The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-05 00:00:00

HA ZAREH.

Our native correspondent alluded the other day to
some hostile operations of Chuttur Singh, under-
taken somewhere about the 18th or 20th of October,
with the view of rescuing some Seikhs kept in check
by the Hazareh country people. He added that he
had succeeded in his object. The Seikhs, it appears,
held a small fort in a valley under the position of
Captain James Abbott at Sreekote (we do not know,
but suspect this is the Kot' of the maps about
twenty-four miles to the north-west of the town of
Hazareh). Captain Abbott beleaguered this fort,
the name of which is Sumbulghur. Sirdar Chuttur
Singh advanced to Chazee on the Indus, and thence
sent
,a message to Captain Abbott, requesting that
he might allow the garrison to leave the fort,
and join his (Chuttur Singh's) force. The pro-
position was readily agreed to, and a safe con-
duct was guaranteed to the Seikh army. Chut-
tur Singh, however, had no real intention of
giving up the fort, and sent private orders to
the garrison to remain in it, promising them to ad-
vance and drive Captain Abbott from his position at
Sreekote, having in the meanwhile secured the neu-
trality of 300 of the Mulkeeas by seizing their
families, whom they promised to spare provided that
the men would not fire on his division. On the
morning of the 18th of October, he advanced with all
his force, at eight A.M., and commenced the ascent of
Sreekote. He was opposed by only 1,500 men, scat-
tered amongst the rocks and bushes, but his own
troops advancing in close columns, suffered so severely,
that at two P.M. he withdrew them, after losing, as
we have already mentioned, 90 killed and 200
wounded. Of the Hazarehs, who so bravely stood
the attack, only eight men were killed and 12
wounded. The garrison of Sumbulghur, seeing the
defeat of their friend, set fire to the fort. After
quitting it the magazine exploded, and the explosion
injured one of the curtains. This completely reconciles
the account given by the kassid (who of course
could know nothing of the messages that had passed
between Chuttur Singh and Captain Abbott) who
was quoted by our Lahore correspondent, and the
accounts now given. Any person unacquainted with
the correspondence would naturally suppose that
Chuttur Singh had, at a great expense of life, merely
rescued one of his garrisons from a beleaguering
force. Maharajah Goolab Singh has supplied Captain
Abbott with money, and is sending him guns, by
which he has been and will be enabled to keep to-
gether an irregular force, and that will be very ser-
viceable when our troops cross the Jhelum. We
deem it fair to give publicity to the following commu-
nication recently received. Major Lawrence's extra-
ordinary success in keeping the Peshawur garrison
so long in order against all hope, gives him in itself
so strong a hold on the consideration of Government
that he can afford to share the credit of all that has
been done on the banks of the Indus with those to
whom equal credit is due:—

" I observed in a late number of your paper an edito-
rial notice of Major Lawrence's proc,edings, and
amongst other particulars an assertion that he had
secured the fort of Attok, and had seized or destroyed
the ferry-boats on the Indus for many miles above and
below the fort. I beg to inform you that the fort of
Attok was secured by Lieutenant Nicholson, on his own
responsibility, and without any orders from Major Law-
rence, who afterwards increased the garrison; and that
the ferry-boats were seized or destroyed by Captain
Abbott's order, and by his people, of whom u party,
under Sergeant Denton, unfortunately perished in the
execution of that duty."—Delhi Gazette.