The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-23 00:00:00

severely wounded, was still capable of defending him-
self, and soon came the time for doing so. The Mool-
tanees rushed into the buildin. in numbers. They ap •
proached the small party. 'Agnew sprung up and
snapped his pistol. It missed fire ; he then threw
himself upon the men most in advance—wounded
several with his sword—and received a ' gun-shot
wound which proved instantly fatal. Khan Sing was
either cut down or wounded when poor Agnew fell, but
he still nurvives. The Fort is represented as most for-
midable, and only to be carried by a breeching battery.
Mooltan is two hundred miles from Lahore; eur siege
train could not get there under six or seven weeks, and
early in ale rains the country around is quite a swamp,
and in =any places inundated quite."
Mooltstn, in the Punjaub, is a great ancient city.
which, since the pre-eminence of the Seikh power,
takes an important part in the commercial and mo-
netary transactions of Western India, outstripping
Shikarpoor, and being inferior in this respect only
to Amritsir. It is situate three miles east of the
Chenab, the inundations of which reach it. Elphinstone,
who saw this city in Iso9, before it had been stormed
oy the Seilths, describes it as ' surrounded with a
fine wall between 40 and 50 feet high.' This is now
dilapidated, but the citadel continues a place of strength,
being more regular in construction than probably any
other place laid down in India by native engineers,
though some of the ravages of the late siege have
not yet been repaired. It stands on a mound,
and is an irregular hexagon, with its longest side.
which measures 600 yards, to the north-west.
The wiel, substantially built of burnt brick, is about 40
feet high outside, but only four or five feet from the
ground inside, in consequence of the materials of
older buildings. It is surmounted by thirty towers,
I and protected by a ditch, faced with masonry. The
only buildings within it of any importance are the
battered palace of the former Khan, and a lofty
Mahometan shrine. Mooltan is the largest town in the
Seikh territory after Lahore and Amritsir. The present
town is built on a mound of considerable height, formed
of the ruins of more ancient cities. The bazaars are
extensive, and are well supplied with all articles of
traffic and consumption, and the shops amount
altogether in number to four thousand six hundred.
tooltsngperesinc, ipbarlocinadaensu, fatci
st
suuree
ss. are
I t
ss i lmkse,r
cchoat
nt Ts s , a
rseh acssions.
con-
sidered rich, and about fifteen of them are computed
,
ofhalf
th
eo f b rupees.umness
collectivelyo
ntsot
ipt
uo
tses
se sas
of Mooltan, in which it has in some measure supplanted
laarnageillpiornopaorntdiona
Shikarpoor, and the prosperity of the town is in all
respects considered on the increase. It [the district is
meant, we presume.—ED. D. G.] yields a revenue cf
5,75,000 rupees.
" The vicinity is covered with an amazing quantity of
ruins of tombs, mosques, and shrines, which show
the former extent and antiquity of the city. North of
the place is the magnificent shrine of Sham Tabreezi,
who, according to tradition, was flayed alive here as a
martyr, and at whose prayer the sun descended from the
heavens, and produced the intense heat from which
Mooltam suffers, and for which it is proverbial. The
adjacent country, watered by the inundations of the
Ctienab, produces fruits, esculent vegetables, grain, and
other crops, in great abundance and perfection. Mool-
tan is said by Burnes to be to this day styled • Mallithati,'
which he translates, the place of the Malli, and thence
infers it to have been that capital of the Math taken
by Alexander. But Arrian mentions several such
citify, and his brevity, and the slender acquaintance
wh.ch he had of the localities, must render ally
decision on such points at the present day hazardous
rind uncertain. Mooltan was taken by the Ma-
hornetans, under Mahomed' Ben Kasim, at the close
of the eighth century ; by Matimood of Ghiznee
at the commencement of the eleventh ; by Tamer-
lane at the close of the fourteenth. Since its capture
by Runjeet Sing, it has been garrisoned by Siekhs, who,
though only amounting to five or six hundred, keep in
severe subjection the Mahometans, supposed to amount
to 40,000 persons. The number of the entire population
is estimated to be about 80,000. Lat. 30 deg. 8 min , long.
71 deg. 28 min."
Mooltan is about 200 miles from Lahore, and the
route lies along the left bank of the Bailee, till its junc-
tion with the Chenale, and then along the bank of the
latter river. The Sudej would afford the best means
of conveying rapidly any quantity of stores or heavy
guns that may be required, and they could be landed
about 20 miles above Bahawulpoor, within 25 of Mooltan
,12111.0
THE CHINA SQUADRON.

HONG-KONG, APRIL 26.—Her Majesty's steamer
Fury, 6 guns, Commander James Wilcox, returned from
Shanghai on the 21st, whither she was sent to demand
satisfaction from the Chinese Government for flogging
a number of missionaries at Shanghai, but Mr.
Alcock, the Consul there, had settled the matter
before the vessel arrived. Mr. Alcock had sent her Ma-
jesty's sloop Espeigle, 12 guns, Commander Camp-
bell, up to Nankin with a letter to the Viceroy of
the province, who came to terms immediately, and
the culprits were all exposed with wooden col-
lars round their necks, and were well bastinadoed
afterwards. Commodore Plumridge, C. 8., Acting
Commander-in-Chief, is now on his way here
from Bombay, in the Cambrian, 40-gun frigate. The
Melampus, 40-gun frigate is here; her captain is senior
officer. Her Majesty's steamer Medea, Commander
Mason, is at Whampoa; the Daedalus, 20 guns, Cap-
tain M'Quhae, is at Singapore ; the Scout, 12
guns, Commander Johnstone (arrived out), and
the Columbine, 12-gun sloop, Commander Hay, are at
Amoy. The Espeigle, 12-gun sloop, Commander Camp-
bell, is at Ningpo; the Childers, 12-gun sloop, Com-
mander Pitman, is at Shanghai ; H.M. steamer Fury. and
Melampus frigate are the only British men-of-war now
at this rendezvous. The former is ordered to Bombay,
to repair her port side air -pump. The greatest anxiety
prevails to ascertain the result of the revolution in France.
A French frigate, La Bayonnaise, at Manilla, is sadly
perturbed about it.

THE MASSACRE of the AMERICAN

MISSION IN OREGON.

We have been favoured by the governor and commit-
tee of the Hudson's Bay Company with the following
letters, containing the particulars of the massacre by the
Indians of the American mission at Walla Walla, in the
Oregon territory, of which a brief account has already
been published.
Mr. M'Bean is an officer in charge of a fort belonging
to the Hudson's Bay Company, not far from the scene
of this lamentable occurrence, and Mr. Abernethy, to
whom Mr. Douglas, of the board of management at
Fort Vancouver, addreses his letter, is the provisional
governor of the colony, settled in the Valley of the
Walamet.