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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1006, Untitled Article

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      1006 »¦ ' ¦ ¦¦ THE LEADEB . [ No .. 4 , 93 . ¦' Sept . 3 / 1859 .

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      old native army in 1857 , the wildest enthusiast in the cause of Pandyisnt would never surely for a moment advocate the holding Our frontier -with a native army . We require a strong European force , for so long as the Indus remains unbridged , or untunnelled , it would be most imprudent to leave a small European garrison to hold Peshawur— -where it would be quite isolated from its supports , liven the present fine European force is still deficient in one most essential arm , European cavalry , for without cavalry artillery Is inefficient , and we have no European cavalry in Peshawur . The present European force , consisting of one troop and two batteries of artillery ( eighteen guns ) , and two corps of European infantry ( a third feeing now stationed at Nbwshaira ) , requires only the addition of a corps of European cavalry to render It complete in every respect and equal to every emergency . _

      If , then , it be admitted that a large European force must , for the present , > at least , be maintained at Peshawur , it surely becomes an object of the greatest importance to keep them as healthy and effective as possible . To effect this most desirable end three things are chiefly requisite , namely , a larger amount of barrack accommodation , to prevent crowding , which-. is one great cause of sickness ; a greater attention to sanitary arrangements , which ¦ would beneficially affect the health of the whole force ; and the establishment of a sanatarium at an easy distance from Peshawur , and beyond the influence of the autumnal fever , where the sick men of the force might be sent for change of air , as the Peshawur fever , though very weakening and prostrating in its effects , yields readily to a timely tehange of climate .

      The barrack accommodation at Peshawur has been inuch improved of late years , and fine pucka bar-Tacks have been substituted for the mud hovels of yore . But ever since the outbreak the works have Tjeen at a dead standstill , while more than a dozen barracks which only require roofing are , with a mistaken and false economy , left unfinished . And as "both the European corps are now at their full strength the men are much crowded , and increased sicknesses the result . Lakhs of rupees have been spent on these unfinished buildings , and now , when a lakh more perhaps would finish the whole of them , the work is stopped , and the Europeans sicken and die for want of them . '

      Some improvements have lately been made in the sanitary arrangements , but much still remains to be done . The unchecked irrigation which is allowed in the cantonment itself . is one great cause of sickness , and it is strange that when the sanitary committee , some years ago , recommended that no crops should Jje irrigated within one mile of the cantonment , they omitted to notice the daily irrigation , carried on under their noses . So long as the canal which passes through the cantonment exists in its present state , there will be no preventing this , as each gardener can now flood his master ' s garden from the stream as often as ho pleases , the supply of water being unlimited . Sixty public wells , the average cost of ¦ whioh would certainly not exceed Rs . 2 , 500 each , or

      Us . 150 , 000 for the whole , would be ample for the cantonment , and would give about five wells to every nativo , and ten to every European corps . As regards a sanitarium for the European troops , a site was some five years ago proposed by Major Coke , then Deputy Commissioner of Kohat , and liighly approved of by General , then Brigadier , Cotton , commanding , and several engineers and me dicul officers . It is situated in the Khuttuk Hills , at a place called Chirat , and is in every respect admirably adapted to the purpose . The hill chosen is near the Meor Katan pass , and is from 4 , 000 to 5 , 000 dfeot above the level of the sea ; it is well beyond the influence of the autumnal fever , while it is also free from : the heavy rains which prevail in hill stations at greater altitudes . The proposed sito is only twenty-eight miles from Peshawur , and could , therefore ; be easily reached in one night by tho invalids requiring change of airland when they had sufficiently benofltted by their stay

      they could in one night return to their duty . The whole of tho road , to it , and the proposed sanitarium itself , lies in our territory , the nearest tribe of Afreedios boing eight or ten miles distant . But those men are in a groat measure dependent for their livelihood on their trade in firewood , charcoal , and lime with the cantonment and city of Peshawur , and a stoppage of this trade ia tho severest punishment which can befall them . This sanitarium once established , tho groat objection to Peshawur as a cantonment for European troops would bo at once romoved , and the contemplated abandonment of tho cantonment , which has already cost Government some fifty lakhs of rupees , or half n million of money , need be contemplated no longer . At'gomo future dato , whon tho Indus shall have ween spanned and a railway constructed to Poshawur , * * W ^ do ni « Wbo looatod south of tho Indus , but i ? ot till then . In the present state of affairs it would mover do to code Poshawur to tho Dost , who -miaht

      betray us to the Russians , while the people of the valley , who only like us for the money spent among them , and prefer our rule only slightly to the Sikh tyranny which precededit , would gladly join anynew comer against us Affghans , or the Russians , or both ; our only safety is in holding the passes . — Friend of India .

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      LATEST INDIAN INTELLIGENCE By the arrival of the overland mail , we have received letters and papers from Calcutta to the 18 th July . The heavy gales and bad weather lately experienced in the Indian seas have been productive of many and serious losses . The weather on shore has been fearfully hot , and great sickness prevails . The community have been put to much inconvenience and suffered much anxiety by the very numerous accidents and breaks down which have occurred to the Peninsula and Oriental ships of late .

      Of the remnant of the rebels there is nothing worth reporting . The King of Oude has been released from his captivity in Fort William ; the announcement made to him officially ( says the Englishman ) appears to have been composed after the manner of Louis Napoleon ' s jerky proclamations . The discharge of the local European troops and their shipment to Europe forms the burden of the news ; Certainly not fewer than 10 , 000 men will avail themselves of this unexpected opportunity of returning to England at the Government expense . this matter

      Lord Canning , it is said , acted in entirely on his own judgment , and contrary to the advice of the Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of the Staff * . The story of the Berhampore mutiny has yet to be told , if , at least , there be any story to tell . The details previously received are now discovered to have been " a weak invention . " Nothing can be ascertained as to " Colonel" Marshall , alias " the Editor ;;" and , of course , the history of his firmness in maintaining discipline , and of his desire to flog his " major , " fall at once to the ground . It was a pretty tale , and we are sorry to learn that it was not true .

      The Madras Athencewn of 24 th July says : — " During the past fortnight several important matters have been disposed of by the Madras Government . Foremost among these must be noted the rules that have been drawn up by the Inam Commissioner , Mr . G . N . Taylor , for regulating the mode in which the inquiry is to be conducted . The investigation is to be carried on by some of the recently appointed deputy collectors , who are to be carefully selected for the purpose . They will go from village to village , and carry on the inquiry in the presence of the Inamdars and of the village authorities . They will not , however , commence operations in any village until if has been

      reported to them that all the information which . be collected from the Inamdars and other parties respecting the number of the Inams , the nature of the tenure on which they are held , the present holders and so forth , has been collected . An invitation will then be sent to the Inamdars , calling on them to be in attendance on an appointed day with their title deeds and so on . All these preliminary steps having been taken , the deputy collector will then proceed to the village , inquire into the authenticity of the sunnud or grant , and clear up any discrepancies between the district records with which he will have been furnished by the collector , and the statements prepared before his arrival . "

      There have been two grain riots m the South , one at Quilon , and the other at Cochin , sepoys of the 45 th M . N . I . being concerned on both occasions . The riot at Cochin appears to have been a trifling affair , so far as plundering was concerned , but it created great excitement among tho native population for several days . The English Mussulman , tho Hon . Mr . Stanley , son of Lord Stanley of Alderloy , has reached Penang , we learn from tho Singapore Daily Times ofthe 2 ? th ult . He arrived there as a deck passenger . He has assumed the name pf Shaik Morad ; he wears the Arab dress , with fez cap , and is stated to bo about twenty-eight years of age . . He is living in Chuliah-streot , with an Arab named Shaik Salira Bongadie , and carefully avoids all intercourse with the Europeans . He had visited tho Rajah of Peralc ,

      and pn tho 20 th June ho proceeded to Quedah , and will remain there with tho Rajah for a week . Mr . Shaik Morad had not determined whether ho would come on to Singapore or return to Mecca . The Calcutta Chamber of Commerce have drawn up a petition to the House of Commons , to bo signed by tho inhabitants of Calcutta , on tho state of the flnancce , and tho position of Europeans generally in India . Tho petition asks for tho closing of all Indian loans , a guarantee for tho Indian dobt , tho appointment of a commission to inquire into financial reform and retrenchment , into tho dovolopomont of tho resources of tho country , into tho extension of a freehold tenure , tho improvement of tho fiscal system , the now tarin" and taxation , into tho prosent' legislative council and tho admission of

      outsiders as in Ceylon , and the question of centrali - sation . The Bombay mail arrived on Wednesday ,. but brought little intelligence of importance . The statue of the late Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy was formally opened for public vifew in the Town Hall , on the 1 st inst ., by the committee of the statue fund ' in the presence of SirCursetjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy ' Bart ., and his brothers , Messrs . Rustomjee and Sorabjee Jamsetjee . The Hon . Messrs . Malet find Frere , and almost all the members of the committee . - European and natives , were present . A correspondent writing from CaWnpore to the Englishman says that hundreds of the men will change their minds and withdraw their names from the discharge list , if allowed to do so . From the Punjaub journals we also learn that there is every probability of a number of , men changing their minds and remaining in the service .

      Lady Arnould , wife of the Puisne Justice of her Majesty ' s Supreme Court of Judicature , died on Saturday , the 23 rd July . We cannot refrain ( says the Bombay Timed ') from noticing prominently the untiring services of the gallant young soldier to whom we mainly , owe the restoration of quiet in these districts . If report speak truly * Lieutenant Roome ought long since to have been decorated with the "Victoria Cross . We believe it is the fact that at the siege of Jhansi this young soldier followed , single-handed , four sepoys

      into a dark house in one of the streets of the city , slaying two . of them with his own hand , and was indebted for his deliverance from the others only to the opportune arrival of the sergeant-major of the , regiment . Lieutenant Roome served with the Osmanlee cavalry of the Turkish contingent during the Crimean war . Amongst the services which have shed so much lustre upon the 1 . 0 th Eegiment of Native Infantry jn the last eighteen months , the name of Lieutenant Roome is perhaps conspicuous for the . foremost , and Government will not , we arc persuaded , lose sight of them .

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      A JDESTKircTivE Gale . —The gale in the Bay oi Bengal during the third week in June was one oi the most disastrous on record . The Calcutta papers are filled with accounts of the loss and damage to shipping . The steamers Fire Queen and Baltic had to put intoports on the coast , the General Godwin , Tubal Cain , Bushire Merchant , and Sardinian ship Luciana Manara , W . Thomas Lewis , and Moses Wheeler , were much injured . The Blenheim , laden with rice ,, from Akyab to London , foundered on the 17 th June , sixty miles west of the island of Karnree ; fourteen men were lost . The Lady Rawlinson , with teak from Rangoon to Calcutta , capsized ninety miles south-west of the Rangoon light-ship ; twenty-two men who put off in . a boat have not since beeu heard of , but tho others were saved . The gale lasted from the 12 th to the 17 th June .

      St . Cecilia in Calcutta . —The performance of Mendelssohn ' s oratorio of " St . Paul'' by the Sacred Harmonic Society in the Calcutta town hall on Friday evening , the 8 th July , seems to have been a success . The amateurs have improved since their first appearance , The hall was crowded . Tho applause given , and the arrangements ibr the supply of refreshments , however , do not seem to have been in keeping with the performance of sacred music . , Fkakoe in the East . —In tho Kreuz Zeitwuj

      ( says a letter from Berlin ) , thore is a very interesting article on a letter addressed by Leibnitz , newly 200 years ago , to Louis Quatorze of Franco . Uho Grand Sovereign had applied to the great philosopher for advice on the subject of his war with Holland . Not less statesman than scholar , that Aristotle of Germany at once recommended the French King to conquor thoDutchmonin Egypt . " Tho possession of that country , " ho said , " was suro to invest the French monarch with the dominion of tho i ' - ^ st . Tho crown of India , ho added , was " nothing but an appendage to that of tho Pharaohs . Tho latter once well the

      secured , the whole South of Asia , as ns Mediterranean , could no longer oscapo tho grusp ol tho fortunato Louis . " In quoting those Avoids , and enlarging upon them , tho Kreuz Zeitwuj cannot out think that the natural conditions of power in those regions remain tho same up to tho present time . Let England bo substituted for Holland , and Louis Napoleon , for Louis Quatorzo , and tho problem a second time stands ready for solution . That tius question is of real importanco to Groat Britain is tho general opinion of all well-informed politicians here

      . Dr . S . W . Williams , of China , estimates the population of tho Japanese city of Yodo at two ana a half millions , and Foltfn at tbo same . Thus wndon , Pokin , and Yodo aro tho most populous cities in tho world . To a Japanese Yodo seems tho contra of ovory thing that is dosirajblo . It is to him moro than Paris is to a Frenchman . Tho population oi the whole of Japan is reckoned at from eighteen to twenty millions .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1859, page 1006, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2310/page/10/