The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-16 00:00:00

SIR JOSEPH TRACKWELL.

There now remains but one of the gallant generals
who led our troops to victory in the Affghan and Seikh
wars, to return to his native land, and to receive the
congratulations of his countrymen. Lord Hardinge,
Lord Gough, Sir George Pollock, and Sir Harry Smith
are in England, and within a fortnight or three weeks
the hero of " Sudalapoor," Sir Joseph Thackwell, may
be expected. We confess that for this gallant officer
we entertain, with all classes in England and India, the
deepest respect. His great military knowledge, his
bravery, and his character as an honourable, high-
minded, and impartial commander, have endeared him
to all who have come under his authority. Wherever
his post was on the battle-field, there victory was sure
to follow, with very inconsiderable loss on our side. At
"Sudalapoor," the handful of men under his command,
numbering less than six thousand of all arms, chiefly
sepoys, and cut off by a river from all support, re-
pulsed the whole Seikh army, 45,000 strong, and caused
them to retire precitately from their entrenchments.
He now returns to England after an honourable Euro-
pean career—including several of the severest Penin-
sular actions and Waterloo, where he lost an arm—and
a service of sixteen years in India, embracing the chief
engagements in Affghanistan, Gwalior, and the Pun-
juab, from 1838 to 1849. An Indian contemporary
thus speaks of him :—" We have never heard Sir
Joseph Thackwell's name mentioned except with re-
verence and respect, no matter what the rank or grade
of the person who had occasion to speak of him. In-
dependent of his intimate knowledge of every branch of
his profession, and his wonderful activity, General
Thackwell has an amount of good sense, good feeling,
good taste, and good humour which peculiarly fits him
for command."

MAGDALENA STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY.—Yester•
day a special general meeting of this company was held
at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, to consider
the propriety of reducing the value of the shares, and
authorising the directors to borrow 30,0001. Mr. J. D.
Powles occupied the chair, and explained that having
taken the opinion of counsel, the directors could not see
any ground upon which they were likely to be autho-
rised by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies to re-
duce the amount of the shares of the company, but
every accommodation would be given to the shareholders
in paying up calls. A report had been received from
the engineers, recommending them not to prosecute that
part of their plan which proposed a direct communica-
tion with Carthagena, but giving the most favourable
opinion of the prospects of the company. The two first
boats of the company would be sent out in September,
and in the following month they would doubtless be
earning freights. A third and a fourth would be
dispatched at intervals of three months, and he (the
chairman) had no doubt that within twelve months they
would be in the receipt of a dividend. After a brief
discussion, a resolution was passed, authorising the
directors to borrow 30,0001. on mortgage or deben-
tures, as required by the business of the company. It
was also resolved that the directors should issue the
3,330 shares remaining in their hands as soon as they
could conveniently do so, at or above par. Thanks
were then voted to the chairman, and the business
terminated.

MR. HALE'S WAR ROCKETS.—The unpleasant position
in which Mr. Hale found himself placed through his
manufacture of war ro3kets at Rotherhithe, within the
prohibited distance where manufactories for making
such dangerous articles in the vicinity of London can be
legally carried on, has terminated in a more satisfactory
manner than he could have anticipated. The solicitor
acting on behalf of Mr. Hale received a letter a few days
ago from Mr. Waddington, the Under Secretary of
State, conveying information that the Government had
abandoned all further proceedings against Mr. Hale, and
were willing that he should select one of four officer,
named to make a reasonable yet liberal valuation of the
property seized. Mr. Hale has fixed upon Col. Chalmer,
Inspector of Artillery at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich,
and now awaits his decision. The abandonment of the
prosecution against Mr. Hale will not be matter of sur-
prise, as it was never intended, as Lord Palmerston
stated, to press hard upon him, but to elicit if they were
manufactured for any of the foreign refugees in this
country. It would now be difficult to obtain any fur-
ther information on the subject if the surmise is correct
that the two most important witnesses who could have
been called, if the case had been brought forward at the
Surrey Sessions, have left a country where they were
safe from danger, to watch the present aspect of events
on the Continent.