The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-11 00:00:00

EVENING SUN.

CONDUCT of" the BRITISH in INDIA.
We have had occasion far some time past to remark a
-very great improvement in the Anglo-Indian press, and
in the manner in which the affairs of our immense Asiatic
dependencies are recorded and discussed by our Oriental
Contemporaries. The circulation of these journals in
Europe has increased fifty-fold since the opening of the
steam communication ; and the public -in the mother
country are learning to devote a more enlightened at-
tention to the acts of the British Government in India
and to the distant achievements of our people in the
most unknown and inaccessible parts of the eastern Con-
tinent. In spite of the difficulties of out-of-the-way
names and strange topography, we shall avail ourselves
of some of the more recent communications from these
sources, to follow the course of Lord Auckland's agents
and Sir John Hobhouse's policy beyond the Indus.
The first Affghan campaign, in which we include all
that occurred between the arrival of the Bombay army
at Kurachee in November, 1838, and the withdrawal of
the troops in January, 1840, was attended with all the
splendour of uncontested success. Shah Soojah was
restored to the throne of Cabul ; the coalition of the
Sirdars of Candahar was dissolved, and the great for-
tresses of Ghuznee and Khelat captured ; the loss of the
British army was estimated at less than 400 men ; the
Dooranie Order and the more suhstantial rewards of a
peerage and a pension were lavished on the fortunate
Generals of that bloodless expedition, which left a burden
of 9,000,0001. sterling on the Company's exchequer, and
a worthless tyrant on the throne of Cabul.
The subsequent events, which belong to what is called
the second Affghan campaign, have a very different cha-
racter. From the beginning of January, 1840, to the.
month of March in this year, our troops have been
engaged in 23 conflicts, chiefly with the fierce predatory
clans of the country. We have sustained 13 defeats or
checks in the mountains, or before their natural for-
tresses. We have lost 1,400 men and 17 European offi-
cers and the service on which the British army is en-
gaged, at an expense of 3,000,0001. or 4,000,0001. per
annum, is a perpetual desultory warfare' carried on in
support of the authority and the revenue of an in-
secure ally—the feeble and detested Sovereign of a
wild and independent people. The Affghan empire,
from the sea to the Tartar mountains, and from the
Indus to the confines of Persia, covers about 13 degrees
of longitude by 13 of latitude ; and over the mountain
clans of Central Asia, which people that vast wilderness,
the Court of Cabul, backed by a handful of foreign
troops, has no more authority than it has over the waves
of the Persian Gulf. Nevertheless, our forces are con •
tinually engaged in levying tribute from tribes which
have hardly paid their allegiance to the King, or in' ex-
pelling freebooters from the strongholds in which they
defy. his authority. The consequence is that, our inter-
ventrOn is, execrated by this fierce aristocracy and their
dependents. The Beloochees, the Murrees, the Kud-
jucks, the Brahoes, and as many more tribes as the
children of Israel subdued from Dan to Beersheba, aro
all converted into inveterate foes of England, without
having been subdued as subjects of England's ally.
Some of the proceedings of our agents towards these
native tribes appear to have been but little adapted to
conciliate their good-will or to command their respect.
v Eery claim of Shah Soojah to collect tribute from this
or that mountain chief is supported, without being in-
vestigated, by a force which attacks the stronghold,
plunders it, if possible, and drives the inhabitants into
the mountains at the inclement season of the year, either
to starve or to turn into banditti, and to harass our
convoys.
A few of the cases which have occurred under the
diplomatic sanction of Mr. Bell, who appears to be the
acting Viceroy over the King of those countries, deserve
particular notice.
One of the mountain chiefs, named Beerjar Khan, the
leader of the Dhomkies, had attracted the notice of our
agent as a contumacious freebooter. He was induced,
however, to submit upon certain stipulations, and, upon
• the invitation of Mr. Bell, lie came down from the
mountains, accompanied by a Scincl sof great authority,
w!!ose presence was to have been his protection. But
after he had made his salaam to the agent at Shikar-
poor, and been fed for some days, as the custom is, he
was kidnapped with his people, and conveyed as a pri-
soner to Bukkur, whilst his horses and arms were sold
by auction.
In Cutchee the administration of the province and the
revenue was.confided by Mr. Bell to Mahomed Shurreff,
a man of the very worst character, who seems to have
swindled the Government and oppressed the people. In
conjunction with this notable functionary, Mr. Bell pro-
ceeded to issue a proclamation, by which all the jaghires
of the province were attached. or, in other words, se-
questrated, subject to the production of proof of rightful
ownership, on which the landed proprietors and sirdars
were allowed to reclaim them. The consequence has
bean, that . for every fraction of land or revenue thus
resumed by the Crown, a host of implacable enemies has
been created, to assail the authority_ by which they have
been beggared and to sack the country.
But the conduct of Mahomed Shurreff and his coadju-
tor, Mr. Bell, to the unfortunate natives of Kudjuck, in
the Sebee country, in the month of February last, far
eclipses all the other fiscal excesses which have reached
our knowledge. The people of Kudjuk had facilitated
the passage of the British force under Major Leech in
1839 ; and they appear to have been much better dis-
posed to us and to their Shah than the warlike moun-
taineers to whom we just now alluded. At the getting
in of their crops they had offered to pay the revenue
by snaking the " buttai," or usual division of the
grain ; but this opportunity was neglected, and the corn
was housed. When the Naib Mahomet Shurreff after-
wards claimed the " buttai," it seems that some de-
lay arose ; however, an interview took place with
the Chiefs of the towns, and they agreed to make
the payment on the 19th of February. On the 'day
before that which had been thus fixed a strong party of
troops wes sent by Bell to Kudjuck to enforce the pay-
ment.- A collection was instantly made by the inhabit-
ants to pay the sum agreed upon within two hours. The
ICudjuck chiefs were in the act of bringing out the trea-
sure, when they saw our guns and troops advancing,
end they retreated to their homes, declaring that they
ware betrayed. The unequal combat (fer the town was
defenceless) was interrupted by the women coming out
with korans on their heads to supplicate for peace; and at
nightfall the firing ceased. On the following day theplace
was occupied, and that itteoutained was declared prize-
property. The crops were destroyed by the bbllocics and
camels of the army; the town was sacked ; and the troops
which were sent to collect revenue carried off everything
in plunder. But the frightful act was not yet consum-
mated. An order was issued by Bell that the very walls
of the town should be razed to the ground, and that
Kudjuck should never be reinhabited I That order was
obeyed. The old and bedridden were removed from the
root's which they and their fathers had inhabited for
seven generations. Men, women, and children were
turned forth upon the scorching plains of Cutchee, house-
less and ahungered, to expiate a crime of which they
were not guilty.
These facts are fully recorded in the Bombay journals,
and they are corroborated by our own accounts from
India. Wherever these lines are read, they will excite
a burning blush, that such enormities should have been
perpetrated under the sanction of an English agent, and
that the pretended policy of this country should have
been supported by acts so cruel, unscrupulous, mid im-
politic.—Tunes.

FIIIE AT GLASGOW.--On Friday, betwixt
twelve and one o'clock, a large four story land of dwell-
ing-houses in North-street, Anderston, was discovered
to be on,fire, the flames, when first observed, issuing from
the roof with great fury. The lire engines were on the
spot with despatch, hut we are sorry to say all the fur-
niture in two dwelling-houses were destroyed. A nar
row escape was made by a person named Thomas Mac-
diartnid, employed in the work belonging to Messrs.
Muir and Brown. He entered one of the houses, when
the fire was at its height, for the purpose of making an
effort to recover some part of the furniture, but found his
way out completely obstructed by the flames. He was
then under the necessity of going out by one of the win-
dows, from which be hung suspended, on the fourth
story, to the great terror of the people below, who expec-
ted every moment to see him dashed upon the pavement.
Feather beds were spread beneath to receive him when
he fell ; but providentially he found another means of
s.
escaping from, his perilous potion. He kept his pl
with great coolness and presence of mind,
till he
his feet hanging in front of one of the son the
story below, when he continued to push r..o.wn the upper
frame of the window, so as to obtain ".ipon it a sure foot-
ing. -He then, with great clexte:ity; put down one of his
hands, and getting hold ';;; the window, entered the
house in safety, to the r;reitt relief of a large concourse
of people who witr_Lessed the wonderfel• escape. The
origin of the fire is attributed to the carelessness of some
plumbers wheo were repairing the roof, and who had a
fire upon, it. for the purpose of melting lead.—Glasgow
Ar •
The consecration of the Bishop of Evreux was
sa)leinnised on Friday morning at half-past eight, in the
hurch of Saint Roch, by the Archbishop of Paris, who
returned on Thursday from Belgium, assisted by the
Bishops of Versailles and Seez, and in the presence of
the late Bishop of Beauvais, the Pope's Internuncio. and
a largo body of clerical dignitaries. The President of the
Council, the Keeper of the Seals, the Ministers of the
Intehor, Foreign Affairs, Public Instruction, and Fi-
rances, the Prefect of the Seine, the Mayors of the first
and second Arrondissements, the Colonel of the 2d
Legion of the National Guard, and a deputation from
Evreux, with a great number of personages of distinction
in Paris, added by their attendance tQ the interest of the
scene. As early as six the !leer:4 were opened, and soon
afterwards the church was .aled. The grand ceremony
was not concluded t;...d.", half-past ten. The Queen has
tmade presents t:-,,th--0 new
withßishioof the. greatest splen-
dour, richi-: decorated gold and precious stones, to
be use. in the exercise of the sacred office, and has been •
Irlatated by other persons to a very large amount. The
Duchess of Orleans also sent to the Prelate some orna-
ments of great beauty, accompanied by a request that,
svhen he should wear them, ha would pray for her chil-
dren. The Bishop, in accepting them, returned his
thanks to the Princess Royal, who, as our readers are
aware, is a Protestant, and assured her Royal Highness
that not only would he do so,, but would pray for her
also. The total value of the various presents reedited
by the Prelate is stated to ba upwards of 100,000 fr. The
liishop left Paris for his diocese on Monday, and
made his entree at Evreux next day. After the usual
ceremony at the Cathedral, the Bishop gave a grand
dinner.

VETO ACT.—From the proceedings of the
Synod of Argyle it appears that the Synod has agreed
to overture the General Assembly "to suspend the. Veto
Act, and that the Church should abandon her present
position, and return to that obedienke to law and orderly
conduct, in the maintenance of which in times past she
has enjoyed so many blessings."—Glasgow Argue.
we have
THE WEATHER—D-11ring the last four days
- again unfortunately had 4 a preponderance of
moisture over dry stmhliine ; but the temperature has
bleu mild and growing.—Glusgew Herald.