The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-24 00:00:00

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that great empire which has diffused the dominatio
of the Anglo-Saxon race throughout the various
climates of the globe, and into all the,
habitable recesses of both hemispheres. When
a little more than seventy years ago DUPLEJN. Was
forming to himself the project of increasing the glory
of the Bourbons by the spoliation of the Asiatics, it
was scarcely conjectured that before another century
should have elapsed, the vast and populous peninsula of
the East—a country abounding in all the riches and
adorned with all the magnificence peculiar to the
Orientals—would become the property, the sole and
undisputed property of England. Yet such, as history
has already narrated, has actually been the case--
such has actually been the consequence of
the conspiracy at Pondicherry. Our dominion in that
quarter of the earth stretches northwards as far as
the range of the Caucasus, and southwards to the
extremity of Cape Comorin ; it reaches even across
Palk's Strait and the Gulf of Manaar to the noble
inland of the Cingalese ; it spreads eastwards
to the Himalayas, and westwards to Beloochistac;
it is diffused through the whole of the provinces
traversed by the waters of the Indus and the
Ganges; it comprises the treasures in specie
and jewels, in precious stones and precious
metals, accumulated by a succession of despotic
rulers, as well as fruitful regions prolific in rice
and all the other varieties of Asiatic vegetation.
In the acquisition of this remarkable territory, the
fame of England has no doubt been sullied by some
crimes, and before the re-organization of her Indian
Government by CLIVE, by many atrocious cruelties.
Nevertheless, it will be acknowledged by all
future ages that the evils entailed upon the
Asiatic multitudes by the subjugation of Hindostan
by England have been immeasurably more than
counterbalanced by the blessings conferred upon them
by British law and European civilization. And
among all the successive conquests and annexations
which have marked the progress of our arms in the
East, not one can be mentioned more perfectly justi•
fiable, more obviously necessary, or more strictly
honourable in every particular than the conquest of
the Seikhs and the annexation of the Punjaub.
It must be borne in recollection, that in reducing
the Hindostanees to obedience we have acted
very differently than in bringing the Redskins
into a state of vassalage. The Iroquois and the
other tribes of that noble race, the abo-
rigines of America, were—it can never be
forgotten so long as the name of GEORGE CATLIN 10
preserved in remembrance, so long as a charm con-
tinues to be attached to La Longue Carabine, so long
as a heart can throb or an eye can weep over the
melodious and pathetic verse of " Gertrude of
Wyoming"—unpolluted by vice and gifted with ail
those moral and physical attributes which are
the most calculated to ennoble man when in a condi'
tion of natural vigour and primitive simplicity. In
dealing with the inhabitants of the Eastern peninsula
we were, on the contrary, dealing with a race ener•
vated to a state of unexampled degeneracy—a race
habituated, generation after generation, to all the
villanies of chicanery, cruelty, and despotism. Any
change likely to introduce amongst them the practice
of honesty and the principles of justice could not fail
to be beneficial ; and especially was this probable If
with those general practices and abstract
principles were introduced also the benign
and humanizing dogmas of Christianity, and the
elevating enlightenment of Civilization. Again, and
more particularly, in regard to the conquest of the
Seikhs and the annexation of the Punjaub—that con'
quest, that annexation are the result not of 01
treachery, not of any selfish lust of spoliation,
but of a glaring and unavoidable necessity. When the
Jannissary bands of Lahore, mustering under the
banners of their Chieftains, made an unprovoked in'
cursion upon the territories of British India by cross'
ing the current of the Sutlej—upon them, and urn
them alone, rested the responsibility of the possible,
nay, we should rather say, the inevitable consequences
of that expedition. They it was who threw down
the gauge of war. They it was who forced
upon the
comprehension of our Government the conviction
that there remained no security for our
possessions so long as the Sutlej con-
tinued to be our northern boundary. For
a time the necessary result of this flagrant
act of defiance on the part of the Seikhs was post'
poned. For a time the dangerous necessity of 001
further annexation was delayed—dangerous we sal:
because of the already gigantic dimensions 01
our dominions. A second act of perfidy Out
defiance--coupled this time with two most
dastardly and execrable murders—reduced the
Supreme Council at Calcutta to the acknowledgince
that our policy was confronted to this decisive alter"
native—either to annex the Punjaub to our dominions
after beating down the insolence of its tree
cherous and rebellious warriors, or to COl"
tinue matters in their present state with the
certainty of the periodical recurrence of these murdere
and insurrections. Acting upon the only possible
determination that could be come to, Lord DO'
HOUSIE has caused the little Maharaja DEMO?
SINGH to sign away his crown. His Excellency hag
driven back the boundary line to the Caucasian Meow
tains, he has annexed for ever to British India the
famous country of the Five Rivers. This he has been
enabled to accomplish thus rapidly by the triunlPl'd
of our brave soldiers over the two most warlike ell(
redoubtable races of the East, and by the heroism
the veteran Commander-in-Chief, his Excellency the
4
Lord GOUGH. So decisive was the brilliant victor'
gained by that eminent soldier at Goojerat, thattu
march of Sir WALTER GILBERT after the fugitives
—a march which will be long remembered in t"
records of our Indian warfare for its admirable Prie,
e
vision and its astonishing rapidity—was
without crossing swords with the enemy. n°94.0
MAEomEn has fled through the Kyber Passa
Affghanistan. The MooLaAJ is to be tried an
subjected to a fitting punishment. CHOI"
SINGH and SHEER SINGE are, as is generally he,
lieved, to be imprisoned for life. The boy MAI°
RAJA, is to receive a pension of four lass per annum'
with a suitable residence ; and, as among the
most striking trophies of our recent successes'
the celebrated diamond, one of the largest'
if not the largest diamond in the world'
known among lapidaries as the Koh-i_noort
or Mountain of Light; is to be presented to befi
most gracious MAJESTY, and will henceforth shed
its cloudy radiance from the diadem of Quee/1
VICTORIA.
One thing can assure to the British Goverionee:
that the acquisition of the Punjaub is an advantsgt
and not a curse, and a cause of involvement : and tils,
thing is the laying down of trunk railways throng',
out Hindostan. We look for this as a consul:olj
tion of the great deeds already achieved by the 50
of GOUGH and the counsels of DALHOUSIE.

We have repeatedly directed the public attention
to the Attachments Bill, introduced by the Honouti
able Member for the city of Dublin. We had hope.
that this measure, so important not only to the 03e,"t.
;
cantile and trading interests of Ireland, but to tir
English merchants and manufacturers, who sell thele
goods on credit to Irish dealers, would long sineej
have passed the House of Commons. It was reeeiv
with general approbation ; none denied the gri()a-
abuses to which it gave rise, none could °;:g
fend the existing system, which led to resa"a
such as those so clearly and ably e%rs3
by Mr. REYNOLDS. It was shown that It
occasioned the greatest frauds, enabled maligl)so%
scoundrels to indulge their vindictive feelings in n-o.
most oppressive manner, frequently inflicting irrero
rable injury on perfectly solvent parties ; that
or it /;Is,
freely resorted to by persons with doubtful 144
puted claims, to enforce a settlement of their 12°Jua
demands, of demands sustained by the most open 11:0
unblushing perjury, and that in many cases it ire
adopted as a means of sweeping off the enftie
property of an insolvent trader, and 130_0
ing the fair creditors of the reasonable dividePice
which might otherwise have been obtained. N° r`) 0;
was raised in defence of those iniquitous proceedingte
no person, could be found to advance a single ariffic,
ment in support of these flagrant abuses ; yet a jo3tritlc
the
t!.O
obstacle has hitherto retarded the progress of
and equitable measure now under the considera_
of Parliament—an obstacle utterly insignificalyea
comparison with the great advantages to be der_tot
from a judicious alteration of the law, and the Lu
abolition of proceedings by attachment. of
ero
It may be well here to state briefly the natu obi
the process of which Mr. REYNOLDS, on behalf c"