Prices of European Goods in the East..... Indian Securities and Exchanges .................... THE ASIATIC JOURNAL. SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, REVIEW OF EASTERN NEWS. No. XLV. THIS month's mail brings advices to the following dates:-Calcutta, July 8th; Madras, July 10th; Bombay, July 20th; Macao, May 20th. The intelligence from China, which has been expected with so much solicitude, adds but little to that which was communicated in our June Journal. The Emperor still breathes defiance and war; his edicts express grief, mortification, and implacable rage-the emotions of a despot, whose power mainly rests upon a conviction of his invincibility residing in the breasts of his subjects, and who finds himself foiled by a nation whom he and his officers have affected to treat with contempt. The unhappy Keshen, whose able report affords a strong testimony in favour of his talents and judgment, is condemned to the terrible fate of being sawn asunder, because he could not accomplish impossibilities; his innocent connections are involved in his doom; the local officers are to undergo various forms of degradation; and so inflexible is the imperial resolution, that the words "make peace" are not even to be uttered. The Emperor's brother is commanded to march with 50,000 men to exterminate the foreigners, and the Emperor has announced his intention to put himself at the head of another army, if it should be necessary, and root the barbarians out of their dens in India and England! If these threats really mean any thing; if the court of Peking meditate the raising into motion by the lever of its despotic will the whole military resources of the empire, we should look with some degree of apprehension to the result. But vapouring and gasconade form part of the policy of the Chinese government; and there is little doubt that a firm, but temperate and placable, disposition on the part of our new plenipotentiary, backed by an increased force in the Chinese waters, would infuse a different spirit into the court. To cure the evils created by a long course of wretched mismanagement, must be a work of time. It is a remarkable trait in a government so despotic as the Chinese, that it should permit the publication of a document which reveals so clearly the weakness of the empire not only to the people but to the enemy, as the report Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.36.No.141. B of Keshen. Whether this openness be a mark of the confidence which the Emperor reposes in his "children," or is intended to rouse their sleeping energies, it would appear to have produced the latter effect at the capital, where young men of good family are said to be pressing for admission into the army. The local authorities at Canton have permitted the temporary re-opening of the trade, and a large quantity of tea is on its way hither. The trade, however, is carried on very disadvantageously on our part; the cargoes of British manufactures, which are offered for sale or barter at heavy sacrifices, are refused, dollars alone being accepted in payment; the prices of tea are raised, and the old exorbitant duties are still exacted, to supply the means of future resistance. The latest advices state that the Chinese were persisting in the erection of the fort near Canton, which it was thought likely we should very speedily have occasion to demolish; the Mandarins were becoming more and more insolent, as their troops continued to muster in enormous numbers around them; the restitution of Hong Kong had been demanded by them; the people were leaving Canton in great numbers; the shroffs and wealthier inhabitants had fled, or were flying rapidly, and that Captain Elliot had gone up the river on the 18th in the steamer Nemesis, and additional ships of war were following. Sir Henry Pottinger and Sir William Parker left Bombay for China on the 18th of July, and have ere this reached the scene of operations, where, besides the other force, six formidable war steamers, or "wheeled fire-ships," would be collected, and six more were to follow from Bombay. In Affghanistan, no event had occurred of any importance, except an engagement between a detachment of our native troops and a large body of Ghilzies, resulting in a victory. This occurrence, of which we have given full details, appears from all accounts to have been a kind of contre-temps, not unlike the affair with the Murrees. Major Lynch, the political agent, mistook a party of Ghilzies, in a fort, belonging to a friendly chief, for foes, and exterminated them; the tribe was exasperated, and although their attempt to surprise Col. Wymer's force was happily frustrated, the feud will not, perhaps, be composed without difficulty. These embarrassing accidents cannot always be avoided by the most prudent men, who have to guard against treachery in such a country as Affghanistan. Some benefits have resulted to British commerce already from our expedition across the Indus. Caravans are now moving into Affghanistan with British manufactures, on account of native merchants, and it appears from an account published by Mr. Torrens, of Calcutta, that the value of the export trade to Cabul, in British and Indian products, had increased in one year £330,000, with every prospect of a rapid further augmentation. Seinde and Beloochistan appear tolerably quiet; the heat was oppressive, and the sickness, according to the Bombay papers, appalling. Nusseer Khan still holds out, and whilst he remains aloof, it is difficult to adjust the affairs of Khelat. Some mystery seems still to overhang the proceedings of the Shah of Herat, especially with relation to Persia, with which power Kamran or his vizier seems bent upon forming some alliance repugnant to British interests. A statement has appeared in the Agra paper, in defence of Major Todd, which wears the appearance of authenticity. It is therein stated that, when Major Todd arrived at Herat, in July, 1839, a treaty was entered into, by which we allowed the Shah Rs. 25,000 per mensem, on certain conditions, one of which was, " that he should hold no intercourse with Persia without the knowledge and consent of the British envoy." Major Todd had paid but few of these monthly instalments, when he received from the British envoy at Erzeroom a letter addressed by the Herat Government to the King of Persia, offering to deliver up Herat to Mahmud Shah. This act of treachery was pardoned, but it was followed by others of a more serious nature. The fortifications, however, were completed, and Herat was rendered a place of considerable strength. As the fortifications advanced, the position of the envoy became daily less secure, and, at length, the Wuzeer became intolerable. He openly, and in defiance of the envoy, sent a mis sion to Meshed, the object of which he refused to communicate. Major Todd threatened to stop the monthly stipend if the minister would not explain the object of the mission. A few days after this, Yar Mahomed waited on the envoy, and said that Kamran was in debt to the amount of some lakhs of rupees, which it was necessary that Major Todd should pay; that the fortifications must be made stronger at our expence. Major Todd refused this, so long as Herat remained at the mercy of our enemies, and suggested that the admission of a British garrison would be the only security likely to be thought sufficient by our Government against the occupation of Herat by a Persian force. The minister told him he must then quit Herat, and after our envoy had for months submitted to every indignity short of personal violence, and not conceiving that the honour of his country would be raised by his waiting to be forcibly ejected from Herat, he quitted it, with the mission. The Punjab remains in stalu quo. The South Mahratta country and the Nizam's territories are the scene of incursions by bands of desperate Arabs or Rohillas, who appear to be in concert with some parties at Hyderabad. Amongst the items of intelligence from the presidencies, the minute of Lord Auckland on the subject of Native Education, and the documents respecting the inquiry into the Nufoosk affair, are worthy of attention. The first is an admirable paper, and displays much sound knowledge of the subject, which has been of late years so injudiciously dealt with. With respect to the report of the military Court of inquiry into the defeat of Major Clibborn at Nufoosk, without attempting to justify the report, which is evidently founded upon imperfect evidence and false conclusions, and censures individuals whose conduct was not a legitimate subject of inquiry, we think that, upon abstract grounds, the punishing of any of the officers who sat upon that Court for expressing their opinions, affords a dangerous precedent, and upon principle is unjust. A conversion outbreak has taken place at Madras. (4) THE SINDIBĀD NĀMAH. ANALYTICAL ACCOUNT of the sindIBAD NAMAH, OR BOOK OF sindibad, A PERSIAN MS. POEM IN THE LIBRARY OF THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY. (Continued from p. 181, vol. xxxv.) WHEN the eldest vizir had ended, all the others applauded him, and acknowledged the wisdom of his counsel. It was therefore agreed, that every morning one of their number should repair into the presence of the king, and relate tales illustrative of the craft and deceitfulness of women, in the hope that, when one week had thus passed, the fortunes of the prince would have become prosperous. The First Vizir comes before the King to intercede for the Prince. Accordingly, the first vizir, after having gone to the executioner and desired him to delay till further orders, waited upon his majesty, and after humble prostration, complimented him on his justice, but warned him of the cunning of women, and cautioned him to avoid precipitation. "The word," said he, "which has once escaped the lips-the arrow which has once left the bowhave ceased to be under your control. Perhaps you may one day repent your rashness, and grieve for what you have done, like the foolish man who slew his parrot without a crime." The king desired him to relate the story, and he began : The Story of the Confectioner, his Unchaste Wife, and the Parrot. There once lived in Egypt a confectioner, who had a very beautiful wife, and a parrot✶ that performed, as occasion required, the office of watchman, guard, policeman, bell, or spy, and flapped his wings did he but hear a fly buzzing about the sugar. This parrot was a great annoyance to the wife, always telling the suspicious husband what took place in his absence. One evening, before going out to visit a friend, the confectioner gave the parrot strict injunctions to watch all night, and desired his wife to make all fast, as he should not return till morning. No sooner had he left, than the woman went for her old lover, who returned with her, and they passed the night together in mirth and feasting, while the parrot observed all. In the morning, the lover departed, and the husband, returning, was informed by the parrot of what had taken place; upon which he hastened to his wife's apartment, and beat her soundly. She thought to herself, who could have informed against her, and asked a woman who was in her confidence whether it was she. The woman protested by what is hidden and what is open," that she had not betrayed her; but informed her that in the morning, upon his return, the husband stood some time before the cage, and listened to the talking of the parrot. When the wife heard this, she resolved to plot the destruction of the bird. Some days after, the husband was again invited to the house of a friend, where he was to pass the night. Before departing, he gave the parrot the same injunctions as before. His heart was free from care, for he had his spy at home. The wife and her confidante then planned how they might destroy the credit of the parrot with its master. For this purpose, they resolved to counterfeit a storm, which they effected by means of a hand-mill, placed over the *The Hebrew translator has borrowed the Italian name, pappagallo, which he writes most frequently , פפנאה once,פפינאה . פפיגאל and once † η δε δέλη μεγάλως ώμνυεν, κ.τ.λ. Syntipas. |