The last intelligence from the " far East" is not
very decisive : it indicates a hereafter, leaving our actual position in considerable obscurity.
In Afghanistan, a victory over Host Monammeo in the North is announced to counterbalance the retreat of Major Cut:noose in the South, The rumours of the existence of a hostile (11,qmosition towards the British among the Sikhs gains ground ; as:i coosi- derable uncertainty prevails regarding the ultimate destioation of a strong reirdbrcement of troops ordered to coma.ntrate on the Indus. Some report it as directed against Beloochistan, others as directed against the Punjaub.
The despatches from China bring intelligence of an almost blood- less victory in the North, and at most anomalous " block:ale" of the Canton river. We are told that " the inner passage to Can- ton, which had been exonerated from the blockade, was still open ; but the Chinese would not allow manufactured goods to go up, or tea or silk to come down." Is the British fleet blockading Canton, or is Governor LIN blockading the British fleet ? Ting-hae, the principal town of the island of Chusan, has been occupied by the English invaders. The resistance offered was very slight, and the inhabitants abandoned the place. It is well they withdrew, for there ensued a Very discreditable amount of intoxication among the troops. The Forty-ninth Regiment was reimbarked on too count of the number of drunk men ; there have been several courts- martial ; six or seven sergeants have been reduced, and several men tried and flogged. In an order of the day issued by the commanding-officer, the neglect of the officers in not enforcing drills is mentioned as one cause of the relaxed state of discipline.
We observe that Mr. GnTzLAvr is mentioned as having been ap- pointed temporary Chief' Magistrate of Ting-hae. It would alp. pear front this, that while the Missionaries of the South Pacific feather their nests by "land-sharking," those in the North Pacific find it quite consistent to combine with their Missionary duties the receipt of official emoluments. This reminds us of a passage %shish the curious reader will find at the 151st page of Mr. Gurzr.arr's Voyages along the coast of China—" In the merciful providence of our God and Saviour, it may confidently be hoped that the dour to China will be thrown open. By whom this is done, or ill ?chat way, is of very little importance." Truly, our zealous ndssian- ary seems to have few scruples as to the way in which the door is opened, when he avails himself of its being blown open by the broadsides of men-of-war, for the purpose of pre- venting opium being shut out. In the book to which we have alluded, Mr. GrTzgsAFg is eminently edifying in his deprecations of the secular spirit which induced the Jesuit missionaries to con- ciliate the Chinese authorities by bestowing too much of their time upon the diffusion of mathematical knowledge : now we may be wrung, but it does appear to us that teaching mathematics is not much more derogatory to the missionary character than taking an official part in forcing the Chinese to renew the opium-trade. The Admiral had sailed to the Northward after the taking of Ting- hae: his destination was understood to be the Pekoe river—or, as the geographer of the Globe expresses it, " Pee-tchelee, in the vicinity of Pekin," which is nearly equivalent to "Middlesex in the neighbourhood of London."
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