The Indian mail conveys some news and more rumours. The
news is, that in India the position of affairs remained, on the sur- face at least, almost unchanged ; and that in China there had been more fighting—if the word " fighting " may be so misapplied— betwixt the British marauders and the poor people of the country, who were as pertinacious as ever in braving useless and certain death from English bayonets. The chief rumours are three : first, an on dit that the Celestial Government had offered 40,000,000 dollars as "ransom," apparently in quittance of all demands,— but that rumour has not a shadow of authority : second, a report that Sir WILLIAM M`NAGHTEN contemplated some " act of treachery" towards the Afghans when he fell by their treachery,— a rumour which as yet looks like nothing better than an unfounded calumny : third, an assertion that Lord ELLENDOROUGH had re- called all the troops within the Indus. There is some ground for the last rumour, but as yet quite insufficient to rebut the contra- dictory explanation, that Lord ELLENBOROUGH had recalled only the Jellalabad force, and that the Commander-in-chief mistook the order as one extending to the whole of the forces in the North-west Provinces. The explanation again is denied: it is said that the blunder imputed to Sir JASPER NICHOLLS was incredible ; that the order for withdrawal was only temporarily concealed; and that preparations were making which prove that something of the kind 'was in contemplation. There is no solution to the puzzle, and so we are left to speculate. It is generally admitted that our troops must be withdrawn some day ; but that it should not be done until we have realized some success, retrieved our high name, the "honour of our arms," "moral influence," and so forth. What that success is to be, has never yet been precisely defined : it is a "faithless phantom," the way to which " seems lengthening as we go." Does Lord ELLENBOROUGH jump to the conclusion, that if 4he thing to be done at last were well done, it were well done soon—at once ? Or do gossips jump to conclusions in mere gaping wonderment because they do not really know any thing about the matter ?
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