The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-03 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA

Calcutta papers of the 14th, and Bombay papers
and correspondence to the lath of March,. inclusive,
have been received by the Bentinek, which reached.
Suez on the 12th of April; they were brought to
Marseilles from Alexandria direct by the French

I steamer.
The folliming extract gives a summary of the news
from India and China :
" ALEXANDRIA, APRIL 19.
"The latest dates brought by-the Bentinck, which
reached Suez on the 12th inst., are from Calcutta to
the 14th, and Bombay to the 13th of March. The
steamer Carnatic was dispatched from Bombay on the
evening of the 13th to Ceylon, to meet the Bentinck,
on her passage from Calcutta to Suez.
"The mails which had left London on the 6th of
February had arrived at Bombay, but the Jetters
were not to be delivered until the following day. The
most important military news relates to the refusal
Of one Madras and two Bengal regiments to proceed
to Sinde on finding that they were not to be allowed
full batta.
" There is nothing of importance from Lahore and
Affghanist an, but it is supposed that these two States
will shortly come to open hostilities.
" The Sesostris arrived at Bombay on the 10th of
March from China, which country she left on the 15th
of February, having on board, amongst other pas-
sengers, Major-General Sir James Schoedde. The
town of Victoria was quite healthy, and it was hopes
that the ensuing summer would not be so fatal as the
last. Several daring attempts at robbery had been
made at Hong-Kong. Sir H. Pottinger had evinced
an earnest desire to act up to the treaty with China.
Her Majesty's 55th Regiment was under orders for
immediate embarcation for England. Her Majesty's
ship Dido, Capt. Keppel, left for Calcutta on the 2d
February, having on board Lord Saltoun, late Com-
mander of the Forces, who arrived at Suez in the
Bentinck, and will proceed to England by the Great
Liverpool. Little was doing in teas on account of
the high prices demanded.
" The Governor- General arrived at Calcutta on the
28th February, and on the 29th published a most
liberal grant of batta to all the troops that were en-
gaged in Gwalior and in Sinde.:
" India in general is tranquil.
" The price of indigo had advanced a little at Cal
cutta, and the business in British cotton piece goods
had been large.
A letter from Calcutta, dated March 15, contains
this passage :—" Sinde is finally and for ever annexed
to the British possessions."
Malta letters of the 23d of April, received by
this express, bring no news.
(From the Calcutta Englishman, Feb. 29.)

The Governor-General arrived' at Government-house yes-
terday afternoon. The Deputy-Governor, Council, and a
vast concourse of persons in and out of the service, were for
some time previously in attendance to receive his Lordship,
whose arrival was delayed beyond the time at which he was
expected. The usual ceremonies were performed upon the
occasion, the fort guns fired, and the troops drawn up on each
side of the entrance. The Governor-General cordially greeted
his colleagues, and appeared to have derived considerable
benefit from his late journey.
The following is a more detailed account, for which we are
indebted to a correspondent :
" Four companies of her Majesty'sT 10th Regiment were
drawn up in line, with their right resting on the eastern
entrance to the Government-house. The reserve guards,
with their' left_' resting on the same entrance, were drawn
up in line also, and facing the companies of her Msjesty's
10th Regiment; this made a street through which the Go-.
vernor-General drove, and during which time he was received
with arms presented.' rhe Light Company of her Majesty's
10th Regiment, in single ranks,' were drawn up on the steps
of the grand entrance, and immediately facing it the Govern-
ment-laouse Guard; on his Lordship alighting from his icar-
riage, he was again received with arms presented,' while the
Deputy-Governor, &c., advanced to meet him ; at the same
moment the signal was conveyed to the saluting battery, and
a salute of nineteen guns was fired: This closed the
tamasha.' The whole of the civil and military attached to
the Presidency were ordered out on the occasion."
The Extra which was published yesterday, announcing a
gratuity of six months' batta to the troops engaged in the
battles of Meanee, Hyderabad, Maharajpore, and Punniar,
breathes the right spirit, and shows the real " friend of the
army." The allusion to the claims of those who were not en-.
gaged, but have endured the privation incident to their service
in Sinde, is alike judicious and generous. We have nothing
to, say, save what is laudatory, of this proceeding, if it be
understood as a boon granted by the State, without reference
to, and possible disappointment in respect of, prizes captured.
DIE ARMY.—A twelvemonth ago Sir Charles Napier, on
the field of battle, and after a signal victory, recorded his
conviction of the great disproportion of European officers to
the native troops, and warned Government of the risk which
it entailed. It was naturally expected, that advice dictated
by such experience as the battle of Meanee afforded, in which
the loss of half a dozen more officers might have led to the
most disastrous retults, would have produced some salutary
effect on the minds of those who are entrusted with the wel-
fare of the empire. As yet, however, the only result has been
to increase that dangerous disproportion. A body of troops
to the number, it is believed, of 10,000, has been raised
for the Gwalior State, and they are to be officered from
our own army ; and during the last week the army itself
has been increased at this Presidency and that of Bombay,
to the extent of 10,000 men, without any corresponding
increase of European officers. So great, indeed, is the want
of officers felt in one arm (that of the Artillery), that the
Governor-General has .been constrained to remove some
officers from important political appointments, which they
occupied with credit to themselves and advantage to the
public, and to remand them to regimental duty; and other
officers in situations of great political trust have received in-
timation that whenever the exigencies of the service may
require it, they must be prepared immediately to quit their
present posts and join their corps. It, is usual we know to
cast the blame of this deficienby of officers on the parsimony
of the Court of Directors ;. but that body -has long ceased to
have any voice in the practical management of the empire.
It appears to exercise no other function but that of distribut-
ing the loaves and fishes among its friends and connexions..
It is also the receptacle of all the grievances of the discon-
tented which it had little power to redress, and can relieve
only by sympathy. Whenever that sympathy happens to be
'misplaced, which is often the case, it serves to weaken rather
than strengthen the cause of good government in India. We
must not, therefore, look to the Court of Directors for the
cause of that unwillingness, which is so justly complained, of,
to render the army efficient by a suitable increase of officers.
If her Majesty's Ministers, in whom the actual government
of India now centres, thought such an augmentation neces-
sary for its safety, they would doubtless find as little difficulty
in persuading the Court to issue the necessary orders as the
Queen does in prevailing on the Dean and Chapter to obey
her omge d'elire in the election of a Bishop. On her Ma-
jesty's Ministers, therefore, must rest the censure of this re-
luctance.

The.popularity of Lord Ellenborougli appears to be on the
increase in Calcutta, where a public meeting was called by
the Sheriff for the purpose of addressing his Lordship on his
return from the campaigns in Gwalior. The newspaper
readers or Bombay cannot fair to have observed the silence
of the violent assailants of the poliCy of his Lordship. They
cannot blame his late successes, and they now maintain a
prudent-reserve.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From the Bombay Price Curreiit, March 9.)
THE BOMBAY MARKETB.—In consequence of the interven-
tion of the Hindoo Festival of the Holee, the past-week has
been an entire black, and we have no trtuasactions of any con-
sequence to report. The market for cotton is very inactive
at present, and prices have still further receded. The remain-
ing stock of old cotton is mere rubbish, unfit for exportation
to Europe, and prices are nominally as under :
PRICES CURRENT OF RAW COTTON.
Per Surat Candy
of 7 cwt.
Surat, Broach, and Jumbooseer 7B to 82 Rs.
Oomrawuttv 72 to 78
Gogo, Dhollera, and Bhownuggur B2 to 84
Komptah
Mangarole and Porepunder 72 to 77
Bharsee
Rajapore 73 to 74
Our quotation of opium is rather higher, say 1,215 rupee
to 1,220 rupees per chest for Malwa, at which rate there is
more firmness than could have been expected considering the
adverse nature of the accounts from China. In piece goods
and metals transactions are few, and have been.done at pre-
vious rates. Freights are rather firmer, and 31. 7s. 6d. to
Si. 10s. per ton to London, Liverpool, and the Clyde, and 17
rs. per candy for cotton to China, are now the current rates.
THE MONEY MARKET.
Exchange on London—ls. Ild. to Is. Md. per rupee for
bills at six months' sight.
Exchange on Calcutta-101 rupees 10 annas at 60 days.
Exchange on Madras—Par, at 60 days' sight.
Exchange on Canton-217 rupees per 100 dollars for bills
having 80 days to run.
Sovereigns-11 rupees 3 annas each ; and Bank of Eng-
land notes, 10 rupees 14 annas per pound sterling.
Spanish Dollars (whole)-224 to 224-8 rs. for 100 dollars.
German Crowns-216 to 217 rs. for 100 crowns.
Sycee Silver—Larr'e ingots 1031 to 104 rs., and small in-
gots 1034 rs. per 100 tolas, of 1 r. (Company's) to the tola.
Gold Leaves-17 to 17-5 rs. per tola.
Bombay Bank Shares-42 per cent. premium.
Bank of Western India-150 rs. per share premium.
Government Securities—Government Loan Paper is firm
at our quotations.
The Transfer Loan-115 to 116.
4 per Cent. Company's Rupees (1835-36)-994 to par.
.4 per Cent. Siccas (1832-33)-106 rs. 4 an. to par.
per Cent. Siccas (1834-35)—no rs. to 115 rs.
5 per Cent. Company's Rupees (1841-42)-111 to lllf.
5 per Cent. Company's Rupees (1825.26)-110-8 to 111.

DlrcE SOMBRE.—It 15 well known to most
of our readers that Mr. Dyce Sombre has been residing
for some time at Paris, where he has been giving a
series of entertaintnents to the elite of that city. He
has been also received by Louis Philippe at the
Tuileries. Being strongly impressed with a convic-
tion of the injustice of the decision by which he was
declared to be incapable of managing his affairs, he
consulted some of the first medical authorities in
Paris. An army of French physicians, after lengthened
examinations, long reports of which have appeared in
the public journals, have decided—" That from the ap-
preciation of all the conversations which they have
held with Mr. Dyce Sombre,, and of all his acts which
have come to their knowledge, they are all perfectly
convinced that, at the present time, Mr. Dyce Sombre
is in the full possession of his intellectual and affec-
tive faculties ; that the movements of jealousy, the
tenacity of which are revealed in several expressions of
Mr. Dyce Sombre, do not appear to exceed the ordinary
limits in the feelings of an European, and with much
more reason than those of an Asiatic. That from all
information furnished by several persons who have
known Mr. Dyce Sombre ever since his arrival in
France, the full possession of his intellectual and effec-
tive faculties has not failed him since that period." A
petition has been presented to the Court of Chancery to
set astde the finding of the Commission, and it stands
for Friday next.—Suffolk Herald.