COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

The India Mail has brought dates from Bombay to
the 28th ult., and from Hong Kong to the 11th ult. In
India general tranquillity prevails, and no war is in prospect.
The harvests are good, and the weather favourable.
The embassy from Ava has arrived in Rangoon.
Canton is still besieged by the rebels. Some tea had arrived
there. Foochow and Ningpo were quiet. The pirates
were doing much harm. Teas have fallen in price,
silks have advanced.

There are advices from Melbourne to the 25th of
September. The commercial reports from Sydney and
Melbourne are unsatisfactory. Both markets are over-
stocked with goods, and shippers have sustained severe
losses. The police being more effective, robberies and
violence are less frequent than formerly at Melbourne.
The gold returns show that the produce of the mines
keeps up to the average. More than 30,000 ounces had
been received in Melbourne weekly during the month of
August. At Port Phillip gold realised £3 18s., and in
New South Wales gold £3 17s. per ounce.

The intelligence from the West Indies is of little
interest. The most important article from St. Thomas's,
relates to a valuable discovery of guano lately made in
that vicinity, at a spot called Aves, or Bird island,
stated to belong to the Dutch government. The deposit
was found by the master of an American ship, called the
Kentucky, and the quantity is said to be equal to 300,000
or 400,000 tons, while its quality approaches that of the
Chincha Islands. Aves Island is one of the leeward
group of the West Indies, and lies between the 15th and
16th degrees of north latitude, and 63rd and 64th
degrees of west longitude.

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

The Progress of the Siege of Sebastopol, and the
bloody battles before the walls of that fortress, have been,
during the past month, almost the exclusive subject of
interest. The attack on the place by the land batteries
of the allies, and the ships of the combined fleets,
commenced on the 17th of October. The following despatch,
dated the 18th, from Lord Raglan to the Duke of
Newcastle, was not published in the London Gazette
extraordinary until the 11th of November, in consequence of
an accidental delay in its conveyance.

"My Lord Duke—It was arranged between General
Canrobert and myself, that the batteries of the two
armies should open immediately after daylight, on the
morning of the 17th, and we invited Admiral Dundas
and Admiral Hamelin to attack the enemy's works at
the mouth of the harbour with the combined fleets, as
nearly simultaneously as circumstances might permit.
Accordingly, upon a signal being given from the centre
of the French lines, the batteries of the two armies
commenced their fire about a quarter before seven yesterday
morning. On this occasion we employed about sixty
guns of different calibres, the lightest being 24-pounders.
It may be here proper to observe that the character of
the position which the enemy occupy on the south side
of Sebastopol is not that of a fortress, but rather of an
army in an entrenched camp on very strong ground,
where an apparently unlimited number of heavy guns,
amply provided with gunners and ammunition, are
mounted. The guns having opened as above stated, a
continuous and well-directed fire was carried on from
the works of the two armies until about ten o'clock, A.M.,
when, unfortunately, a magazine in the midst of one of
the French batteries exploded, and occasioned considerable
damage to the works, and I fear many casualties,
and almost paralysed the efforts of the French artillery
for the day. The British batteries, however, manned
by sailors from the fleet, under the command of Captain
Lushington and Captain Peel, and by the Royal Artillery,
under the superintendence of Lieutenant-Colonel
Gambier, kept up their fire with unremitting energy
throughout the day, to my own and the general
satisfaction, as well as to the admiration of the French army,
who were witnesses of their gallant and persevering
exertions, materially injuring the enemy's works, and
silencing the heavy guns on the top of the loop-hole
tower, to which I adverted in my despatch of the 13th
instant, and many of the guns at its base, and causing
an extensive explosion in the rear of a strong redoubt
in our immediate front; the enemy, notwithstanding,
answered to the last from a number of guns along their
more extended line. The fire was resumed this morning
at daylight by the British sailors and artillery, and
responded to, though in a somewhat less degree, by the
Russians; but the French troops, being occupied in the
repair of their batteries, and in the formation of others,
have not contributed to the renewal of the attack, except
from a work on their extreme left; they expect,
however, to be able to do so to-morrow morning. I beg to
lay before your Grace a return of the loss sustained by
the Royal Navy and the Army under my command,
between the 13th and 17th instant, and to this I am
deeply concerned to add that of Colonel the Hon.
Francis Hood, commanding the 3rd Battalion of Grenadier
Guards, an excellent officer, whose death in the
trenches this morning has just been reported to me. The
English, French, and Turkish fleets moved towards the
mouth of the harbour about noon, and kept up a heavy
fire upon the enemy's forts for several hours. I am
not fully acquainted with the details of the attack, or
its results, but I understand that Rear-Admiral Sir
Edmund Lyons, with the Agamemnon and Sanspareil,
assisted occasionally by the London, Queen, and Albion,
gallantly approached to within 600 yards of Fort
Constantine, the great work at the northern entrance, where
he maintained himself till late in the afternoon, and
succeeded in exploding a magazine, and causing
considerable injury to the face of the fort. Since I wrote
to your Grace on the 18th, six battalions of Turkish
infantry and 300 Turkish artillery have been added to the
force in front of Balaklava. These troops have been
sent from Constantinople, and placed under my
command by the Government of the Porte, and I feel
greatly indebted to her Majesty's Ambassador, Viscount
Stratford de Redcliffe, for the ability and energy with
which he brought under the notice of the Sultan the
importance I attached to an immediate reinforcement of
the Imperial troops—I have, &c, Raglan.
                 "His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, &c."

The casualties amongst the officers, returned in the
above despatch, are Capt. Rowley, of the Grenadier
Guards, and Assistant-Surgeon O'Leary, of the 68th
Regiment, killed; and Lieut.-Colonel Waddy, of the
58th, Lieut. Wood, of the 44th, and Ensign Troysden,
of the 55th, slightly wounded.

Numerical List.—2 officers, 1 sergeant, 21 rank and
file, killed; 3 officers, 9 sergeants, 2 drummers, 121 rank
and file, wounded.

Admiral Dundas, in a despatch of the same date
(18th October), describes the part taken by the British
ships in the attack.

"Sir,—1. I beg you will acquaint the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty that the siege batteries of
the allied armies opened fire upon the Russian works,
south of Sebastopol, about half-past six o'clock yesterday
morning, with great effect and small loss.—2. In
consequence of the most urgent request of Lord Raglan and
General Canrobert, it was agreed by the admirals of the
allied fleets that the whole of the ships should assist the
land attack by engaging the sea batteries north and
south of the harbour, on a line across the port, as shown
in the accompanying plan, but various circumstances