INDIA.

Southland Times, Issue 1554, 22 March 1872, Page 3

INDIA.

ASSASSINATION OP LOBD MAYO. Calcutta, Feb. 17. A few days ago great excitement was occasioned throughout Ceylon and India by the assassination of the Earl of Mayo, the Viceroy of India. Lord Mayo, accompanied by Lady Mayo, the Marquis and Marchioness of Drogheda, Lord and Lady Donoughmore, with other guests and a suite of 30 persons, left Calcutta on a tour to Burmah and Orissa, on Jan. 24, in H.M.S. GHasgow, the admiral's flag ship, and the steamer Dacca. They arrived afc Eangoon on the 28th, and great rejoicings and ceremonials took place over the first visit of the Viceroy. They then visited Moulmein, and left there on the 6th, They arrived at the Andaman

I Islands on the Bth of February. During the afternoon the Viceroy inspected the convict settlement at Fort Blair, returning at 5 o'olock, and then went to visit Hope Town, where he was detained till dark. At 7 o'clock he was embarking in a sfeam launch for the Glasgow, when an assassio broke through the guards, and stabbed the Viceroy twice in the back, his weapon passing through the left lung and liver. Lord Mayo fell or jumped off the pier into the water. Being taken into the launch he said, " I am not much hurt," then, " Lift up my head," and expired before reaching the ship. Lady Mayo was waiting her husband's return for dinner on board the Glasgow, but received the corpse instead. The murderer was a ticket-of-leave man, a Mohammedan from the borders of Affghaaistan, called Shere Ali. The only reason he gives for the deed is that " God ordered him to kill the enemy of his country." On being sentenced to death, he appeared to be quite triumphant. The murderer had hidden himself in the unfinished part of the pier. Lines of convicts were stationed outside the guards, and held torches, which were overturned in the confusion. The assassin had been transported for murder previously. It is supposed that the deed is the result of political and religious fanaticism. The body of the Viceroy was conveyed to Calcutta by the Glasgow, and thence to Europe, by Lady Mayo's desire.