The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-07 00:00:00

THE PUNJAUB.

The chief intelligence we have within the last fort-
night reoeived from beyond the Sutlej is mainly impor-
tant as corrective of past misimpressions. The appre-
hension of danger in these quarters from the unstable
nature of our arrangements, and insurrections and em-
barrassments of which the policy of Lord Hardinge pro-
vided the seeds, are one after another shown to have
been utterly without foundation as the time arrives
which permits the facts of the case to be given to the
world. The great patriotic outburst, as the Cashmere
insurrection was supposed to be, which was to involve
us in countless dangers, and broils and troubles,
turned out to be a mere local and temporary outbreak,
of no moment whatever, arising from the treachery and
personal spite of the Vizier, who, inciting a Chief to trea-
son with a view of keeping Ghoolab Singh from the ter-
ritories made over to him, became himself the victim of
machinations designed for the injury of the enemy. The
people, supposed to revolt at the idea of being brought
under the dominion of a Seikh, had in fact been so for
the space of thirty years, and were only now transferred
from one Seikh to another, and never seem to have ex-
pressed or experienced the slightest aversion to the
change. These are now long past; they had their time,
and have been succeeded by further misconceptions,
which have given rise to apprehensions as vague, and
speculations as unfounded, as those which preceded
them. The state of the Hazareh country, where diffi•
culties and dangers as visionary as those supposed to en-
compass us in connexion with Cashmere were said to
await us, became ono of the next subjects of speculation.
It turns out that Lieutenant Lumsden, instead of being
sent forth to make war, has been ordered on a mission
of peace. The Hazarehs had risen, not against Ghoolab
Singh, to whose authority they had been subjected, but
against the Lahore Seikhs. These they have expelled
ft om the hills and shut up in the fort of Hurkishengur,
which was on the point of capitulating in April last, when
relieved by a strong reinforcement from the Lahore
Government just b2fore the new arrangement was
concluded with the Jamoo chief. Lieutenant Lumsden
was sent to smooth down past differences and to reconcile
the hill-men to their enemies, and not either to make
war or to subjugate them to the will of their new ruler,
to which no aversion had been expressed by them. He
has since then been followed by Mr. P. Vans Agnew on
the same errand, and the mission has every prospect of
being attended with success. Were the Government of
Ghoolab Singh as indifferent and unpopular as it is re-
presented to be, it would be difficult 'Or it to be worse
than the best of those which have preceded it. The
Hill Maharaja is remorseless and avaricious enough,
but he is not one whit more so than the great majority of
his brother chiefs. Since our connexion with him we
have had no reason to charge him with indulging in any
of the infirmities usually imputed to him as hebitual. On
tho other hand, he has at our suggestion emptied his
dungeons of state prisoners, restored hundreds of
estates that had been seiz-d upon, set his face against the
burning of widows, and abolished infanticide throughout
his dominions. This was more than we could persuade
Ruejeot Singh to attempt after twenty years of the
closest alliance with him, or than the bulk of the Go-
vernments in the very bosom of our dominions have in
the space of centuries been induced to perform.
The perfect freedom of the Queen to move about
at her pleasure has in no way been interfered
with, though she has been on some occasions denied
the company of her son when about to proceed on
pretended pilgrimages, suspected to have objects very
different from those acknowledged in view. The Maha-
raja is himself, on all occasions, encouraged to appear
in public, and is now constantly to be seen on horseback
amongst his chiefs and people, instead of living in the
seclusion to which he was formerly condemned. The
durbar has not been forbidden to assemble on the Sab-
bath- day ; it was intimated that on this day British
officers would not visit, receive visits, or transact busi-
ness, except on occasions of extreme emergency ; and the
Seikhs having asked whether they might not add it to
the number of their holidays, were told to do just as
they pleased,—to consider it as one by all means, if not
satisfied with the number already observed. The festi-
vities alleged to have been held in the Shalimar gardens
on the anniversary of the battle of Sobraon, and with a
view to commemorating our victories, occurred on an-
other d ty altogether, and had no object of the sort in
viewl Colonel Lawrence in all these matters having
invariably acted with the consideration and thought-
fulness for which he is so deservedly distinguished.
The most cordial footing continues to be main-
tained betwixt us and our new allies, notwithstand-

ing the intrigues of the Maharanee to interrupt
the harmony which exists. The Resident gave a
splendid entertainment on the 4th ult., the second
of
the season. Some one hundred and eighty, Utiles an,
officers, sat down to luncheon, and dancing commenced
ntahhso
t"Sain,
steadykg E h hristg hasgeistoh E
ing ldraevrsime,hart,
alarmists.
telsdi apprehensionbrleorni
jaarto,l provided
dmeeeidnonfdfrosedrcaootnfmhgeemevyreenonfrom
gdo
t
at
Maharaja; the Resident was averse to the measure, on
the ground of its being likely to alarm the Seikhs with
the idea that it might be our purpose to convert the fu-
ture ruler from Paganism—or, more probably, that we
might so imbue him with our views as that he should be-
come a puppet in our hands. There is no fear that un-
der the administration of Colonel Lawrence a matter so
important will be neglected, or that Dhuleep Singh will
not have most carefully imparted to him all the instruc-
tion circumstances permit of or require. The state of
the finances of the Punjaub had attracted serious atten-
tion, and their condition, as might have been expected,
proved to be such that the most stringent system of re-
trenchment and economy was found indispensable. It is
on these grounds, as is alleged, that Colonel Steinbach
has been refused re-admission into the Seikh army, and
the services of Colonel Cortlandt declined. _ It must, at

the same time, be remembered, that one of the condi-
tions of the treaty of February, 1846, was to the effect
that no European or American officers should ever be
admitted into the armies of the Punjab; and that
whatever may be the pretence under which these
things have -occurred, we must in consistency have
.en-
deavoured to get rid of Europeans formerly, or still
in the service, as speedily as possible. Efforts have been
made to settle, by comprise, as quickly as possible, the
misunderstandings with the landowners in the distant
provinces, chiefly arising from revenue disputes.
The accounts of Futteh khan, Tawanah, apparently
a sort of Vice Chancel!or of the Exchequer, were
said to be in great confusion; he acknowledged a debt
to Government of about 30,0001., but was found to owe
them more than 70,000/. Ho had been placed under
surveillance pending the inquiry into his affairs. The
very talk of plots and conspiracies—where such things
in reality were wont to be so abundant—is nearly at an
end; and the rumour, that the life of Tej Singh was
about to have been attempted on the 10th of February,
is now affirmed to bare originated with that chief him-
self, who by this means desired to bring his supposed
enemies into discredit! The good effects of the policy
we are pursuing are everywhere becoming apparent.
Tho general feeling of security., now becoming unirercal,
is manifesting itself in the improvements of trade, at
present unusually brisk, and the exhibition of productive
industry, for a long time sadly dormant. Cotton as well
as grain are finding their way in large quantities from
our side across the river—a single merchant is said to
have exported betwixt 800 and 900 camel loads; and to