The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-22 00:00:00

BENGAL.

(From the General Summary of the Bengal Ifurkaru,Oct. 7.)
The intelligence from Hyderabad, in the Deccan, is of a
somewhat momentous character. Some time ago a peon,
attached to the British residency, was killed by some of the
subjects of the Nizam. The resident demanded that the
murderers should be delivered up to justice ; but his High-
ness, or his government, was unable or unwilling to comply
with his demand. After reference made to the supreme Go-
vernment, the resident offered to the Nizam the alternative
either of giving up the murderers within one month, or ex-
pelling from his dominions the Puthans, a lawless tribe, of
Affglian origin, who were, harbouring the murderers. Again
his Highness was found unable or unwilling to comply; he
neither delivered up the homicides nor expelle the obnoxious
tribe, but begged for additional time. This, however, could
not be granted; and it is rumoured at Hyderabad that, on
failure of prompt compliance with the renewed demand of
the resident, the city is to.bombarded. But this, we would
fain hope, is only a threat to enforce compliance, and feel
assured that it cannot be intended to carry it into execution.

- NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES.
(From the Delhi Gazette, Oct. 1.)
The movements of Sir Henry Hardinge are so far deter-
mined on that he will arrive at Cawnpore on the 17th, and
remain there only during the heat of the day. His Honour
is to travel in a palkee gharee, drawn and pushed by bearers
in the same manner as Lord Ellenborough. An escort of
one naik and four troopers is stationed at each dak chokey
from Allahabad to Agra, which station he will reach on
the 20th.
Since the above was written we have have learned that
there is every probability of the Governor-General's stay at
Agra being shorter than was at first intended. His Honour
is, we are informed on good grounds, to be at Meerut on the
15th of November, and will there meet his Excellency the
Commander-in-Chief (instead of at Agra, as originally
arranged), whose camp is to be formed at Umballah on the
Ist of that month. It is said, but we are not sure of this
fact, that Mr. Thompson is to accompany Sir Henry Hardinge
to Meerut. It is highly probable. Prince Waldemar of
Prussia comes, we believe, down with the Commander-in-
Chief, and will be at Meerut at the time of the meeting of
the magnates.
DELT-IL—We regret to say that we have been visited by
cholera. Between the 25th and 29th of September, being five
days, fifty-seven cases proved fatal. The disease has percep-
tibly diminished since Sunday night, when we had the storm
of rain and lightning. Six places, in different parts of the
city, have been fixed on where medical advice and medicine
are always to be procured, and among the poorer classes the
" Relief Committee " have sent both medicine and medical
advice.

CHINA.
(From the Bengal Hurkaru.)

The Fire Queen has brought-us news from China to the
28th ult., from Singapore to the 11th instant, and from Pe-
nang to the 13th inst.
The most interesting item of our intelligence from the
shores of the Flowery Land is a memorial addressed by the
English merchants of Hong-Kong to Lord Stanley, setting
forth various grievances to which they are subjected by the
local Government, and the correspondence between the
memorialists and his Excellency the Governor. The mer-
chants complain that, after being coaxed and forced into
buildings at Hong-Kong, under a promise held out to them
by Captain Elliot, that they were to have their lands either
in fee-simple at one or two years purchase, or at a nominal quit
rent, very onerous terms were imposed upon them by Sir H.
Pottinger, and are still enforced by the present Govern-
ment. They also complain of the arbitrary levy of as as-
sessment for the maintenance of the police, while no mu
nicipal body has been formed to control the expenditure :
and that, " in a place nominally declared to be a free port,
every description of commerce and trade is 'a subject of
taxation, or source• of revenue, or of monopoly, sold to
the highest bidder." Under these circumstances, they
ask Her Majesty's Government to direct the abolition
of the opium farm, the auction duties, and other
" harassing taxations," declaring that if this is not done, the
European inhabitants of the settlement, following the ex-
ample of the Chinese, will be compelled, at all risks, to leave
it. It is, they say, a place totally without commerce, yet
taxed even in the one matter of ground-rent more heavily
than any other port of China is altogether. Hong-Kong, say
the memorialists, " was never actually required by the Bri •
tish merchants, and has become even less useful than ever
since the opening of the five ports." They believe that it is
only useful as a military and naval station, and therefore sub-
mit that the few merchants settled there should not be called
on to pay any considerable part of its expenses.
Another matter of some interest is a correspondence be-
tween the Governor and the Chinese authorities of. Foo-
chow-foo, on the rude treatment of British visitors by the
populace of that place. Governor-General Lew attributes
the treatment complained of to the curiosity of the people;
who have not yet become accustomed to the sight of Euro-
peans, and, consequently, crowd about them to an inconve-
dient degree. He suggests as a remedy that every English-
man intending to visit the place should give notice of such
intention, when a guard of policemen will be appointed to
take care of him. This, of course, did not quite suit the
Consul, who moved as an amendment, that the police should
be distributed in the streets near the Consulate, and that
the shopkeepers of the ward should be made responsible for
the capture of any one insulting an English visitor.
Opium is quoted, New Patna, 680 dolls , Old Patna, 715
dolls., Benares, 650 dolls. The monopoly of the retail opium
trade of Hong-Kong has been sold for 1,700d01. per month.
A "Chinese Coasting Steam Navigation Company" has
been projected, with the object of keeping up a communica-
tion betwixt the ports open to foreign trade, by means of
three iron screw-propelled steamers of 300 tons burden and
100 horse power each, with two smaller vessels to run betwixt
Canton and Hong-Kong.
From Singapore we bear that the Lady Mary Wood re-
turned thither from China on the 9th inst., and left on the
the evening of the 10th on her way to Ceylon, to hand over
her mails to the Bentinck. The Braganza, with the English
mail of the 24th of July, reached Singapore on the sth inst.
The number of covers brought by the latter was 1.325, that
of those carried away by the former 4,180. The Hong-Bong
Register and the Friend of China have started overland sum-
maries and got London correspondents.
The Free Press has news of later date from New Zealand,
via Australia. It appears that, after repeated unsuccessful
assaults, in which the British force suffered severely, Held
abandoned his fortress, which was thereupon destroyed.
Colonel Despard, in command of the British force, was de-
terred by the state of the weather from following the natives
nto the interior.

From Penang there is no news of any great interest.

BRITISH PROSPECTS IN CHINA.
(From the Gentleman's Gazette.)
On the day of the departure of the last mail for Europe we
have a statistical account of the islands of Hong•Kon and
Chnsan, from which the superior advantages of the latter
will be evident to even the cursory observer. In fact, Hong-
Kong, instead of benefiting the British trade, seems rather
to be an incubus on it, for it restricts the enterprise and
energy of the British colonists to one of the most barren and
unhealthy spots on the Chinese coast.

It was-a
great mistake, or rather blunder, on the part of
the English negotiators, at the time when the British arms
were so highly successful in bringing the Chinese Government
to a sense of its weakness, that they had not studied the
geographical position of the Chinese empire. Captain Elliot,
Sir H. Pottinger, and even Sir J. Davis, do not seem to have
examined the feelings of the Chinese people, so much as the
mere localities in which they sought to open trade against
the will of the Emperor and of the Mandarins.
The Tartar Government of China, which found itself three
years ago on the eve of dissolution, has since exhibited some
proofs of judgment and decision. It is now preparing for
another war, by buying up and preparing arms of all sorts,
and by introducing discipline amongst its troops. It is not
yet ready to enter upon the contest, and will no doubt sooner
enter into a new treaty with England, in order to secure some
years of tranquillity. That treaty ought to be instantly
proposed, for the last two have been found to be mere waste
of parchment. Undoubtedly, if the United States and France
had the right, after the Emperor had made a treaty with
the British, to send agents to make advantageous treaties for
themselves, so has England now a right, when experience
has shown the impolicy, the absolute folly, of her two former
treaties, to propose and even to carry a beneficial one into
operation.

The large sums offered as a ransom by the Chinese had
considerable influence in patching up the last treaties, but,
however acceptable the money may have been, the provi-
sions of the treaties have been found to be ineffective and
impolitic. Changed they must be before many years pass
over, and we may ask why not now? The time for the sur-
render of Chusan is approaching; its abandonment will pro-
duce the worst consequences; for, instead of its being re-
stored to the Chinese empire, it is to be seized by the French
armament at present in the Chinese seas, as soon as it is re-
linquished by the British. The French officers belonging to
their squadron make no secret of their intentions to take it,
although France has no commerce on the Chinese coast to
warrant that capture. They wish, however, to open a trade,
and they hope to get Chusan for the purpose, if the English,
who have it now in their possession, will be fools enough to
quit that beautiful island, in order to make room for the
French, who are making every effort to establish colonies in
the eastern seas. A shrewd politician, on hearing that the
French are resolved to have an island on the coast of China,
has proposed that they should have Hong-Kong, and that the
British should continue masters of Chusan. Hong-Kong
may suit the present French trade, while Chusan will be
always adapted to the British commerce.

The maritime position of Chusanis—ex cellent ; ships from
Europe and India can, during the north-east monsoon, reach
it with equal ease, and in the same time as they can come to
Hong-Kong. It is 700 miles more to the north, and by far
more fitted for the trade. Its harbour is preferable to that of
Hong-Kong; its anchorage is good, and it is situate so as to
command the entrance into the great river Yang-tze-kiang,
which constitutes the main artery of the Chinese Empire.
With the possession of Chusan, which is in reality the key of
the commercial intercourse, as well as of political command
on the west of China, two regiments, two frigates, and two
steamers, would keep the whole empire in check, by stopping
at any time the entrance into that grand river.
The Chinese Empire, under the Tartars, may appear stag-
nant and apathetic; but if that Government were destroyed,
the greatest confusion and horrors would arise. To Great
Britain, as the paramount foreign power on the coast of
China, the position of Chusanwis invaluable, in a political
view, for it would tend to mainrain a most salutary terror of
foreign powers amongst the whole of the provinces on the
banks of that river.

By the stipulations of the treaty with the Chinese, the
island of Chusan is to be restored in December, 1845, or
rather within three months afterwards. We have already
shown how the Chinese mandarins have violated the spirit
and regulations of that document ; they have altogether
spoiled the trade of three of the newly opened ports, and
they are struggling by every artifice to drive the British
back to Canton, to be there insulted and oppressed as of old.
The question now remains to be decided, if the British
diplomatists, or rather the British Government, will
quietly submit to have its efforts neutralised, and its good
faith abused by those tricksters? Assuredly, if the promise
of having a trade established at five ports be fraudulently
neutralised and negatived, the British people cannot be bound
to adhere to the mere words of the treaty, and to surrender
the only spot worthy of being retained. While the cunning
mandarins have contrived to cut off the bud of commerce at
Amoy, Fowchoo Too, and Ningpo, it would be worse than
folly to give up Chusan. We have thus explained our rea-
sons for its being retained, and we hope that before six
months shall have passed over, there will be a British am-
bassador sent tn China for the purppse of settling the Whole
matter. A British *ambassador is ueeessary, for, as far as