The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-28 00:00:00

independence; there is no reason to believe the Jammoo
chief more tyrannous or unpopular than his predeces-
sors, and no grounds for our sympathy with those who
have combined to resist his authority. With the sur-
render of the leaders there is every reason to expect
that the I.ebellion will be quickly brought to an end.
Matters hate at length been finally, and apparently
satisfaetorily, settled with the Moultan Chief, who has
agreed to pay 35,0001. in the shape of arrears of tribute
—one-third of the territory formerly under his charge
to be formed into a separate province, to be governed by
Misr Bhugwan Singh. The revenue of the remaining
two-thirds was to be raised one-fourth above what was
formerly charged on it. The father of the present Chief
of Moultan, the sagacious Dewan Sawun Mull, was ori-
ginally a councillor at the court of Runjeet Singh, and
received the vice-royalty in consideration of his personal
services and the regard entertained for him by his sove-
reign. The revenue paid was fixed at a specified sum
for each particular district; and, though a man of much
authority and importance, he never had the slightest
claim to independence. Successive usurpations of pa-
tronage and authority by degrees increased the power of
the local government, until the disorders at Lahore, and
the weakness and dissensions of the Durbar, enabled the
Dewan Moolraj to bravo them for a time with inicunity.
Ue will by this time have reached his own capital, for-
mally re-invested with authority, and with every ground
if jealousy and misunderstanding removed. The general
aspect of matters at Lahore is on the whole improving,
and there seems no reason to despair of the provisions
of the treaty of Umritsir being carried out.

AFFGIIANISTAN.
If ever nation received a lesson on the calamitous con-
sequences of the indulgence of ill-regulated avarice and
uncontrolled ambition, England has been taught one not
to be forgotten by her conduct towards the countries
bordering on the Indus. On the affairs of Sinde it is
not at present our purpose to enter. The hopes of reap-
ing a harvest of wealth from the opening of the Indus—
the dreams of annual fairs at Shikapore, whither all the
traders of the East were to resort—have soiled the pages
of our annals with the blackest stain that can disgrace
the history of any country, and saddled us with a peren-
nial outlay exceeding the revenue of a German principa-
lity. Neither need we revert to the more immediate and
frightful consequences of our advance beyond the passes,
for the fanciful purpose of improving our frontier, and
increasing our traffic, written as these arc in characters
of blood and fire, a warning to all future generations.
The present state of Western Affghanistan supplies us
matter for melancholy refisction—on the disorganisation
occasioned by our unprincipled and insane interference
with the internal affairs of countries which concerned
us not. We found a sovereign at Caubul who bore
the character of one of the most vigorous, discreet,
and wise rulers in Central Asia. Under him corn-
merce flourished, and traders were comparatively
safe; justice was administered with an even-handed
impartiality not known in any of the countries
around ; and if the administration of the Ameer from
1830—when he became known to us—till IS3B, when
we resolved to dethrone him, would bear no comparison
with that of the snore enlightened nations of the West-
ern world, there were few in the East to which the most
favourable contrast was not supplied by it. The whole
of the mechanism by which these ends were compassed,
was by us broken to pieces, and though it could hardly
have been imagined that the restoration of the Ameer
would have brought matters again to the position in
which we found them, the even-handedness with which
justice has presented the poisoned chalice to cur lips
almost exceeds the ordinary boundaries of immediate
retribution. The armies which left their bones in the
dark defiles and snows around Caubul were sent there
to open up or maintain the channels of commerce at the
bayonet point. Not only were these at the time closed
behind us by the perturbations we occasioned, but the
stream seeius destined long to be in a great measure
dammed up. Traders complain that at no time within
the present century have they been so annoyed and
assailed; tad to move a kafila to Caubul in safety
seems next to an impossibility. It was the boast of
Mr. Secretary Torrens that between the years 1838
and 1841 our trade with Affghanistan, through the line
of our north-west frontier, rose from seven to thirty-
eight lacs' worth of goods annually; from the former to
the latter, we raised it chiefly in commissariat stores for
the supply of our own troops. Of the million sterling
worth of goods imported by the five various routes enu-
merated by Masson— forty- fly e lacs' worth being be-
lieved to be drawn from British India—how much is at
this present moment purchased from us ? Does five—
does ore—lac worth of British produce pass the fron-
tier for consumption beyond the passes ? We not only
lost our character, destroyed an army, and flung seven-
teen millions of money away, but the very object for
which all this expenditure was incurred has been frus-
trated, and our commerce with the countries beyond the
Indus has been extinguished. We take the folloaing
extracts from the Delhi Gazette of the 31st October :
" Our latest correspondence from Caubul extends to the
24th August, beginning cn the 10th of that month,
where our former letters broke off with an account of a
feud, renewed for the twentieth time, having broken
out between the Ameer and his hopeful son, shortly
after the celebration of the marriage of the Wuzeer to
the daughter of Yar Mahotned of Herat. On the 10th,
the merchants trading to the East again presented them-
selves in a body at the Durbar to pray that soma mea-
sures might be adopted for securing the safety of goods
coming up the passes. They now complained that nu less
than 80 loads had been stolen from one kafila by the
Ghilzaies, in the neighbourhood of G undamuck,and stated
that if their goods were thus to be exposed to plunder they
must seek some other place of abode, saying that even in
the troubled days of Nadir Shah the trade of the country
was considered of sufficient importance to command the
attention of the local Government, which extended its
protection by employing a select body of Arabs tc
accompany the 'taffies backwards and forwards through
the passes. The Ameer replied that if they would only
have patience, he would send troops to repress the evil- I
disposed amongst the Ghilzaies, when all should be
settled to their satisfaction. The Ameer, full of grief at
the present state of affairs, went on the following day
(the 11th August) to the tomb of Asghan Arefan, with
only two atteudants, and spent the whole morning in
prayer ; on his return, he went direct to the private
apartments, refusing to receive any of the Chiefs at
Durbar. Our correspondent says on this, that the pros-
pects of this part of Afighanistan never could have been
worse *lan at the present time. An important rule
with a true Wuzeer, a starving soldiery, and the mer-
@bents ruined by the plunder of their kafilas.' On the
12th, a Durbar was held, at which Sirdar Osmat Khan
reported the receipt of a letter, stating that the inhabi-
tants of Jellalabad were in such fear of an attack from
the Ghilzaiee, that they were removing their property to
the different forts in the neighbourhood. A letter was
thereupon addressed to Murdan, the Deputy Governor,
commanding him to assure the people that they Reed be
under no apprehension, as troops would speedily be
sent to put down the Ghilzaies. At a private council
held on the 14th of the month, to consider the
affairs of the Ghilzaies, Meer Ilajee Saheb and Hafizjee
having been summoned, produced a letter from Azeez
Khan, fke chief of that tribe, which they had lately re-
ceived, in which it was stated that peace should not and
could not be restored in his country unless Mousseh
Khan, Barukhzaie, were delivered up to him by the
Wueeer, with tb. view of his being put to death, in
satisfaction a tibe murder of Meer Afzul Khan of Gunda-
muck. The Aua•er objected to this that Mousseh Khan
was one of his own tribe, and that tribe being the ruling
one in the country, it surely could not be expected that
he would be given up in satisfaction of the death of a
mere Zumeendar of an inferior tribe. The priests both
replied that the law of their religion was explicit on
the subject, and it was no use adducing local customs
against the laws of the Prophet. The Ameer was
silent. It was
,then asked, why with such a difficulty
in the immediate neighbourhood of Caubul, a large
body of men had been sent over to Toorkistan, and
suggested that these should be recalled and ordered
against the Ghilzaies. There appearing some objection to
this plan, it was determined that troops, with a sufficient
complement of guns, should be at once ordered from
Caubul, and the necessary orders were given accordingly.
A rumour having, on the lath, been spread in the Dur•
bar that the British troops had arrived in Peshawur,
ITawab Jubbar Khan said it was no such thing, but that
the rumour originated in the fact of some Seikh troops
having reached Peshawur, commanded by a Feringhee
of the name of John Holmes, whom he knew well, and
who had been many years in the Lahore service. In
this manner,' said the Nawab, many equally unfounded
rumours get abioad, and are believed.' On the 16th a
deputation was sent by the Ameer to the Wuzeer, to
learn his intentions in the present state of affairs. On
the 17th a kassid arrived from the east, who told the
Ameer in the Durbar that it was with the utmost diffi-
culty he had been able to make his way through the
passes, the same being occupied in every direction by
the Ghilzaies. On the following day the deputation to
the Wuzeer stated that they had been daily in attendance
at the house of MahomedUkbar Khan, but that such

was at present the state of his eyes, that he had been un-
able to receive them. The Ameer then deputed Meer Ha-
jee, Ghoolam Mahomed, Khan Shereen Khan, and Meerza
Ab-dool-Summeh Khan, to visit the Wuzeer, and see what
they would do with him, a,, so long as he absented himself
from the Durbar, matters must continue in their present
slate of confusion. The Ameer took the opportunity
of expressing his displeasure at the conduct of those
who were fomenting the feud between him and his son,
adding that he would have their noses cut off if they
continued their malpractices. The chiefs present said it
would be more fit he should at present name the persons
he alluded to, as they were severally ignorant who was
meant, but the Ameer gave no explanation. On the
19th a letter arrived from Meer Attalik Beg (son of
Meer Morad Beg, of Koondooz,) and other chiefs of
Toorkistan, who had not heard of the dispatch of the
troops to their assistance, complaining of the long
detention of their Vakeel, and the delays which had
occurred in ans iverirg their application, and
saying that those only were friends who were
so in the time of need and trouble. On the
20th August, a letter was received from the Deputy
Governor of Jellalabad, stating that he had used his
best endeavour to infuse confidence into the minds of
the people, but with little success, in consequence of some
?.f .t. 1?: small forts having already been attacked by the
um! ales. Torebas Khan wrote at the same time to say
that the insurrection of the Ghilzaies had induced the
people of Kama and other places to rise and plunder
everybody and everything
coming within their reach.
These letters annoyed the Aneer so much, that he brake
up the Durbar and withdrew to his private apartments.
On the 21st, the deputation above-mentioned: reported
that the Wuzeer had also refused to see them,on the
continued plea that his
eves were se painful to him that
he could not hold any conversation with any one. The
Ameer thereupon sent a confidential slave to use his best
ot
if the
o nwNaVa titzheeenr. A
outslxhe
hroeaulrss,tdaiutera endeavour to find
held
long consultation,'of
e . with the chief men of the place, but th
discussion did not become public Oa the 2 nature of the
241 the Ameer
went himself to make inquiries respecting
mictiandghtitosrnits
health, but does not appear to have b