9 FEBRUARY 1867, Page 2

The figures of the great Orissa disaster are at last

becoming clear. The Government of Bengal, in a despatch intended to explain its conduct and defend its inaction, admits that one- fifth of the population has perished, or about 681,000 persons, and according to the Calcutta correspondent of the Times, Mr. Ravenshaw the Commissioner of the province estimates the deaths at more than a million. This is exclusive of the losses in the Hill districts, in CT'anjam, and in some districts of Bengal; but we will accept the official admission, and it is equivalent too this, —the entire population of Wales has perished slowly of hunger, under a British Government levying a revenue of 45,000,000/. a year.