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

iTield ~i

LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1847

It will be perceived, from a letter addressed to
ourselves, by his Excellency the Governor of Guern-
sey, and published in another column, that the cal-
culations latterly advanced by some of our Contem-
poraries as reasons for the retirement of the British
troops from Sinde, are, as we insisted on the 6th
ultimo, altogether garbled and fallacious. We are
always disposed to look with suspicion upon state-
ments advanced with so much egotistical positiveness
in reference to a country so remotely situated and so
recently annexed to the dominions of British In-
dia. Again, it was manifest that a territory of
such considerable dimensions, and of such
unquestionable fertility, could not prove so
entirely an encumbrance to its conquerors, or that,
presuming it did at the commencement of the occupa-
tion necessitate any remarkable disbursements from
the Exchequer, it must ultimately, and very speedily,
repay that outlay by extraordinary and remunerative
contributions. Much stress has been laid upon the
Parliamentary returns by those who are solicitous
for the abandonment of Sinde; indeed, it is upon
those Parliamentary returns that the arguments
of these dissentients are based. "Let us re-
joice," they exclaim, " let us rejoice that
there is at last a feeble approximation to sanity in the
councils of Bombay. Yes, the legislators of our
Oriental possessions are beginning to recognise the
ir execrable nature of their bargain along the banks of
the Indus ; they perceive that since the period of its
invasion, namely, for three whole years, Sinde has
been nothing better than a maelstrom to our Indian
treasures; that for three years it has been sucking
in rupees at the rate of a million and a half pounds
annually ; that during those three lamentable years
it has required an outlay of between 3,000,0001. and
4,500,0001. per annum. The Government of Bombay
are at length becoming aware of their egregious
blundering—the troops stationed upon the Indus are
to be diminished by a withdrawal of 7,000 soldiers.
Yet, alas !" they continue, " there is scarcely any
substantial cause for self-gratulation. The Hydra's
head is scarcely lopped off, when another
starts from the bleeding cicatrice. Eight thousand
men are scarcely removed from their expensive quar-
ters upon the Indus to their original position in
Bengal, when nine thousand are absolutely imported
to Belooch. Still there is to be a reduction in our
Sinde expenditure notwithstanding. But such a re-
duction! We are no longer to be annually drained
of a cool million and a half. No ; but we are still
to be out of pocket every year just one million
sterling."
There is something positively amusing in this
dogmatical manner of arriving at conclusions. It is
about as comprehensible and satisfactory as the anal
opinion entertained by the drunken Mr. WACKFORD
SQUEERS, when musing over his plight in the station-
house :—" A double L, all—everything, a cobler's
weapon. U, P, up, adverb, not down. S, Q,
U, double
E, B, s, Squeers, noun substantive; total, all up
with
Squeers." Not one jot less preposterous is the mode of
drawing inferences adopted by the advocates for the
evacuation of Sinde. There is no raisingof hypotheses
in their consideration of the question. There is merely
a dogged, blundering misstatement of facts.
Nevertheless, it may be insisted, those facts and
those arguments are many of them taken from the
Parliamentary returns. The perpetual stress laid upon
data derived from these official sources would lead one
to imagine that there must be some very prevalent
and very popular superstition as to the infallibility
of Parliamentary returns, than which superstition
nothing could be more frivolous. Now, it is very
plainly stated by Major-General Sir WILLIAM
NAPIER, that the Parliamentary returns relating to
Sinde are flawed with many egregious inaccuracies.
In 1843, those papers apportioned to Sir CHARLES
NAPIER 6,137
,3 moren. more soldiers than were actually under
notwithstandin
his direction,
lll‘n 1844, 8,705, more ; and in 1845,
:hshall waive this point, however,
3 shall
facility it affords us for worsting
rnent of Sinde. strangely desirous for the abandon-
these who are sgo
.
the purpose of waive the point for
curecting particular counter-assertions
of
s. attention to the
CHARLES NAPIEB," he as u• WILLIAM NAPIER. " Sir
" pohas •
penes of the civil govern merit." -Pazd all the ex-
positively assured that Sinde is •
And yet we are
about the neck of the Si British Lion"
virtually a mill-stone
i the
East! Verily the ill
stones are n
into bladders: Sir NAnart Sir C expanding
_ zut has
nioreover,