The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-16 00:00:00

THE ORIENTAL

The Oriental arrived here on the 19th instant, and after
coming off the Eastern harbour, took her station astern of
Her Majesty's ship Asia, about six miles from the shore. In
corsequence of the officer in charge of the mails having been
instructed by Admiral. Sir J. Louis not to land the mail
unless be received an assurance from Colonel Hodges, the
Consul-General, that it would be allowed to pass through in
safety, (we allude to the India mail,) Colonel Hodges, before
anthorising its landing, thought proper to apply to the Pasha
for an assurance of its safety, which his Highness at first
hesitated to give, and at length replied that it might pass this
time. This answer will of course be communicated officially
by Colonel Hodges to his government, but had he consulted
the British community, he would never have presented him-
self to the Pasha in the matter.
His Highness's answer was even more favourable than was
expected by many from the known aversion be has personally
to the Consul-General. Had the latter requested Captain
Lyons, the Hon. East India Company's agent, to visit the
Pasha instead, of himself, such an answer would never have
been given, and in lieu of leaving the public in doubt whether
the next mail will proceed or not, every assurance would have
been given publicly, and in consequence officially announced.
That the Pasha has no intention of interfering with the
mails and passengers to India (unless some untoward event
should occur) we have ascertained beyond a doubt, and it is
our firm opinion that the mails and passengers by the Liver-
pool will not encounter any obstacle in their tranait through
Egypt, in support of which opinion we submit to you the
following facts :

That a proof of the Pasha's intention not to interfere with
the present mail is, that at the moment of Colonel Hodges's
application to his Highness, the mail from India by the Vic-
toria steamer had actually come down the Nile to Ade, the
head of the canal.

That at an interview which Captain Lyons had with the
Pasha yesterday, his highness told him that he had given the
abovementioned answer to Colonel Hodges as consul-general,
but that he assured Captain Lyons, as Captain Lyons, and as
agent to the Hon. East India Company, that it never was his
intention to interfere with the conveyance of the mail brought
by the Oriental, nor should he put any obstacle in the way of
the future mails.
We trust that this information will reassure Indian passen-
gers, to whom very unnecessary alarm has been given, in
consequence of Colonel Hodges's interference with the Indian
mail by writing to Admiral Louis in such terms as to induce
him (the admiral) to detain it at Malta ; and we have learned
from good authority that the Oriental and mail might still
have been at Malta had not Admiral Sir R. Stopford written
to Admiral Sir J. Louis to encourage him to forward them on.
The mails were not landed here until the afternoon of the
20th from the Oriental—more than 24 hours after her arrival;
and the Suez mail has arrived since 4 o'clock p.m. yesterday.
We accompanied Colonel Hodges to the Pasha, and, as
soon as permission was granted for the mails to,proceed, we
applied personally for the admission of the Oriental into the
large harbour, which was immediately granted in the hand-
somest manner.
It is to be regretted, however, that owing to the nature of
Colonel Hodges's despatches (or private letters) to Captain
Fisher, of her Majesty's ship Asia, which were laid by the
latter officer before Captain Soy, he (Captain Soy) did' not
consider himself justified in bringing the Oriental into port.
We personally used every argument to induce Captain Soy to
trust to the Pasha's word, which we may mention that in
upwards of 30 years' dealings with his Highness we never
knew him to break, but, doubtless, Captain Soy acted pru-
dently in not taking any responsibility on himself after being
so cautioned by the officer in command of the squadron.