The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-27 00:00:00

vontalt .tit

LQNPUN, WEDNNSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1848

Lieutenant, or, as he must now be designated,
Major ED WA RUES, is rapidly confirming his reputation
as a military commander of precocity and genius, as
well as of courage and enterprize. Our last dis-
patelaes from llinclostan, published in our impression
of 7.\l;onday efienieg, detailed the brilliant victory
gained by this distinguished officer on the Ist of
July at the vkllage of Sadoosam. The success of
that encounter is the realization of the hopes inspired
by the result of the important battle fought by his
extempore forces on the anniversary of Waterloo.
The aggregated power of the troops under Major
EDWARDES himself, under Colonel CORTLANDT, and
under the Oriental auxiliary, the Nawaub of Beha-
n ulpore, conquered, not partially but conclusively and
triumphantly, the numerous and infuriated legionaries
of the insurgent chieftain. Beyond these the army of
the European victors was enhanced considerably by
the aid of the Seikk soldiers, under the personal di-
rection of the Sheik EMAUMOOD-DEEN, and the
result of this sudden concentration of vigour where it
was least anticipated, was the complete discomfiture
of the rebel, and the immediate dispersion of his fol-
lowers. So decisive was the victory gained by the
English and their allies, under the command of the
noble-hearted subaltern, that the MOOLRAJ himself
—struck down from the howdah of his elephant by
the concussion of a cannon ball—only narrowly
escaped by springing from the dust into a saddle, and
seeking shelter by flight within the walls of the
capital of the Mooltanees. The sedate pomp of his
potential pegeantries was changed into the undignified
dismay of a fugitive.
WithoUt exaggerating the importance of what has
recently been :accomplished on the frontiers of our
@rieatal possessions, we may aver that nothing so
singularly abrupt and triumphant has occurred within
the eircumference of the Eastern peninsula since the
invasion of the countries north of the Coleroon by the
buccaneering retainers of the warlike HiDER. The
sudden outbreak of rebellion, carrying every-
thing before it, and threatening to set all
the civil and military influences of the Com-
pany at defiance—the equally sudden advance
of a young Lieutenant isolated in the midst of
sa insurgent population—are without any direct
parallel more recent in date than the occurrence to
which we have already alluded as having transpired
during the administration of HASTINGS—when, ac-
cording to the eloquent words of the historian, " an
army of ninety thousand men, far superior in disci-
pline and efficiency to any other native force which
can be found in India, came pouring through those
wild passes which, worn by mountain tor-
rents and dark with jungle, lead down
from the table-land of Mysore to the plains of the
emetic." What Sir ETRE COOTE was in his old
age under the inspiration of the heir of Daylesford,
Lieutenant EDWARDES has proved himself to be in
his extreme youth, without the guidance of an elder
CARNOT. The tide of calamity has been turned
hack even at its flood, in obedience to the beck of
his hand, an the prestige of the name of England
so far from having been in any respect diminished
by the recent catastrophes in the neighbourhood of
Lahore, have been only enhanced to an unprece-
dented extent by the genius and the daring, and
the promptitude of a single man, acting
upon his own responsibility I It will have
been observed with satisfaction that, in compliance
with a suggestion transmitted to the Council at Cal-
Alta by the British Resident at Lahore, reinforce-
ments to the amount of six thousand five hundred
men, commanded by Major-General Wrirsu, have
been forwarded to the united forces of Major ED..
1.7.1.RDES and Colonel CORTLANDT, and assisted by
the Seikh EMA ONI-OOD DEEN and the Nawaub
Bahawulpore—these reinforcements, in de-
tail, comprising 500 artillery, 1,500 cavalry,
1,,410 European, and 3,000 Native infantry.
No doubt, therefore, can be any longer en-
tertained as to the ultimate pacification of the dis-
turbed districts, and the final discomfiture of the in-
surgent MOOLUAJ, now shut up within the ramparts
of Mooltan. The victories of the 18th of June, and
subsequently of the Ist of July, have afforded a bril-
liant prelude to the arrival of the regular troops, and
will tend, together with the increase of alarm on the part
of the rebels, to lead to a speedy capitulation. When
Sus much has been accomplished, it must not be for-
gotten, the Company or by the Government,
that to a3orEDW g
ARDES is due the sole glory, in the
first iestance, of having conceived the plan by which '
we were extricated from our somewhat appalling dif-
ficulties, and of having afterwards carried out that
very hazardous and elaborate scheme in the midst of
a thousand bewilderinents and embarrassments. ,
To have nominated him to the local rank
of .11,1 e r by brevet, to hays decorated the
of. honour
buitan-hole of hie uniform with ams
iadipatlve of personal satisfactionorek
i
avow, is surely not sufficient in any respects fSo°rvtlEu:
eubstantial good accruing to the awe of our army andil
the authority of our command in the length a
breadth of the Oriental Empire, and accruing to them
moreover from the spontaneous evidence of skill on
the part of this young and enterprising soldier. The
inestimable advantage of his example will be lost if the
Government evinces its usual passion for parsimony.

It has for a considerable time past been the prac-
tice of a certain class of political economists to de-
nounce in the most strenuous and indignant turns
the enterprise by which our magnificent railways—
the iron net-work by which our island is intersected
on every side—have been constructed. We are told

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