The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-15 00:00:00

the Indus. The battle of Mahidpore, in 1817, though
less famous than the actions of Lake and Wellesley,
, might bear a comparison with the battle of Sobraon.
i Their artillery trains were as powerful 'as those of Run-
, jeet himsejf. One hundred and twenty guns were is battery at Assay-e, including no fewer than 76 brass
pieces of the largest calibre; 72 _ wore taken at Laswarl
ree, and 6S at Delhi; and when Colonel Monson in-his-
, disastrous retreat was pursued by Ilolkar in person, tom,.
Mahratta chief pressed upon our discomfited , columns ..
with no fewer than 175 pieces of cannon. Nor was this
tremendous force in any degree depreciated from want, '
of skill in using it. The Conqueror of Assay° has °flea
been heard to say that the French guns at Waterloo
were not better served than the Mahratta guns on the
banks of the Kaitna; his own dispatch on the oceasiOn. _
records that the infantry " fought well and stood by their
pieces to the very last:" and we can confidently appeal
to any of the survivors of these scenes in proof of our
assertion, that General Perron and his adjutants did as .
much, to the full, for the discipline of Scindiah's troops ...:
as Generals Ellard and Ventura have done for the ...,.
Seikhs.
_
The truth is, that there is far less difference between. ,
the characters of our present and former enemies than.
we are fain to suppose, and than our intelligent corre-
spondent " Civis" is wont to presume. A passage in the
dispatch above quoted will show him that his memory
deceived bim, when he observed, that we have " never
before intrenched ourselves in the face of an enemy in.
India." Italian campaigns demand as much skill, as
much forethought, as much military artifice, and as much,
forbearance as any others, and their almost uniform suc-
cess has been owing to the almost uniform completeness,
with which these conditions have been hitherto fulfilled.
We have vanquished foes as brave, as wary, and as well
disciplined, though not perhaps as vindictive or as un-
tameable, and there is little reason for fearing that when
we bring the same qualities to the work we shall meet
with any other than the same result.—Times.

---
THE GENERAL IN THE PUNJAUB.
(From the Spectator.)
The pleas on which Lord Gough justifies his sudden
but not overwhelming attack on the Siekh force appear
to be three—that Chuttur Singh was on the point of
joining Shere Singh; that the political agent had intl..,
mated how desirable it was to inflict a blow; and that
the Siekhs were quite ready to fight, and if not attacked
would have been the assailants. These pleas would have
been conclusive, if the assault had been so—if Shere
Singh had been effectually routed before Chuttur Sirtgla
came up—if the blow had been of a kind to crush, and,
not to encourage the Siekhs; but in the absence of such.
results, the plea does not touch the case as it stands.
There is, no doubt, a disposition to "run down" Lord
Gough, which deprives the unofficial accounts of the re-
liance that may usually be placed on concurrent testi-.
mony from many sources; but some of the facts are evi-•
dent enough even in the negative testimony of the official
dispatches; and other allegations may easily be put to.
the test, since they turn upon matters of fact which must
be known to competent witnesses. Of this class is the
statement that Lord Gough had certain deliberate in-
tentions which he hastily abandoned in a fit of anger;
and that although he knew the ground, he made his at-
tack without taking sufficient pains to ascertain the posi-..
tion of the enemy. These are statements on points of fac A
essential to a true judgment on the transactions; and Nve
presume that they will be duly negatived or affirmed.
Other facts are more evident; the battle was he gun
when the troops were in want of repose, if not of refyesh-
ment. Now, victories have been won by soldiers just
off the march through the very surprise; but not when
the enemy was safely ensconced in a position whence he
could only be dislodged in detail, so that you might as
well have hoped to drive a barrel of oysters from their
shells by a coup de main. The sequel proved the mis-
take; the battle was one of detail, demanding per:sever-
ance and sustained vigour—an at-it-again spirit, a life of
heart which is wanting in men when they are tired and
hungry. It is perfectly plain, from the Commander-in
Chief's own dispatches, that he began his battle without
any comprehensive design, and that when it was going
forward he did not hold his army in hand; he neither
directed its movements nor commanded its obedience;
his very report as commander, in more places than one,
is conceived in the vague and doubting language of a
person imperfectly informed; and throughout the pas-
sages that mention the reverses, there is a tone implying
that it was all the fault of the subordinate commanders
—an inuendo couched in the language of compliment.
We all know what is confessed when the parent com-
plains that his children don't mind him—when the
workman complains of his tools. The same dispatch
unquestionably stretches the truth to imply a degree• of
success not warranted by the facts: a small and doubtful
success, one which has filled every class in England with
dismay, was so described by the unlucky commander,
that the Governor-General was induced to celebrate it ac
a great triumph.
The inferences to be:drawn from the soberest survey
of these self-evident facts are, that although Lord Gough
is as strong and tough in courage as ever he was, he has
not developed any faculties beyond those required in
every regimental officer, scarcely so much—he is Cons- ,
mander-in-Chief with a subaltern mind; that he has not
faculty of invention, and is wholly at a loss from the
time when he comes in front of the army until the fight-
ing begins; that as he is most at home in the region of
hard knocks, he is always eager to get into it, trusting
to the fighting of British soldiers to bring him through.
That even his undoubted courage had tailed to inspire
his men with confidence, is rendered deplorably evident
in the flight of a native regiment at the moment of attack,
and the precipitate " retreat" of a Queen's regiment.
Lord Gough is a commander who inspires confidence, .
only in the enemy. lie has been training the Siekh
armies into very efficient enemies. His capacity in those
respects must have been perfectly known to those on .
whom his appointment depended. The history of his
career illustrates the paralyzing effect of the routine that
maintained him in a post for which his sole qualification
was the order of his name in the chronology of the Army
List. Every respect may be shown to a brave and faith-
ful man, without sacrificing the safety of an empire to
the compliment. The same mortal influence swayed the,
responsible authorities in the choice of a successor to
Lord Gough; the lot fell upon a man so little known to
fame of arms, that there was a universal burst of the.
question, " Who is Sir William Gomm?" And the only'
information about him was that he had filled a civil post
with tolerable credit as Governor of the Mauritius. Po-
sitive alarm has at last induced the same responsible au-
thorities to follow the suggestion of public opinion, and
to select Sir Charles Napier; but the choice is made in
the most untoward manner; instead of advancing heartily
and choosing him in free will as the ablest man for a
given work, the Company reluctantly submit to him as a
political necessity. After squabbling with him about
prize-money—after trying to elude his claim to service
—after slighting and disgusting him—they again send
forth the impetuous dictator of Sinde with the idea that
he is decreed by fate as the dictator of the Punjaub and
the redeemer of British India. It would hardly be won-
dered if, after such suggestive experiences, the Napier
genius were to flower in some wild extravagance, and •
the Cresar were to write home to his beloved sister Queen
Victoria, how he would vouchsafe a friendly alliance as
Emperor of India.

OLD FRIENDS.— On Tuesday evening last a supper
of the members of the ancient order of Old Friends took
place at the No. 5 Lodge-house, Treasurer Thorp's, the
Black Horse, Kingsland• road, to commemorate the open-
ing of the Lodge at that house, when a select and highly
respectable party sat down to an entertainment of a most
bountiful description, and served up in Mr. Thorp's pro-
verbial good style. Secretary Burgess presided as chair-
man, as did P.S.C. Wills, deputy, and were supported,
among others, by the following distinguished bro-
thers:—S.C. Sawdy, P.C. Gaylor, P.C.G. Perry,
P.C. Marrison, C. Cross, C. Davies, D. Cross, P.S.A.
Watson, S.A. Watson, and Brothers Smart, Thompson,
Burgess, and Curtis. After ample justice had been done
to the excellent fare provided by the liberality of the
worthy host, and the cloth withdrawn, thechaainrmano,yita
a few appropriate words, gave the "Queen
Family," which was received with great applause, after
which the National Anthem was sung with much anima-
tion. The " Ancient Order of Old Friends, and may it
flourish," was then given from the chair, and received. -
with much cheering. The " Gift Funds," and " Friend-.
in-Need Fund," of the order followed amid much
ap-
plause.
The health of the Treasurer, Chairman, De-
puty, and of several other persons officially connected-
with the order, were severally given, and acknowledged
in very suitable terms. The company was honoured,with
the presence of P.S.P. Smart, and P.S.P. Watson, of th_ e
" Loyals," who highly entertained the company—te
one with his humorous singing, and the other by, km
well-expressed observations. C. Davies,
by
srly of ta
~ Boat- ~..:
" Loyals," also created much amusement h
The hilarityr—
man's Dance," and other laughable
until
:such
songs.o c ah
plaleteasher
writwhhthat.L.: .
of the evening was prolonged
the company separated, evidentlylt
was a source of re-
enjoyment they had partakens of._.
T hee Grout,
celebrated and
Professor.Gift-Fund
h.
hailpu bwhicthd withe.
we
ng
er we t t h
Secretaryat
sia' •
vSaf
COLOSSAL PAIN NG
nre unavoidably. absenst
and extraordinary claims to patronage. We have
• n by which they might traverse the borders of
no doubt that manylVatord, ourr
ltilfehDlaisPslis3sippi and the Missouri Rivers from the Falls
of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico without the trou-
ble or expense of a voyage to America. This can now ....,
be accomplished ; for the above gentleman has brought .rt
with him from the land of wonders a Panorama four
miles long, depictive of every inch of ground along the
line we have mentioned. As a work of art, we under-
stand, it is of the highest class; but its magnitude alone
would command that success which we feel assured it is
destined to attain.
THE LASE HORRIBLE MUEDER.--33:18:0:3,.
WEDNESDAY.—The adjourned inquest on the body of
the late Miss Jefferies was continued this day. The
only material evidence was that of a policeman,
posed to a statement made by the prisoner in confirma-
tion of her former statement, that it was not she whohad
committed the act, but another
01
character,
stehde again wp il h, , ,
Miss Jefferies before her, who had perpetrated the..
whofromgearry eevteon
guiltyghee
rea
enterprise,
(thetneor pt havingraicui saccused)
andcrime
er ei m
stated in the Cape of Good Hope papers of the
•
it adjournedis .
11th of January that the amount of coin in circulation- •
in that colony is calculated to be between 400,0004 and
500,000 i., while the paper issues of the three Cape Town
banks represent 32,0001. The year bad closed with
That
every symptom of prosperity; an abundant harvest bad
been secured, and no fatal epidemics had prevailed. In
consequence of some irregularities in the conduct of
when cattle strayed into
Panda, the Zoolu chief, wnhorltischontterrarriytortyo ssteinptulaartmili .
n remonstratea t:lt - Goy er n o rvvoi
menhad ctoonrseidceorveedr tittle
through agents, and from what had subsequently tranw. al
pired it seemed Panda was prepared in future to abandon
i this unrecognised proceeding.
nme,cetshsea rLyi e ut
toe