The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-11 00:00:00

SIR CHARLES NAPIER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—In your journal of the 6th instant I find a
vigorous and honourable defence of Sir Charles
Napier's government of Sinde, against the ill-
grounded attacks published in the Times; for it is
evident you allude to the articles which have ap-
peared in that paper.
The editor of the Times has been deceived by his
correspondent in all that relates to Sinde, and im-
posed upon by the false Parliamentary returns obtained
by Mr. Hume last year; and by the continued false-
hoods promulgated from Bombay, as to the expenses,
or as it is termed, the "DRAM of Sinde.
Permit me, Sir, to support your judicious obser-
vations on the value of the possession, by stating
certain facts, already sent to the editor of the Times,
but which cannot be too widely known, because they
cannot be disproved, though they may be denied by
the men who have so long assailed Sir Charles Napier
with every infamous calumny their despicable malice,
excited to frenzy by a sense of impotency, can
invent.

1. Not a soldier has been raised because of the con-
quest of Sinde except a Belooch battalion, and that
only from a fine policy, not from any want of force.
The occupation of Sukkur and Kurrachee, during
the Affghan war, may, for anything I know, have
occasioned an augmentation of the Bombay army ; but
the conquest of Sinde has not. It has, on the con-
trary, given a better frontier to Bombay ; and that
presidency must have maintained a larger force to
watch Sinde, and occupy Sukkur and Kurrachee, if
the Ameers had remained masters of the country, than
it has done in consequence of the conquest of Sinde.
2. The returns laid before Parliament are false, for
the following reasons :
Firstly, they give Sir Charles Napier 17,368 men
in 1843, when he had only 11,231. In 1844 they
tthey give hgiimee2hli,m4o2sl,
, 3when36,whhee
when
had e obnaldy
only
0102., 0
()lon. lABn4ds
he voluntarily sent hack 2,000 to Bombay that year.
Secondly, because the numbers in the first
column on the left hand differ from the numbers in
the lower or general total line. Both cannot be

true.
Thirdly, because the regiments are returned as if
they were all in Sinde at one time, and at their full
strength 1 There are, indeed, in the column of
names of regiments the dates of their services in
Sinde, but so confusedly and obscurely set down,
that no person will take the trouble to analyse them,
and correct the general numbers, which are false.
3. It is now said " that the Governor-General
has at last determined to put a stop to the accumula-
tion of troops in Sinde," as if Sir Charles Napier
desired to have them so accumulated. I pray you
mark the fact.
For two years, Sir Charles Napier has been ear-
nestly urging the reduction of the troops in Sinde to
5,000 men! They are now to be reduced to 8,000
men; that is to say, leaving him 3,000 more than he
desires ! And if a great body of men have been
quartered in Sinde this last year, it was for the Pun-
jaub war, and not for the protection of Sinde, which
has not therefore caused that "drain?'
4. With regard to the expense; the statements
attempted to be palmed on the public are equally
fallacious.
Sir Charles Napier has paid all the expences of the
civil government, and the cost of many great public
works of a permanent nature, and a police of 2,400
men, 1,000 being cavalry, out of the revenues of
Sinde ; and he has besides paid into the general trea-
sury the following surplus
ril
For the financial year ending Ap, 1844, during
which war raged for eight months, 27,000/.
For the year ending April, 1845, nearly 200,000/.
I have not the exact sum
A at hand.
pril, 1846, 310,0t00
1•
For the year endiDg
it is confidently expected that for 1846-7 he surplus
will be 360,000/.
Thus. Sir, in four years, during which war, •
lence, and locusts, have successively visited s pdesti-
newly-conquered country, Sir Charles Napierin Sinde,
a
has
governed the people happily and to their
great eon-
tent ; paid all the civil expenses of his Government
executed immense works of permanent utility
;
he will in April, 1847, have paid into the ; and
general
treasury certainly not less than 800,000/•, probably
revenue in-
d
nearly 1,000,000/.1 Each year the
creases, so does cultivation, so commerce,
and
oes
agricultural settlers arrive by thousands.
You have so forcibly exposed the futility of the
arguments against the retention of Sinde, that I need
not say more ; but I thank you for
and able advocacy of the truth with your voluntary
respect to that
valuable country.
WM. NApiER ....
Guernsey, Jan. 8, 1847. ) Major-General.

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DRURY-LANE THEATRE
George and the
Dragon (the new pantomime here) is drawing all the
town, tbe.house being crowded nightly. On the return
of the Court, the Prince of Wales is to go and see it, the
first time of his Ito} al Highness being in a theatre.
ADELPIII THEATRE.—DISTRESSED HIGHLANDERS.
—The penny subscription list, which is now going the
round of the Strand and its adjacent parishes, for the
purpose of mitigating the distress at present existing in
the Highlands of Scotland, was augmented by the efforts
of the ladies and gentlemen of the Adelphi Theatre,
who, in the course of five minutes, and in pence alone,
added not less than 16s. to the amount already collected.
It is to be hoped that other establishments will imitate
the benevolent example thus set them.
JACK or ALL TRADES.—The following was taken
from a sign at Misterton:--,6
brazier, and grinder
Clocks, and Silver Plate, Jewellery and all kiwi'
Agricultural Implements, neatly repared - of
carefully shod. Umbrellas and Par.- JJorses
—Somerset County Ga,..7ette, obi covered, &c."