The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-24 00:00:00

OVERLAND MAIL
(From the 7ime-)

We have received by our ordhary semi-monthly
express from Marseilles our dispaches from India in
anticipation of the Bombay mails A. the 16th ult.
They bring no remarkable intelligence. The
affairs of Lahore continued to require the utmost
vigilance and activiiy of the aims employed there.
Colonel Lawrence and his assistans administered the
Government to the best effect, aid the inhal,itants
had some hopes of improving their condition under
the British rule. It was stated that no troops would
be sent to the frontier station at Peshawur. Some
of the mountaineers in the Ilazaeh districts had re-
volted, but their forces had been routed by the young
chief called Ghoolab Singh, who; although possessing
the same name, is not of the family of the Maharaja
of Jammoo.
Old Ghoolab Singh was rejoicing in the success of
his manoeuvres. He had raised, himself to a throne,
and even on that occasion he outwitted, as he
int.sup-
posed, the British diplomatists, y inducing them to
give up the districts of Cash e, which he repre-
sented as being very poor, not Wing more than six
or seven lacs, whereas he ni?*..fapoqta to obtain
twenty or twenty-two froin the inhabitants.
The news from Affghanistan is not satisfactory.
Akbar Khan, the son and Wuzeer of Dost Mahom-
med, had returned from Candahar to Caubul, having
one of his uncles in his company. The report of the
fight near Candahar is contradicted by accounts sent
from Caubul. The true state of Affghanistan cannot
easily be known, for all the statements circulated
respecting that country are derived from the native
writers in the pay of the Delhi Gazette, and they
dare not send intelligence from Caubul which is dis-
pleasing to the Wuzeer. The intrigues and quarrels
of Akbar Khan were not yet fully developed.
Sir Charles Napier went in the beginning of
February from Kurrachee to Hyderabad. Prior to
his departure from Kurrachee the following genera'
order or manifesto was issued
" GENERAL ORDER.
....

" The army of Sinde is ordered to be broken up, and
two te r i
years o r a
g o. tranquillity
But
the
characterof tS i nde
might,
he number of troops reduced, so as, in future, to form
.he ordinary garrison of a frontier province.
‘have as
beenreg regards
se
the
he
in
of the Lahore Government and of its troops made it
necessary for the Government of India to keep an army
in Sinde.
" The danger apprehended from the Punjaub subsided
after the victories gained on the Sutlej.
" The concentration of a large 'force on the Indus
ceased to be necessary.
" To the army of Sinde is due the tranquillity of this
noble province.
" To the discipline and orderly conduct of all, and the
support which the officers of this army have given to me
by their just and conciliating conduct towards the
people, England is indebted for the tranquil possession
of a country which the valour of the troops had con-
quered.
" To the abilities of those officers who have, from the
first, conducted the civil branches of this Government,
and to their unremitting exertions in the administration
of justice, is more especially to be attributed the suc-
cessful administration of the province, that attachment
to the British rule, and that confidence which has been
so strongly evinced by the inhabitants of Sinde on two
signal occa lions—the cempaign in the Boogtie Hills and
the march of the Sinde force to Bhawulpoor.
" But to the glory of freeing an enslaved country by
a necessary conquest, and the consequent tranquillity of
an apparently satisfied people, this army has added an
increase of revenue to the company.
" The last financial year showed that the united
ordinary and extraordieary expenses of the civil Go-
vernment of Sinde (including the expense of a police
force of 2,400 horse and foot) amounted to only 15 lacs
1,754 rupees.
" That the revenue for that year was 41 isles 42,912
rupees, and, consequently, that 25 lacs were paid last
year towards defray ing the military expense incurred/
not by the conquest of Sinde in 1843, but by the pre-
vious occupation of Sinde, and by the disturbed state of
the Punjaub.
Previous to the conquest, the army of Sinde was an
unmitigated expense to the East India Company.
" Since the conquest that expense has been reduced by
the aggregate sum of 42 lacs 37,435 rupees, which has
been collected in excess of the ex' enses of civil gevt rii-
ment and police force, calculating both from the battle
of Hyderabad to the present day.
"Thus, whatever the previous occupation may have
produced, the conquest of Slade has not cost the East
India Company a single rupee, for had the Ameers con-
tinued to rule the land, not a soldier could have been
withdrawn from the force which occupied Sinde in 1842;
on the contrary, strong reinforcements must have been
added to it, divided, as it would have been, between
Kurrachee and Sukkur, with the aggregated forces of
the Courts of Hyderabad and Kyrepoor assembled, in a
central position, between the weak wings of the army of
occupation—wings separated by 400 miles of difficult
country, and incapable of assisting each other or of re-
ceiving any reinforcements during five months of every
year.
" Such a position must have been untenable, or te-
nable only in consequence of egregious folly
.on the part
of an enemy who commanded 100,000 men in a central
position.
"An army divided as I have stated would probably
have been cut to pieces; for apparently there could not
have been any retreat.
" The prompt military operations ordered by Lord
Ellenborough in 1843 not only saved the army of Sinde
from the fait which betel that of Caubul, but secured the
north-west frontier of the Indian empire, speaking of
Sinde in a military point of view—while in a
commer•
cial one, as commanding the navigation of the Indus, it
is the key to the Punjaub.
"Not a man has been added to the army of occupa-
tion in consequence of the conquest. Sinde
was cor
quered by the troops which previously occupied Sukkur.
" This is a fact which cannot be too often repeated.
"But this is not all. The advanced frontier has a
right to the troops that occupied the former retired
frontier extending from Bhooj to Balmeer. The latter
no longer require garrisons, and consequentlyth e
con-
quest of Sinde has not entailed the necessity .for having
additional troops or throwing greater duties on the
Bombay army; whereas, but for the conquest, not a
soldier could now be withdrawn, or the Indus would be
closed to commerce even though the Punjaub were
opened!
"No troops, beyond the police, are now required to
preserve the interior tranquillity of Sinde. The increas-
ing revenues are thrown into the Indian treasury.
" The military charges belong to India generally, not
to Sinde more than to any other province of the empire.
" An immense increase of revenue has taken place in
Bombay in consequence of the conquest of Sinde, which
prevents the smuggling trade in opium, formerly carried
on; what may be the amount of this increase I have no
means of knowing, but it is said to be very great.
" Commerce is already actively commencing between
Kurrachee and Sukkur, ready to branch forth into the
Punjaub when the results following the victories on the
Sutlej shall open the ' Five Rivers to the enterprising
spirit of British merchants.
" Sukkur, ordered by Lord Ellenboroush to be called
Victoria on the Indus,' has become the depot for goods
passing into Central Asia.
" Such, soldiers of the Sinde army, have been the
services of those regiments which conquered, and of
those which have occupied Sinde since the conquest.
soldier,
that
has
body
ay
given
cause of complaint to the inhabitants.
" There has been perfect harmony between the During this period of four years there has not been a
single political crime, conspiracy, or act of hostility of
asiiinde
ykind,
againstpub ltihceor
Government,pri te,cs
orm iatgteadinbayt
theth troops, or
the people of
ofa officers,
gainstanyany
individual.()ffi e
e r Nano;
private am I
aware
con-
querors and the conquered, if the term conquered' can
be applied to a people who have been freed from a de-
grading and ruinous tyranny which, sixty years ago,
was established by traitors over the country of their
murdered sovereign!
" This adds more glory to our arms and to the British
name than even the victories which you won on the
fields of Meanee and of Hyderabad. Courage may win
a battle, but it is something more than courageous when
a victorious army turns a conquered people into friends
and peaceable subjects !
" Such, soldiers ! have been the results of your labours
and your dangers, and those regiments which return to
their respective presidencies return with the becoming
pride of men who have well performed their duty andg
gained the approbation of their Sovereign and their
Governments—:he greatest reward that well-disciplined
soldiers can receive !

" For myself, I remai❑ at my proper post as Governor
of Scinde, and the Commander of that division of the
Bombay army stationed on the new line of frontier. But
it becomes your General, who best knows what you have
done, and what you have suffered, to make known, on
the breaking up of this army, the things which it has
achieved for India, his admiration of its merits, and his
gratitude for its assistance.
" The high military spirit which animated the force
that marched last year to Bhawulpoor was probably
never surpassed. No army was ever more worthy of
India, nor more fully possessed the confidence of its
commander.

"C. J. NAPIER,
" Lieutenant General, Governor of Scinde.
"Head-quarters, Kurrachee, Jan. 28."
Lord Hardinge was expected to arrive at Meerut