INDIA. (From late India Papers)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume V, Issue 258, 18 December 1849, Page 4

INDIA. (From late India Papers )

At Barrackpore, Lieut. R. B. Norton, of the 35fch Bengal N.L.1., was tried by a court-martial, and convicted of having quitted his post without leave when on duty, and severely reprimanded by Sir C, Napier. The cholera, which had in a great measure subsided, has again broken out in Bombay. Whilst at Ahmednuggur, the bishop was attacked, but at the date of the last account his lordship was convalescent. The resignation of Sir Willbughby Cotton had been accepted both at the India House and Horse Guards, with an expression of regret that he considered it his duty to retire. He was desired to remain in India until the arrival of his successor. Sir Wilfcughby purposes leaving in November, and will carry with him the cordial good wishes of the army. Lord Frederick FitzClarence, G.C.H,, has been named as a party likely to succeed Sir Willoughby Cotton in the office of Commander -in-Chief at Bombay. His lordship is a junior Major-General, but if appointed to Bombay, would of course receive local rank as a LieutenantGeneral, which would place him above Major- General Auchmuty, and the other senior Queen's officers now in India. He is a brother of Viscountess Fakland. Sir C. Napier leaves fof England in March, and Sir William Gomm is staying at Calcutta, so as to be ready to step into Sir Charles's shoes as soon as Sir Charles steps out of them. Preparations are being made for granting six months' gratuity to the troops who have served at Moultan, and in tho Pun. jaub. Lieutenant - Colonel Havelock has been suffering so much from sickness lately, that his medical advisers have pronounced an immediate return to Europe absolutely necessary. Colonel Havelock has been engaged in almost every campaign in India, and is the reputed writer of the excellent j despatches which bore the autograph of the unfortunate Sale. The export duties at Calcutta are to be abolished. Cunningham has been dismissed the service for publishing, in a work recently issued, certain official documents, from which it appears that the numbers of ' the Sikhs opposed to the British force were immensely exaggerated, and that in reality the Sikh army was scarcely equal in numerical force to the British ; that the great battle of Sobraon was fought under circumstances of the most shameful treachery on the part of the Sikh leaders, who were in league with the British General for the destruction of the Sikh army ; and that, at a critical moment, the tractor Tej Singh, instead of leading fresh men to sustain the troops, fled on the first assault, destroying a bqat in the middle of the bridge, thus cutting off their retreat, and compelling- them to swim the river, where thousands' were drowned, or slaughtered by the grape of British, artillery, which fell like a hail shower upon them. A letter from the Doab mentions the

death by cholera of Dajee Kristna, dewan of Kolapore, who enjoyed the unenviable credit of having caused the late Kolapore rebellion. Dajee Kristna f s brother, it is said, will succeed him as dewan. Lord Ellenborough has written ,to an officer in India stating that the army may rest assured that they will have cither batta or booty. Several French Vice - Consulates are about to be established in India. The pretender to the throne of Najpore, Aopah Saheb, has been conveyed to Hyderabad, and handed over to the Nazam. The Bengal " Hurkaru" states that General Guy on, one of the leaders in the 1 glorious Hungarian struggle for liberty, is the youngest brother of Major 11, J. Guyon, 31st N. 1., now Commandant of the Ramgush Light Infantry. A seam of coal has been discovered at a place about 25 miles from the Ganges, and a geologist who has examined the locality declares that coal exists within two miles of that river. The Governor General has completely recovered from his indisposition. Major Dennis, who had been employed to dislodge a body of fanatical ruffians, known as Moplahs, who had fortified themselves in a pa.goda, had completely succeeded, The number of robbers amounted to 61, of whom 60 were killed in the conflict. The hill tribes in the neighbourhood of Peshawur have of late evinced an inclination to be troublesome, and it has been necessary to . decapitate a few robbers in order to deter others. A force of 1000 Punjabees, horse and foot, is to be raised at Lahore for police purposes, to be commanded by a commissioned officer. Lieut. Strachey, of the Tibet Mission, has penetrated, under disguise, from Ladakh, through the Chinese territories, to Niti, in Gurhwal. He was accompanied throughout his journey by a single Booteea only, which " ineffably filthy" race never wash from birth to death, though living amongst the crystal fountains of India and China. Some short time since a petty Scinde chief, the Jam of the Jokeahs, was seized, deprived of his sword, thrown into gaol, and treated in every respect as a common felon, This chief has been presented with a new sword as a compensation for hi 3 undeserved suffering, and a mark of the oontinued friendship of the British authorities ! The Jam is a man who never forgives an injury, and he would perhaps feel happy were Government to visit those who treated him so ill with some token of its grave displeasure. It is our painful duty to announce the awful visitation in Siam of that frightful j scourge cholera, which in the course of a few days carried off thirty thousand of the population within an estimated radius of 25 or 30 miles, and within a period of three weeks. The brave General Chan Khun ! Bodin has fallen a victim ; and it is reported the Phraklang, or prime minister, has also been carried off by the disease.