The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-29 00:00:00

tier is pretty much in the same condition now, as to
. _ 1,,,n for two years

• t' 0. 1.1),00U inn
defence, has 'o• superfluously strong, or that 7,000, to
which it is about to be reduced, must be dangerously
weak. The truth is not unlikely on the present occa-
sion to lie between the two :—the financial difficulties
from which we at present are suffering, naturally lead
to the contraction of the drain through which a million
sterling is anumdly drawn to meet the deficiencies in
Sinde ; while t')e approaching change in the political
arrangements on the Indus will gi,t rid of the necessity
of maintaining an cm.» :sous army to enable a e..aehke
Governor to indulge his love of battle by going forth
into the wilderness or the mountains to see and provoke
some one to quarrel. Iler Majesty's 17th is about to
embark for England ; her Majesty's 86th is understood
to be on the eve of its return to Bombay; while her Ma-
jesty's
60th Rifles are said to be intended for service in
Bengal; the three corps are now at Kurrachee. The
building of the barracks for Europeans at Hyderabad still
goes on, though it is now known that they are never
likely to be occupied. Two curious instances of wil-
fulness on the part of the supreme local ate hority
have just been brouj,ht to light in reference to trials by
court-martial. Mr. Macdonald, a commissariat con-
ductor, was tried some time since for permitting pro-
visions to be served out with false weights and steel-
yards, whereby the soldier was cheated in his supplies.
He was fully and honourably acquitted ; and the Court
having been ordered to reconsider its finding, adhered to
it, when it was refused to be confirmed. The conductor
had been stigmatised beforehand in general orders, and
must endure so much of the punishment, though ac-
quitted of all the guilt. Mr. Clifford, of the same
department, having been accused of permitting some of
his people to seize on a bullock for commissariat use,
without paying for it, was tried by court martial so far
back as July last, and, like Mr. Macdonald, fully and
honourably acquitted. The Court, in this, as in the
other case, having persisted in adhering to its finding,
was dissolved—a new one being assembled, and a fresh
trial, on the same charges twice submitted, ordered to
take place. The result in the second case was the same
as that in the first—a full and unqualified acquittal. The
Court, having by order revised and re-considered the
evidence, adhered to their original finding, and there the
matter rests. The prisoner, twice fully committed, con-
tinues, as he has been for five months, in arrest, to suffer

the punishment that would have befallen him if guilty—
deprivation of his warrant. The following statement
has appeared in the Bombay Courier. (We can give no
further vouchers for its accuracy than these—that,
monstrous as it seems, it is not one whit more so than

some dozen of the circumstances revealed in the Blue
Book, and that it appears in a journal remarkable for
the caution and mildness of its tone, and the general cor-
rectness of its information on Sinde affairs):—
" Our intelligence from Sinde is but scanty. It em-
braces, however, one or two items of interest. From
Hydrabad we obtain a most painful and humiliating
proof that the adroit policy' which led to the appropria•
tion of Sinde, still characterises the administration of
the affairs of that province. The mother of Meer
Shadad, we are informed, recently applied to Sir Charles
Napier for permission to send four men on a mission to
her son. Permission was granted,—and by Sir Charles's
orders, the men were provided with purwannahs, or
passports of safe conduct to Surat. More treacherous
than the conduct of Proteus to Bellerophon, was that of
the Governor of Sinde to the royal lady whom he thus
pretended to oblige. The same officer who was directed
to furnish her messengers with the purwannahs, was
also instructed to have these men narrowly and secretly
watched; to have them waylaid on the frontier of Sinde,
carefully searched, and then brought back to Hydrabad.
These orders were duly executed. About seven hun-
dred rupees in money, and some jewels, were found on
the men. The latter we believe were returned, the
former had not been so at the date of our corres-
pondent's latest information. Whether any letters were
found on the men, and what was their purport, we know
not; doubtle,s, however, Sir C. Napier expected to dis-
cover some mare's nest. And such is the state of official
morals in Sinde, that we should not be surprised if
some convenient Moydeen, or Gholam Shah, were to
substitute for the missives of affection actually
found on the messengers some treasonable effusion
from the widow of Neor Mahommed to the captive
Shadad, urging him to stir up the Talpoor blood within
him, to set fire to Surat Castle, murder the collector,
corrupt the troops, and, marching at their head, to re-
turn to Sinde, to execute the fabulous threat put into his
mouth by the Guernsey novelist, viz., that he would
place an iron ring in Charles Napier's nose, and thus
drag him in triumph throughout the towns and villages
of Sinde. There is no treachery, no meanness, so base
as to be beyond perpetration in Sinde. Of the truth of
this we have already had some pro.)fs: on the breaking
up of the Napierian rule, these will become more rife.
Budrodeens, Moydeens, Meer Mahommed Khans, and
Gholam Shahs, speedily learn what would be agreeable
to the Burrs Sahib;' and without a compunctious
qualm they supply it. No questions are asked, and
should any overscrupulous official express a misgiving,
Sir Charles has always those about him who, as in the
case of the Persian documents, are ready to assure him
that "there can be no doubt the papers are genuine."
But to return to the act of treachery itself. No political
exigency can, in our opinion, justify so thoroughly un-
principled a deed. It was unworthy of a British officer, or
a British diplomatist. In comparison with it, SirJ.Grabam's
Post-office espionage was manly, and becoming the cha-
racter of a gentleman. In comparison with it, Mr.
Bell's treatment of Beejar Khan appears scarcely dis-
graceful. In comparison with it, Sir Charles Napier's
previous subtle expedients,' happy ideas,' and 'in-
genious devices,' sinkLinto insignificance. Nor is it
merely because it inflicts another foul blot on the faith of
Englishmen, and the honour of England, that we object
to it. We have another reason for denouncing it. A
military officer was the instrument used by Sir Charles
Napier in perpetrating this vile act ; obedience to the
instructions of his General was a military duty incum-
bent on that officer. He received the order, and though
his soul may have loathed alike the duty imposed on him,
and the man who imposed it, obey he must. There was
no alternative. Is it, we ask, to be tolerated that high-
minded British officers are to be exposed to the risk of
being compelled to perform mean and disgraceful actions,
whenever it suits the whims of one alike ready and un-
scrupulous in his expedients ? Whether the officer in
question was a high-minded man we know not, nor
shall we stop to inquire ; but he was a British officer,
and we are therefore bound to believe an honourable
gentleman."
A letter from a Captain Napier, p.N., in reply to some
observations made by Mr. Sullivan at a meeting of the
Court of Proprietors of India Stock, has just reached us;
we shall publish it in an early issue, accompanied by the
quotations from the Parliamentary papers, to which, in
contradicting Mr. Sullivan, it gives the lie direct. The
statements of the India proprietor Isere mere repetitions
of what is set forth in the Blue Book by Sir Charles
Napier and Lord Ellenborough, whom he has thus un-
wittingly contradicted. Unfortunately, there seems to
have been no one on the spot sufficiently familiar ssith
these things to silence him as his uncle was last year
quotations. Perhaps, in the case
silenced—b}'
simple
it would d have been difficult to find a news-
paperto admit the contradiction ! No
men
know a t home o
betterm e
thanin the Napiers how to avail them-
selves of public gullibility, and to adventure on the most
hardy and groundless assertions—in the nenfidence that
x
impudence would carry the day, and that bold misstate-
ment might for a time escape detection. The system has
been
e
,innsitvheolymr(cssotrmteid,.etroabinlelndi
exposures.a , bu t has
The
h invariably
ci;
m at
resulted e
of the sea coast of Sinde is peculiarly agreeable at pre-
sent, and the
of cases been at this season
of the year.
country infinitely less unhealthy than it has
in the majority

THE PUNJAUB.
CASnmEnE
at the date of.-h—tsTt he
Seikh districts, which
Littler
promised to advance .
dispatch,tranquillisation
bas a ll b ouftthreeali
sedifavourably discontented
pro-
mise. We formerly noticd the simultaneous adtsvanc
of the two large forces under Brigadier Wheeler and
Major-General Sir John
Jullundur Doab, the latter f from the
—the former
ine• in the direction of Caslmr°enir
d'these movements, and of the resent
proceed-
The following notice
troops, has been furnished us by present position of the
Littler's force ; it is later in pointaonf odffiagkh
teioe rfe‘twshei
ete with
Chenaub,n e r General
com-
munication from the same quarter we than any
ITERS OF
LATEST NEWS FROM HEAD_
THE PUNJAUB DIVISION.
Camp Bukree Wallah, left ban
31st October, 1846.
Sir John Littler marched from Lahore on the 15a,
instant, arrived at Seealkote on the 21st, and has
e ,
menced crossing the Chenaub to-day. The 12th Native
Infantry, sth Troop Ist Brigade Horse Artillery, 2d
Company 6th Battalion Foot Artillery with No. 9 Light
Field Battery, are directed to cross to-day ; lI.M. 80th
Foot, 42d and 45th Regiments N. I.; and Wing 2d 'Fre-
iiular Cavalry, complete the Brigade marching with the
Major-General, and which is commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Iluish, C. 8., senior officer present. The
Brigade under command of Brigadier Wheeler, C. 8., is
one march in advance, moving towards Bimbur : it
consists of the 15th, 30ih, and 33,l Regiments Native
Infantry ; 4th Troop Ist Brigade Horse Artillery,
and 4th Irregular Cavalry. Detachments of Sappers
are with each brigade, and a large depot of medical
stores—upwards of 100 camel loads—accompanies the
division. The mountain tops to our northwest are now
covered with snow."
Colonel Lawrence, agent for the Governor-General,
it will be remembered, quitted Lahore on the 15th of
October with a view of joining the foremost of the ad-
vancing troops. He joined the combined Seikh armies
of Ghoolab Singh and Tej Singh at Naoshera on the
18th. His assistants, Captain!, Brougham, and Lieuts.
Edwardes, Nicholson, and Wroughton, had arrived there
before. Some days before this the leader of the insur-
gents, Sheikh Emaum-ood-Deen, had intimated his de-
sire to submit, and in evidence of his sincerity,
ordered the siege of Hurree Purvut to be suspended.
On .the 17th and 18th the Jammoo troops were engaged
with the insurgents, the former being successful. About
this time Fuqueer Oola Titian, Chief of Rajouree, and
son of Ruheem Oola Khan, one of the most active leaders
in the rebellion, surrendered himself to Lieut. Edwardes,
at Naoshera, and it was intimated that on the 23d the
Shiekli himself was about to quit Cashmere with the in-
tention of surrendering. It is probable his purposes
might have been altered, and his departure delayed, as
he had not, so far as appears, been heard of at the head-
quarters of Sir John Littler on the 31st. Extended in-
formation dispels the delusion that the Cashmere insur-
rection was the result of any general feeling of indigna-
tion amongst the people, awakened by aversion to the rule
or hatred of the Oppression of Ghoolab Singh. The excite-
ment seems to have owed its origin to the machinations
of two or three individual chiefs, who, caballing toge-
ther for their own personal ends, managed to collect
followers, and to incite all the idle, dishonest, and dis-
contented to insurrection who hoped to gain by any
change. The cause has none of the dignity of a war of

independence; there is no reason to believe the Jammoo
chief more tyrannous or unpopular than his predeces•
fur our ,Impitl-1-:- with thc:4-?
rc6ist 1115 authority. With the f,ur-
render of the leaders there is every reason to expect
that the
,rebellion will be quickly brought to an end.
Matters have ,at length been finally, and apparently
sat;.sfa,ctorily, settled with the Moultan Chief, who has
agreed to pay 35,0004 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 Rubjeet Singh, and
received the vice-royalty in consideration of his personal
services and the regard entertained for him by Ms 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 Mooli'aj to brave them for a time with impunity.
!le wilt by this time have reach( d his own capital, for-
mally re-invested with au:hority, and with every ground
m jealousy and misunderstanding removed. The general
tspect of matters at Lahore is on the whole improving,
tud there seems no reason to despair of the provisions
of the treaty of Umritsir being carried out.

AFFGHANISTAN.
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 Shikapose, 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 are in characters
of blood and fire, a warning to all future generations.
The present state of Western Affghanistan supplies us
matter for melancholy reflection—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 com-
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 1838, when
we resolved to dethrone him, would bear no comparison
with that of the more 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 our 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 seems 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; and to move a kafila to Caubul in safety
scams 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 Inca' worth of goods annually; from the former to
the latter, we raised it chiefly in commissariat stores for
the supply cf our own troops. Of the million sterling
worth of goods imported by the five various routes enu-
merated by Masson—forty-five lacs' worth being be-
lieved to be drawn from British India—how much is at
this present moment purchased from us ? Does five—
does one—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 following
xtracts from the Delhi Gazette of the 31st October :
" Our latest correspondence from Caubul extends to the
24th August, beginning on 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 Mahomed of Herat. On the 10th,
the merchants trading to the East again presented them-
selves in a body at the Durbar to pray that some mea-
sures might be adopted for securing the safety of goods
coming up the passes. They now complained that no less
than 80 loads had been stolen from one kafila by th•
Ghilzaies, in the neighbourhood of Gundamuck,andstated
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 kafilas backwards and forwards through
the passes. The Ameer replied that if they would only
have patience, he would send troops to repress the evil-
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 Affghanistan never could have been
worse than at the present time. 'An important rule
with a true Wuzeer, a starving soldiery, and the mer-
chants ruined by the plunder of their kafilas.' On the
12th, a Durbar was held, at which Sirdar Osman. Khan
reported the receipt of a letter, stating that the inhabi-
tants of Jellalabad were in such fear of an attack from
the Ghilzaies, 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 need he
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 Hajee Saheb and Hafizjee
having been summoned, produced a letter from Azeez
Khan, tte 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
Wuaeer, with the view of his being put to death, in
stisfaction taw murder of Meer Afoul Khan of G undo-
muck. The Ameer 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 Toorliistan, 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
Gaubul, and the necessary orders were given accordingly.
A rumour having, on the 15th, been spread in the Dur-
bar that the British troops bad arrived in Peshawur,
Nawab Jubbar Khan said it was no such thing, but that
the rumour originated in the fact of some Seikh troops
o whomm an d
he
ed by a
knew
Fweerliln,galinede
of the name of JohnP6sh al
Iwo ul
mr e sc,
m
' said the Nawab, many equally unfounded
this manner,
who had been many years in the Lahore service. In
having reached
deputation was sent by the Ameer to the Wuzeer, to
the
rumours get abroad, and are believed. On the 16th a
learn his intentions in present state of affairs. On
it was with theutmost diffi-
cultyAmeer in the Durbar that
been able to makehis way through the
the 17th a Icassid arrived from the east, who told the
he had
Passes, the same
being occupied in every direction by
the Ghilzaies. On tl..e following day the deputation to
that such
was at present the state of his eyes, that he had been the Wuzeer stated that they had been daily in attendance
at the house of Mahomed Ukbar Khan, but
ice Ghoolam Mahomed, Khan Shereen Khan, and c eerza
un-
able to receive them. The Ameer then deputed Meer;i Ha-
AC-dool. Summeh Khan, to visit the Wuzeer, and sec what
from the Durbar, matters-, so long as he absented himself
must continue in their present
they would do with him,
Etc
state of confusion. The Ameer took the opportunity
of expressing his displeasure at the conduct of those
be m their
ore fitm ahl pe r
shouldact ie
who were fomenting the feud between him and his son,
adding that he would have their noses cut off if they
continued
es
a t presentTh The chiefs
nam
peresent said it
the persons
he alluded to, as they were severally ignorant who was
meant, but the Ameer gave no explanation. On the
would
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 answering their r • app mation and
saying that those only were friends who, were
so in the time of need and rouble On the
20th August, a letter was received from the Deputy
Governor of Jellalabad, stating that he had used
his
best endeavours to infuse confidence into the minds of
the people, but with little success, in consequence of some
of the small forts having already been attacked by the
Ghilzaies. 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 Ameer so much, that he broke
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 so painful to him that
he could not hold any conversation with any one. The
Ameer thereupon sent a confidential slave to use his best
endeavour to find out the real state of the Wuzeer. A
long consultation, of six hours' duration, was then held
with the chief men of the place, but the nature of the
discussion did not become public. On the 22d the Ameer
went himself to make inquiries respecting his son's
health, but does not appear to have been admitted. It