which he had written, "I know you are a traitor and a liar, and intend to kill me as you killed Stoddart and Conolly." There was perhaps more truth than prudence in this epistle, for the Naib had previously advised him to administer poison to the ambassador on the road. Soon after he visited the Persian envoy, and was assured by him that the report he had heard regarding the king's message was perfectly false. The next Friday he waited on the Ameer, who looked displeased at him; and soon after a moollah came from the royal palace to ask if Wolff would turn Moosulman, to which he replied, "Never, never, never!" but that very evening the Ameer sent to inform him that if he wished to leave Bokhara without honour, a simple passport would be sent him; if, however, he wished to leave it with distinction he must await the return of the Ameer from his expedition to Kokan. Wolff replied that he was ready to depart in any manner the King pleased. But we must bring the narrative to a close. The Ameer took his departure for Kokan, intending that the Naib should follow him with additional troops; but the Naib, previously to his departure, sent Wolff 2,000 tillahs, which he was to invest in the public securities, and demanded a receipt for it. Wolff demanded the return of his former receipt. The Naib, however, engaged the Khafila bashee to murder him on the road, and bring back the money; SO at least Dr. Wolff believed; and his subsequent safety became a source of constant gratitude. At length the Naib took his departure for Kokan, from whence he and his master soon after returned in disgrace. The Persian ambassador then waited on the Ameer with a letter from his master, demanding that Wolff should be sent to Teheran, and the Ameer, after reading it, was graciously pleased to say, "I make you a present of Joseph Wolff." His departure was now at hand; but the Naib forced a thousand tillahs more upon him through his servant Abdoolla, who appears to have been as great a rogue as the rest of them, and then returning the receipt for 5,000 tillahs, exacted one for 6,000, which Wolff signed, as he said, by compulsion, being a prisoner, and surrounded by the banditti of Naib Abdool Summut in his garden. The Ameer did not, however, allow him to depart under a cloud, but sent him presents and a celebrated Persian manuscript, to which he affixed his seal. The day before his departure he was called up to the Ameer's palace to kiss his hand, when the Ameer told him that he was dismissed with honour, because he had behaved like a man of wisdom and knowledge; but that Stoddart and Conolly had received their just reward for having stirred up Khiva and Kokan to rebellion. The next day they left the city amidst the congratulations of thousands, and the intrepid traveller reached Teheran, and subsequently Constantinople, without being robbed or put to death by the treacherous Khafila bashee. OUDE. LUCKNOW. Saaeedood Dowla, the deputy-minister, who now-a-days is virtually the first man in the realm, finding his reputation as a statesman on the wane in the royal estimation, and anxious further to gain time (which to him is money), induced the King to issue a mandate to the address of Ameenood-dowla, the premier, to the following effect:-" I have placed you and Saaeedood Dowla at the head of all public affairs, to carry on the business of the executive government in all its detail. You shall give him full scope to act unrestrained, and render him every assistance he may require: in like manner, all state officers shall willingly obey your orders. Saaeedood Dowla is forthwith to make arrangements for issuing two months' pay, and, in future, according to the practice of my government, to pay off three months' pay at the commencement of every third month: the troops in the interior to be paid monthly from the royal treasury. To refund six lacs of rupees, you have taken as a loan [thus the last pay was issued from the king's private treasury]; furnish magazines and repair lines; provide for the improvement of the army. To be ready always to meet all necessary demands of sundry nature. To prepare a correct account of the income and disbursements of the state. Enforce the dismissal of such as may be found guilty of any crime. The whole of the remaining month of the present year, and the three following years, considering yourself and Saaeedood Dowla firm in your power and situation, execute the duties of your office faithfully and vigilantly. By this clause a period of four years has been secured to his Majesty's faithful and vigilant ministers, and that is exactly what they aimed at.] It is, however, incumbent upon you to attend to the following instructions: 1st. To realize one lac and a hundred from the Amils, as they have willingly engaged themselves to pay this sum, on the occasion of the birth of the prince lately born. 2nd. Remit to my private treasury one lac in three years, being the balance of revenue due from Islamabad district. 3rd. Suppress Thuggy and dacoity throughout my dominion. 4th. All forts and fortresses to be levelled with the ground. 5th. Improve the condition of the subjects and country. 6th. Enhance the annual revenue to my satisfaction. 7th. Punish all sorts of refractory people. 8th. The orders passed on Mahomud Razen to be put in force. 9th. Proper management of the commissariat. 10th. A span of land should not be allowed to remain uncultivated. 11. Bring up the arrears of account in a manner so as to leave no room for excuses with respect to the balance of revenue. 12th. Realize one hundred lacs of rupees, being the balance of revenue from the beginning of Mahomed Allee Shah's reign to the present moment. 13th. Pay one lac on every coronation day. 14th. A strict obedience to the above instruction will be the means of your and Saaeedood Dowla's procuring a royal favour.-7th Suffur, 1261 Hijree. was a correct one. [L.S.] P. S. On passing the above letter, most profound secrecy was observed, but the vigilance of our officiating resident never slumbers; he detected the clandestine act, and having procured a copy of the letter, called upon the king to ascertain whether it It is said that Capt. S. asked his majesty to assign his reason for not informing him of a matter of so great a moment, against the dictate of established usage and the terms of the existing treaty; urging, at the same time, the impropriety of guaranteeing the situation of his ministers for a period of four years, when his majesty was fully aware, by the repeated representations of his predecessors, that they had abused the confdence, and proved themselves unfit for the trust reposed in them. Capt. S. further adverted to popular feeling; he remarked, that the discontent of his majesty's subjects and servants had risen almost to frenzy; that they had held nocturnal meetings, and drowned Saaeedood Dowla in effigy; and that his capital owed its safety only to the vicinity of the British troops. It is rumoured that, on his majesty's reply to the above, a more clamourous altercation ensued, the particulars of which have not as yet transpired."-Calcutta Star, March 4. SINGAPORE. Captain Scott, commander of the H. C. war-steamer Plegethon, who died at this place on the 29th January, of brain fever, was formerly commander, successively, of the H. C. steamers Jumne and Irrawaddy. The services lately rendered by the Phlegethon, in the suppression of piracy and the destruction of numerous pirate proas in the Straits, have sufficiently testified the zeal, energy, and talent of her late able commander, whose professional skill and decision, firmness and integrity of character, have justly elicited the approbation of the Government which he so long and so faithfully served. As he had lived respected and esteemed, so Captain Scott died deplored by his friends, and regretted by all who knew him. His remains were followed to the grave by the Governor of Singapore and all the officers of H. M. and the H. C. services on the station. Captain Scott's has been a varied and an active career. In 1809, at the age of eleven years, he entered the Royal Navy, and served, successively, in H. M. ships Swiftsure, Scipion (74), and Ocean (98), under Sir Robert Plampton. Was wounded three times in one action. Was taken and retained for three years as a prisoner of war, during which time he suffered most severely, and particularly whilst on a very harassing march from Naples through Italy, and throughout France into the Netherlands, and back to Marseilles, from whence he embarked for England, having obtained his release at the general peace in 1814. In the beginning of 1815, through the influence of Mr. J. Bebb, then chairman of the Court of Directors, and of Captain Agnew, he was appointed a midshipman in the H. C. ship Carnatic, Captain J. Blanchard, and came to India with letters to the local Government of Bengal, by which he was transferred to the H. C. cruiser Antelope, Captain J. Hall, in which vessel he served on the Eastern Coast as far as the Moluccas until the latter portion of 1818, when he embarked for England in the hope of obtaining a commission in the army. Being cast away, however, on the passage, his purpose was frustrated, and he was persuaded to try his fortune in the South American cause, under Lord Cochrane, and afterwards, in the Brazilian cause, under Commodore Jewitt and Lord Cochrane, till after the capture of Bahia, when he retired from that service. In July, 1824, he again hastened to India for the purpose of rejoining the H.C. marine service, on the Burmese expedition, but arrived too late. In 1825, under the patronage of Commodore Hayes, he first joined the Country Merchant Service as chief officer of the Forbes steamer. In July, 1830, he joined a branch of the Harbour Master's Department, which he left in April, 1831, on being appointed by Commodore Hayes as superintendent of the Middleton Point Station. It was in the discharge of the duties of this office, that the intrepidity and benevolence of Captain Scott were frequently tested under circumstances of toil and danger which few but himself, would have encountered, and thus his prompt assistance to vessels in distress, in numerous instances, saved both life and property; as, for instance, in the May gale of 1831, when the lives of fortysix natives were rescued by his activity and exertions. The insalubrity of the station, however, compelled Captain Scott to leave it, and he was subsequently appointed to the command of the Jumna inland steamer. Whilst in this department of the service, his surveys and various reports on the inland navigation, and particularly of the Bhaugarutty river, rendered the Government and the country much service. In 1842, he assumed command of the Irrawaddy steamer, and in 1844 resigned that vessel to take command of the war steamer Phlegethon, to which he was specially appointed by Lord Ellenborough, whose sound judgment rightly appreciated Captain Scott's character and talents. WRECK OF THE VENUS.-We regret to report that the schooner Venus, Captain G. B. Brown, which left this on a trading voyage to Borneo, with a cargo of sundries, on Monday the 20th January, went on shore the same night, during the gunner's watch, on the N.E. point of Binteing, where she subsequently bilged and filled with water. A boat with intelligence of the accident arrived here on the morning of last Wednesday, and notice of the occurrence being communicated by an express sampan to Captain Congalton, of the H.C. steamer Diana, then cruising on the opposite coast (the concurrence of the local authorities having been previously and promptly accorded), she proceeded to the scene of the schooner's mishap, and succeeded in saving a portion of her cargo and stores. The want of suitable boats obliged her to come in on Sunday morning, and having wooded, she left again in the afternoon with the boats required, and it is to be hoped will succeed in saving the greater part of what remains. It is feared the schooner will go to pieces in the first heavy breeze.-Free Press. CHINA. SHANGHAI. From Shanghai we learn that on the night between the 2nd and 3rd Dec. a few pretty smart shocks of an earthquake had been felt, commencing about 11 P.M. and followed during the night by tremulous motions. A friend writes us that on the nights of the 10th and 11th, he was again sensible of a tremor in the house at intervals. The natives say they never experienced any thing of the sort before, but spoke of it with very little apparent concern. We do not hear of its being felt anywhere else. All the foreigners who had bought land were busy clearing it preparatory to building. On the 18th, Mr. Empson had the foundation laid of the house building by Messrs. Fox, Rawson, and Co., the first European house actually commenced there. Several had experienced very considerable difficulty in removing the former occupants from their lots. They say they have not as yet received any compensation from the mandarins, and should they leave the ground, will have but a poor chance of ever doing so. On the other hand, the purchaser considers it a great hardship that he should be kept out of possession of his property for which the money has been paid. Very little was doing in general business, it being impossible to effect cash sales. The dealer's hands are already well stocked with manufactured goods of every description, and they still hold out for extreme rates for tea and silk. Of the former little has yet been sold, and of the latter all the first quality has already been shipped. The schooner Vixen, from Hong-Kong, and brig Gem, from Macao, arrived on the 14th. The Gem reports that the American brig Lady Adams had left Chusan for Shanghai on the 1st, but was obliged to put back, having had her windlass carried away and lost an anchor and chain, also one of her boats.-The Kelpie arrived at Woosung on the 24th, and the Sam on the 25th.-The Alligator was loading for Hong-Kong, and the Time discharging cargo. The Mary Ann Webb sailed for Liverpool via HongKong on the afternoon of the 27th, and the schooner Vixen early in the morning of the 28th. At Chusan business is also reported to be very dull. The brigantine Brigand arrived on the 29th Nov. with a cargo of sandal-wood from the South Sea Islands.-Hong-Kong Register, Jan. 7. H.M.S. Vestal has gone to Whampoa to receive another instalment from the Chinese, and the Proserpine is lying in front of the consulate at Canton as a guard-ship, protecting the embarkation of the sycee. The sum of two and a half millions of dollars is now to be received, after which Koolungsoo will be delivered up in terms of the treaty. The next instalment will amount to one million and a half, leaving two millions for the last, when Chusan also will be evacuated, unless other terms are agreed on. Meantime it is reported a proposal has been made that Chusan should be declared a free port open to all nations in place of Ningpo and Fuchowfoo, which would be abandoned as unfavourable for trade. -Hong-Kong Register, Jan. 14. SHIPPING. ARRIVALS. DEC. 18.-Teazer, Budd, Madras.-20. Loochoo (Am.), Croker, Boston.-21. Java, Parker, London; John Christian, Scot, Liverpool; captain died at sea, 15th Sept.-24. Annie, Potter, Sydney Isabella Anna, Beard, Hobart Town.-27. H.M.S. Vestal, Hobart Town.-28. Advocate, Bombay.-JAN. 4. Packet, Last, from Calcutta.-6th. Sarah, from Sydney.-11. Prince Albert, Thompson, Calcutta ; Water Witch, Reynell, Calcutta.-12. Denia, Smith, Sandwich Islands.-14. Meirepoza, Parson, Sandwich Islands.17. John, G. Coster, Liverpool.-18. H.M.S. Agincourt, Iris, and st. Vixen, from Chusan.-19. George Buckham, Liverpool. DEPARTURES. DEC. 12. Pampero, Roberts, Clyde.-15. Chatham, Gifford, Calcutta.-17. Hersey, Easterly, Dublin.-16. Zenobia (Swed.), New York.-17. Pathfinder, Bruton, London.-23. Lady, Marshall, London.-31. Lysander, Sangster, London.-JANUARY 1. Forfarshire, Symmons, London.-4. Schelde (Belgian), Antwerp.—5. Castle Eden, Reade, London.-9. Penang, Hawkins, Liverpool.10. Black Dog, Banett, Bombay.-16. Audax, Vaux, Calcutta.16. Five American vessels for New York; two ditto for Boston. For immediate despatch, the Charlotte, for Cork, and the Island Queen for Bombay. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. - We really do not understand our correspondent "A VERY OLD SUBSCRIBER." He appears to think that we have bestowed too much praise in a particular quarter, whereas we do not recollect that we have ever bestowed any, except on one occasion, and that in common with several parties, who had pursued a course, on an important question, which we thought the right one. "CLERICUS" may rely upon our not neglecting the important subject of native education. Our LITERARY NOTICES are unavoidably deferred. ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, April 23, 1845. SOME excitement continues to prevail in the mercantile world on the subject of the new Indian Tariff. On one point we certainly think those who complain have justice on their side. The voyage to India is a long one, and for this reason India must always be a somewhat hazardous market to resort to. Fluctuations, the causes of which were not and could not be anticipated, must frequently derange the calculations of the merchant; and in such a market he may reasonably complain if, in addition to the ordinary chances of loss, he is met by a duty of five per cent. upon his commodities where he only expected to pay three and a-half per cent. Some time, therefore, should be allowed to enable the European exporter to learn his situation, and to take his measures with reference to it. The commencement of the operation of the new tariff should be deferred until all the goods embarked for India before the intended measure became known in this country shall have arrived there; and this, in our judgment, will remove all rational ground for dissatisfation. Much may be said on the impediments which high duties throw in the way of commercial intercourse between distant countries, and of the bar which they offer to the extension of the comforts derivable from such intercourse. Much, indeed, may be said on the evil effects of all customs duties, whether great or small. Looking at the question as an abstract one, few will be hardy enough to deny that men would have a chance of enjoying far more of the good things of life than the majority now possess if all duties were everywhere abolished, and the intercourse between every part of the world rendered as free as that between Middlesex and Yorkshire. This, however, is a vision which may be indulged as a delightful phantasy, but which we suspect no man supposes will ever be realized even should another six thousand years be added to the world's age. Setting aside all pleas founded on the necessity of protecting existing interests, all resulting from prejudice or passion of every kind-assuming (a tolerably extravagant assumption) that all mankind should become wise, and just, and moderate in their desires; that the spirit of competition should be divested of all selfish alloy, and be directed to promote "the greatest happiness of the greatest number," still governments, as far as we know, cannot go on without money. None of the improvements of modern science, moral or physical, have enabled us to give a satisfactory answer to the question, how is a government to be maintained without taxes? Taxes there must be, and customs duties have long been regarded as a legitimate source of public revenue. There may be some who object to such duties altogether, but then they must tell us what to substitute that shall be less onerous than the imposts which they would remove. A large sweep has lately been made in the code of import duties levied in this country; but when we hear of four hundred articles being at once relieved from payment, we should remember what they are. The Minister did well, on many grounds, to abolish these duties; but the best ground that he can take is, that they were not worth the trouble of levying; they had the greatest fault which any tax can possess, that of being vexatious without being productive. It sounds well to talk of large reductions of duty, and certainly some reductions of importance have been made, but the majority of cases are of that description where a magnanimous disregard of pence may be exercised without much sacrifice. It does not follow that even the most petty degree of relief is worthless-every shackle struck off commerce is a boon to the community, and if the boon can be conferred without loss of revenue, so much the better. When Sir ROBERT PEEL brought forward the tariff of 1845, he certainly did not mean to impoverish the Exchequer. He knew that it was his duty to keep it replenished; and he knew, also, that if he could not effect this, Downing Street would afford no habitation for him. Excepting in a very few instances, which will readily occur to the mind of every reader, he did not meddle with any article of large consumption. He did not, because he knew that he could not without endangering the revenue; because, though it be true, according to SWIFT, that in political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four, yet there is a limit to retrenchment as well as accumulation, and the Exchequer may suffer from duties being too low as well as too high. Further, Sir ROBERT PEEL had a property-tax to fall back upon; a tax hated, indeed, beyond measure by the last generation; so greatly hated, that it was impatiently submitted to during the continuance of a war for the national existence, and ignominiously scouted on the return of peace. The desire by which Englishmen have long been characterized of upholding public credit, has induced them to tolerate the temporary revival of this tax. But when financial pressure comes upon the Government of India, what are they to do? It is, we believe, an established principle, that no new tax can is safely be attempted in India. All, therefore, that can be done, is to make the old ones as productive as possible. It easy to say, the former import duties were high enough, they were quite high enough, and too high for the merchant and the consumer; but they were not high enough for the state treasury. Public faith must be kept in India as well as in England; and there, as well as at home, the means must be found for maintaining it. It is to be lamented that any necessity should exist for adding to the burdens of commerce; but if it do exist, what is to be done but to look it in the face and apply the remedy? We cannot refrain from again adverting to a point noticed in our last publication-that the cotton and silk goods of India are subject to a duty of five per cent. on importation into England. Why, then, should not the cotton and silk goods of England be liable to a similar amount of duty on importation into India? We cannot answer the question. India was long treated as an alien-we had almost said as an enemy; her industry discouraged by unequal and oppressive duties, and her lands doomed to unproductiveness, because we would not take from her the articles with which alone she could pay for ours. We deluged India with our goods, and upheld at the same time an absurd system of restrictions which prevented her making returns. We cheerfully admit that a great change for the better has of late years taken place, and we are not ungrateful for it; but we cannot forget, that in this present session of Parliament an attempt was made to saddle the sugar of India with an extra amount of duty as compared with the sugar of other British possessions, and that the modification which was yielded, was not gained without a struggle. The great difficulty attending the commercial intercourse between India and this country has long been that of procuring returns from the former. Let those engaged in the trade watch the progress of legislation at home-let them exert themselves to secure justice for India here, and they will have no occasion to dread a trifling advance of duty upon the goods of this country in India; which, after all, only places both parties on a level. In one of the Calcutta papers received by the late mail, a statement, said to rest on authority, is made to the effect that no immediate alteration in the import duties is contem. plated. If this is to be understood literally, it is perfectly in accordance with the course recommended at the commencement of this article, and we have only to give our cordial approval to the postponement. If it be meant to imply that the plan is abandoned altogether, we doubt greatly of the accuracy of the representation. On the appearance of the first part of the "Conquest of Sinde," that most eccentric effusion of one of the eccentric race of the NAPIERS,-we noticed the virulence with which the author attacked the press of India, and ventured to predict that our brethren of the quill there would not be slow in taking their own part. Our assumptions were correct. The Overland Bengal Hurkaru contains a selection from various papers on the subject, which we trust the author of the "Conquest of Sinde" will have framed and glazed, for the purpose of decorating the walls of his study. The delight which he will feel in perusing and reperusing these choice excerpta will be equalled only by the profit which he will derive from having constantly before his eyes so many fine illustrations of the truth of a very old remark, that those who engage in the exercise of single-stick must expect the ordinary result,-an occasional broken head. In India, as in England, opinions "wide as the poles asunder" are maintained by the different public journals. In either country it must be something extraordinary which can render them unanimous. In India, the wonderful feat of making them all speak the same language has been accom. plished; and the once ultra-radical Sir WM. NAPIER, now the most submissive of the worshippers of authority, has performed it. "It is something rare," says the Hurkaru, "to see the Bombay Times, the Calcutta Englishman, the Calcutta Star, and the Bengal Hurkaru, at one on a subject, and it bodes ill to the party against whom they are bonded." We certainly think so, and so we suspect does "the party" himself by this time. We do not desire to revive controversies which in this country are become almost obsolete; but feeling that it is but just to let our Indian coadjutors be heard at home, where the attack upon them has been circulated with such extraordinary zeal, we present to our readers in another part of our paper the florilegium collected by the Hurkaru. This we leave without further note or comment, except to observe that one of the most remarkable features in the affair is the discovery that Sir CHARLES NAPIER was formerly an anonymous correspondent of that very press which he and his brother now revile with a bitterness-we might say a ferocity—which seems scarcely compatible with perfect sanity. SOCIETY must have its measure of excitement. At one time we have a revolution, or a series of revolutions; at another, a furious fight between agriculture and manufactures, on the question of protective policy, into which all rush pell-mell, whether they understand the question or not. In the absence of these more dignified instruments for accelerating the action of the pulse, we are regaled by some interesting murders, following one another (as of late) in regular succession, like the countless descendants of Banquo. When these graver sources fail, we have recourse to lighter matters, and for a time they answer very well. A child, singularly small for its age (or supposed to be so), comes forward under the attractive appellation of General Tom Thumb, and the entire public become pigmy-mad. The levees of the unhappy little creature are more crowded than those of Queen Victoria: men rush to gaze and wonder at the minute specimen of humanity, and women struggle for the pleasure of saluting it. Now it is pleasant to find that our countrymen in India are worthy of those whom they have left behind them at home; it is delightful to find that they do not degenerate. All Calcutta is now mad after a certain Chinese gymnastic exhibition, in which a certain Miss Emilia performs a variety of feats, which, if they were not actually executed, would be regarded as putting human powers of execution at defiance; some of which, moreover, to enhance the gratification of the spectators, appear to be attended with much danger. To witness the attitudinizing of a sylph (for the young lady is a sylph), is something; but to be impressed with a constant apprehension that the sylph is, at any moment during the performance, in danger of breaking her limbs, refines pleasure to sublimity. So great is the sensation produced on our Calcutta friends by these performances, that the local papers appear to be absolutely overrun with communications from correspondents in their praise. The Hurkaru has sternly closed its columns to a vast quantity of what is declared to be very excellent prose upon the subject, but has relented in favour of the claims of the muse, by giving admission to the following effusion, entitled, "Lines to the Brazilian Rope-dancer." We do not exactly understand how a Brazilian rope-dancer comes to be a member of a corps of Chinese performers; but in our own country we have had Hungarian exhibitors who were born and bred on Wapping Wall, and Scandinavians who drew their first breath in the parish of St. Giles-in-theFields. But to the lines: Hail! fair nymph, of more than mortal mould; Thy sterling worth cannot be priced by India's gold. Say, what propitious gale has wafted thee to India's shore,- And so, the lady being assured of an immortality of fame, we leave her to enjoy it, and the people of Calcutta to enjoy the wonders of her performances. SINDE and its affairs seem to furnish ceaseless and innumerable exceptions to all general rules. Its late government was such a one as the world never before saw, and will probably never see again. That government passed away, and the country became ours,-nobody seems to know very well how. But wonders continue. Some anxiety has recently been felt for the safety of Sir CHARLES NAPIER and the troops engaged in his expedition against the robber tribes. This feeling, it now seems, was unwarranted. The assurance is very consoling; but, strange to say, though it has the force of authority, it comes not from any of the local governments of India, nor from any branch of the Government at home. The Times recently contained the following article, which we have little doubt may be regarded as an official bulletin of what is wished for and expected. Whether the course of events will correspond or not, remains to be seen. The article is headed "Movements of the Army in Scinde." "We have received the following statement, which we have every reason to believe, relating to the movements of the army in Scinde : The object of Sir C. Napier in moving with so large a force to the hills north-west of Shikarpore is totally misunderstood. The papers speak of the Murree tribe being able to lead him, as they did former invaders, into trackless mountains, where they cannot be followed. Now, Sir, the Murrees were, before Sir C. Napier moved, engaged by secret contract with him to aid his invasion, which is directed against their enemies, the Bhoogties, the Doomkies, and Jakranees. The Chandian tribe march with his army, and they are friends of the Murrees. Thus the general has tolerably good assurance that the Murrees will not lead him into trackless wilds in pursuit of them; but as men of that stamp are not to be implicitly relied upon, he took with him a force of British able to beat all the tribes, enemies and friends also, if they should be faithless. His intent is to force the three robber tribes to surrender, and then to place them on the eastern side of the Indus, and make them labour until they erect houses and form farms sufficient for their own subsistence and dwellings; then to offer these products of their labour to them, if they will be peaceable; if they refuse, he will continue to make them work as convicts. In pursuance of this plan, he has blockaded them in the mountains, and they had, on the 14th of February, agreed to surrender. The chiefs were to have been that day in his camp, but they only sent their relations, promising to come themselves in a day or two. Their followers (fighting men, I mean) are said to be 2,000. Sir C. Napier, on the 14th of February, gave them four days of grace, but meant, if they were not then in his power, to make a sudden night-march with his camel corps and cavalry, to surprise them in their camp. This was the state of affairs on the 14th February, and I dare say before the 20th the whole were prisoners in his camp.'" Now this is certainly a very remarkable communication. It is given in the leading journal of the world in a manner which shews that the conductors of that journal rely upon its accu racy. Their caution is not less remarkable than their activity, and the credence of the public will not be withheld. But whence comes the communication? We think we may safely say that there is but one channel through which it could come: that the information must have been privately forwarded from the highest resident authority in Sinde to some one in Europe, and by him conveyed to that great engine of publicity in which it first appeared. Who was the person by whom this latter duty was performed, we need not state; our readers would think it waste of ink were we to write his name. There can be no more doubt as to the party through whom the intelligence reaches the public, than as to him by whom it was originally furnished. No one can attach any blame to the managers of the Times for making use of information that was proffered them. Indeed, it would be superfluous to raise a question on the subject, the upright and honourable spirit in which that journal is conducted being not less universally acknowledged than the extraordinary exertions made by its proprietors to obtain the means of gratifying the demands of public curiosity, without regard to the cost at which they may be purchased. It is the duty of a public journalist to procure information by all methods which do not involve a violation of the principles of morality, and to give the results of his labours to the world. But what shall we say of the two parties-for two we apprehend there were-who combined to bring the statement which we have quoted upon the breakfast-tables of the London public? Was such a thing ever before heard of, as that an officer in high command at a distant spot should prepare a statement relating to matters of delicacy and importance, in which he was professionally occupied, and send it to a relative in Europe for publication there, in anticipation of the appearance of the official report, which it would subsequently become his duty to make? If it were not intended for publication, there has been a breach of confidence; but though this will render the moral position of the party receiving the communication something worse than it otherwise would be, it will scarcely improve that of his correspondent. It is imprudent to make confidential communications where there is not a certainty that they will remain confidential; and for a soldier unnecessarily to make such communications respecting affairs in which he is engaged, is most reprehensible. One of the prime duties of a military man is to learn to hold his peace. This is not our dictum,-it is enforced over and over again by the Duke of WELLINGTON, in his celebrated despatches. We cannot decide upon the comparative degrees of blame to be attached to the two parties connected with the publication of the Sinde news; but this much is clear, that both have violated rules which the highest authority of modern times has peremptorily declared that a soldier should never forget. ADEN. (From the Times.) MARCH 11. The Arabs have not yet attacked Aden; but accounts continue to be received from the interior that they are still assembled in large bodies. From their having deferred their march on Aden so long, it may be considered a strong sign that but little unanimity exists either in their councils or operations. It is wonderful that they have continued to remain assembled for such a length of time, composed as they are of such heterogeneous materials and divided interests. The garrison at present in Aden is fully capable of repelling any attack, however well planned or bravely led, which they can direct against Aden. There are now 1,200 Euro pean and 1,300 native troops in the place, besides her Majesty's sloop Serpent, the Hon. Company's sloop Elphinstone, and brig Euphrates, shortly to be reinforced by her Majesty's frigate Fox, another sloop and schooner, besides a steam frigate to be permanently placed on the station. I regret to say that the Berenice steamer, which ought to have left Suez on or about the 23rd ult., has not reached Aden, nor have accounts of her been received up to this date. Great fears are entertained regarding her safety. We have had very stormy weather at Aden and in the gulf for the last eight days; it is therefore to be apprehended that she may have experienced very heavy weather in the upper part of the Red Sea, got disabled, and been obliged to bear up for some port on the Arabian shore, where she must remain till assistance reaches her from Aden, as, in the event of an accident happening to her machinery, it would be impossible for her to reach Aden under canvas at this season of the year. Should she not arrive before the steam frigate comes in from Bombay (daily expected), the latter will be despatched in quest of her. We can hardly believe that any accident has befallen the packet in the Mediterranean, as it would have been remedied in a few days. The arrival of the Precursor, due on the 16th or 17th ult., put us in possession of some direct information as to the time she left Suez for Aden. The Atalanta, which left Bombay on the 2nd inst., at halfpast 3 A.M., arrived this morning at half-past 2 A.M., having made the passage in nine days. The French sloop of war Zellée, Capt. Feirek, arrived from Bourbon on the 8th inst. with despatches for the French Government and five French passengers, to proceed to Suez per Alalanta, which leaves this evening, at 5 o'clock. All the troops, European and native, continue healthy. Supplies from the interior are abundant. The inhabitants of the towns near Aden are beginning to turn their attention to the cultivation of European vegetables, for which the soil is very favourable. In. deed, growing vegetables for the Aden market they find a lucrative occupation, as they are at all times certain of a good remuneration and ready sale. It is to be regretted that advantage is not taken of this growing spirit of inquiry, which seems to have been suddenly excited in their minds, to introduce an improved system of horticulture and agriculture. LIST OF SHIPPING IN THE HARBOUR. Ships of War.-Her Majesty's ship Serpent, 16; Hon. Company's ship Elphinstone, 18; Euphrates brig, 12; and ship Charger; and the French ship Zellée. Merchant Vessels.-The bark Jean, the ship Ulverstone, the barks Scourfield and Palinurus; and the ships Scotia, and John Line. American. The barks Mohawk and Emily Wilder. HOME INTELLIGENCE. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS. SUGAR DUTIES BILL.-FRIDAY, APRIL 11.-The third reading of the Bill was this day moved by the Earl of Dalhousie; and after some lengthened remarks from Lord Brougham on the subject of slavery, as connected with the Bill, from the Earl of Clarendon and Lord Monteagle in opposition to the ministerial measure, and from Lord Stanley in reply, the Bill passed. HOUSE OF COMMONS. IMPORT DUTIES (INDIA).-MONDAY, APRIL 7.—Mr. HUME moved for a copy of the Draught Act of the Legislative Council in India for altering the import duties, published in the Govern ment Gazette at Calcutta, Feb. 8, 1845; and took the opportunity of asking the noble lord opposite (Lord Jocelyn) whether that Act had originated with the Governor-General of India, or whether that gallant officer, in putting it forth, had only acted according to orders. He asked that question because there had appeared a violent attack against the gallant officer, as if that act were entirely his own, though he (Mr. Hume) had reason to believe that the gallant officer had only acted in pursuance of instructions from home. Lord JOCELYN said, that there was no objection to the production of the paper moved for, which should be laid on the table of the House as soon as possible. He could say that the measure emanated from this country, and was sanctioned by the Board of Control, and the gallant officer, the Governor-General of India, had only been carrying out the order he had received. As very erroneous impressions had gone forth on the subject he would take the opportunity of saying, that the cause which led to the act in question was the reduction of transit duties in the |