The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-03 00:00:00

INDIA.

We have great pleasure in laying before our readers
a letter from an intelligent officer of the army of the
Indus, in which the moral effect produced by the able
manner in which our soldiers, European and Native,
have surmounted the difficulties they had to contend
against, is satisfactorily set forth.
(Extract of a letter dated Quetta, May 29th, 1839.)
" I have this moment received letters from Candahar
by a private cossid up to the 21st instant. There was
a slight increase of sickness among the troops, conse-
quent, perhaps, on exposure and the change from
marching and daily exercise to halting and inactivity.
The troops are still on reduced rations, but the crops
are described as very luxuriant, and promise an abun-
dant harvest. Grain is even now more easily procured,
and cheaper. There is still partial distress among the
lower classes in the town, but this is a necessary result
of increased consumption. The remission of some town
duties by the Shah has added much to his popularity.
Native report says that Dost:Mahorned is preparing for
a flight to Bokhara, and the recusant Sirdars are on the
wing for Meshid. I have had much and constant in-
tercourse with the landholders in Shawl. They all
describe the Government of the late Sirdars as most
unpopular.
" The moral effect of this undertaking is more pow-
erful than I can dascribe. The most respectable of the
Zernindars have publicly avowed that it was not ex-
pected we should have succeeded in crossing the Indus,
and one man significantly added that if there bad been
Jumaat";or union among the Mussullnans we must have
been checked. The natives of this country differ from
those of our pravinces in mind and manner, as much as
in form and feature. They are a fine, frank, independ-
ent race, speak their sentiments boldly, condemn most
unsparingly every act of ours they disapprove of, and
think nothing of enforcing their arguments by a smart
slap on the shoulder. On the whole they are glad to
see us here, but they cannot or will not understand our
character as simple allies.
" The Valley of Shawl under a good government
would be a perfect paradise. The soil is rich, the cli-
mate genial, and the means of irrigation abundant ;
apricot, plum, apple, mulberry, and cherry trees, almost
indigenous, of at least attain an immense size and re-
quire little care. The natives tell me that ore is found
in the bills ; the water is here, I know, impregnated
with it. The valley produces a very fine breed of
horses, rather undersized ; but this defect might soon
e r.: moved by the Laroduction of a fex Company's
stallions. The m Ires are the fittest I have
seen in India. They are from 131 to 14-2 hands.
Insecurity of life and property, and the exactions of a
grasping► government, in a great measure paralyse
peaceful pursuits. Here, as in Scinde, Cabul, Cutch
Gundava particularly, affrays are frequent, and cultiva-
tors frequently turn out in armed bodies to collect their
crops. The population of the valley is, as far as I can
learn from the Z?.mindars, about 3,500. In ordinary
seasons, one beegab of ground yields four or five maunds
of wheat ; yet the produce of the valley seldom, if ever,
exceeds the demand of the inhabitants for twelve months'
c.,nsamption. The revenue is paid in kind, and the
amount levied of the crops.
Among the on-dits of the day, is a report that the
troops will be in our provinces i❑ December next. The
croakers of the army are greatly disappointed that their
prophecies of disgrace and disaster have not been
realised. When it became notorious that Government
was better informed of the feelings of the people, and
the degree of resistance to lie expected than it got
credit for, they veered round and pronounced resistance
the least evil, but augured a certain famine, and even
declared the standing crops would be cut. They are
now driven from this last post, and forced to admit
that the wonder really i.; how in such a stupendous under-
taking so little was forgotten. The passage of an
army Eke ours through Scinde and Bolan Pass is looked
cn by the natives as a miracle."