The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-18 00:00:00

THE PUNJAUB.

The Right llon. the Commander-in-Chief has great plea-
sure in publishing to the army the following letter from the
Secretary to the Government of India with the Right Hoc.
the Governor-General:—
" No. 53. FEW! THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF

INDIA WITH THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL TO TIIE ADJU-
TANT-GENERAL.

" FOREIGN DEPARTMENT.

" Camp, Ferozepoor, Jan. 31, 1849.
," Sir,—l am directed to acknowledge the receipt of his
-11Xcellancy the Commander-in-Chief's dispatch, dated the
sth, 10th, and 16th ult., reporting the particulars of an action
with the enemy at Soodalapoor, and the passage of the
Chenab, by Major-General Sir Joseph Thaekwell, K.C.B.
H.

"2. The Governor-General regrets to And that he inad-
Vertently omitted to issue instructions founded on a minute
:which he had recorded on the subject of the dispatches under
acknowledgment.
3. His Lordship begs to congratulate the Commander-in-
Chief on the success of the measures which he adopted for
erecting the passage of the Chenab, and to convey to him
tue assurance of his satisfaction with, and his hey& thanks
for, the judicious arrangement by which he was enabled,
ith comparative little loss, to carry into execution his plans
Tor the passage of this difficult river, and for compelling the
retreat of the Seikh army from the formidable position which
they occupied on its further bank, after they had been en-
aged and beaten back by the forces under Major- General Sir
Joseph Tbackwell.
" 4. The result of his Excellency's movements in driving
the Seikh army from their entrenchments, and forcing them to
retire to the other extremity of the Doab, was of much im-
portance,

"5. The Governor-General offers his best thanks to
Major-General Sir Joseph Toackwell, for his successful di-
rection of the force under his command, and for the skilful
dispositions by which he compelled the enemy to retire, and
Ultimately to quit the ground he bad occupied.
."6. The Governor-General offers his best thanks to Briga-
dier General Campbell for the able assistance which he ren-
dered to Major-General Sir Joseph Thackwell, and to Lieut.-
Colonel Grant, for the powerful and effective use which he
made of the artillery under his command.
"7.. The Governor-General has had much gratification in
Observing the terms in which the Commander-in• Chief has
•Pokers of the army under his command in the field, and he
concurs With his Excellency in bestowing upon them the
praise Which is their due. _

"I have, &c.,
gi H. N. Ect,io7, . _
(Signed)
"Secretary to the G
Governor-General
Government of India with the
Hon. the Go-
Extract from General Order.—The Right
Head Quarters, Goojrnt, Feb. 22, 1849.
ecial set-
Yernor-General of India having instructed the Commander-
tl•Chief to detach a force across the Jhelum on
,I,e!, hls Excellency the Right Hon. thei C'omms\pvitarildteerr-t
mrief is pleased to appoint Major-Genera, Sir Gilbert, K C. 11) to command the whole of the troops to be
ear4l°Yed on the occasion. The force will be composed as
et forth in the following details:—
General and Divisional Staff.
krio
Li J r-General Sir W. R. Gilbert, K.C.8., commanding.
e 9t• C. R. Colt, H. M.'s 3d Dragoons, A.D.C.
k,,inain W. P. Robbins, ]sth N.l. Extra A.D.C.
aitor.ll.,P. Burn, let N. 1., D.A.A., General.
Captaglitin d.II4ITIsaY, 80. Army, Quartermaster-General.
Li„t. G. jiiiiogg, Commissary of Ordnance.
Surgeon j 7, nrsstone, Arty, D-J.A. General.
• '-'. A-nenpster, Superintending Surgeon.
Brigadier H. Huth ; Artillery.
Lieutenant E. KayZarn'te,a;C.B. commanding.
2d and 4th troops 2d bit' or of? brigade.
horse artillery; 3d congilie Bengal and 3d troop Bombay
With No. 1 light field bPatitlY Ist battalion Bengal artillery,
companies of artillery whicleat r.tttached ; and four reserve
detail• rigadier General Tennant will
Engineer DeEpaurtiment.
kale!' Napier, Commanding
Captains B. W.
Geldie and W. Abercrombie; gFilresttr.-I:ieutenants C. B.
Young and J. L. Irwin ; Second Lieutenant W. W. 11.
39reathed.—Three companies of Sa and Pioneers
"gal, and one ditto ditto Bombay. hers
Er; . Cavalry.
11:t41 Wier J. B. Hearsey, commanding
enant N. B. Cha.m'berlain, Major. of Brigade.
'or Majesty's 14th Light Dragoons; First Regiment DOA
'4V4lry ; 3d, 9th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Irregular Cavalry.
)3 •
Infantry—Bengal.
hrtitut mineral A. S. W. Mountain, C. 8., commanding•
... veneral, A.D.C.

Brevet Captain J. A. D. Ferguson, Gth Cavalry, D. A. A.

G
Br?7•Ne:enteCraalp: tain, Quartermaster-General.
Ist DiviAion, Ist Brigade.
Brigadier G. Congreve, C. 8., commanding.
Lieutenant C. E. Macdonnkli, Brigade Major.
Her Majesty's 29th and Glst Foot, and 80th and 3Gth N.I.

2d Brigade.
Brigadier N. Penny, C. 8., commanding.
Captain N. E. Shewill, Brigade Major.
2d European L 1., and 31st and 70th NJ.

2d Division.
Brigadier- General the Hon. 11. Dundas, C. 8., commanding.
Brigadier- General, A.D.C.
Major E. Green, C. 8., A.A. General.
3d Brigade.
Brigadier Byrne, C. 8., to command.
Captain French, Major of Brigade.
Her Majesty's 53d Foot, the lath and 22d Regiments N.I.
3d Brigade.
Brigadier D. Capon, commanding.
Captain W. Stiles, Brigade Major.
Her Majesty's 60th Rifles, Ist Fusiliers, and 3d and 19th N.I.
PROGRESS OF THE FORCE UNDER. MAJOR-

GENERAL SIR W. GILBERT.
(From the Lelhi Gazette, March 3.)
The orders to march Were issued at an early hour on the
22d of February, and the whole of the troops composing
this force (excepting the 3d brigade, which was not ex-
pected to start from head-quarters at Goojrat before the
Ist instant, with the heavy guns and mortars that were
to accompany) march,:d about eight, a.m., and kept up the
pursuit for eighteen miles, under a hot sun and through a
kingly country, in the direction of the Khoree pass, it
being understood that the only road practicable for guns
lay through that defile. The force reached their encamping
grourai about four, r.ae ; the sepoys, of course, considerally
fatigued, as they had been unable to cook the day before,
and were even now without the necessary appliances for so
doing. During the night a heavy storm came on—the same
storm appears to have raged all along the outer range of the
Himalayas, as it extended to Mussoorie, and was felt here in
the masses of dust that filled the air for two or three days
aner the 24th. On the 28d the march was resumed, and the
force reached Khoree, the position which the Seikhs occu-
pied in such force after having evacuated Russool. The
Bombay civision were halted, to prevent, we presume, any
attempt of the enemy at occupying the rear, while Brigaddir
General Mountain went en through the pass to Pooran. It
was considered fortunate the enemy were not inclined to hold
or defend the gorge, as it was found very strong, the guns
being obliged to pass through singly, and it was the wonder
of all what could have induced the Seikhs to abandon such
a strong position for the one they occupied at Goojrat. A
hail-storm occurred as the troopi were passing up the defile,
and rain fell in torrents for some time after their arrival at
Pooran, so that the tents were greatly delayed, and the
sepoys were for the third day prevented from cooking. They
consoled themselves, however, with the hope that they would
halt the next day, at General Gilbert having received intel-
ligence that the enemy were crossing over with guns, and
that if the forge hurried on they might pnssibly intoreept
them, the march was resumed on the 24th of February,
the horse artillery and cavalry moving on a head ;
but although Lumsden's guides—of which corps Lieu-
tenant Sale has been appointed adjutant—fell in with a
few stragglers, and cut up about forty of them, the main
body had effected their passage before the British
troops reached Nourungabad, and were comfortably en-
camped on the right bank of the river, on either side of the
town of Jhelum. The march from Pooran to. Nourungabad,
which is opposite to Jhelum, was 16 miles, and the sepoys
were at last enabled to prepare their food—the European
portion of the force had not been much better off, and a
good night's rest made all square for the morning of the
25th. The enemy were supposed to have frem 17 to 20
guns with them, some of which they sent across e hen they
left Russool, managing to carry off the rest front the field of
battle. Major Lawrence arrived in the camp of General
Gilbert from head-quarters, and went across the river, during
the 25th, with some difficulty, as the Seikhs had collected
all the boats they could lay their hands on, on their side
the river, and burnt a large number of them. He returned
to the British camp the same evening, and immediately
started for the head-quarters of the Commander-in-Chief
at Goojrat, this time the bearer, we believe, of propositions
on the part of Raja Shere Singh. It was ascer-
tained that the whole of the European prisoners were on
the other side of the Jhelum in the camp of the Raj,.
It appears that Sirdar Akram Khan was not killed, but se-
verely wounded, in the battle of Goojrat, and many accounts,
collected on the advance of General Gilbert, coincided as to
his having died subsequently from the effects of his wound;
but our native correspondent maintains he bad continued his
flight towards Attock, and the report of his death may have
been circulated to prevent pursuit. On the 26th of February
the Major-General again marched, with his whole force,
about six miles up the river, to the vicinity of a ford of three
and a half feet in depth, where he made immediate prepara-
tions for crossing. All our letters speak in high terms of the
fertility of the country, and of the luxuriance of the crops
they saw in all directions. On the 27th the Major-Ge-
neral passed a considerable body of his troops across
what was at one time considered the main body of the
stream, and hence a belief in camp at Goojrat that the
Jhelum had been crossed, but on further inspection it was
found there were two more branches, one deeper than
the one already passed, and likely to give some trouble
should the Seikhs defend the ford. As General Gilbert
would, under any circumstances, have to wait at Jhelum for
his third brigade and guns with heavy ordnance stores, he
considered it prudent to effect his crossing at leisure, and was
consequently preparing rafts to facilitate the passage of the
deepest of the two streams still between him and the right
bank of the river. The troops of Maharaja Ghoolab Singh,
which had up to the present time been quietly encamped at
Meerpore, about eighteen miles north of Jhelum, have now
been called upon to co-operate with the British force, and
have marched from Meerpoor •, some, it is said, across the
Jhelum, so as to take the Seikhs in the rear, and others to-
wards General Gilberee camp, in the immediate neighbour-
hood of which a detachment was posted, according to the
latest letters received.

The following extracts from the Mofussiiite of th• 9th
instant, which reached us last night, give the latest news
received from the armies of Lord Gough and General
Gilbert :

" CAMP' GOOJRAT, MARCH 3.—The reinforcements for
Gilbert's division left this yesterday (under Brigadier
M'Leod), consisting of her Majesty's 61st Foot, 13th and
22d Native Infantry, Ist Light Cavalry, 4th troop 2d Bri-
gade Horse Artillery, and the seige train, under Brigadier
tluthwaite, C. 8., together with four companies of loot ar-
tillery. Her Majesty's Glst are to relieve her Majesty's
29th ; the latter corps is very sickly, I regret to say."
From letters " direct" from the camp of General Gilbert,
dated the Ist and 2d of March, we extract as follows :
" Early on the morning of ie 22d the second division of
the army, under Sir W. R. Gilbert, moved on, in pursuit of
the Seikhi, to the River Jhelum. We arrived opposite Jhe-
lum on the 26th ; and next day moved on to Chincarpoor.
On the evening of the 27th, the left wing of the 2d Euro-
pean Regiment, the 31st Native Infantry, and Fordyce's
troop Horse Artillery, and Dawes' battery, crossed over, and
took possession of an ishind. On the 28th ult., the whole
of the 2d Europeans, the 31st Native Infantry, and some
pins, cros,ed over, and encamped on another island, and
this morning, the 2d Europeans, the 3lst Native
Infantry, and the guns, marched into this camp
(I'ackal, about three miles from the city of Jhelum, on the
right bank of the Jhelum). The rest of the troops are now
crossing over as quickly as possible; but I suspect three or
four days must elapse before Are are all on the right bank.
You can form no idea of the difficulty and trouble of crossing
a force over the Jhelum. Before the second stream could be
crossed we were forced to unload the camels and put their
burdens upon elephants The current is extremely rapid,
the depth of the river about two and a half or three feet, and
the footing very insecure. As yet, however, lam happy to
say not a single accident has happened. The personal ac-
tivity and caution of General Gilbert is wonderful. Of all
others he is the very man for such ac expedition as the
present. As soon as the enemy heard the British troops
were crossing, on the 27th, they retired—the villagers say
to Attock ; but others have it that Shere Singh and the
remnant of his troops are encamped near a pass (I cannot
venture on the name) about twenty-one miles from this.
It is asserted that both horse and foot soldiers are daily de-
serting him ; but this story has been so often told, when the
very reverse was the case, that I do not place any confidence

the-rein.
" March 2.—Colonel Steinbach, with a few of Gboolab
Singh's cavalry, has came into camp. At one r.M. all the
troops here, consisting of 2d Europeans, 31st and 70th Na-
tive Infantry, and Dawes' Battery, move on to Rhotas. (The
remainder of the force is still crossing). The Irregular
Cavalry, which was sent on to Jhelum on the 28th ultimo,
took twe 9-inch mortars and a quantity of ammunition,
besides nine prisoners. The name of the pass held by the
Singhs is Buchilla. It is supposed they can muster :Aid
some ten or twelve guns, and about 8,00:. or 10,000 men, of
all sorts. Our information, however, is, as usual, so very
indifferent that it is a matter of duubt whether another shot
will be tired, or whether they have in reality half the strength

we give them credit for."
We are extremely sorry to hear that, on the morning of
the Ist instant, an accident occurred to Brigadier-General

Mountain, which it is feared will compel that officer to re•
ling ash his present command. One of the Brigadier-Gene-
ral's pistols went off as he was placing it in the holster, and
shot him through the left hand.
Since our last we have heard that the report of Ghoolab
Singh's death was current at Lahore, Jullunder, and all the
principal towns and villages on the frontier; but as we have
had no definite information on the point, we Lnagine that
the report is without foundation. One account, which
reached the shroffs at this station, was this—that one Jorvahir
Singh, a Seikh, had stabbed the wily chieftain to the heart.
The reason assigned was, that Ghoolab refused to assist Shere
Singh, either with troops or money, to carry on the war
against the British.
We take the following from this morning's Telegraph and
Courier, the Editor of which paper states th t he received a
packet by the north-west express, which arrived last night,
containing extracts from the De,hi Gazette, Agree Messenger,
and Mofussilite Extra, of the 10th inst.:—
" GOOJRAT, MARCH s.—Gilbert has got possession of the
Bukreealah Pass. Mountain, who, you will have heard, shot
himself through the hand, is coining back, and Campbell goes
on in his stead. The report here is, that Ghoolab Shingh has
been poisoned by his khunsamah, at the instigation of his
nephew. The Governor-General is very silent, and I fancy
we are doomed to a hot weather in tents. lam sorry to say
sickness is showing itself in camp, and unless the chief moves
out of this stench he will soon have full hospitals."—Mofus-
Wife Extra, March 10.
"GENERAL GILBERT'S FORCE, IIHOTAS, MARCH 3.—On
the Ist of this month more troops crossed the main stream,
whilst others moved to the right bank of the river, and on
the 2d marched to Rhotas, which is a very large picturesque
looking place, and might have been strong before the day of
gunpo
vi ,
delrace'but with artillery opposed to it it could not
tlh lies
aforirddpret ty scenery,
re-
sist two hours, being made of brick, and commanded by
through a very finely cultivatedt
ed the advance of our army.
several hills near it. Theroadfrcoo
but nothing tfiatcould have pmu
n ttrhye,
o Rowill Finn, with enly five
report them to have gone t
have risen and thrashed
Of the movement of the Sell:31111 know little. The villagers
guns, and that the Mussulmahrpi
'n
at the head of a fine
though, with Gilbert and INhlae
ses
iklia may be to iked upon
Utter Singh, and many other t
kinegos which are to be doubted
as nearly over."—lbid.
force, I fancy the regime of the
11. tured from the ,
king 07 in a cap
large guns near Goojrat—ma
that Captain Steer, of the
The Dehi Gazette announces the discovery of four more
Seiklis. The same paper says,
ze ore on the 6th
fur drunkenness, dies at ler° p
the army
17.
56th Bengal Native Infantry, who was recently dismissed
inst.—Telegraph and Courier, March
OF INDIA, REPORTE
CASUALTIES BY DEATH IN TILE ARMIES
OF ,
111E,3d MARCH.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. ,
SINCETIIE DEPARTURE OE THE MAIL
d 14th Dragoons,
the 21st February; Lieut.
killed in action at Goojrat on
Her Majesty's Troops—Lieut. A. Lloy e
Thatcher. in medical
Bombay—Assistant-Surgeon Charles.
Hughes, 84th Foot, at Secunderabad, on the Ist March.
1 t March.
the 10th
Madras—Major C. Evans, in. Europe, .
charge Goozerat Irregular Horse, at R.,aira, on ton s
January • Captain Wilson, 32d ~
on the sth' March.
late commanding the 11th
Native Infantry, at Calcutta,
Bengal—Captain John Inglis,
ebruary ;
dersen, 4th troop ad brigade Horse ArtillerCapS y ; econd Lieu-
Cavalry, at Moulton, on the 161 Ftain J. An-