The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-11 00:00:00

LAHORE.

A constant correspondent at tho Sikh capital writes as
follows :
" LAHORB, JOLT B.—A horrible judicial tragedy has
just been enacted here, and which, were it not that it was
performed in an open plain in the clear light of day, and
before a crowd of spectators, could scarcely be believed as an
act of the 19th century, occurring in a civilised nation, in a
town that is garrisoned by British troops! A wretched
murderer was this evening burnt alive, after first undergoing
the most diabolical tortures that his blood-thirsty execution-
ers, fiends in the shape of men, could inflict upon him by
the means of knives and red-hot irons, scarifying and scor-
ing his face and body until he confessed his guilt. lam told
that not only one but five murders he owned to having com-
mitted, and that the skulls and other ghastly remains of
his victims, all females, were discovered in his house.
The motive in each case was not malice, jenousy, or revenge,
but the mere paltry value of the jewels they wore on their
persons. The murderer was a young man, and of rather
handsome features. and ho met his horrible fats as ith appa-
rent coolness. A few blackened ashes are the only traces to
be seen on visiting the spot th's morning. No curiosity
seems to have attracted visitors after the execution, such
instances of retributive justice being unfortunately too com-
mon here. Unhappily objects, both men and women, pre-
senting the hideous deformity of cropped ears and slit
nostrils, are but too ofteu met in the streets of Lahore,
and their mutilated features tell a frightful tale of the
power that revenge, under the name of justice,
had hitherto held in the Sikh capital. Things are
as usual since my last, rain still coming down, much to the
wonderment of the inhabitants, who attribute the unusual
' fall of the waters' to the invasion of the British. The court
astrologer in vain tries to consult his stars—pour man ! few
being at present visible except those of our newly-created
C.B.'s, who kindly illumine our benighted optics now and
then with a' passing sight' of their gorgeous toys.' The last
on die from head-quarters is, that we are to move out of the
city, either to the cantonment in the vicinity, or else to the
Jullunder,and remain in camp for a month to watah the ef-
fects of our withdrawn. The disbanded soldiery still remain
in large numbers unpaid and unsatisfied, and vent their mur-
murs in curses deep, not loud.' "—Delhi Gazette, July 15.
We are in receipt of the following letter, which we doubt
not very correctly represents the real state of things at the
Sikh capital, and what that must lead to it is very difficult to
guess. We are mile] disappointed at not having received the
Kabul letter due oa the Bth or 9th instant, as we are most
anxious to learn the denouement of the visit of the Persian
envoy, and the declared intention of Dust Mahomed to aban-
don the government to his pugnacious, son ; it will, we trust,
reach us to-day or to-morrow:—
" LAHORE. JULY 15.—They say that a straw thrown up
in the air will tell which way the wind is, but try the ex-
periment in a sand-storm at Ferosepore, or a tuphan at
Lahore, and where will your straw be? About as giddy
and confused are we ourselves here in attempting to tell the
nature of ' coming events' by the passing straws of public
rumour and bazar gup, each report being for the four-and-
twenty hours firmly believed in until jostled out of its place
by its successor. Last week we had certain intelligeace,'
that Akhbar Khan had passed the Khyber at the bead of
a vast army ' en route ' to Peshawar, there to receive a'him
addition to his force, and be lady to come down on the
Sikh capital either now or when our force is withdrawn.
Then came, a Bill, true, and particular account' of an
tar
tended rising of the city at night-time, in which the houses
were to be fred and the officers, both Sikh and British, to
be quietly ' Matbeth'd,' and during the skirmish and con-
fusion, little Mungola and the great Koh-ce-noor diamond
to be seized and carried off! On Thursday, however, a
band of armed horsemen were descried on the other side of
the raven, and we were gravely told that if they were not
the advanced guard of Akhbar Khan's army, they were emis-
saries of Raja Goolab Singh, determined to force their way
into the city with some heavy charge against the durbar.
In short, every week has its ' cannibal's foot print' that for
the time being scares us from our propriety like poor Ro-
binson Crusoe, and for which nothing but the advent of
' a man Friday ' in the shape of ' the relief' will be • cure.
Certain it is, however, that the preparations for the move are
being commenced., and our camels may be shortly expected
from the corstrAissariat at Ferosepore. Still it does not
appear that the Sikh government are at all firmer in their
seat now ttan they were last February, when our troops
first eat! red their citadel. A few hundred soldiers have been
paid part of their dues, and are receiving their 'swab;
ft few score lads have been enlisted, and drilled for thee
penal purpose of household guards.' Purstualtalui hav