and there is no reason to apprehend consequences from it other than have attended those similar movements
against the misgoverned native territories which have been matters of course in our eastern empire for the
last three quarters of a century. From South Africa the most recent mail has not brought very favourable
tidings. The barbarians do not seem to have lost any strength, and Sir Harry Smith still stands on the
defensive. This kind of no news is very bad news, in the particular circumstances of the case; for mere
suspense puts every interest in the colony to hazard, and nothing can exceed the confusion, disaffection, and
distress, which everywhere prevail.

The following are the principal articles of intelligence
brought by the last Overland Mail:—The Punjaub
was tranquil; and the Governor-General had directed
the release of seventy-two political prisoners. Jewan
Singh, a noted Sikh officer in the British service, was
killed at Umritsir on the 10th June; cut down in the
guard-house, by an European soldier who was confined
there for absence from his regiment without leave.
Jwean Singh had kept his regiment faithful throughout
the late war and since the annexation of the Punjaub:
for this he had received triple pay, a sword, and a dress
of honour. He was popular with his soldiers, and had
not the murderer been instantly arrested, serious
consequences might have ensued. An attempt has been
made by the Bengal military authorities to put a stop
to the extravagance of our officers. Returns of expenses
have been demanded, with a view to drawing up a code
of mess-regulations for the Bengal army. The state
allowance to the temple of Juggernaut has been
suspended. An anti-missionary movement has begun in
Calcutta; and a great meeting of orthodox Hindoos has
been held for the purpose of lessening the severity of
the penance (wandering forty-eight years as an ascetic)
which loss of caste entails by way of expiation. This
has been done in favour of converts to Christianity who
desire to return to the faith of their fathers. The
derangement in the affairs of the Nizam has come to a
crisis. It is stated that orders from the Court of Directors
to the Governor-General have been received by the
Resident at Hyderabad in the Deccan, to take and keep
possession of certain parts of the Nizam's dominions
unless he repays at once the monies due to the Government
of India, amounting to upwards of eighty lacs of rupees,
with interest at six per cent. The districts of country
about to be absorbed are, it is said, all those on the
other side of the Kishna river, Bachore, and Neildroog,
besides Berar. The first will be under the
superintendence of Captain Bullock, and the last under Mr.
Deighton, who once managed the Warrungal districts.
A terrible accident occurred at Gooindpoore, on the
14th of June. Seventy prisoners, on the road to Hazarebang,
had been halted there and chained together in a
hut for the night; the hut accidentally took fire, and
only five are stated to have escaped with life.

According to the accounts from Hong Kong, the rebellion
in the southern provinces of China has assumed a
magnitude and complexion very alarming to the government.
It appears that 5000 picked veterans have been
hastily despatched from Canton towards the seat of
revolt; that new commanders of the greatest eminence
have been sent against the rebels; and that the Emperor
is pouring into the state treasury immense contributions
from his private wealth to hasten forward the great
military measures now in execution for the suppression
of the rebels. The Hong Kong papers describe the loss
of Her Majesty's screw-steamer Reynard, Captain
Cracroft. The Reynard left Hong-kong for England on
the 28th of May, with orders to go in the first instance
to the Prata Shoals, about a hundred and sixty miles
from Hong Kong, and assist her Majesty's brig Pilot in
rescuing a part of the crew of the wrecked merchant-
brig Velocipede. The Prata Shoals have been surveyed,
but no accurate knowledge has been obtained of the
strength and irregularity of the currents prevailing
there. During the night of the 30th of May, while the
greatest vigilance was exercised, and when, according to
all their different means of reckoning, it was supposed
that they were at least thirty miles from the point of
danger, the Reynard struck on the shoals. The sea was
smooth, the water deep, and nothing gave the slightest
indication of the proximity of danger. All endeavours
to get the vessel off failed; and the wind getting up,
with a heavy sea, the vessel soon became bilged and a
perfect wreck. Captain, officers, and crew, saved
nothing. They passed one night on a raft, and the
following day reached the island; and, with the crew of
the Velocipede, all got safely on board the Pilot, which
vessel also barely escaped being carried on to the shoals.
The Hong Kong papers also contain the story of three
sailors, Berries, Blake, and Hill, who had just arrived
at Shanghai, from the island of Formosa. The American
opium-clipper Antelope, on her passage to Shanghai,
was on the 1st of May lying nearly becalmed off the
south point of Formosa, when a boat was observed
rowing towards her from the shore with three men in it.
The captain, knowing the craft and ferocity of the
natives, fired a cannon-ball over their heads: but they
still came on; and when they had approached within
hail, they were heard to speak in the English language.
They were quickly got on board, and found to be
the survivors of the Larpent of Liverpool, which had
left her port for Shanghai on the 18th of May, 1850,
with a crew of thirty-one men, commanded by Mr.
Gilson. Mr. Bland, a passenger, had acted as third
mate. The rescued Englishmen gave a striking narrative
of their shipwreck and subsequent adventures.
The Larpent, they stated, sailed from Liverpool for
Shanghai on the 18th of May, 1850, with thirty-one
souls on board. On the night of September 12, she
struck on a rock; and at two on the following morning
it was necessary to abandon her. Captain Gilson, his
mate, and six men, got into the starboard quarter boat;
while the rest of the crew—twenty-three in all,
including the narrators—took to the launch. They
found themselves at daybreak close to shore, near a
place called Mat-faer, in the island of Formosa. Here
they landed, in order to obtain water and caulk the
launch; but the natives, coming down in great numbers,
plundered them of every movable, so that they were
compelled again to put to sea. The two boats then
separated. Captain Gilson's party gave out that they
should attempt to reach Hong Kong (a distance of more
than four hundred miles), and they were soon lost sight
of by the heavier-laden launch, which was once more
forced, owing to its constant leakage, to be hauled
ashore. The crew, of course, took care to land this
time at another point; but no sooner were they out of
the boat than they found themselves in the midst of a
murderous fire of matchlocks. The butchery was
frightful. Mr. Bland, a passenger, was the first to fall;
and eighteen others shared his fate. Hill and Blake
saved themselves by swimming under shelter of a coral
rock; Berries, and a man named Harrison found cover
under another; and from these hiding places the
wretched men saw their comrades massacred and
mangled one after another, all their heads being
subsequently hacked off and piled together on the beach.
The natives at last disappeared. Poor Harrison then
swam for a junk which was seen nearing the spot where
they were concealed; but he had scarcely reached it
before he was shot and beheaded. Blake and Hill
escaped by night to the mountains, fearful of showing
themselves: but after five days spent in the agonies of
hunger, Blake—who, as he subsequently declared,
began to be conscious of the insane yearnings of
cannibalism towards his companion—resolved on
discovering himself to some villagers who were working
in a field. Fortunately, the lives of himself and his
comrade were spared; but they were taken into servitude.
Berries subsequently joined them. They were
sold, at the end of five months, to a new master, and
they finally made their escape to the Antelope, after a
captivity of seven months and sixteen days. What
became of Captain Gilson and his party is unknown;
but Blake and Hill heard, while in Formosa, that two