her Majesty's ships get into similar circumstances, it would deter them from rendering their services.

I have nothing to say against the service rendered by the Vixen, taking out guns, shot, &c. This I admit, it was a clear case of salvage. Sir Thomas had no wish to deny this. He said to his secretary, Mr. Waller, "I know nothing of this case; you will call on Mr. Matheson, and learn what he claims." Mr. Waller did call, and Mr. Matheson very liberally refused to receive any thing. Mr. Waller asked what compensation would be enough for the crew of the Vixen. Mr. Matheson said about 105 dollars, to which Mr. Waller answered, saying, in round numbers, 100 dollars,

Mr. Carr puts an imaginary case to injure Sir Thomas. He says, "had the Vixen been the party that was in jeopardy, &c." The last paragraph could only be penned by some person who had a personal spleen against the admiral.

If any of you had been called on to act as arbiter, and in consequence of your award been accused of corruption, you would feel what damages ought to be given in the present case.

The affidavit of Mr. Waller, which will be read to you, states that he wrote to Mr. Matheson by the direction of Sir Thomas a letter stating the admiral's desire to pay any remuneration for the service of the vessel which Mr. Matheson might think fit and reasonable. Mr. Matheson refused any remuneration, but expressed his willingness to accept any remuneration on the part of the crew he might think proper. When desired to name a sum, he said, "the admiral may think very different from us," and being desired to name a sum he named 105 dols. The letter to Mr. Matheson stated that the schooner had been detained twelve hours in consequence of the service rendered to the Wolf.

Mr. Goddard, in addressing the jury for Mr. Carr, said he felt considerable difficulty in appearing before them in such circumstances. Mr. Carr had been accused of publishing a libel "feloniously, wickedly, and maliciously." Mr. Carr he believed knew very little of Sir Thomas, except as a person holding a high command in these seas. Sir Thomas, however, in this case did not act as a judge. The only judge of admiralty here is the Lord Chief Justice. Neither does he accuse him of any thing criminal, or of an offence either in his public or his private character that implied guilt. He never accused him of corruption. He only accuses him that he was not so liberal as he ought to be.

A criminal libel has been filed against Mr. Carr. In consequence of the way the accusation has been brought, he was put to great expenses, as the crown pays no costs; and if he succeeds as I am sure, or at least I feel confident he will, he will still have to pay all his own expenses. Besides, the case has been deferred from time to time, whereas it might have been brought on long ago. Sir Thomas might have put himself into the witness-box, and so might Mr. Waller; and then we should have had an opportunity of seeing what was right and what was wrong, or at least we should have had an opportunity to cross-examine them, and of proving that Mr. Matheson was not informed of the fact.

Mr. Bradshaw, the first officer of the Vixen, was on board when the Wolf hoisted signals of distress; his evidence was taken in this court by a commissioner. Mr. Carr did not ferret out the circumstances; they were brought to him by Captain Carr, who complained of the want of liberality. I need not press on you the necessity of rewarding seamen liberally for such services, the lives of many often depending upon them. H.M.'s ships are generally valued at 1,000l. per gun, the Wolf has eighteen guns, and may, therefore, be valued at 18,000, and for saving her 100 dols. are awarded! If Sir Thomas chose to take on himself the office of fixing the reward, he ought to have taken the strictest care to make himself acquainted with the facts.

Mr. Carr, hearing that Sir Thomas was about to commence an accusation against him, made every inquiry in order that if he had done wrong he might redress it by making an ample apology; but the more he did inquire, the stronger he found the facts. To constitute a libel it must be shewn that the party is charged with something that is criminal.

Mr. Bradshaw's evidence is to this effect: The Wolf was in great distress, firing guns and having her ensign with the Union down. The Vixen stood in, and sent her boat to the Wolf to offer assistance. The Vixen had a large quantity of specie on board. She received 16 guns and 500 shot, and he considered the Wolf would have been in extreme danger had a gale

She had

ordered by the Wolf to come to an anchor near her. 144,000 taels of silver on board. Thinks it was in consequence of the relief afforded by her that the Wolf got off. Two vessels have since been wrecked there. The crew were all dissatisfied with the award. He thinks the remuneration illiberal, and injurious to other vessels requiring assistance. The crew helped to take the guns, &c., on board. Witness did so and was unwell in consequence. The account in the Friend of China was not exaggerated. The Vixen was detained twenty-four hours.

A. Matheson, Esq., being called as a witness and sworn, deposed that the Vixen belongs to the firm of Jardine, Matheson, and Co. He awarded nothing to the crew. The secretary of Sir Thomas Cochrane called and wished him to do so; the Vixen had not then returned to Hong-Kong. Mr. Waller said the service rendered by her was very slight, and the crew were not employed at all. Captain Carr was not satisfied with the award, but did not ask witness's advice as to the course he ought to pursue; he said the assistance he gave was very important Mr. Waller did not make his statement as upon his own knowledge, but as what he understood. Witness thinks that according to Captain Carr's statement of the services rendered, 100 dollars was not sufficient.

Cross-examined by the Attorney-General.-Saw nothing on the part of Sir Thomas, or Mr. Waller, to lead him to believe they wished to retreat from their offer to give a proper remuneration. When asked to name a sum, witness said high government officers were often stingy, and he believed Sir Thomas was particularly so of the public money.

The Attorney-General said that Sir Thomas was of necessity discharging an office of high ministerial duty, as at that time there was no Court of Admiralty here.

The judge, in summing up the case, said the libel was divided into two parts; first, a statement of facts, and secondly, a commentary on these facts. The first was passed over. It was for the jury to judge if there was a necessity, first, to publish these facts; secondly, was it necessary to publish this commentary? Had Mr. Carr rested with a statement of the facts, it is probable you would not have been troubled with this prosecution. Sir Thomas was not likely to have brought an action, and he was sure his friend the Attorney-General would not have taken up such a case. But this was not the sitting of the libel. It is for you to say whether Sir Thomas is charged with corruption, and if so it is a libel. In order that words may constitute a libel, they must charge a man with something criminal; but in writing, whatever tends to bring a man into contempt is a libel.

The jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of "Not guilty."-Ibid.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT).

VICTORIA, HONG-KONG, JUNE 10.-Sir: On the 7th ult., a most terrific storm of thunder and rain visited this colony, more violent in its effects than any that has occurred since thetyphoon of 1842, and surpassing that storm in the quantity of rain fallen, though the effect of the wind was by no means so severe. The Chinese declare that so great a quantity of rain has not fallen at one time for at least fifty years past.

The storm commenced early on the evening of the 6th, with violent thunder and rain, but did not attain to an unusual intensity until about two o'clock on the morning of the 7th. At daybreak the entire surface of the hills appeared to be one mass of foam, while the deafening sound of the rushing waters was terrific in the extreme. The newly-formed streets in the town suffered considerable damage, and two or three houses in course of erection were undermined or otherwise injured. The water poured down the hill side through houses and grounds, laying down many feet of sand in some of the warehouses, and totally disregarding, as it were, all usual boundaries and courses. Much apprehension was expressed for the security of the newly formed sewers and underground water ways, but they proved to be so solidly constructed that no injury occurred to the masonry, though in many places the earth was washed away all round them. Two bridges across the Queen's-road were entirely swept away, one of them an important communication in a central situation, but these were of a temporary and unsubstantial construction, and will now it is presumed be replaced with works of a more permanent character. At Pokfoolum, on the south side of the island, eight Chinese were drowned by the sudden rising of the stream, which completely flooded the village, and overflowed the cultivated ground; one man was found in a tree fifteen feet above the level of the ground, to which height he had climbed to avoid the destruction raging around him, but without success. At that time the stream must have completely filled a channel fifty feet wide and thirty feet deep, while only the day before all that could be traced of this mighty tor

rent was a little winding brook that a child might step across; and, when we take into consideration that the whole extent of the stream, from its rise to where it falls perpendicularly over a high ledge of rocks into the sea, is comprised within a space of two miles, some idea may be formed of the immense quantity of water accumulated in the space of a few hours.

Her Majesty's birth-day was kept with all the honours: the customary salutes were fired by the men-of-war in the harbour and the artillery; in the afternoon an inspection of the troops was made, and a feu-de-joie fired in excellent style by the whole line, about 1,400 strong. Nineteen convicts were released from the public gaol on free pardon, and in the evening his Excellency the Governor gave a full-dress ball, which was numerously attended, nor was there any scarcity of belles upon the occasion

The whole of the 4th regt. Madras N.I. have now left us, and are replaced by the 42nd regt.

The H.C.'s steamer Medusa returned on the 9th from a visit to the northern ports. Passenger-R. M. Martin, Esq., treasurer. She had put into a bay on the coast, having damaged her rudder.

The mail of March 18th has come to hand, and that of the 8th April is daily looked for. The colony continues healthy; hot weather, with heavy showers at times, but not sultry. Thermometer, 82 deg. to 87 deg.

SHIPPING.

ARRIVALS.

AT HONG KONG.-MAY 27. Ayrian, Coull Liverpool. 30. India, Sutherland, Clyde. -JUNE 2. Janet, Dring, Sydney. 3. Kelpie, Syme, Calcutta; Lanrick, White, Calcutta. 4. John Horton, Cunningham, Liverpool; Hope, Goss, Bombay. 6. Dulius, Underhill, Singapore. 7. Good Success, Hill, Bombay; Duke of Clarence, Birch, Colombo; Bintang, Wright, Singapore; Compelilor, Pool, Colombo, 9. City of Shiraz, Marriott, Bombay; H. C. steamer Medusa, Toochow foo; Emerald Isle, Curling, Madras; Ann Bridston, Bragg, Liverpool.

AT MACAO.-MAY 13. Corcyra, Hazlewood, Bombay,- 18. Rainbow, Land, New York.-28, Cowasjee, Edwards, Bombay.JUNE 3. Artemise, Seron, Singapore.-5. Coquette, Eldridge, Cal. cutta.-6. Buckinghamshire, Macgregor, Bombay; City of Shiraz, Marriott, Bombay.-9. Canopus, Cox, Singapore; Dorisana, Blythe, Bombay.

AT WHAMPOA.-MAY 24. Regina, Quinton, Bombay. - 29. Hesperus, Kelly, Liverpool.-JUNE 1. Sir Charles Forbes, Lund. wall, Bombay; Bangalore, Aiton, London.-2. Osprey, Hunt, Singapore; Palmyra, Campbell, London.-7. Hope, Goss, Bombay.

Per Bangalore, Lieut. J. R. Halahan, 18th Royal Irish.
Per Corcyra, J. J. Hulme, Esq. Seth, Esq.

Per Velore, H. C. Read, Thorburn, Haspinal, and two servants.
Per Lanrick, George Lyall, Esq.

Per Hope, Cursetjee Pestonjee Burjorjee, Esq. Rustomjee Pestonjee, Esq.

Per Bintang, 13 Chinese and 6 Bengallese.
Per Duchess of Clarence, T. Wise, Esq.
Per Framjee Cowasjee, Mr. and Mrs. Croom.
Per Artemise, P. Hanson, Esq.
Per Buckinghamshire, Reid, Esq. B.C.S.

DEPARTURES.

Ryan, Esq.

From HONG-KONG.-MAY 24. Water Wilch, Reynell, Calcutta. -25. Denia, Vincent, Madras.-28. Red Rover, McMurdo, Calcutta.-29. Sapphire, Fittock, Singapore and Madras.-30. Arun, Balls, Singapore.-JUNE 4. Vellore, Bell, Cork.-6. Arab, Freeman, Manilla.-9. Anne Jane, Rigby, Cork.

From MACAO.-MAY 17. James Boorman, Whampoa.-18. D. Gebroeder, Bunditz, Amoy; Flora, Hooge, Whampoa.-20. Regina, Quintin, Whampoa; J. Corina, Dring, Cap-sing-moon; Starling, Chape, Hongkong; Water Witch, Reynell, Hongkong; Midas, Poor, Hongkong; Resolution, Wood, East Coast; Rainbow, Land, Whampoa; M. de Tunkin, Cuarteron, Hongkong. - 22. Anna Eliza, Grainger, Bombay; Amistad, Matta, Manila; Eagle.-23, Mariveles, Cordero, Manila; Syed Khan, Baird, Hongkong; Vixen, Milne, Cap-sing-moon; Arun, Balls, Hongkong; Tigre, Rionda, Cayagan. -27. Vixen, Milne, Hongkong; Starling, Chape, Hongkong.-29. Prueva, Enchauste, Pangasinan; Zorgoliet, Hongkong; Emma, Dawson, Cap-sing-moon; Dart, Kennedy, Cap-sing-moon.-30. F. Cowasjee, Edwards, Whampoa; Preciosa, Cucullo, Hongkong; L. Family, Ayres, Whampoa; Red Rover, McMurdo, Calcutta.31. Sir C. Forbes, Whampoa; Corsair, Huberston, Hongkong.

JUNE 3. Sultana, Wadge, Bombay.-5. Cupido. Martinez, Pengasinan; Rainbow, Land, New York, 8. Lanrick, White, Hongkong: Coquette, Eldridge, Whampoa; Flora, Hooge, Singapore.

Passenger.-Per Arun, J. Jarvie, Esq.

Wigeon, Capes, London. 18. Polentale, McKirdy, London. 21. MaFROM WHAMPOA.-MAY 16. Anna Eliza, Grainger, Bombay. 17. riveles, Cordero, Manilla; Arun, Balls, Singapore. 27. Sarah Louisa, Oldham, Coast of China; Sultana, Wadge, Bombay. 30. Cayuga, Harbuck, Coast of China; Panama, Griswold, Coast of China. 31. James Boorman, Westermons, Coast of China.-JUNE 1. Dart, Kennedy, Coast of China; James Boorman, Westermons, Amoy Flora, Hooge, Singapore. 3. Arab, Freeman, Manilla. 4. Ae Jane, Rigby, London; Rainbow, Land, New York. 7. J. Venice, Dunbery, New York; Sir H. Compton, Boulton, Bombay.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

SIR PEREGRINE MAITLAND was expected to arrive at Coles. berg on the 27th May; but we are sorry to find from the subjoined extract, that his Excellency had met with an accident near Beaufort, and was consequently retarded in his progress. Extract from a letter dated Beaufort, 30th May, 1845:

His Excellency was expected here, on his way to Colesberg, on Friday last, when some twenty of the inhabitants here rode out to meet him; but we saw nothing of him then. This was repeated the following day, without success. About 9 o'clock that evening, Mr. C. Bell and the Attorney-General arrived with the intelligence that the Governor had had a severe fall from his horse, and that the wagons were approaching. The Governor arrived at half-past ten that evening, and has been laid up ever since, until yesterday, when he got up for the first time. Luckily, a comfortable house had been prepared for him. He will certainly not leave this week, but in all probability in the course of next. The accident happened about twenty hours from this. The Governor was riding on horseback in advance of the party, and finding that it was commencing to rain, had unstrapped his Macintosh, and was going to wrap it round him, when his horse shied at it, and he fell from him, on his back. A steel belt which he wears is supposed to have come in contact with a stone, and caused an indentation.-Zuid-Afrikaan, June 6. NORTHERN BOUNDARY.-We have letters from Colesberg to the 9th inst., and from which we are glad to learn of the arrival there of his Excellency the Governor. The following are the only particulars worth communicating:

Sir Peregrine Maitland arrived here on the 7th inst., but is at present not able to proceed further, though he expects to be able to move forward and to cross the river (the Orange) in a few days. His Excellency has by no means recovered from his fall, and evidently suffers considerable pain and inconvenience from a strain of the back and hip, and for which rest will be, there is no doubt, the best remedy. All is quiet across the boundary, and, as far as we can learn, for 150 miles beyond it. The Boers, as far as can be learned, evince the best disposition, and are quite willing to afford every explanation as to the recent disturbances. It is said that they muster in considerable numbers.-Ibid., June 20.

Communications have been received from Colesberg up to Monday last. His Excellency the Governor started from thence on that day for the camp of the British troops at Touwe Fontein, travelling in a horse wagon, without an escort. It is with regret we learn that his Excellency appears still to suffer much inconvenience from the effects of his recent hurt, his progress towards recovery being, we doubt not, much retarded by the cold, which is said to be more severe than has been experienced for many years in that country. Mr. Bain had, we are informed, been dispatched to the Boer's camp at Modder Fontein, with a proclamation from his Excellency, demanding their immediate and unconditional surrender, but to which no return had been received, though it was thought that the farmers, or at least the great majority, would at once submit their case to the decision of his Excellency, for whose character they entertain the highest respect, and on whose high sense of justice they confidentially rely.-Ibid., June 27.

The news from the N. E. boundary represent his Excellency the Governor, with the assistance of the Attorney-general, as seriously engaged in bringing the unpleasant state of affairs in those parts to a speedy and, if possible, to a satisfactory termi nation. The idea of the emigrants placing themselves in hostile array against the British troops has vanished altogether. It would appear that the emigrants have migrated further into the interior, taking a course towards Delagoa Bay. With the few who have remained behind, it will be easy for his Excellency to arrange the difficulties which have existed so long, and been the cause of the outbreak.-Ibid., July 4.

THE SLAVE TRADE.-H. M.'s ships Helena and Mutine arrived in Simon's Bay, from Mozambique, the first having captured, off Dalgasta, a dhow with eighty-three slaves on board. The latter was still more successful, having captured, on the 26th of

MUNIFICENT BEQUEST. We lay before the public an extract from the will of Mr. Henry Murray, a gentleman who, many years ago, resided in this town as a merchant, and lately died in Edinburgh. It contains a bequest to the S. A. College of about £5,000, to be employed in the gratuitous admission in the College of youths, chosen from among the less affluent portion of the colonists, the sons and descendants of the old Dutch settlers

to have the preference. To the Orphan House it bequeaths the residue of his estate, which is calculated at £3,000. It must indeed afford satisfaction to the old Dutch families in the colony, to perceive from the above bequest a praiseworthy feeling in their favour, on the part of one who has left the colony about twenty years ago, and who, although ceasing to have any longer connection with it, yet did not forget those amongst whom at one time he lived. There are certainly very few who, having made their fortune in this colony, ever thought after leaving this place of imparting a share in it to its inhabitants.Ibid., June 24.

MILITARY MOVEMENTS.-The 73rd regiment of Foot will embark, in July next, for the Cape, to replace the 27th regiment, which is to return home. The 66th regiment, now at Dublin, will proceed to Gibraltar, to relieve the 45th, going to the Cape, to replace the 91st, ordered home.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We really cannot undertake to reply to the question of METAPHISICUS, MADRAS, as to the "degree of influence which the science of metaphysics is likely to exercise over the future destinies of our Indian dominions !" He had better send the question to some German university.

H. P. should put his question to a stock and sharebroker, and not to the editor of a newspaper.

ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL,

LONDON,

SATURDAY, October 4, 1845.

Ar the end of twenty years from this time what will be the extent of railway communication all over the world? This is a question to which few will be bold enough to venture an answer, so rapid is the progress of a system which scarcely dawned upon our notice before it displayed itself in full-grown maturity. Our own country will soon be a complete net-work of railways, and every part of the British possessions will, at no distant period, be in possession of railway communication adapted to their

circumstances.

In India the cause is prospering, and will, we are persuaded, continue to prosper. Bengal will probably obtain the earliest share of the advantages of railway communication. In addition to the projects previously in the field, another has been brought forward for forming a line from Calcutta to George's Point on the River Hooghly, with a branch to Diamond Harbour. In due time railways will be extended to the rest of India.

Preparations are already in progress for affording to almost every other portion of the British Empire the like facilities of transit. CEYLON, a country rich in the most valuable productions of nature beyond most others, but from the want of roads deprived in a great measure of the

means of improving her resources, is to be furnished with railroads. The island is singularly well adapted for their construction, and the task has been undertaken under very, high and flattering auspices. The CAPE of GOOD HOPE is also to have its railway-in process of time, without doubt, more than a single one, but the first object. proposed is to connect Cape Town with a convenient spot on Cape Downs. Proceeding to a place still more remote than either of those already named, we find the same spirit at work. A project is announced for forming a railroad in NEW SOUTH WALES, from Newcastle to Maitland, and thence to Singleton's Inn, with such branches as may. appear expedient. Such are a few of the plans at present in circulation, and every month will probably add to them. We shall not fail to keep them in view, believing that the im portance of such undertakings, with reference alike to the physical and moral benefit of mankind, cannot be overrated.

Has charity fled from the face of the earth? Do men rejoice in seeing their friends expose themselves to public derision? Or has Major-Gen. WILLIAM NAPIER no friend wise enough to discern the effects of his never-ceasing appeals to the public on behalf of the family, or honest enough to point them out? Or, lastly, is the Major-General so entirely under the influence of headlong, raging passion, and so completely beyond the reach of reason, that he will write, despite all friendly warning, though every fresh exercise of his pen sinks him and his brother deeper and deeper into the mire, wherein they have for some months been floundering? We had occasion in our last to examine a eulogistic' letter upon Sir CHARLES NAPIER, which appeared in the Times, under the signature of "An Officer;" and having discharged this not very agreeable duty, we thought that, for a season at least, we should cease to be NAPIER RIDDEN. We were deceived. Only two days after the publication of our article, a letter, avowedly from Gen. WILLIAM NAPIER, appeared in the Naval and Military Gazette, professing to be in answer to that of COLONEL OUTRAM published some time previously, and referred to by us. Awaiting, as we declared, such explanation as might be forthcoming, we commenced the perusal of the letter with considerable interest, not doubting that some answer would be afforded to the charges of COLONEL OUTRAM. We regret to say that we found none :. all that can be learned from GEN. NAPIER'S last is that when the writer was concocting the precious composition, he was very angry, and very much embarrassed by his unfortunate position. Like an exhausted prizefighter whom the call of "time" arouses to hopeless exertion after all power of annoying his opponent has left him, the GENERAL hits wildly about, but his blows fall harmless, and even to his antagonist he must be an object of pity.

The General lectures Colonel OUTRAM for using "abusive language," and informs him that "the usual course with gentlemen" is "to avoid bad language." This is something like the practice of children, who, after entering heartily into some sport, at which they are winners, call out "fain play," when the course of success turns against them. "The devil rebukes sin," is an old proverb, more remarkable for strength and terseness than refinement. Henceforward those who would illustrate the same truth in a more delicate manner, may say, " NAPIER condemns abusive language."

1

The General is further sore that Colonel OUTRAM did not address the NAPIER of Scinde rather than the NAPIER of Guernsey, the latter being separated from the Colonel by a distance (as he twice tells us lest we should forget) of "ten thousand miles." But surely there was nothing unreasonable in this. General WILLAM NAPIER, as all the world knows, is the managing partner; and in the exercise of his vocation, he gives vent not only to his own malignity, but to that of his brother also. There could, therefore, be no impropriety, but, on the contrary, a manifest fitness in addressing him. Who wrote the "Conquest of Scinde?" General WILLIAM NAPIER. To whom, therefore, should a reply to the misrepresentations and scurrilities of that work be addressed so properly as to him? Then, too, the General is perfectly furious, because a copy of Colonel OUTRAM'S letter appeared in the Morning Chronicle, before it reached himself. Colonel OUTRAM, he thinks, should have waited the reply of the person addressed, before having recourse to the public press. But it seems to be forgotten that Colonel OUTRAM never intended his letter to be a private one. The attack had been attended by all the publicity which the energy of the NAPIERS could give it, and when any thing malignant is to be done, their energy is indeed enormous. It was necessary that the defence should not be less public than the attack, and it is clear that it was always meant that it should be thus public. We suppose, with the opinions which General NAPIER holds of Indian newspapers, that he never reads them; we therefore apprize him that we have now lying before us an Indian journal bearing date the 4th of August, which contains the identical letter, which has called forth the expression of that " Officer's" impotent anger. These points, however, will, we doubt not, be satisfactorily disposed of by Colonel OUTRAM; and with regard to them we leave the gallant Major-General to the enjoyment of the expectant delights of receiving a second epistle from his correspondent, not less pithy, we dare predict, than the first.

But our readers will be anxious to know how, after this preliminary skirmishing, the champion of all the NAPIERS meets the main charges often made before, never refuted, because they were irrefutable, and once more produced for reply or evasion, in the " stinging letter" of Colonel OUTRAM. We wish our space allowed of our printing the whole of the Major-General's communication to the Naval and Military Gazette. This, however, is impracticable, and we must be content, in the spirit of a man whose good wishes go beyond his means, to treat our friends with a few choice extracts. The first relates to the libels on the civil service.

Col. Outram says I have, on the authority of my brother, traduced the whole civil service of India. I answer that I have not done so on the authority of my brother, or that of any other person; I have not done so at all."

And so-judging from the italics, which are the MajorGeneral's, not ours-it seems that the whole force of the intended refutation of this charge hangs upon the word WHOLE. The Major-General has reviled the civil service GENERALLY-but he has not said that there was no exception to the misconduct which he alleged to exist—he did not abuse the WHOLE of the civil service! Most upright reformer ! Most honourable accuser! Most honest and straightforward controversialist! Who, after this, shall refuse any of the above titles to the Governor of Guernsey and historian of the "Conquest of Scinde ?"

But what would this miracle of chivalry and liberality say if any one had spoken of the British army as he has spoken of the civil service of India? Would he be satisfied by being told that the abuse had not, in direct words, been extended to the WHOLE army? Why, he would say, as all the world would say, that such a pitiful excuse could be designated only by one word-the word applied to a certain operation in card-playing which immediately precedes that of cutting.

Having settled his quarrel with the civil service to his own satisfaction, the incomparable Major-General proceeds to the military, and here again he shall tell his own story:

"Col. Outram asserts that I and my brother have accused the officers of the royal and company's armies of habitual intemperance, and that we have ascribed the mortality in the 78th Reg. to the same cause. This effort to enlist the passions of the Scinde army on his side will fail; the brave men who have served under Sir C. Napier know too well his attachment to them, and his gra titude for their matchless courage and endurance, to heed such baseless suggestions. My letter, published in the Times and in the Naval and Military Gazette, upon the sickness of the 78th Regt. does not contain even an allusion to intemperance; the epidemic is expressly described as one baffling the medical men. It was written to crush an accusation in the Bombay Times, which ascribed, as Col. Outram does now, the mortality to the General's mismanage ment; and it even went so far as to call him the murderer of the soldiers.'

Now, this is something like the conduct of a man accused of committing an offence at a certain time and place, who meets the charges by an averment that he did not commit the offence at another time and place. Something like a conviction of this rushes on the mind even of the

Major-General, and he accordingly resorts to a mode of

vindication which for hardihood we believe to be without parallel. "The captain is a bold man," as will be shewn by the following passage from his recent letter, and which, for the sake of clearness, we shall place side by side with the extract of a letter from Sir CHARLES NAPIER, published in General WILLIAM NAPIER'S History of the Conquest of Scinde.

EXTRACT FROM LETTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM NAPIER, IN NAVAL AND MILITARY GAZETTE, 27th SEPT. 1845.

which 46

But I have also, in my work on Scinde, published a letter in which drink is said to be the great cause of disease with both officers and men in the army generally. This is called charging the officers with habitual drunkenness, and affirming that inebriety alone caused the dreadful mortality in the 78th regt. Now, in that letter the sickness of the 78th is positively stated to be one nobody could account for;" and is thus completely separated from the observations about drink which follow. Those observations are general, the mere expression of an opinion as to one of the causes of great mortality in the army at large; they are not even confined to Scinde; Jellalabad is expressly referred to. They treat of the bad effect of the common ration of spirits given to all soldiers, they have no special application to the 78th, or any other corps; and if, as Col. Outram asserts, the commanding officer of that regiment applied to Sir C. Napier on the subject, the reported answer was strictly correct and just, viz., that "no such accusation had been

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM SIR CHARLES NAPIER, 19TH DECEMBER, 1844, PUBLISHED BY GENERAL WILLIAM NAPIER, IN "CONQUEST OF SCINDE," PART II.

The tales of the Bombay Times about quarters is nonsense. I took the 86th regt. from Hyderabad, to have no European regt. there dur ing the sickly season. I sent troops to Ahmed Khan, and they had no fever; it was an experi ment. I brought the 13th down to Kurrachee to be ready to embark for England. I sent the 78th up to relieve the 13th at Sukkur, and hoped by their ar rival very late in October that they would escape fever. It suddenly broke out and raged in the beginning of November, and has killed 125, not one man has escaped, and it is raging now. No one can account for it. I shall arrive at Sukkur to-morrow and I will send them down the river directly. The cause is their drinking. It does not give the fever, but it so inflames the liver and brain that the fever takes too firm a grasp to be got rid of. Why! their rations is two drams a day, and eight of these drams make a quart bottle! so the sober soldier swallows one-fourth of a bottle of raw spirits every day! You and I know them too well to