20th.-On Wednesday the 19th, soon after twelve o'clock, the Earl of Chatham left his house, in Hill street, to proceed to take the command of the expedition. The noble earl proceeded to the Ordnance Of fice, and transacted business, and then went on to Downing street, and transacted business at Lord Castlereagh's office; afterwards with Mr Canning, at his office; and about four o'clock left London for Rochester. His lordship was to dine at the Crown Inn, and to sleep at Sittingbourne; and the noble earl will this day meet Lord Castlereagh at Ramsgate, previous to his embarkation to take upon him the command of the expedition.

IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE OF A MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CIVIL AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS AT MADRAS.-It is our afflicting duty to record the details of a serious misunderstanding in India, which at any period would have excited alarm, and which in the present crisis of our European affairs must be regarded as a peculiarly disastrous Occurrence. In the year 1802 a certain monthly allowance, propor. tioned to their respective ranks, was given to each officer of the coast army, in order to provide camp equipage, and a monthly allowance was made to the commanding officers of the native corps for the same pur. pose. This establishment was known by the name of the Tent Contract. In the general revision of this establishment, which was lately set on foot, for the purpose of economy, by the Madras government, Colonel Munro, the quarter-master-general, was directed to prepare a report on the subject. His report, which was soon after published, recommends the abolition of this contract, because it

the

is alleged that six years experience its practical effects have proved the it is needlessly expensive; that it sub jects the Company to the same cha ges for troops in garrison as f those in the field. The report proceeds as follows: "By grantin the same allowances in peace and w for the equipment of native corp while the expences incidental to th charge are unavoidably much great in war than in peace, it places t interest and duty of officers cor manding native corps in direct opp sition to one another. It makes their interest that their corps show not be in a state of efficiency fit t field service, and therefore furnish strong inducements to neglect the most important duties." The puł lication of this report gave immed ate and general offence. Gener Macdowall, in consequence of thi received letters from many of the ficers commanding native corps, presenting, in strong terms, the stigm which was supposed to attach t them individually, and soliciting dress against charges which his ow experience must, they observed, shev him to be false. The general replie that the report in question had bee prepared without any reference to hi opinion, and that he deemed it inex pedient to interfere. The officer commanding corps then prepared charges against Colonel Munro, which charges were forwarded to Ge neral Macdowall, and after being re ferred by him to the judge-advocate general, were returned to him, with an answer unfavourable to their views. After some time passed in doubt how to proceed, General Macdowall resolved to comply with their wishes, and Colonel Munro was put in arrest, in order to be brought to trial. Colonel Munro, passing over the com

the commander-in-chief on board; that it was his last orders to MajorGeneral Boles on the beach, to circulate those orders that evening; that he, Colonel Capper, as chief in the office, considers himself, and not Major-General Boles, responsible for the consequences; and that if he was to be dismissed the service for obeying this order of his commander-inchief, he would appeal to his sovereign to decide the question between himself and Sir George Barlow. Colonel Capper is suspended. MILITARY INTELLIGENCE FROM INDIA.-STORMING OF THE LINES OF TRAVANCORE, &c.-Accounts are just received from India of differences having arisen between the British and the governor of Travancore, of an attempt having been made to cut off the Resident, and of the Dewan's troops having attacked the lines of our subsidiary force at Quilon.

On the arrival of the India fleet at Cochin, it found the Piedmontaise, with Colonel Macaulay on board, lying there, for the protection of a few companies of Sepoys, that occupied the place, and were surrounded on all sides by the Travancorians, in considerable force. Several skirmishes had taken place, in which we had lost 40 or 50 men, and our troops were literally confined to the limits of the demolished fortifications of Cochin. Our force at Quilon, under Colonel Chalmers, had been attacked, and had likewise attacked in return, with the loss of about 145 killed and wounded. Many of the enemy had been destroyed; but the communication of our troops with the interior of the country was cut off, and we were dependent for provisions and supplies upon Malabar, from whence these were sent along the coast. It was not perfect

VOL. II. PART II.`

ly known how far the Rajah of Travancore himself was implicated in these proceedings, which apparently originated with the Dewan, who had assumed the entire controul, and had called forth the whole force of the country. The Rajah of Cochin having refused to join the Travancorians, had been put to death; and his successor, for the same cause, had suffered a similar fate; but the third had concurred in the views of the Travancore Dewan, and had, with his people, taken up arms against us. Captain Foote, of the Piedmontaise, had destroyed indiscriminately every vessel, of whatever size or description, at Quilon, among which there were, doubtless, several belonging to the Arabs, and to the northern parts of the Malabar coast. Colonel Macaulay had had recourse to the measure of inrolling and arming the Christian inhabitants of Travancore, in consequence of which the Dewan had issued an order to put all the Christians to death, many of whom had suffered. Off Cape Comorin the fleet passed seven small vessels, conveying the 19th regiment, which General Maitland had sent from Columbo to Quilon; and at Galle it was understood that Anjengo had been taken possession of by the Dewan's troops.

The following account of the storming of the lines of Travancore, which was accomplished by Major Welsh on the 10th of February last, with circumstances highly honourable to the skill and gallantry of that officer, will be found extremely interesting. It reflects a splendour on the commander and the troops employed, certainly not exceeded by the boldest and most successful enterprises of Indian or European warfare.

N

On the 8th of February, Major Welsh, with Lieutenant Gore, surveyed the enemy's lines, and to their astonishment observed some old walls apparently abandoned, and an approach of no great diffi culty behind the battery on the south hill. This was reported at head quarters in the other camp; Major Welsh proposed to take advantage of the discovery, and requested about 200 Europeans to be added to his own regiment, for the purpose of making the attempt. Colonel St Leger was favourable to the plan; but before he would finally decide, he sent Majors Welsh and Lambton to a neighbouring hill, to examine more particularly the works, the nature of the approach, &c.

On the morning of the 9th, at sun. rise, Colonel St Leger, Lieutenant-Colonel M'Leod, Majors Welsh and Lambton, repaired to the observatory, and had, a full view of every thing, and returned fully convinced of the practicability of the plan. A deep jungle was discovered at the foot of the hill, but every thing else as had been previously supposed. A sketch and plan of attack was made out by Major Welsh, and submitted to Colonel St Leger, Lieut.-Colonel M'Leod, and Major Lambton, by whom it was agreed that Major Welsh should take two companies of the picquet, amounting to 150 men, his own corps, the five companies 1st battalion of the 3d regiment Of these he left three companies of each battalion, with the native picquets, and two guns, at the advanced post, under Captain Stevenson, (who having recently broke his leg, was incapable of climbing.) The storming party therefore consisted of 150 Europeans, 69th regiment, under Captain Symns; seven volunteer artillery; two companies of grena diers and light infantry, under Captain Pepper; seven ditto, infantry, under Captain Lucas; 150 pioneers, under Lieutenant Bertram; with four short scaling ladders, and a great quantity of ammunition.

Having formed a forlorn hope of one serjeant, one corporal, and twelve privates, they marched off, on the road for merly cut by the pioneers to the left or

southward, and proceeded without obstruction until they reached the foot of the hill, where they rested for half an hour, to form up and lie down, to allow the blue lights to burn out: These are burnt along their lines, to prevent sur prise.) They again started, and entered a dreadfully-deep jungle, occasionally crossing ravines, ten, twelve, and fourteen feet deep, full of thorns and bushes, through which it was necessary to creep on their hands and feet. At this junc ture Major Welsh took the command of the forlorn hope in person, making a provision for a safe retreat, assigning to every man his post, and directing that it should be effected in slow time, and by alternate sections of the European party, firing and filing to the rear. Having sur mounted many difficulties, and scrambled over many precipices, Major Welsh missed every body but the forlorn hope, Lieutenant Bertram and bis pioneer bu gie, with about four pioneers. The Light wa- dark. This small party whistled to no purpose, and were then very near the works After waiting in vain a quarter of an hour, the men were directed by their leader to fix their bayonets, cau tioned not to fire, but to carry every thing by the bayonet. They assured Major Welsh of their determination to con quer or die with him, and crept under the walls, when (having no ladders) it was proposed they should climb upon one another's shoulders: the major offer. ed to be the first man-this the men would not allow. Two men got in first, when the major followed, who finding the two men greatly exhausted, he him self drew up Lieutenant Bertram and six men by main strength, and then gave place to others. Thus was formed a party of about 20. It was exactly four Â. M. They sat down, waiting in anxious sus

pense

for some more of the party, who, having taken a different route in the dark, entered, with equal silence and success, with ladders, about 200 yards below, to the right. They, immediately on being formed, set to work with a loud peal of musketry, which was answered by the enemy with guns, blue lights, &c. The small leading party was somewhat con