India.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 376, 21 November 1849, Page 3

India.

By the late arnvals we have intelligence from India to the 21st of May, being three weeks later than that of which we were previously in possession, by the oveiland English mail- Although not so exciting as the news which we looked for during the continuance of the Sikh war, it is by no means devoid of interest. Sir Charles Napier, had auived at Calcutta on the 6th of Ma) . A writer on the spot says — " As befitted ' the brother of the Evil One,' he came amongst us heralded by a squall and a whiilwind, and the thunder from the saluting battery was answered by the growling fiom above." Next day, he was sworn in, and assumed the reins of command as head of the Indian army, and took his seat as Extraordinary Member of the Council. He immediately issued a general order, giving various official diiections, one of which was that the honours hitheito paid to Lord Gouoit should " be continued to that distinguished nobleman by those armies at whose head he has gained so many victojies." Sir Ciiari.es intended to pioceed without delay to join the army in the North. The incident of leading interest, however, was the lomantic flight from captivity of the Queen Mornru of Lahore,— the Ranee Chunda Koonwur, mother of Duulleep Singh, late Maharajah of the Punjaub. This remarkable woman, equally celebrated for her beauty and her piofligacy, escaped fiom the fortress of Chunar. on the lSih of April, by assuming the disguise of a person known as the " Seenawallee," the Avife of one of the male attendants, who, living out of the prison, was allowed ingress and egress. A slave-girl, protected by the purdah that scieens an Ouental lady fiom the gaze of man, personated her mistress during repeated conferences with the officer in charge, accounting by the pretence of a cold for the change of voice which he noticed. The royal fugitive having eluded her keepers, assumed the costume and character of a holy man or pilgiim, — a part not easy for any impostor, especially a female, to sustain : as the Bombay Times significantly observes, " that the Light of the Harem should for such a length of time have successfully enacted the character of Stiinl, seems the strangest of all her transformations." In this disguise she travelled, for ttnee weeks 300 miles, thiough the most populous part of Bengal, aud while all wore speculating whither she had gmie, die mode her appearance in Nepaul,on the 27lh< and applied to that Com t for " leave to find a home amongst the hills, piefeumg a life of fieedom even in that bleak count; y lo a. splendid ptisun in a moie congenial clime." It 13 said, however, that in compliance with a demand of the Butish Resident, the Com I of Ncpaul had surrendered her ; and that she Avas to be escoited back to her prison by a detachment of Irregular CaA, ah y. Doubtless many a legend and many a song will perpetuate a tale having so much to attract the wonder -loving Orientals as this romantic chapter in the romantic history of the f.ir-famed beauty of Runjcet's harem. Inquiries respecting the parties supposed to be implicated m her. escape were in progress, and — it is thought on account of some evidence that he was engaged in it — the allowance to Her llighness's former pai amour, Lai l Singh, the ex- Minister, had been "stopped till fuithei 1 oideis." The Punjaub wore, externally at least, an aspect of complete tranquillity. TiiQl\lofuss>lit c says of the hJikh soldiers, «• They had little personal connection with the Chiefs, and had they been despciate men they might have continued a veiy harassing contest. But no, — they are no dcspeiadoes, — they are comfortable people, accustomed to aoive Runjli;t Singh on daily rations and monthly pay. They have wnes and children aud lands and cattle at

home, and they have no taste for starving in the desert in the Ogte-like hope of one day drinking the blood of a Fennghee, Hence their leadiness to lay down th civ aims at the suggestion of their officeis. They have abundance of pluck and courage — hut it is a calculating courage — and deprived of a nucleus you will never hear mole of them." The final determination lcspecting the permanent government of the Pnnjaub was not yet known ; but the opinion prevailed that it would be united to the North-West Piovince as a fouith Presidency, rather than placed under the same management as Scinde. A rebellion had broken out in the INizvm's dominions; — Appa Sum;, apretender t'> f'v. 1 throne of Nagpoie, having taken the field ai the head of some 600 Rohillas. On the ."Oth of April a battle was fought m which the insurgents were defeated, but just at the clo.se of the contest, Brigadier Onslow, who commanded the Nrzvw's tioops, fell down a precipice in consequence of his horse having .slipped, and was killed on the spot. Another engagement took place on the Glh of May. ii \luch the Ilohillas — although '• they fought like hull-dogs, and wi'h all the despewiUon of doomed men" — were again defeated with gieat loss, and the PREri'Nncn himself wai wounded and taken prisoner. The European oiliceis and men behaved bulliantly in this affair; but Brigadier Hampton, Majoi LysujlU', and Captain Yatd wcie dangtiously wounded. The rebellion may, ho\ve\er, be lc^aided as extinguished. An event of quiet but deep interest was the opening (at Calcutta, on the 7lh of May) of a School for Hindoo giils of the middle and higher ranks, which had been originated by the Hon. Mr. Bethuni:, — not, hoivewi, in hrs official capacity asamembei of the Government, or as Piesidont of the Council of Education, but as a private individual, acting ia conceit with some public-spiiitcd and intelligent native gentlemen. The school w r as commenced with 28 pupils of fro-n six to nine yeais of age, under the supeuntendence of an English lady, who will be assisted by a Pundit, as of necessity the'instmction given will be chie/ly in the Bengali tongue. The instruction will, however, be confined to secular subjects. The Press geneially is loud in its approbation of the undeitaking, which is expected by many to effect more for the diffusion of really valuable education amongst the native community, than aIJ pievious efforts put together have accomplished.

The official accounts had beci received from China of the refusal of the Chinese Government to fufill the article of the tieaty of 1817, which stipulated that, now the 6th of April, 1849," the city of Canton shall be opened to British subjects ;" and of Mr. Boniiuis determination (in accoi dance with orders from home) not to insist immediately ou the right. The subject was mooted in the House of Commons on the 2nd July by Mr. Baillus ; when Lord Palmerston stated that <s it was tiue that by existing treaties with China, JSntteh subjects were allowed the right to enter the city of Canton from and after the Gth of April last ; and, also, that the Chinese Government had demurled to the allowance of that piivilege on the ground of the jealousy and prejudice of the lower orders in Canton. Her Majesty's Government had not yielded the right ; but they thought it wiser and more consistent with the inteiests of the country to abstain for the moment from enfoicing it."

Fiuk -wonics in Tin: Streets. — We have ben reques'ed to oil the iitl j nlion of the Author.tics to the dangerous practice of bojs amusing themselves by setting off fiiesvoiks iv oar streets— which, indeed, we had ourclvis p'cviously obaeived. In a town Luilt tf wood, as> bo mucli of this is, it calls for especial notice and strin'tiil ispiesMOH.