The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-05 00:00:00

OVERLAND MAIL

INDIA.
We received on Saturday morning (via Mar-
seilles) our correspondence and files of newspapers
from India, in anticipation of the Overland Mail from
Bombay.

BOMBAY, DEC. 2, 1846.—We have' for some days
past been kept in great anxiety by the continued ab-
sence of the mail which must have left London on the
24th October, and ought to have been here on the 26th
November. Some accident must assuredly have be
fallen the steamer.

The most important item of the news of the
month refers to money matters. Advances on the
Five per Cent. Loan are coming in so slowly that
the opening of a six per cent. one is talked about.
The expenses of Sinde, betwixt November, 1845,
and November, 1846, when there was under Sir C.
Napier an army varying from 21,000 to 27,000 men,
must have exceeded its income by considerably more
than a million and a half sterling. After the with-
drawal of the troops now under orders for India, there
will remain behind some 15,000 men, or nearly the
number on the muster-roll when the Parliamentary
returns, by which it appeared that the expenditure
exceeded the income by nine hundred and odd thou-
sands a year, were made up.. This is fearful work.
It is understood here that Sir R. Peel was favour-
able to the restoration of the Aineers ; and it is known
that the majority of the Court of Directors are most
anxious for the abandonment of this possession.
Rumours are rife as to the course likely to be adopted
by Lord Hardinge in reference to the matters sub-
mitted to him for his opinion by the Court of Dim!,
tors. His Lordship's own policy is so pacific that-•ii, -
is imagined he may be hostile to the continued occu-
pation of Sinde.
The Cashmere insurrection has now been fairly
put down. It seems in reality to have been a very
petty affair, and to have- been got up by a single ac-
tive, enterprising, discontented, ambitious individual;
not to have been at all the result of general discon-
tent, arising from oppression or misgovernment. '
Ghoolab Singh, in reality though a false, perfidious,
and vindictive man, seems little more so than his
brother chiefs, notwithstanding all that has been
said to his disparagement. He has more energy
and cunning, and therefore more power for good or
evil, than most of them. Pity it should be so often
misused !
General Littler's forces were, on the 4th, uncliff
orders to counter-march; on the 12th they reached
the old quarters in Lahore, Wheeler's brigade re-
tracing their steps through the Jullundur Doab.
The Seikh troops had been directed to stand fast
within or near the Passes till Colonel Lawrence
should be enabled to visit Cashmere, and determine
with his own eyes the state of the people. There is
no more high-minded, humane, liberal, or upright
man in the distinguished service to which he belongs
than the agent for the Governor-General; and, as-
suredly, if grievances thEre be amongst the Cash-
merians, he will not suffer them to remain if he can
help them. He is luckily well known, and his as- ,
racter prized as it ought. His confidence in them,
as shown by his throwing himself amongst them,
will help to confirm the good opinion already formed.

SINDE.
We have numerous letters from Kurrachee down to
the 26th of November, and from other parts of Sinde
of corresponding dates. There seems scarcely anything
at present stirriog on the banks of the Indus. There ill
a feeling. universally prevalent amongst our troops, that
minute inquiries are impending, which will anythiu4
but redound to the credit or advantage of the ruler og
the country ; and changes close at hand which are only
the first of a series likely to terminate in the abandon-
ment of a possession whose maintenance has been as
mischievous to us as its conquest is discreditable. The
rumour formerly alluded to of an immediate reduction of
the force on the Indus, proves well grounded—the 3d
Light Cavalry, four companies of European, and oneo.
Native Artillery, with six regiments of Infantry—i.e.,
her Majesty's 17th, 60th, and 86th, the 12th, 13th, and
17th Native Infantry ; in all about 7,000, are to be with-
drawn from the country. It is a mistake, however, to
imagine that the expenses of its maintenance will be re. '
duced by this below the million sterling by which, ac-
cording to the Parliamentary returns, these exceeded
the income in 1844 45. 'Since then, it is true,
8,000 of the Bengal troops have been returned to
their own provinces ; but, to make up for this, abor •
9,000 have been introduced from IlembsY t
Sinde Horse and Ilelooch battalion have been
neat ly doubled—the camel and baggage eorPS
and the police force, if we mistake not, se
strengthened, that the army, at this moment, under Sir
C. Napier, amounts to neary 24,000 men, and will after its
reduction till be as numerous as at the time to which
the P.rliaintaititry returns were made up. nearly 17,000
men. During the past year the charges of the country
must have exceeded its income by more than a million
and a half—they will now tall back to the moderate 501
of a million sterling. One result has been the opening
of a five per cent. loan,' which is being subscribed to
so slowly that one of six per cent. is talked of as about
to be opened by Government. It is said, indeed, that
the retirement of Sir Charles Napier is definitely fixed
for an early day—some say in December, some January,
others March. It is known that a majority of the Court
of Directors are anxious for the restoration of the
Arneers, and it is believed that views similar to those
held in Leadenhall-street were entertained by the Cabinet
of Sir Robert Peel. The authority of the Duke of Wei'
lington with both the present and past Administration is
understood to be such, that while he insists on supporting
the Ellenborough policy in every particular, nothing but
an appeal to Parliament will be of any avail This, it Is
understood, is only waited for until Lord Hardinge shall
have decided on the matter submitted to him by the
Court ; should he concur with them in opinion, ever,'
thing will be plain ; should he avoid giving a decision
—that he will give an unfavourable one is scarcely
conceivable—then the directors will most probably take
the responsibility on themselves. Meanwhile the ac'.
curacy of the rumours current at the dispatch of out'
last in reference to some most extraordinary proceedings
on the part of the Governor of Sinde have been con'
firmed. It is now beyond dispute that the messengers
of the mother of the Meer Shandad, to whom Sir C.
Napier had given a safe conduct to Surat, whither they
were about to proceed with letters to the captive ex-
Ameer, were directed to be intercepted, and were de
tained and searched by order of Government—this, ss,
is supposed, with some view of prying into the papers 01
which they were the bearers, or getting up fresh charges
against the ex-Ameers ! The indignation excited bar
the revelation of this has probably surpassed that mot'
sioned by the disclosures of Colonel Outram. Circulars
have just been sent round to thevarious collectors, full 01
the most humane and philanthrophic instructions far
their guidance, just as their occupation is all but gone.
These, it is supposed, are intended to be Pre;
duced when the kingdom shall have departed
from the hands of the modern Pharaoh, as evidences
of the wisdom and excellence of his rule. All that
is required to make them take at home is, to omit the
date, and leave it_to be supposed that such were the
mandates issued at the commencement, instead of the
conclusion, of a career which will shortly stand sorely is
need of defence. The sadly erroneous statements of the
letter addressed by Lord Ellenborough to Captain Na'
pier—published in the Times of St. 27th--havev
wherever the late Governor-General eccentricities
were best known, occasioned mach surprise. His Lord-
ship states that Sir C. Napier moved 15,000 men with
100 guns on Mooltan, where he must have known that
the force moved on Bahawulpore, a friendly state,
amounted to under 14,000 with 30 guns. He adds that
this was an evidence of the great tranquillity of Sinde,
omitting to notice the circumstance that 9,000 men
were dispatched from Bombay to supply the place of
those who had left, so as to leave a garrison of above
15,000 in the country I An expedition of 6,000 men,
destined to last sixteen days, and which occupied part
of three months to coerce a few bill men afterwards
brought over by negotiations, he pronounces more
meritorious, in a military point of view, than the
battles of Dubba and Meeanee !—Sir C. Napier himself
virtually admitting it to be a failure when he directed
a cordon of 3,000 men to be established to protect
the frontier against the very men that were assumed to
have been disabled ! The actual news front Sinde
amounts to next to nothing. A promising young officer,
Lieutenant Stanley, had died at Kurrachee on the 24th
from the effects of fever caught on a shooting excursion.
Courts-martial had been of very frequent occurrence,
one on a lieutenant of infantry had just closed, when three •
more were expected to begin. The climate on the sea-
coast
was cool and agreeable. Hydrabad continued-
healthy, but at Sukkur a good deal of sickness pre-
vailed. Sir C. Napier and family were 'about 'to visit
the field of Meeanee and Dubba, and were, it was un-
derstood, making preparations to retire from Sinde in
March.
The following is an extract from one of our lateSt '
letters :
" KURRACHEE, Nov. 25.=--Lieutenant Stanley, of the
artillery, died last evening from the effects of fever,coit:‘.;fo
tracted while on a shooting excursion to the Hubb
.I=7o
The steamer Comet left the Bunder on the 15th?elf,
Sukkur, with a regular chow-chow cargo. It consieted:
of piece goods, silk, dates, sugar, copra, battens,
brandy, cheroots, and soda-water. Another steamerls,.. -,
mentioned to start on the Ist. There is considerable::
competition among the Sindees for tonnage."

AFFGFIAgIStAIt
We subjoin entiro the _Deihl Gerzette's fortnightly sum"' • '
mary of Caubul news, in preferknee to attempting
abridgment of what seems to hk*e beep already earefuLlY " -
abridged:—
" We are in receipt of further intelligence from Call
bul, extending from the 25th of August to the Bth of Sep'
tember. On the first-named day our news :writer:QL).",
tained information of one of those diabolical bats of dealt, J.
fnr whinh l!fc.bir,rno,l Om' Whim ineekinfr 1111"'-
".1+ yv,rf It .trroar,