safely have been despatched at
once, as the profound state of peace in Europe ren-
ders any danger to these stations from a °blip
th de
main, before their substitutes arrived, out of e
question. Of course it would only have been the
first batch of men that would have been dependent
on the ordinary means of conveyance from
for it is well known that Lord Elpliinstone had
steam transports ready to despatch to Suez as soon
as he should hear that troops were to be sent Over-
land to India.
The first mail that brought intelligence of the
mutiny in Bengal, brought also an expression of
opinion from every Englishman in India—with the
sole exception of the Governor-General and the
Council—that troops ought immediately to be de-
spatched from England by the Overland route.
The Directors of the E ,st India Company urged
the Home Government to forward reinforcements
without loss of time by the overland route. In the
press and in Parliament, Ministers were implored
to send off troops by the overland route. All was
unavailing. Mr. Vernon Smith laughed, and said
the disturbances in Bengal were quite trifling, and
would probably die out of themselves before troops
could reach India from England ; Lord Palmerston.
and his colleagues agreed that it was quite sufficient
to send reinforcements to India by the longest road,
and by any means of conveyance that could be pro-
cured with the least exertion and at the cheapest

rate.
What has been the consequence ? On the 6th of
October the officer commanding at Cawnpore tele-
graphed to the Chief of the Staff at Calcutta—
"Communication between Cawnpore and Lucknow
only by cokaid, and very uncertain." On the 4th of