The Express.
London, England, 1848-12-19 00:00:00

about twenty north-won of Lahore ;
ed
wises, ereming
the river, he proceeded, u originally intend, to
Pied Darien E.ban—a mountainous position in the Salt
Range—with a view of establishing a communication with
hi father, Chatter Singh, now near Attack. The rumours
that the two chiefs were making a concerted movement on
the capital, given as current at the despatch of last mail, but
ef wit/eh we stated our disbelief, prove to have been ground-
less. The form of Shore Singh =oasts to about 6 000 men,
with 12 guns; that of the Bosses deserters, expos tad to join
him in the mountains, to stout as many more; while the
troops under his fathr and brother may probably. betwixt
them make up 10,000. The fonts whist& the walls of Meehan
is estimated at 8,000. Jt now appears to have been deter-
mined that nothing shall be attempted by Gaunt Whisk
mall the arrival et the Bombay oolama' mid that he shall
reedse no assistance whatever from the Bengal aide, save
la the share of nature sad provisions sad the farlensth
men ordered to rejoin their corps, amounting Walnut 1000,
bringing up his force to above 8,000 regular troops—the irre-
gulars under Cortlandt and Edward's, and the Daudpootrar,
mounting probably to about 16,000. Mochsj has given
the prisoners who had fallen late him hands permission to re-
tire. He seams to have treated them all alms with kindness
and consideration : in truth, our °Mons de sc ibe him as the
most perfect gentleman they were ever engaged with—" the
mildest-mannered man who aver eat a threat or socked a pie
toL" Ws formerly mentioned that the supreme government
had asked fee the aid of 6000, of the Bombe y troops to be
assembled at Rome in November, and that the local
government had placed 8,000 at their disposaL Major-
General Aucbmnty, C. 8., was placed in command, with
Brthadiers Dundu and Stalker commanding the infantry,
Major NON the cavalry, and Major Lemon the artillery.
The army was directed to he completed oa the Ist November,
and was expected to be able to much by the middle of the
month. General Auehmuty, being senior to General Whisk,
would, on reaching Montan, have taken command ; gad en
this did not square with the viewsof the Bengal
the gallant *Hoar has been directed to take theg=sdet
this troops in Seinds.—the honourable Colonel Decodes, an
odieer of talent, energy, and enterprise, is to eammond the
Rarest column ; Brigadier D. Capon, formiely ordered to
command the Scinde divisionLassunuog commend of thebet
Infantry brigade vacated by Colonel Dundee. The Psalm
stein was sent up the Indus from Sukkur as far es Kerimen
early in 0. tober ; it was originally intended to be lends& and
carried to Subsulkote, butts/nage elided we mot omit.
able for the purpose. From entssolloste to Kaska le about
120 miles, a distance traversable in twelve days. They were
then ordered to halt till the rest of the force was in medi-
an" No spunk mime bad been engisally given as to the
transmission of the siege train, and it was believed that if
mina navy guns were required, they would be sent down
from Foresepon, for the sae of saving time. It having,
however, been determined that General Whisk amid *re-
ceive no farther •PIiSSISOI at present from the Ilemmd
30 pions of heavy artillery were ordered op Irma Bekker.
Amongst these are comprised twenty-four-pounder gone,
with ten and eight-inch mortars and bowline,. a heavy
force as need be sent. General Whiab will cm their ordeal
have above 120 pieces of ordnance in his ease, nearly ose
half of them being of the largest calibre. General Whisk
having written in the sad of September to Colossi Shaw,
connualing is Upper Rind*, entreating him for immediate
aid, a partial; of the 9th N. I. were despatched, with 600 of
the Sands Irregular HMO (Jacob's). The 3rd N. I. were
afterwards substituted for the 9th, and sent from Sh
as far as thabsulkote, eighty miles above Raps. ll=
were directed to halt, and here they at present remain.
artillery (Ist company 4th battalion, native) whit' ornompa•
Bled emu, were ordered to return to &Akar, teashomge
their 6-pounder for 9-pounder guns! By the latest assns
from General Whish's man ertsuding te the Ist New we
than that Lieutenant eumsdan, with a detail's,
of the guide corps, had been ordered ap to Liam
when their services were more required than at Mandan ;
sad that there had been some talk of the
thought t
am e<
Mumble being broken op, se it was
I begat to detain volunteers from their country. Oa
sennieration, their service", 'spinally as outposts and
haegas, were deemed too valuable to be parted with. The
enemy had managed to calabash • sunken battery amosgst
some date trees within a mile or ao of our outputs. On tr
lei Nov. we were threatened with an utak from them, sad
a distant Bring of artillery on both ides was emomemed.
The Shrapnell from our twenty-goat paaaiaw, welt the
effective discharge of some rockets, seemed to his.
them, and horsemenwere aeon dismounted, ela r=
running riderless along the cover. A sistnehmeat of
meek, was sent out, and seems to have bad •
amp hand.tohand encounter with the
The skirmishing against Edwardes's camp continued=
hod of October. A party of native irregular hone had bees
moorting &white to their avocations, when they mirpried
moo ton en twelve of the enemy, who fired on them, and,
bag salsaresd by about a hundred of hostile cavalry, sar•
maid tees ; but our men cut their way eat, Whig bat
one man and having tea wounded. The Bring between the
advanced posts also continued, Cortlandt advance',
a gun here and there, as necessity required. The same
, sort of skirmishing continued on the 3rd, without,
or CORM, any great result on either side. Of Chatter Singh,
the last tidings given stated that his advanced guard had
'rowed the Chemin:. at Wureenbad, and that the resident
had on the 20th October summoned troop* from Ferosepon
to oppose his further advance. All this was exaggerates's :
Chuttur Singh himself never appears to have been within
100 miles of the position assigned to him. By last amounts
he was about Attock, endeavouring, it was said, to send his
troops sena the Indus, with a view of moving on Peshawar,
in hopes of inducing the Seikh portion of the forces their
stationed from their allegiance. The last authentia in.
telligenee received from Captain James Abbott was
dated Huareh, the 19th of October, when all was well
with him, an ales with Msjor Lawrence, at Peshawar.
It bee bona stated that the offer of the Maharaja Goulash
Singh, to attack Chuttur Singh, with a furs of 5,000 as.,
under Colonel Steinbach, had been accepted by the resident.
The troops appear to have been in Cashmere, and they wen
expected to have proceeded, by the Baramola Pan, to have
entered the liszareh country at once, and taken Chuttur
Singh in flank or in rear, according to their positioa. They
had, by last accounts, come down the Bheembur Para as
far as Itajouree, and thee, crossing over to the next valley,
moved on to the town of Jhelum, to the westward of the
river of that same. They were thus about halfway between
Lahore and Attack-100 miles from each,—close upon the
I Salt Range, and within 60 miles of Plod Dadun Khan. The
object of the movement appears to be to prevent the junction
of Chuttur and Shen Singh, and to nullify any attempt that
might be made in the way of demonstration on Lahore.—
At Lahore, great inconvenience having repeatedly been ex-
perienced for want of the means of crossing the river Rene,
a bridge of boats was directed to be constructed, and was
completed by Lieutenant Crommelin, about the 24th
October. Singularly enough, though such structures are
eminently liable to accidents, and peculiarly assailable by
the enemy, and though the country around was known to be
fall of malcontents, the bridge was left newt unprotected.
Accordingly, on the evening of the 23rd, a party of some 200
or 300 marauders attacked and defeated the Durbar guard
st the further end of the bridge, seising on fifteen or twenty
light field pieces (aumboorucks), and setting the to the
bridge. Three of the boats were burnt, and serious mis-
chief might have followed but for the prompt arrival of •
party from the 14th drsgoons. The accident having been
remind, and due precautions taken, Brigadier Ciodby's bri-
gade crowed on the 28th, and encamped about a quarter of
a mile beyond the river, in a tine open plain, with a clear
span in front. This Lathed* was followed by additional
fore's, until the whole amount of men beyond the Raves
rucked to 7,000 men, consisting of one light field battery,
three troops of horse artillery, of which one is European, or
400 altogether, with twenty-four gang ; one regiment of
dragoons 600, and another expected, 1,111 to all ; two refi-
nes% of regular and one of irregular cavalry, 1,600 ,• with
1,000 European and 3,000 native infantry—or a grand total
of 7,000. It is supposed that these will be held in readiness
to cross the Chennb so soon as the Rona force approaches
Mooltan. The whole of the troops enumerated have been
pushed forward from Ferozepore, where the strength of the
hue bees brought up by advances from behind.
The Lahore garrison of 8,000 or 10,000 men is not included
in the " Army of the Punjaub," but maintains it* position
as formerly.
Latest accounts, dated Lahore, the 3rd Oct, state
that the movement in advance had been at length do.
Unitised upon ; and that the whole, or nearly so, of
the troops on the right bank of the Raves,
marched on the morning of the 3rd in the direction at
Wuseerabad, and reached on that day a Bad's, six-
teen miles in advance of Lahore.
Brigadier Wheeler went, as was stated, on the 12th
October, acmes the 'Awes, with a force oonsisting of
a troop of horse and a company of foot artillery, the
7th regular and tad irregular cavalry, her Majesty's
63rd foot, and the 3rd Native Infantry, or 5,000 in
all, to attack a couple of forts belonging to Lall
Singh and some Seikhs who had fraternised with the
insurgents. After sustaining a severe eanonnade, the
first of these, named Rungrungel, was evacuated, and
fell into our bands on the 14th. Some additional
guns and mortars being received, the other fort, called
Moraree, was proceeded against, when, on the 28th,
the enemy decamped as we approached. Both forts
were destroyed. On the 28th, Brigadier Wheeler was
preparing to cross the Ravee, about twenty miles above
Lahore, so as to be in communication and ready to
co-operate with Brigadier-General Cureton and the
brigades of Gedby and Eckford.
We have at present, says the Bombay Timm, nearly
28,000 British troops within the territories of Dhulecp
Singh, and shall before a short 'pace elapse. have at
least 36,000 beyond the Sntlej and Beeas, with about
30,000 auxiliaries. Some 30,000 regulars are on our
north-west frontier. The total number of Sash mal-
contents against whom this vast army has been called
out, cannot at the highest estimate exceed 33,000.
Scinde continues healthy and quiet. Brigadier
Dundee and staff, the 60th Rifles, a portion of the
Ist European Fusiliers, the 19th Native Infantry,
and Blood's troop horse artillery, had reached }tone.
The remainder of the army were hastening up with'
all speed. The let Lancers, with Brigadier Capon,
were looked for about the 20th Nov. The force tir
patched from Secunderabad, under Col. Blundell, on
the 16th Oct., to Goolburgah, agiinst a body of Bo-
hillaa, with a rebellions high priest and his eons at
their head, reached the place of their destination on
the 28th, and immediately set about making prepare-'
dons for attacking the fort. However, the rebels sue-
rendered at discretion.—Matters do not seem in any
great degree to rave improved in the Niaam's country
since the return rif General Frazer to Hyderabad.—
Lord Dalhousie N expected at Benares on the 6th,