The latest news from the seat of war in Malaya
is still uncertain. As we understand the telegrams' froin the special correspondent of the Times and Sir W. Jervois, dated the 18th inst., General Colborne moved up the Perak river, and on *December 13 occupied' Blanja, where Sultan Ismail was, without oppo- sition. The General then, hearing that the Sultan and the insurgents were at Kinta, some miles farther -on, pursued them, but was stopped either from want of provisions or by resistance—Dr. Randalls, for example, 'being shot—and fell back on Blanja, "to await provisions and reinforcements." According to a Chinese rumeur, Kinta had fallen subsequently, but this is not confirmed yet,'-and the Malays are evidently playing the game of incessant retreat. They are not numerous, and they cannot stand rockets at all, but they are protected by the nature of their country. It appears, from a most spirited narrative of the first expeditions, published in Tuesday's Times, that in the attack in which Lieutenant Innes fell, the Europeans actually advanced on the stockade without cannon, in Indian file, and of course were shot down as they came up. We regret to notice that the Europeans burn the villages they pass through. War is war, and must sometimes be barbarous; but it is folly to drive peasants who want to be quiet into the enemy's ranks. The quickest way to sow distrust among Asiatic opponents is to pet everybody who surrenders at once.
