The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-06 00:00:00

A NOVEL WAR.

'We learn from the last batch of papers forwarded to us
by our Calcutta correspondent that another Indian war is
on the eve of breaking out. Indian wars have been of such
frequent occurrence since the British got footing in the
great Asiatic peninsula that this intelligence will not, of
course, much surprise our readers. But the war which
is now impending there is of an extraordinary and
unique character, and different in every respect from all
that ever went before it. It is not against a Hyder
Ali or a Tippoo Saib; it is not against the fanatical Sikhs
or the heroic Affghans that this war is to be waged. The
enemy w ith which the British will now have to contend is
of a more savage and sanguinary nature than even they ;
and the accounts of him which we glean from our Indian
papers recall to our memory those half-discredited stories
that Herodotus tells us about the terrific monsters that
spread dismay among the little communities of Hellas in the
mythical ages. The war, in fact, which the British are now
about to wage in India will be a war against tigers not men.
It is with the quadruped, not the biped, of the forest that
the masters of that great country will now have to battle.
Nor will the war be offensive on their part, but purely de-
fensive. The enemy has been in the present instance the
aggressor. He has rushed out of his jungles and fastnesses,
and devastated their territory, and put their people to
flight, so that the land is now a wilderness, and its inhabi-
tants too poor to pay the accustomed tribute. In a word,
an army of tigers has invaded a district of the Nerbuddah
territory, driven away its occupiers, taken forcible posses.
sion of their property, and loft the Anglo-Indian Govern-
ment minus a revenue which amounted annually to a lakh
and fifty thousand rupees. Here was surely a casus belli
more valid than that which had given rise to the Russo-
Turkish war, and accordingly the Governor-General has
proclaimed hostilities against the invaders, and is at present
busily engaged drumming up volunteers for the contem-
plated expedition, promising to furnish elephants, shika-
ries, and all expenses to those who will come forward and
enroll themselves as candidates for glory in this tiger war.
The journals don't say what warrior is to command th 3
Volunteer Corps, but doubtless some chief high in reputa-
tion among the Indian Generals will receive the appoint-
ment. Whether the felines will be able to hold their own
against the force which is about to be sent to
oppose them we shall not venture to predict, but
even the Britishers, who are apt to underrate
the prowess and strength of their foes, admit that it
will take at least two sanguinary campaigns to
extirpate and overcome tigerdom. In due season we shall
of course be apprised of the result. Be this, however, what
it may, one thing is already certain, that never yet have
the English been engaged in such another contest, or with
such another enemy since the day when Hengist and Horsa
first led them to the conquest and colonisation of Britain.
We have deemed the tiger war not unworthy of this brief
notice, both because of its singular and abnormal nature,
and because it reveals a phase of Indian social life not ge-
nerally supposed to exist.—Nine York Times.

RESIGNATION OF THE VICARAGE OF CRIPPLEGATE
BY ARCHDEACON HALE.—We are informed that Arch•
deacon Hale, of London, has resigned the living of the
vicarage of Cripplegate, which ho has held for the last
10 years. In the early part of last week the venerable
the archdeacon forwarded his resignation to the Bishop
of London, and last evening received an official notifi-
cation that it was accepted. The Jiving is in the gift of
the Chapter of St. Paul's, and is valued, it is said, at
1,8001. a-year.

W e (Herapath) are informed that Mr. Bruff, the engi-
neer of the Eastern Counties Railway, has resigned his
cffic3. The reaso❑ alleged is that the new board has
discharged some 400 of the men employed in the works
and reparations of the line.