The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-06 00:00:00

made to pacify them, or to explaim the affair ; in-
deed, what explanation could be given ? And they
are to be coerced. They are, however, determined to
strike tho first blow, and fell upon a detachment of
the Company's troops of 400 infantry, some cavalry,
and four guns, which were despatched to reinforce
the garrison at Khelat-i-Ghiljic. The attack was
made at night, but was very gallantly repulsed, and
many Ghilzies slain. Colonel Weyrner was the com-
mander. of this detachment, which behaved with the
greatest coolness and bravery, repulsing every attack,
and answering the calls of the Affghans to abandon their
officers with volleys of abuse and musketry. I suppose,
as it has begun, therefore, this tribe will be pursued,
and as far as possible annihilated, for anything like con-
ciliation appears to be the last idea of the Atfghanistan
school of diplomacy. But it is a sad, sad pity, that for
the intemperate acts of a young man we should have to
add one more tribe to the many whom we have had to
coerce in the name of our miserable King Schah Soojah
—that so much of what has been done should beundone,
and that insurrection and ill-blood should again be en-
gendered.
More news is anxiously looked for from the scene of
action, and many think, with justice, that the flame of
war will burst forth again ; that the friends of the Ghil-
jieS will not be slow to afford them aid, and that many
a tribe who would otherwise have remained quiet will be
roused by this ill-timed, impolitic—nay, disgraceful—

affair.
But there is a worse matter than this to tell you
of. I think I mentioned in my last that the town
of Kudjuk had been attacked and carried. The miserable
facts of that affair are these :—A sutn of money—il lac of
rupees, I think—was demanded as tribute to Schah Soojah ;
the amount was large, and the payment was evaded for
some time, and of course troops were ordered out to en-
force it. The demand was made at a time when it could
not be complied with: the crops were green, and the abi-
lity of the people to pay depended on the sale of their
grain. This, however, did not suit the impatience of
the commissioner, Mr. Ross Bell, or the needy Govern-
ment, and the troops marched for Kudjuk. In vain
the tribe besought delay, and made promises of pay-
ment. They were disregarded utterly. As the
force advanced on their chief town it was evacuated,
except by a few infirm men and women and sick per-
sons. It was taken possession of ; and now began an
authorized sacking and pillaging of the place ; it was
given up to the soldiery, and every article movable or
immovable of domestic employment or necessity carried
away or destroyed. The place was set fire to, and burned
for many days, and when hardly a hut remained mines
were used to complete the work of destruction. The
town was made a mass of ruin, and the force re-
turned, not, however, without treading down the green
crops, or feeding the cattle on them, cutting down the
fruit trees, and reducing.a fertile valley to a scene of de-
solation. Had the crops been allowed to ripen the means
would have been had of paying the demand. But no
having been evaded as too heavy, as more than the Affg-
han Government had ever received, and from present
inability to pay, British power was made the instrument
of this barbarous spoliation, and the helpless and starving
Kudjuks are wanderers reduced to beggary—house-
less, and miserable. One would think that Mr.
Bell's revenge would have been satisfied by their
ruin. But no ; their application, their prayer to
re-build and re-inhabit the town of Kudjuk, has
been peremptorily refused ; and the spot where the
tribe have lived for generations is to remain a ruin, a
warning to others how to provoke British powev—l
should rather say Ross Bell's vengeance. The British
arms have never as yet been sullied by proceedings, like
these, which reflect such disgrace on their author that it
is marvellous how they have escaped the punishment
they deserve. There is no doubt they have been disap-
proved of by the Supreme Government ; but the author
of them remains, and The people do not know, and if
they do, they cannot appreciate, the private injunc-
tions of the Governor-General to be less rigorous in
his future measures. Not only in this instance, but in
others, Mr. Bell has proved himself a merciless
creditor on the part of the Schah ; and with such a
man to deal with, and the example of Kudjuk to
look upon, what wonder is it that the Beloch
Murrees, the Brahooees, and other tribes are still
unsettled, and that their Chief, young Nusseer Khan,
mistrusts the terms offered to him, and wanders a fugi-
tive in his own territories. I wish I could say there was
any reason to doubt any part of these miserable affairs—
every part of them is prominently before the Indian pub-
lic, and I trust will soon be equally known by that of
England. Will such scenes be allowed to continue ?
God forbid ! Temper, foresight, moderation, calmness,
justice—without which all other qualifications in politi-
cal agents are vain—appear to have been lost sight of,
and in their stead we see ill-humour, hauteur, hastiness,
and unsteadiness of purpose, with revenge for fancied
slights and want of knowledge and estimation of the cha-
racter of the people. A few who have possessed the
power have done more (Brown in Kahun, for instance,
and others) than those to whom, from their situations,
Government had a right to expect the adjustment of diffi.
colt questions.
The papers have been filled of late with very angry
proceedings between Mr. Ross Bell and General Gor-
don, commanding in Scinde, in which the former has be-
haved very ill. Both parties have been reproved by the
Governor-General, but Bell has not been removed, and
General Gordon, declaring that he could no longer serve
under his interference, has resigned his command. It
is rumoured, however, • that the Supreme Government
can no longer bear with Mr. Bell, and have re-
moved him, and appointed my gallant old friend Out-
rank to his place. I hope so ; Outram is a fine little
fellow, and alru. dy a distinguished politician and
soldier. From N..bat I can gather of Bell's acts, he
seems to have been led by his vanity to the verge of
nearly insane conduct in his administration of Scinde
and Cutehee affairs. He has interfered with and un-
settled property, estates, titles to lands, and hereditary
offices, customs' regulations, duties, &c., in so strange
a fashion—in short, to have so completely unsettled the
country, that it will take years of good and temperate
management to bring it into order again. At last we
are ginning to have inklings of the true expenses
of the occupation of Affghanistan, and the enclosed
list, which was published the other day, is a pretty
little item :--12,346 rupees a month amounts to
quite 50,000/, per annum; and the Schah's own force,
which he was to have paid, and which you in Eng-
land believe he pays, but of which he does not pay
a fraction, is 180,000/. per annum. India pays for
this, so also for the regular troops, the commissariat, the
expense of moving ordnance and stores, secret money to
bribe uneertairvor refractory persons—Kamram Schah,
and his Vizier Yar Me,homed, fur instance—with 25,000
rupees a month—fortifications, political agencies, and
their establishment's ; for example of part of the latter,
take Mr. Ross 'Bell's camels, as set forth in the enclosed
letter, where broad. facts are given-678, at the monthly
expense to GovernMent of 10,000 rupees. Yes, these
arc pleasant items for the Indian financialists to contem-
plate, with no prospect Of reduction, and little ability to
meet them,-if any dependence is placed on the now loan.
which has turned out a complete failure so far, and
the
amount subscribed sadly disproportionatewants
of the state. Here is the account

Lacs Rupees.
Calcutta
The banks of Bengal, &c. 35
Bombay and Madrass, 10 by the banks of
Bombay

Total 65
—a drop in the ocean of expenditure. Contrast this
with the opening of the loan for the Burmese war, when
in three or four months as many millions sterling were
forthcoming. It is said Government will be obliged to
take 4 per cent. paper in payment of the loan, selling it,
of course, again at a discount. We shall see.
What can be done then to lighten the expense ?
Withdraw troops? Impossible—for, as I will tell you
by and by, we may yet be obliged to take Herat ; we
cannot hold one tribe in allegiance to the Schah with-
out them. Reduce the troons in India ! Impossible
too. The political agency charge appears enormous ;
why then should them be so many officers ? Every
petty state, whose Whole revenue hardly equals the pay,
of the agent, has one. Could, there not be one too
many, and could not the smaller one, transact
their business by means o 1 their own agents ? Almost
all the agents are pan* men, and why they
should be set to direct or advise the movements
of troops I cannot divine—troops commanded by old
and e:zperienced officers. Surely, it would be better to
give these men the civil as well as military authority,
for at present the system engenders quarrels and im-
pedes the service. According to the list, we have 18
young Lieutenants out of 33 officials. They may be
able to speak Persian, and therefore would have made
admirable aids and interpreters to the commanders of
the troops,,_ but I should think it dangerous , to trust
them with the entire power in such a country as Affgha-
nistan. Something must be wrong, or we should not
have affairs like those of Kudjuk and the Ghil3ies, nor
would the whole of the country be insecure and un-
settled.

It is two months, I think, since there was a very strong
rumour that Herat had been given up to the Persians by
Yar Mahomed, or sold rather, and that in consequence
Major Todd has been obliged to fly from Herat. It was
contradicted from Persia by the next mail, but the news
from Persia just arrived at Bombay gives the truth of
the matter. The letters are from Teheran, and there is
no doubt, I believe, of the authenticity of the intelligence.
The surrender of Ghorian to Herat was, as you
know, the sine qua non of the renewal of the inter-
course with Persia, and the King invited Mr. Riach to
Teheran to settle the matter. It was agreed to, and
Mr. Riach went to Meshed in the way to Ghorian to
sec it carried into effect. Meanwhile, the brother or
son of Kamram comes to the King, saying he had
driven' the English—that is, Todd, &c., out of Herat,
and offers the place to the Schah. After some coquetting
with the offer, the Schah has accepted it, and while he,
to satisfy the British Government, has given Ghorian to
Herat, has become virtual monarch of both himself, and
has appointed Kamram to be his deputy. What, there-
fore, will be done ? It seems, in very truth, that the
Persians and Herrattees have laughed at our beards,
and the absence of Todd from Herat, indeed of any
political agent, gives too much reason to suppose that
this advantage may have been taken. The letter further
the
s.
states that there are assemblings of troops towards trl
sea, and many new fortification which have, at the least,
in conjunction with the above, a very suspicious ap-
pearance.

EGYPT. •
ALEXANDRIA, AUG. 16.
On the 7th of August the steamer Nile arrived from
Constantinople, bringing a detailed account of the recep-
tion of Said Bey and Semi Bey at Constantinople, be-
sides orders fiur the faithful execution of the hatti
scheriff of Gulliane, and a vizerial letter announcing
that the Sultan had reduced the tribute from 80,000 to
60,000 purses. The Pacha had hoped for a reduction to
15,000,000 piastres, being half the amount of 60,000
purses. On the following day Ibraham Pacha left for