The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-11 00:00:00

VICTORIES OF THE ENGLISH IN

INDIA.
(From La Presse.)
" A campaign of less than two months has conducted
the British army to the gates of Lahore. Sir H. Har-
dinge rules in the holy city. The cannons of Psombay
and the Tower of London, and the enthusiastic applause
of the House of Commons, have hailed the memorable
victory of Aliwal, the Waterloo of the East Indies, as
Sir R. H. Inglis exclaims, who does not hesitate to
place General Sir H. Gough on a par with Marlboroutsh
and Nelson. This parade of panegyrics sufficiently
attests the importance attached by our neighbours to
the new conquest ; it is at the same time the highest
gl rification of the heroism displayed by the vanquished.
Five successive battles, fought with an unparalleled bold-
ness and obstinacy, have swallowed up the moiety of an
army of 70,000 men, desperately struggling for the de-
fence of their territories But who can resist the fortune
of England? The kingdom of Runjeet Singh will soon be
added as a British province to the defunct empires of
Tippoo Saib, of Timour, of Seradjie, and of Holkar. The
Seikhs, like the Mahrattas and the Moguls, will only
live, at some future period, in recollection. Let us
hasten, then, to rescue the name of this valiant nation
before it is effaced from the map; let us render a last
homage to this expiring nationality, which reflects, as
it gradually expires, so glorious a lustre. Its history is
worthy of mention ; it is distinguished by a special cha-
racter of independence in the midst of the uniform sub-
jection of the Asiatic tribes. Its history testifies how
Ito the influence of institutions can regenerate mankind.
It shows that a race like the Hinduos, which seems
eternally condemned to vegetate in slavery, may, if it is
delivered from the brutalizing yoke of a barbarous reli-
gion, and from the petrify ing division of castes, recon-
stitute a progressive society, and live the life of nations."
La Presse then gives a long and elaborate history of
the Punjaub,
.which it is not at present our purpose to
quote, nor is it necessary to do so, and resumes his re-
marks as follows :-
1 " The present Maharajah of the Seikhs, Dhouleep
Singh, is a child of ten years of age. The Seikh army,
formidable by its force and its discipline, was the real
power which ruled the Punjaub, and the English have
rendered this fact very clear by their fury in massacre-
ing, for a space of two hours, the fugitives in the river,
and by exacting, after the victory, the disbanding of the
Seikh troops. Ii is not doubtful, if we judge from the
decision and skilfulness of its movements, that the Seikh
army was directed by European officers ; but the intre-
pidity of which they have given such proofs belongs to
themselves. After the death of old Runjeet Singh, the
animosity of the inhabitants of the Punjaub broke out
against the English in a thousand disorders. Thus, the
recent Governments of India have not ceased to main-
tain on the left bank of the Sutlej, at Loodianah and
at Ferozepore, of which they are masters, a corps of
observation for the surveillance of the Seikhs, and to
interfere immediately circumstances had attained the
necessary degree of maturity. A bridge of boats pre-
pared by the English and various other significant mea-
sures having warned the Seikhs of the imminence of an
invasion, they decided upon preventing it. Their army
crossed the Sutlej, resolutely attacked the English camp,
and fought for three whole days the bloodiest and best
disputed battle that the English have encountered since
they set foot in India. It is this aggression which has
served as a pretext for Sir Henry Hardinge to justify
the invasion of the Punjaub. England has not always
such good reasons to give, and we must be satisfied with
her—at all events for the care which she takes to have
appearances in her favour.
" We have shown the progress that these conquerors
have made in fifteen years. It was in 1831 that Sir
Alexander Burnes first unfurled the British flag on the
Indus. On beholding it, a chief exclaimed—' It is all
over with Sinde, now that the English know the river
that leads thither.' He was right. The disasters of
Affghanistan did not repel this devouring ambition, they
only rendered it more circumspect.
"The conquest of the Punjaub is the most important
event in India's history since the fall of the empire of
Mysore; it is the complement of the gigantic work com-
menced by Clive just a century ago, and followed up by
Hastings, Wellesley, and their successors with such per-
severing skill. England, mistress of the Ganges and
the Indus, reaches the natural limits of her empire from
east to west. On the north, the Himalayas scarcely re-
strain by their barrier of 8,000 mkres this covetous ge-
nius, always ready to overflow its boundaries. If,
however, the policy of England be carried on in confor-
mity with wise principles, she will not go beyond; and
this seems to be the gist of Sir Robert Peel's words in
concluding his speech to the House of Commons with
the expression of a hope that henceforth peace will no
more be disturbed in India; which, probably, means that
England for some time hence will not seek a quarrel
with anybody.
" The extraordinary enthusiasm excited in London
by the success of Sir H. Hardinge testifies how well
the advantages of his new conquest are comprehended
in his own country. It is not for vain glory that so re-
flecting a nation is moved to this degree ; and a simple
aperfu will suffice to render it apparent.
" Already in 1843 a solemn act incorporated the
Sinde territory with the Company's possessions, after
the Emirs had been crushed in two bloody battles. Cer-
tain grievances, of a futile character, served as the pre-
text for this war. Besides the Earl of Ellenborough
wanted a success to avenge the defeat in the defiles of
Caubul, and to prepare for the invasion of the Punjaub,
the only military road leading to Affghanistan. Tao
annexation of Sinde gave the English all the Lower
Indus ; and the conquest of the Punjaub puts them in
possession of the rest of the river. From Attock, at
the foot of the mountains of Caubul, to the sea, the
Indus is navigable for an extent of 500 leagues.
" At present trade is carried on there by flat-bottomed
boats of 50 tons ; in a little while the river will be
ascended by steamers, scattering on both banks the pro-
duce of Glasgow, Birmingham, and Manchester, and re-
ceiving in exchange precious stuffs, the rich and
wondrous works manufactured by the ingenious in-
habitants of those districts. Tatta, in Sinde, supplies
the adjoining countries with figured calicoes and mus-
lins, and clothes the Bayaderes in their scarfs, woven in
gold. Moultun, which has just been annexed, and which
includes more than 60,000 souls, in a territory five miles
in length, is only peopled with weavers and dyers. Cash-
mere, the fabulous valley, renowned in Oriental legends,
and so long coveted by the Company, at length falls into
its hands, and surrenders to it the monopoly of
the Indian shawls. Runjeet Singh had at Umritsir
an entrepot of cashmeres valued at upwards of
1,250,000,000 f. The revenue from the shawls alone was
worth to that monarch 18 lacs of rupees (450,000.000 f.)
By Herat, Caubul, and Bukhara on the north, and
by the Indus and the Persian Gulf on the south,
the trade of the 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 inhabitants of
Sinde and the Punjaub already,supplies Persia, Turkey,
and even Russia with shawls, velvet, satin, and carpets.
Judge, then, what their immense manufactures will be-
come when their produce is a thousand times centupled
by the power of machinery, and regulated by British
intelligence
" Whateverer may be the prejudice of individual politics,
iit s impossible not to admire this great destiny of the
English people, bursting, in its irresistible expansion,
the last barriers which are opposed by the lethargy of the
East to European activity. By it it must be hoped that
trade will, at no distant period, resume its ancient routes
through the massive continent of Asia, intercepted for
800 years by the savage suspicions of Islamism. If the
right of nations and equity have often to complain of the
means employed by England to attain her object, it is
only just to admit that no nation more extensively fulfils
its providential mission. In one and the same year she
opens to herself China, establishes herself in Borneo,
and crosses the Polar Sea. The conquest of the globe,
commenced in the 16th century by Spain and Portugal,
is completed in the 19th by England Is it not time
for France to have her turn ? "
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