The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-06 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

ALEXANDRIA, JAN. 22.—The steamer Victoria left Bombay
on the afternoon of the 3d inst., and brings the important in-
formation of the invasion of the British territory by a large
&Rill force on the 21st of lleeember, on which a battle imme-
diately took place:—
" BOMBAY TIMES' EXTRA.

" Times-office, Saturday 12 A.M., Jan. 3.
"A dispatch arrived this morning from the Governor-
General from Ferozepore, which mentiots that a battle had
taken place at that place. Our forces had stormed one of
the enemy's positions, and were preparing to storm the other
when the dispatch left. Sir H. Hardinge led the centre,
Sir H. Gough the right, and Sir John Littler the left. The
slaughter was very great. Further particulars have not yet
reached us. The steamer Victoria had made considerable
way out of the harbour when the above dispatch arrived,
when she was immediately recalled, and returned into port
about halt-past ten o'clock."
The dispatch is dated from Umballa the 26th of Dezember.
11 o'CLocx.—The news is that the battle took place at
Ferozepore ; the Governor-General led the centre, the
Commander-in-Chief the right, and Sir John Littler the left.
The centre and right held their ground well ; the left was
hard pressed.

.- - -
The troops had stormed one position, and were preparing
to attack the other, when the dispatch left.
The slaughter Was very great.
There is no doubt of this, as Mr. Cochrane, the barrister,
has just come from Government-house, where the Governor
announced publicly the news.
This intelligence relieves us from all apprehensions re-
lative to the garrison of Ferozepore, and to the positions of
the army.

The Seikhs lost 65 guns.
The fighting was for three days, day and night. The
British occupied the Seikh camp.
Noox.-Anotherreport is that the Seikhforce of more than
50,000, and 150 pieces of artillery, invaded the British pos-
sessions on the 21st of December. A battle was the imme-
diate result, which lasted till the 23d, and was not over
when the express left. The loss was great on both sides, but
the enemy suffered most, and lost 65 pieces of cannon. It is
also said that Sir John Littler was forced to retire on the first
attack, and that the enemy were °lily routed on the advance
of the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief. No
doubts were entertained that the enemy would shortly be
driven across the Sutlej.
The steamer is about to start.

As the advantages of the Marseilles and Trieste routes
have been frequently and very warmly discussed; it may be
useful to state, as nearly as our present means will allow us,
the exact time which the transmissioa of this dispatch from
Alexandria has occupied.
The mails were brought from Bombay to Suez by the
East India Company's steamer Victoria, and arrived at the
latter port on the 19th of January. They were then con-
veyed by the ordinary means across the Desert, and reached
•Alexandria on the morning of the 22d.
The Austrian steamer Imperatrice was there in waiting,
and departed at noon on that day with our dispatch for
Trieste. She arrived at Dwinc, near Trieste. where her
mails were landed, on Thursday, the 29th ; and late that
evening the courier who carried our dispatches, and to
whom we are indebted for most strenuous exertions in our
behalf, left Dwino en route for Ostend. His first point was
Carlsruhp, whence he hoped to obtain a steam-boat down
the Rhine to Bonn or Cologne, but so extensive was
the inundation that no steamer could be prevailed
on to undertake the voyage, and he was compelled
to post onwards, encountering all the difficulties which
flood, snow, and rain could interpose, until he reached
the Belgian :railroads. By this means he reached Ostend,
and thence crossing to London, succeeded, with rare intelli-
gence, although not speaking a word of English, in reaching
our office without a moment's delay. He arrived at six
o'clock, and had thus performed the journey from Dwino,
under every imaginable disadvantage, in some hours less
than six days. The whole time occupied between Alexandria
and London is a little more than 13 days.
When the Imperatrice left Alexandria the Iberia was
waiting for the ordinary English mail, but she was not ex-
pected to sail until the morning of the 23d on her voyage to
Marseilles, yid Malta.

Our Ma-rseillee advices of the 31st ult. state that neither
the Iberia nor the Orient, a French steamer attached to the
direct line between Alexandria and Marseilles, had then ar-
rived,'although they had been expected as earl• as the 28th.
Our private letters from Suez announce that the Auckland
steamer was expected there in a few days with further
dispatches.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH.
(From the Delhi Gazette, Dec. 24.)
It would be difficult to describe the almost breathless
anxiety with which the arrival of the (Mks has been looked
for since our last. The various phases of the Affghanistan
disasters were scarcely more exciting on the public mind
than the expectation which has been created by the sudden
inroad of such an immense body of Seikbs into our territo-
ries, and the preparations made by the British Government
to resist this breach of the peace, which has so long subsisted
between the two nations, and to punish the invaders. Hav-
ing, however, carefully weighed the position of our army as
well as that of the Seikhs, and now examined ourmaps, we
apprehend that the delay which has taken place in the ex-
pected collision is more easily to be accounted for than
would appear to be the case, had we correctly stated the dis-
tance between Bussean and Ferozepore, when we men-
tioned that the head-quarters of our force were, on the 17th,
within 37 miles of the Seikh force. It is possible that this
estimate may have been strictly applicable to the outposts
of the force, but certainly not to the main body, which
being near Ferozepore, must have been fully 60 miles from
our head-quarters. It appears also that the neighbourhood
of Bussean was assigned as the plice at which a junction
should be formed between the Loodiana and Umballa
forces, it having been very prudently considered un-
safe to allow the former to take the direct and ordinary
road to Ferozepore. The consequence of these movements,
through a country out of the direct line of communi-
cation, is (no arrangements having been made for the first
few days for opening a new one), that no letters can very
well have been expected until such new line shall have been
completed; and we are at a loss to know how the items we
were enabled to publish in our Extra of the 18th came to us
from camp. Of their correctness as to the temporary ar-
rangements for the command of the force in the field we
have since had full confirmation, with the addition that the
garrison of the small fort of Wudnee (the stage next to
Bussean), rendered grandiloquent by the crossing of the
Seikhs, actually threatened to close their gates and with-
hold supplies, but thought better of it when we in return
threatened instant destruction, and that on the 18th Major
Broadfoot had ridden on to Bhaga Poorana to make arrange
rnents for the progress of the force. As the places between
Bussean and Ferozepore, elsewhere indicated, have a tem-
porary interest, we give a short account of them, extracted
from the " roadside mesas. " of an able correspondent.
EI:SWAN belonged to the Jeend state, and when that lapsed
was in the portion retained by the British Government It
is a pretty extensive place, has 2,500 intabitant.s, residing in
about 500 houses of brick and mud, and has twenty shops,
walsVotrupEine,dl,o6
mmeilesyefarrosmb
aßeuks sbe; nt e
and one temple of Siva.
ate Captain Wudnee p t g u
Murray,nna
1.1
as a lapse: to the British Government; but Runjeet Singh,
ever anxious to keep up his influence in the states south
of the Sutlej, put in his claim ; eventually, I believe, it was
settled on the favourite son, Sheer Singh,and, on his acces-
sion to the guddee, became a portion of the Lahore pos-
sessions.
To retain it, a garrison of 200 men (it would
be almost a libel on the military profession to style
them soldiers) is kept in the fort of Wudnee. The body
of the place is of brick, and consists of a square of about a
hundred yards with a dodecagon tower or bastion at each
corner, and midway in each curtain; it is surrounded by a
fausse iraie of mud and encircled by a deep ditch.
The bastion in the east face is prolonged and ends in
a semicircle; through it is the entrance of the eneiente ;
access to the fausse braie is from the north through a
casemated circular bastion, and by a causeway across the
ditch. On my riding towards the entrance, the man sitting
sentry rose and closed the gate, and then informed me of its
being honhunz naheen for strangers to visit the interior. What
is contained within the walls I cannot therefore state beyond
a small white temple of Siva, whose pinnacles are perceptible
above the rampart. The brickwork is in a goad order, but
the fausse braie is in a bad condition. The village of Wud-
nee, Budnee, Woodnee, or Boodnee (it is called by all these
names), is east of the fort, and is composed of about 400 mud
houses; the shops are thirty-five in number, and the inha-
bitants about 2,000, principally Scikhs, Brahmins, and
Khetries.

Bhaga Poorana, twelve miles from Bussean, belongs to
Nehal Singh Aloowala; it is a small village, of about 150
mud houses, and about 700 inhabitants, Seik ha and Mahomme-
dans, principally the former. There are five shops but no
temple of any description; and, as a symptom of verging on
the desert, the three wells are about forty yards deep. Th
cultivation around is various—wheat, barley, bajra, sesame,
and mustard.

Moodkee, sixteen miles from Bbaga Poorana, is a large
village belonging to the Lahore Raj, and contains about
GOO houses (many of brick) and 4,000 inhabitants, Seikhs,
Mahommedans, and Hindoos. There are 30 shops in the
village, and 100 Lahore Sepoys are on duty at the place.
Sooltaun Khan Walla, 13 miles from Moodkee, consists of
about 250 houses, of which but eight are of brick ; the shops
are 10 in number; and the inhabitants amount to about
1,200, of the three religions. There is also a mosque of
mud, and a small fortification of the same material. In
November, 1838, the village was in great danger, if not
partially burnt, from the ignition of several haystacks by
some followers of a brigade of the army of the Indus. Kull
is about two miles distant, and when we were there the
other day the bheestis had to come here for water. This
place, Farreedkote, and 58 other villages, belong to Sirdar
Pahar Singh, who derives from them a revenue of 48,000
rupees.

We have no reason for doubting in the full ability of
General Littler to hold his own, so long as it may be ne-
cessary, and believe that a plan has been concerted by which
it is hoped to give the best account of the Sepals which we
could wish to have. In case of his being attacked, he is
merely to defend himself; but, in case of the head-quarters.
division coming up with the enemy first, he is then to move
out and take them from his side, an arrangement which Will
insure a most decisive result. In case the Seikhs should re-
treat altogether, without offering battle this side the Sutlej,
we believe they will be pursued to the walls of Lahore by the
force now on their heels, and made to fight there. The first
division of the Meerut troops will be at Ferozepore or. the 3d
and 4th of January, the second three days after, and the third
the day after them, and will increase the force to about 35,000
men; enough to sweep the Punjaub from end to end, and
clear it of the rabble soldiery. We have instituted strict in-
quiries regarding the alleged invasion of the Bahawulpore
territory by Dewan Moolraj, and have every reason to believe
the report premature ; at least such an event is certainly pos-
sible, but had not occurred at the date of the last advises.
The disturbances which did occur at Bahawulpore arose out
of a feud between two sons of the Nawab, after one of them
had been placed QM the guddee.