INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 135, 6 August 1853, Page 9

INDIA.

The news from Burmah are of a mixed nature, for while they show that the enemy's troops are being removed from Pegu, and the country brought under British rule,-they also bring accounts of a reverse in one quarter which has been attended with considerable loss of life. The King of Ava, it is said, is really dead, and his brother-in-law, and late Prime Minister, has usurped the throne, a measure which is questioned by the heir apparent, a nephew of the late King. These two parties have therefore commenced hostilities, and the troops which have so hastily evacuated Pegu are probably intended to support one or other of the factions. The lawful claimant to the throne, according to the Pinang Gazette, is said to have made overtures to the British authorities, but it is thought that negotiation will not be entered into until the result of the contest going on is seen. The Burmese post in the Aeng pass has been occupied by a successful coup de main on the part of Captain Nuthall. Generals Godwin and Cheap had taken post at Meaday, about thirty miles beyond Prome, without opposition, while the forces under General Steel had inarched from Martaban to a place half way between Sitang and Shweygeen, without encountering tlie slightest resistance. The following extracts from the Friend of India af the 24th of Feb., give the particulars of two expeditions against the Burmese dacoits, who are committing much mischief in some parts of our newly acquired territories. One was eminently successful, while the other was as remarkably disastrous:— Reports were constantly coming in of the depradations committed by two or three dacoit chiefs, who under the title of Royal Generals were ravaging the country, about fifty miles to the south east of Bassein. Captain Fytche accordingly resolved to disperse them, and started on the oth January, in the steamer " Nemesis." Captain Godwin, the commander of that vessel, however, found that the water in the creeks after leaving the Bassein River was too shallow to allow the steamer to proceed, ami some small pieces of artillery were accordingly placed in the boats. With the aid of the friendly Karens, who gathered in considerable numbers at the tidings of their approach, they reached the villages occupied by the banditti, and were received by a shower of balls, which, however, did little execution, and was answered by so terrific a lire of grape from the boats, that the enemy fled in all directions. The villages were immediately destroyed, and the district since has been profoundly quiet.

Captain Loch, of the " Winchester," having received permission to attack a notorious dacoit chief, quitted Donabew on the 3rd Feb., with a force of 145 seamen and marines, and 360 sepoys, of the 67th N. I. After passing the night in a deserted village, he advanced through a dense forest for about three hours, when a sharp turn of the road brought him in front of a wide and deep ravine, full of water, with a stockade on the further side. The Burmese, who were assembled in great force, had spiked the path with a sharp bamboo abattis, and it was found impossible to bring up the men so, as to present a front, from whence a heavy lire might be poured upon the enemy. As fast as the seamen and marines arrived they were swept down by a rolling fire from the tops of the trees, planks, and every available position. Captain Price, of the 67th N. 1., was struck down. ' Lieutenant Kennedy, E. N., of the "Fox," fell immediately after, but Capt. Loch seemed to bear a charmed life. He exposed himself with almost reckless daring, and was calling on his men to " try the bayonet," when a ball from a tree struck his watch, and carried the casing and works into his body. Feeling that his wound was mortal, he staggered a few paces to the rear, and when the force was com • pelled to retire, with the loss 67 seamen and marines, and 18 sepoys killed and wounded, he was carried in a dooly by his boat's crew to Donabew. The cause of the retreat is still unexplained, though the place appears to have been so strong that the unpleasant rumour which has crept abroad of serious differences between the military and naval officers in command, leading to positive derelictions of duty, seems scarcely necessary to account for it, and is, to us at least, utterly incredible. Captain Loch was carried on board the " Phlegethon," and in her to Rangoon, but the wound was mortal. He never lived to reach the " Winchester," but expired at two o'clock on the 6th Feb. Major Minchin and Commander Lambert are the military and naval officers in command above alluded to, and it is said that a court of inquiry will be held to investigate their conduct. Commander Lambert is a son of the gallant Commodore, who will, no doubt, be much chagrined at this occurrence.