The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-20 00:00:00

FROM LONDON TO LAHORE.

From the deep interest which is felt in this °lin;
try amongst all who are interested in the future °,
our Eastein empire we offer no apology for the 1(47
lowing extract, evidently the work of a writer Per;
feJtly acquainted w;th the full bearings of lb
question :

(From the Sindian, of January 7.) a
"The magnificent design emanating from, en
matured by, the genius of the chairman of tee
Sind Railway Company, for linking London /vitil
Lahore by one continuous and direct chain of e°33l,
municatiou, is -no longer looked upon by practie3L
men as chimerical cr utopian. Step by step b 9.50
the gigantic plan been developed, and whether vr
contemplate the grandeur of the whole in one gel3.e: '
ral view, or descend to inquire into the
of each individual section, it must be acknowled,"6ol
that the minutest scrutiny proves that the °Ogle es
conception was breed on the surest data. Tll%lif„. 0
by rail and steamer between Great Britain and "
Levant has been long an established fact. fifre
Southampon, Marseilles, and Trieste, steamers are
epeeialinsis
constantly plying to and from the eastern porlsthe
the Mediterranean. To continue this line by die
most direct and economical route to Western le ~a
and the Punjaub is the object of Mr. Andrew 'l'il
his numerous influential supporters. By lalt 3/1.3e1
we learned that Sir John MWeill and Gelle,ri„
Chesney had selected a spot in the immediate t',,a
cinity of the old port of Se eucia, which Pr°sen..bet
every facility for forming a harbour. Frore,"ar.
point to the head of the Persian Gulf they had it
veyed th 3 whole country; and so favourable Wtir
for the construction of a railway, that it was cable,
lated the line might be laid down at 90001. pe.,,,r13/„lve
which, if compared with similar works in Diar,:te
and America, will be admitted to be very Ineue-0,
indeed. The local traffic is found to be in The
and the existing rates of carriage very high' gra
difficulties in the navigation of the Euphrates `ta ,
by no means insuperable, and can be overcall() f
el.the application of modern science to their rense%a
Mr. Laird, of Birkenhead, has offered to bro,
steamers suitable to the shallow stream e
river ro-
; and it is known to many in this Pea
vince that Mr. Frere's time has been much 01432"..is
whilst in England in the formation of a joint-r,
company for running a line of steamers from -0- et
racaee to the Persian Gulf, and that he has in :
with unlooked-for support in this undertaking. ii,:
It is on this (the Indus) part of the great 1140
way that we would now offer a few remarks. 'or_
importance of such a line cannot possibly be °to-
rated. Whether regarded in a political or °lot '
mercial point of view, its speedy formation 113, of
be deemed of imperious necessity. The Friend
India very truthfully remarks that "no line 01°4
A
demands the earnest support of Government.''
...„
a period when our relations on the north-wetf,ontier are in a most precarious state, and in.,
complications may arise demanding the moveuP"A'
of large bodies of troops in that direction, it 0974,
be evident that increased facilities for their trang"
are not only expedient but ind'spensable. At the
present moment, with the means Government ha
°o
their disposal, it would take months to assemble:
an army for defence or invasion on our frontier;
whereas, with the lines completed that we 11s10
spoken of, 50,000 men might be conveyed 1_,11.,„:
shorter space of time from England to Atlghal„o
Port t sn. Our local rulers have earnestly sufpor utii
completion of such a railway as that now procell,
between Lahore and Umritsur. In a letter 17-eb
dressed by th9.4ief commissioner of the Parklaiie,
to the government of India in the yearlBss the -ice
cessity for such a line was thus strongly urge,, %erS
Otter with the proposal for placing eight sfeawll:
on the diffdrent rivers :—'tlndeed, these two es''ebe
tials—viz., the railroad and the steamers, mayiir
said with truth to be the crying wants of the Pt
jaub in the department of public works. Tbis
,eP
vided, the commerce and produce of these "'ills
tories will be turned to their due course—viz" tist
Indus and its feelers • and to their natural 04
—viz., the port of iurrachee. For the raii,ll°:f
the face of the Doab offers an unusual equalite'uio-
surface, while it possesses few or none of the re`lo4
site resources for metalling a road. For the r's-,a,
it were preferable, instead of improving the 33017.0.
ble stream, to concentrate all efforts in the Rae
vision of powerful steamers of the lightest Pas'ly
draught. The chief commissioner, while deprede,
ting any general extension of the public works
oicl
partment in the Punjaub for the present, lv,°eir
yet beg most earnestly to press these cardinal be,
jests on the attention of the government. Ile for
lieved that if carried out they would effect more jES
the development of the resources of these territory
than any other work, or number of works, t
could be devised."