The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-04 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 4, 1847.

PRIVY COUNCIL.

Her MAJESTY held a Privy Council at half-past
two o'clock this afternoon, at Windsor Castle, for the
purpose of appointing the Sheriffs for the different
English and Welsh counties in the present year.
A special train was ordered at the Paddington
station of the Great
,Western Railway, at half-past
one o'clock, to convey the Ministers from town to
attend the Council.

Scarcely ever has the Oriental intelligence been of
a more remarkable and, in many particulars, of a
more satisfactory character than that just received in
anticipation of the Overland Mail. Without bloodshed
Lahore is resigned to our keeping ; without odium
the government of the Seikhs is transferred to the
British authorities ; without any expense whatever a
vast army of our soldiers will be supported at the
cost of the population situated beyond our frontiers.
Surely this is better than the concessions wrung from
a vanquished territory by a dozni Sobraons or fifty
Moodkees ! The bare announcement of what has
been realised by our valiant troops and sagacious
Government, seems little more credible than the
dreamings of an agreeable delirium. Yet the boons
we have mentioned are actually ours—we have not
Merely a foretaste of them, they are already in our
possession. We have been secretly lamenting over
the blood, perfidy, and slaughter with which our pro-
ceedings in the east have been latterly associated.
We awake at the intelligence which has just arrived
from India to find all the gloomy characteristics of
the spectacle dissipated, and, in lieu thereof, tran-
quillity, confidence, and emolument.

How these enormous advantages have been ob-
tained is explicable in a few sentences. Immediately
after the suppression of the disturbances in the valley
of Cashmere a suspicion began to be entertained that
the Vuzeer LALL SINGH had been acting throughout
with his usual duplicity. His negotiations were so
manifestly tortuous, that a treasonous correspondence
between himself and the insurgents was more than
surmised. 'Whispers were abroad, and the character
of the Vuzeer grew darker. EMAUDI..OOD-DEEN
spoke, and the hypocrisy of LALL SINGH was dis-
closed in all its blackness. Further attempts at con-
cealment were useless. The letters forwarded to the
revolted Seikh by the perfidious Vuzeer were forth-
coming ; they were produced, and the master crime
of Lam. SINGH was proven. After this monstrous
evidence of guilt in the man so generously entrusted
with supreme authority by the magnanimity of the
British Government, there was but a single means of
its expiation remaining. An extraordinary alter-
native was submitted to the Durbar : the Vuzeer
was formally deposed, and conveyed under an
escort to Hindostan ; the executive power was
transferred to a commission of chiefs ; and our per-
mission was granted for an army of 10,000 men to
continue at Lahore during the minority of the Maha-
raja. By this arrangement the government of Lahore
is, not merely virtually, but actually entrusted ,to
our wisdom for the next ten years at
the very lowest computation. During that period
our Commissioner will exercise the authority
originally invested in the hands of LALL SINGH.
During that period ten thousand of our soldiers will
be sustained by the Seikhs, our frontiers in that di-
rection will be adequately protected from incursion,
a splendid opportunity will be afforded for the facili-
tation of our intercourse with that portion of the
Orientals, and the community of Lahore will be
inoculated with the spirit of civilization. It is scarcely
possible, indeed, to exaggerate the advantages likely
to accrue both to ourselves and the population of La-
hore from this intimate knitting together of our
interests. The moral friction consequent upon an
alliance of such an incongruous nature must
be productive of the most beneficial effects. It
will give a spur to commerce, a permanence
to amity, and a sentiment of emulation to the vast
majority of the inhabitants of Lahore. The imme-
diate benefits of this new settlement of affairs with
the Durbar will be most readily appreciable, though
the ultimate improvements ensured by that combina-
tion of people will be more durable and compre-
hensive.

While we are felicitating ourselves, however, upon
this peaceable occupation of the Punjaub, we must
not disregard the other changes which are occurring
in different directions in India. We must not omit
to mention, for example, the predatory movement of
a foray of two thousand of the Booghties, whereby a
portion of our army upon the Indus is reported to
have been compelled to retreat. The position, more-
over, of the various representatives of Queen VIC-
TORIA in British India are at this moment peculiarly
worthy of consideration, particularly with reference to
the Governor of Sinde. By the latest accounts it would
appear that Lord HARDINGE was tarrying on the
banks of the Beeas, in expectation of the arrival of
Mr. CURRIE from his mission to Lahore, while Lord
GOUGH was hastening forward to Loodhiana. It is
neither upon the Governor-General nor the Com-
mander-in-Chief, however, that the general attention
is turned. The continuance of Sir CHARLES NAPIER
at Kurrachee excites the greatest amount of curiosity,
and originates the greatest number of rumours and
conjectures. According to the Bombay Times, the
Governor of Sinde is about to proceed to England,
cis Bombay, while the territory which his prowess
has conquered, and his sagacious administration has
preserved, is "to be entrusted to a commission,
preparatory to its final abandonment." Pshaw ! the
assurance with which these nervous malcontents
embody their wishes in announcements is absolutely
contemptible. They yearn, like craven-hearted
men as they are, for the abandonment
of Sinde ; and they yearn for it because
they have so confidently and repeatedly predicted its
resignation as wholly unremunerative, that the non-
fulfilment of their prediction would prove, in a great
measure, destructive to their character. It is grati-
fying, nevertheless, to reflect that the balance of the
revenue accounts of Sinde is not to be garbled from
one thing into another at the pleasure of an insidious
correspondent, or through the egregious blundering of a
Parliamentary paper. A flourishing exchequer cannot
be transformed at the behest of an unconcientious
dissentient into a bankrupt exchequer, nor a healthy
administration into an effete and worthless adminis-
tration. According to the mercenary views of the
individuals we refer to, Sinde should be abandoned
upon a question of L. S. D., while, according to the
opinion of every sensible and unprejudiced mind, it is
upon that very consideration of L. S. D. that Sinde
should be retained, and that the fruits of the conquest
of Sir Cnaimes NAriuit should not be peevishly scat-
tered to the winds of heaven just at the moment they
are beginning to ripen.

A very full meeting of Irish Members took place
in Old Palace-Yard, Westminster, on Tuesday, to
receive from Lord GEORGE BENTINCR. an explanation
of the provisions of the Bill which he has framed for
the encouragement of railways in Ireland.
This assembly was convened in consequence of the