The Sun. — 1854-02-28 (London, England)

THE OVERLAND MAIL.  INDIA.  We have received our despatches from India and China by the Overland Mail. The dates are —Calcutta, Jan. 20 ; Madras, Jan. 25 ; Bombay, Jan. 28 ; Shanghai, Dec. 31 ; Amoy, Jan. 4 ; Hong Kong, Jau. 11 ; Singapore, Jan. 10 ; and Burmah, Jan. 12. The following is from the summary of the Bombay Times:— During the past fortnight the interest that for the last twelve months has been felt in Burmese affairs has somewhat diminished owing to the aspect which our political relations with Persia and Affghanistan has assumed. A Court of Inquiry assembled at Prome to investigate the circumstances attending Captain Latter's assassination. In his political capacity, Captain Latter, nearly a year ago, found it necessary to proceed against the leader a band of Dacoits whose head-quarters was a village fifteen miles to the south-east of Prome. With his usual promptitude he set forth, but rumour was too quick for him, and when he arrived at the village he found it deserted and the chief fled. So nearly, however, had he accomplished his purpose, that the chief had. no time to remove his family ; they all, therefore, fell into the hands of the captor. Captain Latter is dead, and we would deal lightly with his memory ; but if accounts be true, we fear that his passion overcame his prudence, and that the outlawed chief sustained at his hands disgrace and dishonour. This determined the Dacoit to take adeep and signal revenge, and he seems to have carried out his schemes with that silent steadiness of purpose and moderation that guarantee success, and prove to the world that when " desperation urges and subtlety guides," few, if any, are safe. Some time after the flight of the chief Captain Latter made the acquaintance of a Burmese female, who is said to have been in the pay of the Dacoit, and from whom he learned the habits of the British officer. She kept up a correspondence all the time with her employer, and when everything was ready and the time had come to strike the blow, the hired assassins, disguised in female attire, entered unquestioned into the officer's house, and guided by the information which she had furnished, found no difficulty in gaining his sleeping apartment and executing their task. On these mattersbecoming known at Prome, the authorities sent a strong detachment secretly to the village to arrest the assassins but although the village was surrounded in silence and without exciting the least alarm, yet not a soul was to be found in the house in which the murderers were said to have been. It is added that the chief who instigated the murder has fled to Ava whither the news of the assassinaiion reached, but it is not known with what effect. It is rumoured that Pegu will immediately become a division of the Madras army, and that instructions to that effect have been issued by Lord Dalhousie, as Sir J. Cheape's health will not admit of his longer retaining his command in Burmah. We regret to state that Lieut. Procter when out in camp at Prome caught two Burmese, whom he considered as spies and whom he forthwith hung. He then reported the matter, alleging that he had treated them according to the laws of war. The Governor-General has ordered him to be placed in close arrest, and an inquiry is to be made.