The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-19 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

EAST INDIA HOUSE.

(Continued from The Sun of yesterday.)
The CHAIRMAN said it had never fallen to his lot to
discharge a duty so pleasing to his feelings as that of
asking that Court to return their thanks to the Go-
vernor-General and the officers of the army for the
brilliant services they have rendered to India aad to the
British empire. The papers laid before the proprietors
would have informed them that the British forces,
amountiag to 15,000 men, formed from the armies of
Bengal and Bombay, Europeans and Natives, accom-
panicd by new levies of Shah Shoojah, to the extent of
six thousand men, were put in motion at the and of last
year, with the view of accomplishing certain objects
which the Governor-General deemed important to
the security of the great interests connected with his
charge ; and that, after marching between 1.200 and
1,400 miles, those forces, under the command of
Lieut.-General Sir John Keane, succeeded in effecting
every object in view, thus carrying into complete
effect the intentions of the Governor-General, and
crowning their labours by one of the greatest military
achievements recorded in history.—(Hear,) When the
route was considered which the troops had gone—which
consisted of deserts and defiles hitherto almost impass-
able, through regions, too, of which very inadequate in-
formation was possessed—it could not be surprising
that, in spite of every preparation, precaution, and fore-
sight which circumstances could suggest for the com-
fort of the army, they should have been exposed. during
part of that march, to no ordinary privation.—(Hear,
hear.) It must be admitted, at the same time, that the
spirit of British troops, both European and Native, has
never proved itself more worthy of the national confi-
dence than in this campaign.—(Cheers.) " I propose
to you," said the Chairman," that in the first place we
thank Lord Auckland (a weed of praise which seems
pre-eminently his due) for the sagacity and promptitude
with which he planned the line of operations, as well as
for the zeal and energy
which he displayed in preparing
the troops to take the field. The plan of the
Governor-General comprised a series of movements
which should traverse the whole line of the Indus,
demonstrate our power to the different states on its
banks, and secure its course; both as the base of our
operations and the channel of our supplies, and confirm
the opening of its navigation to the commerce of the
world, having brought the Bengal and Bombay armies
into communication—a movement in advance to place
us in military occupation of that extraordinary defile,
the Bolaum Pass, which must be traversed by an army
coming towards Hindoostan by a southern road. The
plan further included such a demonstration to the north,
on the Klyber Pass, as should prevent Dost Mahommed
from moving southward to the relief of his brothers of
Candahar—thus affording the best chance of keeping
the Affgan powers detached, of having the weakest por-
tion to attack first ; and so with the least resistance
possessing ourselves of that post which was the key to
further operations, whether on the side of Herat or of
Cabul. The result has proved the sagacity of these
arrangements, as well as the perfect efficiency of the
means provided for carrying them into effect. But for
the treachery of the Khan of Kelat, who let loose upon
us bands of plunderers in the Bolaum defile, no enemy
would have been met with between the -Indus and Can-
dahar. As it was, the difficulties were all most gallantly
surmounted.

The resolution of thanks to the Governor-General
wes then read, and seconded by the Deputy-chairman,
Mr. H. Bailey.
Sir C. FORBES objected to the resolution. Was it
Lord Auckland who planned the operations? He (Sir
C. Forbes) thought the credit Was due to Ministers—
that Sir J. Hobhouse and Lord Palmerston had, in fact,
planned them. They were at least entitled to half of
the thanks of the Court. The gallant Duke of Wel-
lington had said, " We shall see the end when the troops
have returned." He (Sir C. Forbes) hoped they ivould
return to Bengal and Bombay, but he exceedingly
doubted it. He was sorry to say that the troops were
in such a state of sickness, that it was likely most of
them would not get back again.
Mr. WEEDING was disposed to concur in the vote of
thanks which had been proposed, as he thought great
sagacity had been exhibited in the selection of the pass
through which the army had gone.
After some further discussion, the question was put
and carried, Sir C. Forbes only bolding up his hand
against it.
The Clerk then read the vote of thanks to Sir John
Keane.

Sir C. FORBES objected to the vote, until he had
received some explanation as to the barbarous massacre
of certain persons by Shah Shoojah, who were taken
prisoners on the 27th July. They were prisoners of
war, but were beheaded on the spot. He objected to
the word " invincible"—none but the Almighty was
invincible.
Mr. POYNDER concurred.

The CHAIRMAN deeply regretted that the Hon. Ba-
ronet had founded his objection to the motion on reports
of Sir J. Keane's participation in the acts of the Shah,
which had been contradicted.
Sir C. FoRBEs—I read the statement from a letter I
received.

-rbe unArrimAN said the established reputation of
Sir John Keane ought to have prevented such a charge.
—(Loud cheers.) On hearing of the rumour, Lord
Auckland had called for a report, but this had not ar-
rived when the last dispatches left India. He would
read an extract of a letter from Mr. Macnaghten as to
the character of the Shah. It was this—" Our King
is a good King, and I have no hesitation in saying that
there is not a better man in this country." As regarded
the beheading of the men alluded to, a letter he had re-
ceived stated that they had been murdering the un-
armed camp followers wherever they could seize them,
He had no objection to the introduction of the words
" under Divine Providence," but the word " invincible"
only meant that the parties to whom it was applied had
not quailed under difficulties. It had been used before,
and, he trusted, would now be retained.
Sir CHARLES FORBES replied, and the resolution was
then put and carried.
The third resolution was then read, and after a few
observations, carried.

In answer to an observation from Mr. Tepier,
The CHAIRMAN said there was no doubt but that
the Governor-General would recompense the officers
for the losses they had sustained by the campaign.

DUTIES UPON EAST INDIA PRODUCE.
The CHAIRMAN said the petition drawn up on this
subject, at the desire of several Directors and the Court
of Proprietors, would now be read.
The Clerk then read the petition,
Mr. MONTGOMERY MARTIN regretted that the pe-
tition did not pray for the appointment of a Committee
of both Houses of Parliament, to take the subject of it
into consideration, and without which, he feared, it was
likely to effect very little good.

After some discussion: the petition was agreed to,
and ordered to be printed in the usual form.
Mr. POYNDEa then brought forward his motion rela-
tive to idolatrous worship, supporting his motion with
the arguments he has repeatedly used on former oc-
casions.

After some discussion, the motion was withdrawn.
Mr. WEEDING also withdrew the motion of which he
had given notice.

SECRET SERVICE MONEY.
Sir C. FORBES then brought forward his motion re-
lative to the sums expended by the Secret Committee,
and which, he said, in the present year amounted to
.53,0001. The Secret Committees of that Court re-
fused to give the Proprietors the least information on
the subject of their expenditure ; and said, in excuse,
they had taken an oath to observe secrecy.
Mr. ASTELL (a Director) said that the Court of
Directors did not know of those disbursements until
they were actually made.
Sir C. FORBES then moved for an account of tho
annual disbursements made under the orders of the
Secret Committee during the last ten years, and up to
the present time ; that there be laid before the Court
the authority under which the Secret Committee of the
Court of Directors consider themselves warranted in
having made these disbursements ; and that there be
laid before the Court copies of any protests or dissents
of individual members of the Court of Directors against,
or connected with, such disbursements.
Mr. LEWIS seconded the motion.

After a long discussion, the first resolution was agreed
to, the second was withdrawn, and the third (for the
accounts up to the present time) negatived by a very
considerable majority.—The Court then adjourned.

DESTRUCTION OF NEW ORLEANS. ,--A New
York Paper contains the following account of the
destruction of New Orleans by an inundation of the
Mississipi :—" A sudden and mighty inundation of the
Mississipi, bearing upon its bosom an enormous ava-
lanche of timber from above, and sweeping in its course
every town upon its banks below the estuary of the Mis-
souri, came thundering against New Orleans in the
night, and with an awful rush swept the whole city into
the gulf of Mexico. The spectacle was awful. Trees!,
timbers, forests, cities, churches (with and without
steeples), negroes, ladies, ereoles, judges, aldermen, pigF,
poultry, banks, loco focos, indomitables, and buttenders,
were all heaped up together in a crude and shapeless
mass of conglomerated improbabilities, like an unap-
proachable island, about forty miles from the Delta of
the Father of Waters, whose impetuous course in-
flicted the calamity. The consequence was, that all
business was suspended—the banks could not resume
because their
left,eirs abcioeuht saldo sunko eo
ptotphle, standingebotto upon,ancl w hn
the express the
fragments of interlocked timbers, walls, columne, masts,
chimneys, and pyramids, were waving white pocket-
handkerchiefs as signals of distress.

.—We hear that there is now in this coun-
try, at most, not more than a year's consumption of Tea ;
it becomes, therefore, a matter of very general interest to
know all about the production and cultivation of the
Tea Plant, all of which will be f0u.,,1 very agreeably
described in Dr. Sigmond's little book on the " Moral
and Medicinal Effects of Tea," which, the Literary Ga-
zelle says, " tells us more about its cultivation, manu •
facture, natural history, &c., than we have ever met with
before, in travels, essay, or encyclopaedia.