The Indian mail brings news of some little border provocations
in the North, and of a minor glory in the waters of Cochin China. The Silch.s cannot leave off plotting, and a " foreign " potentate in the Trimalnyeh mountains has seized upon two stray naturalists ; an outrage for which he is threatened with "annexation." The summary destruction of the vast piratical fleet under Shapng-tsai, on the coast of Tonquin, not only confers renown upon the Eng- lish leader, Commander Hay, but also " may serve as a useful me-- morandum to the people of the whole Malayan region, as to the overwhelming power of the British,—saving us trouble, and them- selves waste of blood and treasure. The exploit is the more satis- factory that it does not seem likely, to give umbrage in: the who of its achievement : the people of the place had suffered from the pirates ; and the active help of a Mandarin attests if not the sin- cere at least the formal alliance of the Chinese.
