The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-22 00:00:00

T!!E SITI,T,_LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 22 1815.

JERSEY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—As our ishw d has lately made some stir
in the world, and, notwithstanding the bigh
end varied talent employed in the public press, Lut
little is known`in England respecting it, you will
perhaps be glad if I new begin to fulfil my long-
neglected promise of giving you some account of its
anomalous laws. You must, however, perfectly un-
derstand I distinctly pledge you my word, that in all
I write I state nothing but naked facts; for so start-
ling are many
.of them, that without such a pledge I
should almost fear your implicit reliance in my vera-
city, and scarcely prevent a flashing thought that
I was hoaxing you. I know not whether you
are aware that our jurats are chosen for
life by the people, without any reference to their
rank, property, or education, fitting them for the
office. Thus, a potato-merchant, who can scarcely
write his name, becomes, by the votes of men as ig-
norant as himself, instantly capable of sitting in judg-
ment on, and deciding in all civil and criminal cases
(high treason excepted). This is the Jersey " royal"
road to learning. how think you these so learned
personages are bound by their oath of office to ad-
minister justice? Think you it is according to law
and the evidence before them ? No such thing—
but only " according to the uprightness of their
,conscience." A person who does not own any
land, houses, or mortgages thereon, can be arrested
here, even for a few shillings; no oath being made as
to the validity of the claim affords full scope for false
arrests. But, whether the claim be valid or other-
wise, if not immediately satisfied, the person is com-
mitted to prison, unless he can obtain the bail of a
known proprietor of land in the island, and this a
stranger can seldom do. We have a just and humane
law here, whereby debtors are released from imprison-
ment, and freed from liability, upon obtaining per-
mission of the Court to make a general cession of all
their real and personal estates, for the benefit of their
creditors. This law is often subservient to the
perpetration of the grossest fraud and in-
justice ; but, for the present, I will confine
myself to showing you how, by the practice
of our Court, it is rendered almost of none effect to
the debtor. Let us assume that I have arrested a
person, and he is, after weeks of confinement, before
the Court upon his petition to avail himself of this
law, after having gone through all the requisite for-
malities—that, moreover, he is really entitled to the
benefit of it, and I have 2 vindictive feeling towards
him—the practice of our Court of Justice is such, that
were I the devil upon earth it would afford me ample
means of gratifying my malignity. I instruct my ad-
vocate to plead fraud, but am not obliged to specify
the nature of that fraud, nor the time when, or place
where it occurred—as this plea is denied by my victim's
advocate, the case is sent to proof, and he is re-
manded to prison, where he may lie for weeks before
the case is again before the Court. When it is, my
advocate can obtain, as a matter of course, some
months delay, for the production of a witness whom
he states is in Australia or Newfoundland (any-
where will do,) and as no affidavit is made that his
evidence is material, nor whether there is any likeli-
hood of his return, he may be a fictitious witness
for what is known to the contrary. The prisoner is
consequently once more remanded. I am not obliged
to prove my allegation of fraud at the expiration of
the time, and if proved, the Court has no power to
punish it by any definite sentence. When next he ap-
pears, after lying all these months in prison, my victim
may be again sent back to it, because my advocate is no

Etienne then devoted himself exclusively to literature,
and published in the Minerve Francaise, under the
title of "Lettres sur Paris," an animated account of
all the political movements from 1818 to 1820.
He was also, at a later period, one of the principal
writers in the Coratitutionnel. In 1820 he was
elected Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for the department of the Meuse, and in Novem-
ber, 1839, was made a Peer of France. The num-
ber of successful dramatic productions of M. Etienne,
up to the period of his being made a Deputy,
was far more than usually falls to the lot of any one
man, and he was also the author of a popular history
of the French theatre. His politics were liberal, even
under the Imperial regime; and his address as Presi-
dent of the Institute to Napoleon, on his return from
Elba, was remarkable for its independence, and the
view that it took of the necessity of liberal institu-
tions for France. M. Etienne was a widower, Mme.
Etienne having died about ten months ago. He was
in the 68th year of his age.—Galignani.

ON CLOSING UP PUBLIC-HOUSES
ON SUNDAYS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Believing you to be really disposed to promote
the happiness and enjoyment of the poorer &asses of the
community, I have been induced to ask your permission
to say a few words on the subject of your remarks, in
your paper of March 18, on the endeavours now making
to prevail on the Legislature to enforce the closing of
gin-shops and beer-shops on Sundays. If I thought
this would really diminish the rational and healthy en-
joyments cf the poor, I should oppose it as warmly as
yourself; but believing that it would be greatly for their
benefit, in every point of view, I hope you will allow rue
to state the reasons for this opinion.
I am one of those who have always thought the la-
bourers of this country—agricultural, manufacturing,
and every other class—over-worked, under-paid, under-
fed, under-clad, under-educated, and most unjustly de-
prived of many enjoyments to which their claims, as
human beings, as fairly entitle them as those of the
highest in the land:—that the green fields, bright
flowers, and pure air of heaven, were as much designed
for their gratification as for that of the noblest or the
wealthiest; and that any restrictions which impede their
enjoyment of these blessings ought, if possible, to be re-
moved. I agree with you, therefore, entirely, in the
feeling which induced you to say in the article alluded
to, "If a labouring man is not allowed to take refresh-
ment on a Sunday—if ho is not to visit his friends, to
spend the only day he has to himself in rational enjoy-
ent and amusement, what is he to do?"
Now the closing up the public houses on Sunday will
not deprive any man of the pleasures you here enume-
rate. His truest and best refreshments are in the whole-
some and abundant meals which his own dwelling affords
him; and his highest enjoyment of these will be when
he is surrounds t by his wife and children, or his rela-
tives and friends. These, indeed, will help to recruit his
strength, to increase and purify his blood, to give energy
to his body and cheerfulness to his mind. But will gin,
and beer, and tobacco, or any other of the intoxicating
drinks and substances furnished by the public-houses,
and for which alone he can desire to frequent them, give
him health, strength, or true pleasure? Five millions
of people in Ireland, and three millions in England and
Scotland are ready to answer, after years of practical ex-
perience, that these destroy health, diminish strength,
and, instead of enduring pleasure, produce only a tem-
porary excitement, which almost invariably ends in
nausea, head-ache, fever, loss of appetite, irritability of
temper, and every variety of disgust and pain. Besides
which, the money spent by the poorest person who fre-
quents the gin-shop and the beer-shop on the Sunday,
when their possession of their week's wages, and com-
mand of leisure, induce them to sit for hours at a time
over the gill, the tankard, and the pipe, would maintain
their families in comfort for several days in succession;
and thus the wives and children are deprived of their
proper share of the comfort and enjoyment which they
have a right to ask at their husband's and father's hands.
If persons are travelling, and reluire food and re-
freshment on the road, or if persons are living at inns
and hotels, as inmates of the house, no one desires that
any restrictions should be placed on their supplies; but
the gin-shops, beer-shops, and taverns, into which so
many thousands who have homes of their own, congre-
gate on the Sundays, are not necessary for such refry sh-
ment, and may therefore fairly be put on the same foot-
ing as all other shops where provisions, goods, or wares
are sold.

And then, as to the " innocent amusements and only
recreations of the poor," as you call them in one sen •
tence, and the "rational employment and amusement,'
as you call them in another part of the same article,
can anything be less deserving these terms than the
scenes which the gin-shops and beer-shops continually
display? That they are not so " innocent" as ycu ap-
pear to believe, the annals of crime too fearfully prove;
since there is hardly a day in which some cases are not
brought before the police-courts, which show that drink-
ing is the origin of more than half the offences and
crimes committed in England: and this is no new
opinion. Lord Bacon and Sir Matthew Hale, no mean
authorities as judges, gave it as their deliberate
opinion that drunkenness was the principal source
of all the crimes known to them in their day,
now two centuries ago ; and the judges of the
present period of 1845 have all borne testimony
to the same melancholy truth, in their several
charges from the judicial bench ; while the keepers
of gaols, the superintendents of hulks, the surgeons of
lunatic asylums, the coroners of counties and cities,
and the guardians of the poor, nearly all concur in
tracing the various forms of crime, disease, and misery,
with which they hare to deal, to the habits of intoxica-
tion which the gin-shops and beer-shops so fearfully
generate ; and especially on Sundays, as the annals
of the police-courts in every town of the kingdom
show more than treble the cases of drunkenness on Sun-
days brought up for examination on Monday mornings
than. occur on any other day in the week.
They are, therefore, not places of " innocent amuse-
ments," as you suppose ; neither are they places of " ra-
tional enjoyment or recreation." That only is rational
which cultivates, strengthens, and delights the reasoning
faculties of men—gin, beer, and tobacco weaken, con-
fuse, and at last obscure those faculties entirely, in va-
rious degrees, from being unreasonably and obsti-
nately " fuddled" to becoming " dead drunk. "
And as to re-creation, or the making a man anew by
reviving his dormant energies into new life, it makes the
strongest men helpless as infants, the cleverest men
drivelling fools, and the more prudent men ungovernably
mad. Iq truth, of all the single evils that afflict this country,
there is not one that is half so prolific of misery.as this
habit of using intoxicating drinks. Upwards of fifty
millions of money are annually wasted in their con-
sumption—as much wasted as if thrown into the sea.
In addition to which, more property is destroyed by
sea and lands, in wrecks and fires—more sudden deaths
occasioned by brawls and accidents—more disease en-
gendered, from dropsy to delirium tremens—more luna-
cies occasioned by over-excitement of the animal passions
—more poverty occasioned by loss of time, unsteady
work, and waste of wages— through the excessive drink-
ing which gin-shops, beer-shops, and taverns engender,
than by all other causes put together.
Lastly, what shall be said of this monstrous incon-
sistency? If a baker, a butcher, a cheesemonger, or
a grocer keep, his shop open on Sunday, he not only
offends the law, but he shocks public opinion. If a
hatter, or bootmaker, or a tailor, were seen with all his
men in full employment, in an open and large shop on
a Sunday, it would be thought a scandal Now, these
might be excused on the ground of their trades being
"innocent," and their supplies being really " necessaries
of life." But these are all closed by law and custom,
while the most pernicious trade that was ever carried
on—the traffic by which millions are impoverished,
diseased, and otherwise injured, claims for itself especial
exemption from all restraints of days or laws, and
demands to be free to vend its poisons and make its
drunkards especially on the day set apart by all other
trades to rest, recreation, and devotion.
If you contend that the Legislature should not inter-
fere in such matters at all—the plea comes too late—it
might have been good a thousand years ago, when our
ancestors were little better than the Red Indians of
America ; and if we wish to see the effects of unli-
censed and unrestrained sale of spirituous drinks
among a people, Mr. Catlin will tell us of the
ravages which the " fire-water" has made among
that gradually sinking people. But we live
in a civilised community, under a dominion
of law, and with a general acquiesence in the principle
that "prevention is better than remedy." Hence we
have a preventive police—hence lights in our streets and
highways—hence bolts and bars on our doors. For this
reason gunpowder may not be manufactured in a city
lest it should explode—hence carriages and omnibuses
are restricted to a certain number of passengers, steam-
boats to certain rates of speed in crowded rivers, and
hence, indeed, the many other rules and regulations
which prevent every man from " doing what he will"
even " with his own." Upon this principle all public-
houses are already licensed, on certain condi-
tions, and without such licence none can be lawfully
opened at all. Nay, more, they are already obliged to
be closed during the hours of public worship every-
where ; and have lately been compelled, in London, to
remain closed on Sundays from daybreak till one o'clock,
from which recent curtailment of their hours the greatest
good has already arisen. Let the remaining half of the
Sunday be as much respected by the law as the first
half, and gin-shops and beer-shops be closed to all on
that day, while hotels and taverns, which furnish bed
and board as well as drink, are open only to tra-
vellers and inmates. If this were done, the poor
themselves would be the- first to feel its benefit,
and the muddled dreams of intoxicating drinks, and the
suffocating fumes of tobacco must be exchanged for
wholesome food and raiment, green-fields, and fresh air,
in which husbands and wives, brothers and sisters,
fpoarr eanmt s
uacnd children
h less
sum could t
han it
generallyall participate s
thetogether,toper
and
r and
the sot for his only single and selfish gratification.
I hope I have said enough to show you that there are
at least some grounds for the proceedings you condemn ;
and I have sufficient confidence in your genuine English
spirit to bo assured you will not deny me a he. aring, be-
cause our opinions may differ on a subject which all men
are not likely to view through the same medium.—l am,
your obedient servant, J. S. BUCKINGHAM.
March 19, 1845.

present to oppose him, having occasion to leave the
Island, perhaps the very morning of hearing; at
another time he may be remanded because his own
advocate has also found occasion to take a trip for a
few days. Were Ito detail all the various methods
of causing the delay of justice, I could fill a quire,
but these, however, wilt suffice; let us, then, now as-
sume the time is at last arrived, (it may be after
years delay), when, through my advocate, I have ex-
hausted all the means which legal ingenuity
or inventive malice can furnish, and therefore cannot
longer prevent my poor victim's freedom. Think you the
law will furnish me with further means of torturing
him ? Yes, indeed, for the very morning of final
hearing I can release him, and thus, when his advo-

cate once more asks permission for his client to avail
himself of the privileges of this law, he is told by the
Court that he cannot make cession, as there is no de-
taining creditor • now, mark well, I have by means
of the law not only left him in prison for years upon
the miserable pittance of 2:id. per diem, without any
sentence of the Court, but have by legal trickery pre-
vented him from obtaining the benefit of it, and, as my
victim has not satisfied my claim, I can arrest him
again for it, and add thereto the expenses of his former
caption and prison-keep can go through
the same farms as before, again and again ! !—Think
you not that such practice is more fitted for a court
of demons than of men ?—Between debtor and credi-
tor, no fraud is too gross to receive the sanction of
our royal court according to law; by it, a creditor
can fleece all other creditors, himself obtaining 40s.
or 60s. in the pound (I know not that there is any
limit to the amount he may obtain)—by it, both
creditor and debtor may be victimised—by it, a
landlord can arrest for rent not due, nay
more, he can not only arrest for the rent of the
whole term of years a tenant may have
taken a house for, but, if not paid, can seize the
tenant's furniture, lock it up in a room, and leave him
with nothing but bare walls, and the tenant can be
imprisoned for theft, if he abstracts anything from the
room wherein it is locked This is not the worst evil
a tenant is subject to : he may take a house for a term
of years, pay the rent in advance for the whole term,
and receive a receipt for the same, but nevertheless he
can be turned out of possession for a year and a day
by another party, and although he compounds with
him by paying the rent for that year again, he can
still be bona fide turned out of possession by other
parties for ever. Remember I am not telling you
what can be, but is not done, but what can be and is

done. The laws whereby such:startling in;ustice is in-
flicted, I must leave fur another letter.
March 3, 1845.

B. L.

CLERICAL BIGOTRY EXTRA-
ORDINARY !

A circumstance has just occurred at Warminster,
which has occasioned considerable excitement amongst
all classes in that town.

An aged and respectable woman, whose parents
formerly belonged to the Established Church, and
who was herself baptised in it, was many years
since married to a member of the Presbyterian (Uni-
tarian) church of that place, and with her husband
has since attended its services. After many years of
ill-health, she had a seizure on the 6th instant, which
carried her off on the following day. She had
brought up a family of fifteen children, many of
whom are respectably settled in life. Four of them
lie buried in the parish church-yard, including a
daughter, who died under distressing circumstances,
within the past year. At the daath of the mother,
the aged and bereaved companion of fifty-seven
years, applied to the parish sexton to re-open the
grave scarcely closed on the daughter, on which
the following letter was brought him from the
vicar :

.‘ Haynes,—l understand your wife has died as
awfully suddenly as others of your family. She has
died in an awful and damnable heresy, which renders it
impossible for her to be buried in the churchyard. I
refuse her burial there. If you choose to have her buried
without any service, you may do so, or, lest I should ap-
pear to deal harshly with you, I will pay the charge for
her burial in the unconsecrated ground at Townsend ;
but in the churchyard, with the burial service, she shall
not be buried. I trust Almighty God may open your
eyes to repentance, if such a thing may be, but I fear
you have sold your Saviour for thirty pieces of silver.
" March 8, 1845." " ARTHUR FANE."

The old man, trembling with sorrow and the
weight of years, knew not how to receive such accu-
sations—so harsh and unfounded. But still anxious,
and it being the wish of his family, that their mother
should lie with her children who had gone before her,
and understanding that a written certificate of bap-
tism would render it undeniable, he procured it from
the parish register; hoping therewith to set the mat-
ter at rest.—But not so; for still finding all their
efforts vain, they were compelled (having first ob-
tained permission from the trustees) to commit the
body to the unconsecrated ground, apart from her
children and family.
The facts have been reported to the Bishop, and a
demand made on him to see justice done to this poor,
aged, and calumniated sufferer.—The Bishop has en-
gaged to make inquiry into the circumstances of the
case, and on his determination will depend what fur-
ther measures may be adopted.— Wiltshire Indepen-
dent.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN INSTITUTE.—TIIO soiree
that was held on Wednesday at this Institute was at-
tended by the Duke and Duchess of Victoria, Donna
Espartero, and Colonel Gurrea, whose presence ex-
cited no little interest. Thanks to the polite and effi-
cient management of Mr. Buckingham, the evening
passed most agreeably ; there was an abundance of
costly books and prints scattered about the tables ; and
there was also a concert, in which Mr. Benedict, Mr.
F. Chatterton, Mr. Muhlenfeldt, Mr. Hancock, Mr.
Kreutzer, Miss Steele, and Mrs. Chtultield, assisted.
Mr. Benedict undertook to exhibit the powers of
the " lEolian attachment," and he did so in his
usually masterly manner. Owing to some better ar-
rangement of the mechanism, the effect of this new
pianoforte application was much increased, and it was
heard to more advantage than has hitherto been the
case. The rooms were extremely well filled. Among
the company present were the Earl of Devon (the pre-
sident of the Institute), Benjamin Bond Cabbell, Esq.,
Col. Leicester Stanhope, Wynn Ellis, Esq., M.P., &c.
In the course of the evening Mr. Buckingham deli-
vered a short address, in reference principally to Mr.
Monekton Milnes' recently published poems, which he
eulogised highly for their literary merits, as well as for
the accuracy of their details concerning Turkish man-
Dean Pakenham, hother-in-law of " the Duke,"
has applied to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for a
grant of money to decorate the Cathedral of St. Patrick,
and put the grand reception-room in a state of thorough
repair, in anticipation of her Majesty honouring that
ancient Cathedral at Divine service next summer.—
Irish Paper.

OVERLAND MAIL

INDIA.

By the arrival of the India Mail we have news
from Calcutta to the Bth of February, Madras, the
15th, and Delhi the Ist. There are no accounts from
Bombay. The only important feature in the intelli-
gence is the gathering of tro vs towards the frontier
of the Punjaub. The movement of troops to the north
from the different stations is made without display.
The troops at Cawnpore are moving up to Meerut
and Loodianah ; those at Berhampore to replace the
regiments moving to the frontier ; and those in the
neighbourhood of the Presidency are on tl e move for
Benares, Cawnpore, &c. Full particulars respecting
the state of Lahore and the change of military stations
are given in the subjoined extracts from the
Indian papers. It may be necessary to remark
that the comments, and also intelligence, in some
of these papers, :and especially the Calcutta Star,
must not be received with implicit confidence. There
is such a strong feeling of rivalry and jealousy be-
tween the different Presidencies, that truth is often
perverted, and plans which are good for the general
interest are denounced as mischievous and fraught
with ruin. Such are the remarks on the occupation
and state of Sinde in that journal. Sir Henry
Hardinge still remained at Calcutta. Sir Robert
Sale had left that place to join the army. We have
no later intelligence from China.
(From the Cal.utti
__

The news since our last is not striking. The Punjaub,
as far as we are advised, is as it was. The Government
is accumulating a large force on the N. W. frontier, and
we believe the crisis of our interference is rapidly ap-
proaching. The probabilities at present seem that we
shall meddle to mediate and settle rather than to appro •
priate. There is no doubt that communications have
passed between this and the Court of Lahore ; and we
incline to the opinion that should Goolab Singh and his
party make any decisive movement in hostility to the
young Maharajah, we shall step in ; the same should the
Affghans attempt any irruption across the Attock. We
deem it certain that the great preparations that have
been gradually, though unostentatiously, going on, are
far more than a mere precautionary measure. Rumours
have been rife, though not so much so in Calcutta, that
the Governor-General was about to proceed to the north-
west. We have no sufficient ground for expecting that
he will leave Calcutta before the close of the next rains.
We have been passive, and perhaps prudently so, for a
long time. Come what may, we regard action
as a certainty before another cold season shall have
passed away.

From Sinde the latest news is the organisation of a
force of about 5,000 men, of which Sir Charles Napier
is to take the command. They assemble at Pcolajee,
and the object is to destroy all the hill-forts and strong.
holds they come across, and, if possible, give an account
of Bejar Khan, who has given us an infinity of trouble.
The account of the general health of the troops in our
new "province" is less distressing than it has been, but
in the course of the very few months the 78th High-
landers have been in Sinde, they have lost, in men, wo-
men, and children, about 500. The Friend of India of
yesterday says—
" Of the actual state of Sinde since it became British, of its
resources and revenue, of the condition of the people, and of
the prospects of improvement which our advent has created,
we know absolutely nothing. While the Government of
Bengal gives the widest publicity to every statistical detail
which can exemplify the condition of the people, all in-
formation is hermetically sealed up by the Government of
Sinde, which seems, indeed, to exhibit quite as much
jealousy lest the public should become acquainted with the
province, as the Emperor ofChina manifests to keep barbarian
eyes from peering into his empire. It is occasionally reported
that the pi esent revenues of Sinde exceed by one-fourth the
sum which the Ameers were able to obtain from it, and that
the country is no burden on the resources of India. For these
flattering representations, however, we are indebted to news-
papers published in England, to which it is supposed the
friends of Sir Charles Napier are in the habit of contributing.
But the studied secrecy which is maintained regarding Sinde,
and the certainty that any disclosure of information would
lead to the dismissal of the officer through whom it might be
made public, throws an air of suspicion over all the " far
fetched' intelligence which we derive from the London jour-
nals. All that we know for certain is, that the country has
been the scene of mutiny, disease, and death, ever since it
came into our possession, and that no province has ever
proved so fatal to the discipline, comfort, or health of our
arms."

The news from Bombay of the southern Mahratta
country is unsatisfactory,—difficult mountain warfare
leading to no result but loss of life, and a general cry for
more troops. It is reported that Colonel Outram is
to succeed Colonel Ovans as Resident of Sattara, the
latter proceeding to England on the sick list.
Locally, the most interesting news is the draught of a
new Act which declares the lex loci everywhere within
the Company's territories (except as applied to Hindoos
and Mahommedans) to be the substantive law of Eng-
land. Much inconvenience has neccessarily been expe-
rienced in administering the law to aliens, because it has
hitherto been the law of their respective countries. Now
it is to be our law, and this assimilates Mofussil system
with that observed within the local jurisdiction ofthe Su-
preme Court. In many respects the proposed Act invites
discussion, but as it has to be reconsidered, and will be
"brought up" at the first meeting of Council after the
18th of April, it will be better to " let it pass" for the
present.
Sir Robert and Lady Sale have just left us. A week
ago, and after his dak was laid, it occurred to somebody
that we ought to give him an entertainment. It may,
perhaps, be urged as some slight palliation of the neglect,
that every one might well imagine the old soldier tole-
rably tired of public dinners and speechifications. It
was agreed to invite him to dinner, and to give a ball
the same evening to Lady Sale, but when intimation was
made, it turned out that there was only one vacant
evening, and that last Saturday. The ball was aban-
doned, but the dinner came off in the Town-hall ; and
though there really was not two days' clear notice, about
90 gentlemen sat down ; Sir Lawrence Peel, our Chief
Justice in the chair. Barrackpore entertained Sir Robert
and Lady on Monday evening last.
A very much larger Triaging was the gathering of the
llindoo College stadents and the friends of education,
on Tuesday last, in the Town-hall, on the occasion of
receiving the annual reports, and distributing the scholar-
ships, and other prizes, The Governor-General pre-
sided.

(From the Bengal Hurkaru.)
The brief period which has elapsed since we last
" summed up" the news of this country for the benefit
of our friends " at home," has produced no event likely
to affect the interests of India, or her relations with
England. On this side of the Peninsula the " march of
intellect" has not yet been turned aside to the battle-
field, but still tends towards the internal improvement of
the land. Madras has, apparently, nothing to employ it
beyond the merest " parish" business. Bombay, how-
ever, with its hush-fighting to the north and to the south,
in the Coucan and in Sawunt Warree, with Eagojee
Bangria and Phond Savant, has work enough, but work
which, though necessary, will do little for the prosperity
of the country, or for the glory of the British name.
The Punjaub!—The drop-scene is down betwixt the
acts of its exciting drama. But the play is not yet
played out, and what will be the catastrophe the future
must show. There is a lull in the storm that is devas-
tating that devoted country, but it is probably only a
prelude to a more destructive outburst. The boy-king
Dbuleep is still alive, and on the throne of Lahore, and
the forms of government are gone through in his name
by his mother, and her brother, Jowahir Singh. But
in ireality there is no government. The Khalsa troops
are supreme in the country, dictating to the puppet-
court, appointing and deposing their own officers, and,
in short, doing or leaving undone whatever they please.
This state of affairs, which has become trite to compare
to that which prevailed in the Roman empire on the eve
of its fall, cannot last long. And whut will the end he?
Princo Pasbora Singh has retired to his own domain at
Sealkote, evidently waiting to see the turn which affairs
may take. Lena Singh, like a prudent man, prefers re-
maining on our side of the Sutlej, to trusting his life and
fortunes on the stormy sea of Lahore politics. Ile may
hope, indeed, ere lung to enter, the Punjaub with a
British army for his escort ! Raja Goolab Singh still
holds his ground in the hill country of Jumbo°, whither
bodies of the Khalsa troops have proceeded to attack
him, or not, as may suit their convenience. It is said,
that, moved by fear or policy, more probably the latter,
he has displayed a desire to come to terms with the
Khalsa.

Meanwhile our Government is a calm, but not a care-
less, observer of what is going on across the Sutlej. It
is evidently preparing for whatever may turn up. A
quiet concentration of troops in the north- west is in pro-
gress, but whethez for immediate interference, or simpky
as a precautionary measure of defence, remains yet to
be seen. There can certainly be no question as to the
good policy of such a proceeding, however much
opinions may differ as to our right to take the initiative,
and to prevent the Sikhs from invading our territories,
bp giving them work at home.
In Nepaul, notwithstanding the recent revolution,
things must be going on very quietly; otherwise Prince
Waldemar of Prussia would hardly venture himself in
the country, as he is now doing on a gracious invitation
from Khalmandoo, and under escort of some Nepaulese
chiefs.
According to " reports" received Lid Lahore, mr-
ghanistan„ which has recently suffered so much from
the plague, is now visited by famine. Dost Mahomed
hid been set upon, whun out riding, by a band of con-
spirators, who wounded him severely, but did not suc-
ceed in their attempt on his life. Ukbar Khan is said
to be busily occupied in repairing the fortifications of
Jellalabad, and still keeps the Sikhs in fear for
Peshawur.

_flieoOvernor-General still divides his time between
Calcutta and Barrackpore; but, it is surmised, will have
to extend his travels ere long. A short time ago he
personally received a petition from the palanquin-
bearers of Calcutta, against certain impositions of a
native police functionary, and gave them redress. A
few days ago he distributed prizes to the students of
the libido° College, and expressed himself strongly, as
he has done on other occasions, in favour of the spread
of education_

Sir Robert Sale, who has just left Calcutta for the
Upper Provinces, was, previous to his departure, enter-
tained by the people of Calcutta at the town-hall, and
by the military of the Presidency at Barrackpore. It
was intended to give a ball to Lady Sale, but our worthy
ditchers more so dilatory in their movements, that when
they had made up their minds on the subject, it was
found that the gallant lady could not afford time to re-
ceive the compliment.
The Supreme Government has lately published the