The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-09 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

FOREIGN 4- COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE.

INDIA AND CHINA.

Indian papers were received onflMrSAlay, in anticipa-
tion of the Overland Mail. The latest dates are—China,
Nov. 28 ; Calcutta, Dec. 23; and Bombay, Jan. 2.
Important events have just occurred in the Punjaub
and Scinde. The Wuzeer Lall Singh having been sus-
pected of a treasonable connexion with the Cashmere in-
surgents, had the charge brought home to him by the
Sheik Emaum-ood-Deen, on the evidence of letters writ-
ten by the Wuzeer to him while in arms. The inquiries
were conducted in presence of a Commission, consisting
of Sikh chiefs and British officers—Mr. Currie and Cols.
Lawrence and Goldie being amongst the latter. It was
intimated to the Durbar, that should a convicted traitor
remain in power, we should be under the necessity of
ceasing to hold intercourse with the Government, and
Lall Singh was accordingly deposed and removed, under
our protection, to Hindostan. Had he remained in his
own country his life would quickly have been sacrificed
to the indignation of the people. The government was
now intrusted to a commission of chiefs, and the question
pressed as to the arrangements contemplated by them on
our retirement. After much equivocation and delay it
was determined to ask of us to permit an army of 10,000
men to remain at Lahore during the minority of the Ma-
harajah, our commissioner virtually to exercise the func-
tions of Wuzeer. To this we assented, the Sikhs defray-
ing all the charges of our troops, amounting to a quarter
of a million sterling annually. The Maharajah is now a
child of seven years old ; and for the next ten years at
least the Punjaub is in the hands of the British Govern-
ment, and controlled by a British army. The Sikh Go-
vernment have thus voluntarily undertaken to defray the
extra charges of an army at Lahore, which, for our own
protection, we must have maintained at any rate on the
frontier. Such has been the success of the much-cen-
sured policy of Lord Hardinge, refusing to conquer or
spoil the country which has now been voluntarily and
tranquilly placed in our hands without obloquy, trouble,
or charge.
Just as the army of the Indus was about to be reduced
from 22,000 to 14,000 men, a foray of the Booghtie tribe
from the mountains has driven in our outposts and com-
pelled a whole cavalry regiment to retire. The enemy
were computed at 2000 on their first appearance in the
field. They succeeded in ravaging numerous villages,
carrying off sheep and cattle in the face of our troops. A
wing of the 4th Rifles, Jacob's Scinde Horse, and Fitz-
gerald's Camel Corps, were on their way to reinforce
Shalipore at the date of last despatches. The robbers are
doubtless long ere this time safe within their mountain
holds, where we cannot follow them, waiting till our out-
posts are again weakened by sickness or military indiscre-
tion. Had the present attack been made during such a
season as 1843, when nine-tenths of our troops were in
4ospital, our cantonments might have been fired, and
their occupants roasted in their cots before human aid
could have reached them. The ravages of pestilence in
Upper Scinde are quinquennial. If 1848 sees us on the
banks of the Indus the Cabul catastrophe may not be
without a parallel; the Belooches, like the Ghilzies, abide
their time. Sir Charles Napier continues at Kurrachee,
where the climate is healthy. He is expected at Bombay
in February, on his way to England ; the government of
Scinde to be intrusted to a civil commission, preparatory,
it is to be hoped, to its final abandonment.

. ,
Matters at Cabul would seem to be in a better condi.
tion than formerly. The Ghilzie chief, who had so long
been annoying the Government, had intimated his desire
for a cessation of hostilities, and, in token of the sincerity
of his intentions, had sent his son as a pledge of his future
peaceable behaviour. A vakeel from the British Govern-
ment was said to be on his way to the Cabul chief, though
the nature of his mission was unknown. A present of
horses and fruits for the Governor-General left Cabul on
the Ist of October.

The Governor-General was at the latest dates still on
the left bank of the Beeas, where it was supposed he
would remain till rejoined by Mr. Currie, from Lahore.
The Commander-in-Chief of India was en route for Loo-
diana, and was expected to reach Delhi by the 20th Jan.
The districts around Gwalior are said to be in a sad
stale ; murders and robberies being of frequent' occur-
rence, the commission of any atrocities being overlooked
by the native authorities fora consideration.

The sword sent out by the Court of Directors for pre-
sentation to the Rajah of Sanghae, in token of their appro-.
bation of his 'con•luct during the Kolopore disturbances,
was presented to that chief on the 19th ult. at Belguum,
in presence of the troops of the station, and an immense
concourse of people.
The ship Augusta, of Bombay, one of the vessels which
left the Madras roads at the commencement of the hur-
ricane of the 25th of November, was wrecked near Point
Pedro, off Ceylon—crew all saved. Upwards of £2500
have been subscribed for the relief of the sufferers by the
gales of October and November, £lOOO of which was mu-
nificently bestowed by the Government.

FRANCE.
The Paris papers of Tuesday are filled with Monday's
debates in the Chamber of Deputies, The principal
speeches were those of M. Gamier Pages and M. Billaut ;,
the former violently against ministers, and the latter of
the contrary character. The ministerial supportersdenied
that any interruption of the good understanding with En-
gland had taken place. M. Guizot referred to the temper
in which the English Parliament had discuss l the Spanish
marriages, but entered into no lengthened statement.
The disturbances respecting the price of corn were sub-
siding steadily, but had not been quite extinguished in
some of the departments.
The Duchess de Montpensier, now fifteen years of age,
gives promise of an increase to the family of Louis
Philippe.
The price of flour and wheat has diminished in Paris.

At a late trial in Paris, M. Alexandre Dumas, the well-
known French littirateur, said that in August he was
publishing five feuilletons, in five different journals.
Three horses, three servants, and the railway, scarcely
sufficed to bring him the proof-sheets.
A correspondent of the Atlas states that Madame Laf-
farge is about to be liberated. The matrimonial agent who
brought about the unfortunate match has the hardihood
to boast of it in his advertisements ; and on Tuesday last,
there appeared in all the Paris papers an announcement
from a rival establishment (that of Madame St. Marc)
setting forth that she has to dispose of " a young English
orphan; heiress to a splendid fortune!"
POPERY IN FRANCE.—We are indebted to the Church
and State Gazette for directing public attention to a re-
markable occurrence in the modern history of Popery—a
curious piece of priestcraft which has just been exhibited
in France. The disastrous whirlwind at Monville and
Malannay had reduced some hundreds of the survivors to
the utmost destitution, and in short to the verge of actual
starvation. Under these circumstances the city of Rouen
alone contributed for their relief the munificent sum of
10,400 francs. This fund was placed by the charitable
citizens at the disposal of a special committee of ecclesi-
astics to carry out their benevolent intentions in detail.
The clerical committee, thus invested with the tempting
trust, proceeded to administer it according to the follow-
ing characteristic resolution :—" Seeing that among the
victims of the above-mentioned calamity there are great
numbers of dead, for whom hitherto nothing has been
done;` that nevertheless it is but sheer justice that these
should partake of the charity of the faithful, and that
prayers should be offered up for the welfare of their souls ;
that thereby all the victims would benefit in exact pro-
portion to their wants by the succour accorded to them ;
and this idea ought to be the more welcomed, seeing that
there exist resources more than sufficient for the aid of
those unfortunate persons who have survived," &c.. The
resolution concludes by providing, that, " in order that all
the victims may profit according to their necessities," the
entire sum' f 10,400 francs, raised at Rouen, should be
invested in the public funds • that one-half of the interest
resulting from the same shall be employed in celebrating
low and high masses, at the rate of a franc and a-half for
each of the former, and forty francs for each of the latter ;
and that the other half of the interest should be distri-
buted among the surviving victims, on condition that when
they should cease to need it, this half, as well as the other,
shall then be applied for the celebration of masses for the
dead. It would not be easy to conceive a more aggtavated
instance of Popish rapacity.