The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-21 00:00:00

THE AFFAIRS OF INIJIA.

The following letter from our correspondent in the
Deccan was unfortunately written before the latest in-
telligence from Lahore had reached him. It contains,
however, s h eh just views upon Indian politics as will well
repay p .usal

CAMP, NEAR KOLKOOR.
It is needless for me to give you detsis of the splendid
victory at Sobraon. You will have read in the Govt rnor-
General's order, and in iir H. G ow's dispatch, bow with
immense loss the Seikhs were driven from their formidable
intrenchment, constructed on the most scientific European
principles by their Spanish engineer, how our noble
troops, European and native alike, carried these without
a check, and how, pushing the disordered masses be-
fore them on to their narrow bridge and into the hardly
fordable river, thousands perished there from the fire
of our artillery, and were drowned in the deep waters.
This news will be received with the enthusiasm it de-
serves ; it was, indeed, a neble. achievement ; we have
fought no such battles in India as those with the Seikhs
—we have never been so nearly matched, either in mi-
litary science cr bravery in the field ; but, under the
aid of Divine providence, their invasion has been hurled
back with mighty power, and we are now in our turn
invaders of the Punjaub.
The force followed immediately after the battle, and
is now concentrated at Kussoor, if it be not, as I trust to
hear, advanced to Lahore ere this. We have in our
possession 220 pieces of their best and most serviceable
field artillery, and though the arsenal of Lahore was
said to contain 400 pieces, there seems to have been no
effort made at Lahore to send out any reinforcement of
this arm, the applications from Runjoor Singh and
others being tauntingly answered, that their forces had
better seek their old ones where they lost them. Colonel
Wheeler was to have crossed near Phulloor ; indeed it
is reported that he had taken possession of that place
without opposition, the disorganised Seikh army having
fled at once without offering any opposition.
6o far, therefore, our operations have been a splendid
suecessiOn of victories ; the vaunted prowess of the
Khalsa .army has been signally broken. Never has any
war been prosecuted with greater vigour or bra-
very. There were murmurs at delay, but it has been
well proved by the event that any attack upon the po-
sition of Sobraon without heavy artillery would have
Le en dangerous ; and any check of our army would have
had a baneful efflct throughout India. If the Governor-
General, holding with film expectation to a peaceful line
of policy in the first instance, omitted provision against
the coining storm, we have seen how energetically, how
fearlessly, how amply he has since carried on the war.
No stint of troops, no stint of money, or supplies, or ma-
terial is apparent. As a great and final effort should !
made, so has this been carried out, and has won for him
and his gallant co! .panion in arms imperishable renown.
Nor, on reflection, would I have seen any other line=lif
policy pursued. Confident in his own resources, the Seikhs
were allowed to advance by the Governor- General; their
long doubted intentions thus plainly put to the proof,
unprovoked by any preparation or demonstration an
the part of the Government of India. The ny.st pre-
judiced party-writer cannot advance as a posltion of
repreh-nsion that this invasion and war were brought
about by any threatenings, " any obvious desire of
conquest. We should have had a Punjaub war uncle-
Lord Ellenborough, had he remained, fong ere this, but
it would have been one open, and justly open, to cavil.
Some strange demand woulo have driven the over-confi-
dent Seikbs to off', asive operetions, even if we had not
taken the initiative, and it may be questioned whether
our actions and conduct of the war e ould have coke up
to the present standard. Our men would have displayed
the same gallantry, but the director of all, the practical
experience of an old and tried general, uniting with
military skill profound political knowledge, would
have been wanting. No, the war has come well as
it is, and in the unprovoked aggression there is ample
reason and necessity for those stringent terms which will
be eventually dictated, and which the Governor- Gene-
ral's proclamation from Kussoor shadows forth. Like his
previous ones, this is a straightforward, manly, unmis-
takable document, and reads almost more explicitly in
Persian than in English. In the flush of recent victory,
there is no boast of success beyond the simple notifica-
tion that the Seikh army his been defeated and expelled
from the left bank of the Sutlej. The Governor-General,
following his previous proclamation, again reiterates
that these operations have been "forced upon him " for
the protection of the British possessions and for the
punishment of the violators of public peace and solemn
treaties ; and again, that by the war the British Govern-
meet had no desire of territorial acquisition—that
no preparation for hostility was made that the
sincere desire of the British Government was to
see a strong Seikh Government established,
that the conduct of the Government and
the army had rendered these desires furtile,
and that whatever now bofals both will be the cense
quences of their own misdeeds. These positions are in-
controvertible either here or in England, and it will be
satisfactory to our Government to proclaim them to the
world in defiance of misrepresentation of motives.
Whatever aggressive character our previous Indian con-
quests may have had, and alas! they are neither few nor
unimportant, this stands alone in its integrity of purpose
from first to last.
But with the foregoing it is explicitly set forth that
for indemnity for the past and security for the future,
the British Government will retain a portion of the
territory of the Lahore state ; and for the present the
portion is contingent upon the conduct of the durbar.
The country between the Sutlej and the Beeas, embrac-
ing the bill district to the south and east of Simla, is at
once taken as a part of the indemnity. What the o her
districts intended to be taken are is not known, but it is
most probable they may be Moulton, the more espe-
cially if, as it is stated, the authorities are favourable.
Cashmere may be considered too distant without the dis-
tricts between the Stalej and the Beeas afford a road to
it, arid this hardly appears practicable by the map.
Again, with a solemn and impressive warning as to the
consequences of further opposition, does the Governor-
General summon the chiefs and officers of the Seikh Go- '
n t nh thep person
w e
areofnaotdeto-
vernment to submit themselves to the authority of the
British Government, and to enable the Governor-General
noef,
thissn d
sly
st
e m would. farßy rather
establishings see an ans
uinedhea-
st oc organisedant
of
have a subsidiary treaty. There are able men enough
, and which are the
the Seikhs to form a strong Government and
among
pendent one, which should have some care for and pride
in itself, than one of those effete, miserable things called
an independent one, a
thee akihe AGloalbearrna jmae.
such as at Hyderabad
Government, we should deprive the Seikhs of their
ability to serve as allies, weaken the north-west frontier,
G inevitableove rri e nrtess,
and find ourselves engaged with border tribes and in
quarrels between this Government and its wild neigh-
bours, feudatories, &c., which would weaken us, and
serve no possible end in strengthening the Government
at
all,
we had set up. If there is to be a Government
then, I cordially hope it may be
an independent
one, as
Nepaul is able to protect itself, to help us if necessary,
and to manage its own affairs without our inte reddli
If this cannot be brought about I would mr
ng.
whole made a British possession, at whatever see the
incoliverdence; we cannot now stand upon triflingrpresent
con-
siderations ; the protection and security
frontier are at stake.
I say again, I hope there may be no subsidiary force.
We should require one of 30,000 men at least, the
veterans of the army and 10,000 Europeans to be a
portiere of it. You do not seem at present able to spare
us any more, but you must ere long, Our
present
European force will hold the country against all odds
but we must have more to fill up the places
they ;
have
left vacant all over India. Sir Henry Hardinge has
provided for the sappy of the native army, and I have
not the least doubt has laid before your Government his
want of European troops. Even the mere casualties
have thinned their numbers fearfully-, e. g., of the 50th,
450 men and officers have been killed, wounded, and
disabled, out of 650, and other corps in proportion.
The Governer-General recognises the probable ex-
istence of a Seikh army, as a matter of course, only as
an appendage to a regular and independent Government.
The rni re mention of the army gives me more hope of an
independent, though eircumscribed,government‘than any
other part of the proclamation. Une
- --er a strong adn