The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-30 00:00:00

EVENING,

TUESDAY

open hostilities, and a battle was fought. Ali Mourad
was victorious, completely defeating Roostam Khan and
Nussen Khan. He then compelled them to sign a treaty
which was, in fact, the basis and cause of most of the com-
plaints which had since been made against Ali Mourad. By
that treaty certain lands were given up to Ali Mourad.
These were the fruits of victory, which, if he had behaved
well afterwards, no one would have wished to dispute with
him, and which he would have had a clear right to. But he
was not satisfied with the legitimate fruits of vietory, be-
cause, as it clearly appeared, he did afterwards contrive to
substitute for the leaf of the Koran on which the treaty was
signed another by which he obtained possession of a certain
quantity of land to which he had no right whatever. By so
uoing the imposed on the British Government, and made
them believe he was a person of much greater importance
than he really was. That was pretty well, but it was not
all, nor anything like all. When Sir Charles Napier
entered Scinde at the head of the Indian forces, by order
of the Earl of Ellenborough, Ali Mourad persuaded his
brother, Meer Roostam, to resign the headship of
the family, and with that to give up certain lands
attached to that dignity; and, as he should show, he did
that by the advice of Sir Charles Napier himself. Meer
Roostam, indeed, denied that he had ever wished to do so ;
but said lee was induced to take that course at the express
instance of the British general, who refused to protect him
unless he gave up his dignity as Rais to Ali Mourad. Ali
Mourad entered into another agreement in December 1842,
by which he undertook to give his brother compensation for
what he had surrendered. This agreement was jointly
signed by him and Ali Mourad, but the messenger who was
sent with it to Sir Charles Napier was intercepted, and the
document taken from him, so that Sir Charles Napier knew
nothing of its existence. In consequence of this transaction
Ali Mourad did not give to his brother Roostam the indem-
nity agreed on. This was not only a cheat practised on
Roostam, but on the Britsh Government, as the territories
in question became confiscated by the conquest of Scinde.
The next thing on the part of Ali Mourad was to persuade
his brother Roostam that Sir Charles Napier intended to
place him in custody, upon which representation Roostam
took to flight, and this was the immediate cause of hostili-
ties between the British and the Scindians. Of this there
could be no doubt, as it was declared by the Ameers in the
conference on Feb. 13, 1843. On that occasion they said
if the things which were taken away from them by Ali
Mourad were not restored to them they must fight for their
bread. It was not his intention to enter into the
details. He was sorry the question had been entered into,
and told the Noble Earl previously that no good could result
from it. Their Lordships might ask, after the conquest of
Scinde, and that Sir Charles Napier had taken possession
of that country why there had been no suspicion of this
forgery. The fact was that it was suspected, and there was
a memorandum at the Bombay Government of a letter from
Sir Charles Napier which contained information of these
frauds. It stood recorded at the Government of Bombay
against Ali Mourad that he had appropriated land in Sinde
which belonged to the British Government. In fact so early
as 1847 Sir Charles Napier became cognisant of this fact.
Sir G. Clarke, Governor of Bombay, went to Scinde and
looked into the case, of which be entertained no doubt.
Mr. Pringle also looked into the case, and reported that he
had ao doubt of the infidelity of Ali Mourad. Not satisfied
with this the commission was appointed. To this the
Noble Earl objected that military men had been placed
upon it. It was not the first time military men were placed
upon such commissions. Major Jacobs, who was zone of
them, was distinguished, not only as a military man, but
as an able man in the manner in which he conducted affairs
on the borders of Scinde, where he was in charge. Ali
Mourad was himself present at the investigation. He exa-
mined the witnesses, but in the result the fraud was made
clear, and the decision was against Ali Mourad. The report
of the commission was sent to the Governor-General, who
examined the evidence, and returned it to the Governor of
Bombay. The Governor-General, as well as the Governors
of Bengal and Bombay, gave their opinions in accordance
with the report of the commission, which was finally sent
to this country. There was no difference of opinion on the
subject either in this country or in India. He saw an article
in an Indian newspaper, in which it was suggested that Ali
Mourad ought to be hanged, and it insinuated it was well
for him that he did not live in the times of a Clive or a
Hastings. If it had not been for the conduct of Ali Mourad
the war would not have broken out. If they had known as
much before as they did after the war in Scinde, it would not
have taken place, and the effusion of blood might have been
avoided. This man was guilty of fraud towards his own re-
lations, perfidy to his own countrymen, and of a betrayal
of the parties to whom he was indebted for his position. his
guilt was a complication of crime. He obtained these lands
from his brother by fraud, which he concealed from the
British Government, and now that they knew how
he got them, they were bound to act. It would not have
been sufficient punishment to have made him restore
to his brother the lands he had deprived him of.
Some said that nothing at all ought to be given to Ali
Mourad, but he thought a middle course was preferable,
and a dispatch was transmitted to Earl Dalhousie, with in-
structions that if the Indian Government, upon reconsidera-
tion, thought that Ali Mourad was entitled to his patrimo-
nial property, they might give it to him. Lord Dalhousie
directed troops to proceed to :Moultan, to enforce the full
penalty. He was now in possession of everything he would
have had if he had not committed this crime. He agreed
that the Indian Government should be above all suspicion,
at the same time they ought to be very cautious in their
conduct to the high functionaries in kind. They ought to
be very kind to their virtues, and sometimes a little blind
to their imperfections. He hoped their Lordships would ex-
cuse him for entering into so many particulars iii giving an
unvarnished tale of the transaction, and hoped it was suffi-
cieet to uphold the Indian Government from blame.—(Hear.)
The Earl of ELLE.NBOROUGHIeaid, if it required any-
thing to convince him that the proceedings wanted judicial
authority, it was the speech of the Noble Baron. If it was
upon the charge of forgery Ali Mourad had been deprived of
his estates he could understand the matter, but he was
dealt with upon matters unconnected with that charge.
He would have gone further, and would have laid with the
utmost confidence the whole case before the native princes
and the Durbar of every native prince in India, and he
should have no doubt as to the result, namely, thati while
they would have deposed the individual, they would have
preserved the raj. They would not have punished the state
for the crime of the individual. With respect to Sir Charles
Napier, his connexion with this matter, and his present
one„see, ni au Lie doubt be read suspicion:,
to the validity of the document, but he had no proof that it
was forged. When Ali Mourad came to him for letters of
introduction to Lahore, Sir Charles said he might have them
it he would deliver up the deed which he believed him to
have in his possession. The reply was, that he had left it
at Moultan, so that it never was produced at all, and no
proceedings could be taken upon it. He could only say, in
conclusion, that taking the statement of the Noble Baron
himself in reply, it was in his opinion quite clear that the
Government of India had in this case gone beyond its powers,
and had acted most improperly.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord BROUGHTON said he would not have gone into
these matters had not the Noble Earl passed such a high
eulogium upon Ali Mourad.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said, what he stated with
respect to Ali Mourad was this e—As far as his political re-
lations were concerned, he was faithful to his country. his
troops were at the disposal of the Indian Government, and
political fidelity in India was, in his opinion, a peculiar re-
commendation which ought to have been remembered when
dealing with these other matters.
The Earl of DERBY said ho concurred with the Noble
Earl who had just sat down, and who had so ably brought
this subject before them, in the hope that the time would be
far distant when, either in that House or in the other House
of Parliament, the complaints of any of her Majesty's sub-
jects might not freely be brought forward, listened to, and
advecated with that sincerity which had characterised the
advocacy of the Noble Earl. But he must add his own wish
that whenever complaints may be made against those who
were invested with the power of the Government in distant
parts of the empire, there would never be wanting Members
of that House to defend them against these attacks with the
same power, ability, and clearness as had been shown that
night by the Noble Baron.—(Hear, hear.) After the very
clear and satisfactory explanation which had been given by
the Noble Lord of the course which the Government, of
which he was a member had pursued, it was not necessary
roc him to enter into any details upon the subject, except to
state that he believed the guilt of Ali Mourad had been
clearly proved, and that his punishment was no more than
the case demanded,—(Hear.) He would be unworthy of
the position in which he now stood if he was not prepared
to take his share of the responsibility of these transactions,
simply because they had occurred under a former Govern-
ment. If he understood the Noble Earl correctly, his argu-
ment was that we could not treat Ali Mourad as a prince,
and at the same time as an individual, and then upon that
assumption the Noble Earl proceeded to draw a distinction
between the offence with which he had been charged and
was legally punishable, and that which had taken place.
He contended Ali Mourad was an independent prince, be-
tween whom and the British Government in India treaties
subsisted, and should have been treated in accordance with
that position, as far as his territories were concerned. But
a commission which had been appointed to examine the
matter had reported that, without further investigation,
there was enough to justify us in stripping him of his ter-
ritory by an act of war, because he had by his falsehood and
his intrigues among the other princes been the cause of the
expenditure of a vast amount of blood and treasure. It
was necessary to proceed against hint in the manner
they had done, in order that there might be no
misconception, on the part of. the native princes,
as to the position of the Indian Government in
the matter, and he thought it was superior to the very
extraordinary. proposal of the Noble Earl to refer the whole
question to the native Princes and their Durbars. Though
it might be admitted that some of these proceedings were
not in accordance with the usual forms . of law, yet he was
sure that whoever would fairly investigate the subject,
would find that the Government had treated with extra-
ordinary forbearance and lenity a person who had placed
himself, by his act, in a position of hostility to that Govern-
ment, and deceived it in the way he had done. If any
further justification were needed, it would be found in the
circumstances under which the cession of the turban was
held. Ali Mourad kept back from that cession the papers
which set forth all the conditions under which its power was
to be exercised, and that secured the turban of headship
by fraud. The facts of that case were perfectly clear, and yet
his Noble Friend complained that the British Government de-
prived tom of the turban, which he had gained by such
means. As to the value of the property taken by the
Government, while he would not object to that part of the
motion, he must add that he did not think the Government
were in possession of exact information on that point, and
therefore he did not pledge himself that it would be given.
What he contended briefly was, that the Indian Govern-
ment was justified in demanding not only restitution of the
property obtained by fraudulent means, but also in inflicting
a penalty, by depriving him of the turban which he had ob-
tained by the suppression of documents and by:other frauds.
He would not object to the motion of the Noble Earl on the
part of the Government, but, in order to do justice to the
character and motives of the Indian Government, and to
place clearly before the public the grounds on which they
had acted, he proposed to add to the papers moved for by
the Noble Earl the words, namely—" and the whole of the
report of the committee appointed to inquire into the conduct
of Ali Mourad, and the evidence taken by them, and upon
which the sentence was based."
Earl GREY observed that the statements made to their
Lordships that night had a bearing on prior transactions,,
rise
Indian he trusted both her Majesty's Government and
Indian Government would remember. It now appeared that
Ali Mourad had been guilty not only of frauds against the
British Government, but also against his own fused,, by
which they had been placed in a position which necessarily
involved hardships, and removed to a great distance from
their native country. If the other Ameers
been deceived though the instrumentality ofof Ali
he thought
or made to appear guilty when they were not so,
ent
and the
it was incumbent upon both the home Government Mourad,
order to
Indian Government to investigate the matter,
see what could be done by way of redress fora in j ustice
or hardship that might have thus unconsciously been in-
flicted.—( Hear, hear.)
The Earl of DERBY, while he did not entirelLeadcwquitiht thethe
Ameers of Scinde from all criminality, so farjignns
had been
Noble Earl, that he had to state that instru.
h epnett
rtpootBheeoi rf
already sent out, not fur the purpose of restoring
native cpuntry., or their former position, but 0 the
rouderin g their P9oitivn wvro agKeegibl€l'