The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-08 00:00:00

which arguments was looked upon as almost an apostacy
in their faith. Yet, in spite of this, they had
continued true to the British Government.—(Hear.)
All this was borne out by Major Outram. He stated in
1840 that the conduct of the Ameers was most peace-
able, and greatly facilitated the progress of the troops.
The Governor-General himself also wrote, and
bore the same testimony. The Governor-General
said that the conduct of the Ameers towards

the officers and towards the troops in their passage
through Upper and Lower Sinde was most friendly.
This was all the evidence which could be shown of
those famous circulars. ^On the 22d of May, the Go-
vernor-General sent a letter in which he stated his final
conditions to Major Outram. Let any one read them
and say, whether they were not most harsh and severe ;
but little time, however, was allowed for deliberation, an
army having been assembled on the frontier, the nego-
tiationswhichwere proposed were backed by the presence
of a considerable force—violence naturally begot vio-
lence, and distrust and dismay pervaded the whole
country. It was wholly impossible for the Ameers
to control their subjects, and they made an attack upon
the house of the Resident. Then followed a battle—
the Ameers were beaten and carried into captivity, and
thus those famous treaties, which began by declaring
the inviolability of the country, were wound up by the
imprisonment of the Ameers and the conquest and an-
nexation of Sinde to our empire in India. But those
princes were charged with treachery. No doubt they
were, of course they were, charged with treachery. Every
one who undertook to establish such a weighty imputa-
tion against them would of course be provided with a
precious pretext for it. But where was the proof ?
Again and again he (Lord A.) asked, where was the
proof that those persons were guilty of treachery, either
to the person of the Resident, or to the rights and privi-
leges and power of the British. No doubt there was
great distrust among the inhabitants—no doubt there
was great desire to get rid of our troops—and no doubt
they availed themselves of whatever opportunities pre-
sented to effect that purpose. But was there not a
cause for the course of policy which the Ameers had
been compelled to adopt? He would pass by all the
violence of language on both sides, and would come to
the simple facts which must have prOduced that effect upon
the Ameers, and compelled them to enter upon that course
of intrigue and distrust which ultimately was used as an
argument for their destruction and ruin. In July, 1838,
the Governor-General having determined to carry on a
system of operations in Affghanistan, was desirous
of putting Sindian affairs in such a position
as would best favour his ambitious intrigue.
He therefore directed a letter to be sent to the Resident
in Sinde, in which there was this famous passage, "The
Governor-General is averse from contemplating such a
result as a refusal on the part of the Ameers to enter
into a composition with Shah Soojah." Such a compo-
sition as what ? Such as might be conducive to their
interest ?—such as they upon due deliberation might
think desirable for their independence ? No such
thing. " Such a composition with Shah Soojah as
the British Governor may think just and reasonable."
That was a pretty way to treat an independent State.
But this was not all. He then went on to say, "In case
of refusal" what was to happen ? That they should
retire from the negotiation lamenting that it had utterly
failed ? No such thing. "In case of refusal temporary
occupation should be taken of Shirkapore and of so
much of the country adjacent as may be necessary."
Nor was even that all: still more was demanded.
" While the present exigency lasts," said the Go-
vernor-General, " you may apprise the Ameers that
the article of the treaty with them"—(the House
would remember with what difficulty the treaty
of 1832 was obtaained)—" respecting the freedom
of the Indus, and the military stores must necessarily be
suspended." They must recollect that nothing had yet
been charged against the Ameers. Subsequently, in-
deed, they were involved in intrigues with the Court of
Persia. He did not mean to defend their
policy; but he would simply ask, whether they
had set them an unblemished example ?—(Hear,
hear.) Whether their own performance of treaties
and open and honest dealings were so manifest that they
could fairly call upon the Ameers to lay aside all in-
trigue, and not resort to that plotting which was the
usual subterfuge of the weaker party. The interval
was filled up with the observance of conditions, and
all anger appeared to have passed away. But in
November, 1838, there occurred a demand of far
greater importance. The Governor-General signified his
desire to occupy for a time the fortress of Pakhur. Now,
the extreme value and importance of that fortress might
be best gathered from the words of Sir Henry Pottinger.
Sir Henry Pottinger, in a letter, set forth the advan-
tages which that fortress would be to them. The ces-
sion of that fortress would put Roostum Khan's friend-
ship to the test. He begged of the House to bear
this in mind, that they might hear the recom-
pense which the old man received.—(Hear,
hear.) Sir Alexander Barnes was employed
in the negotiation for the cession of the place, and in a
letter written by him it was said, "If you do not get the
place you must take it." And this was the way in
which they dealt with the independence of those people,
and now they were surprised if the Ameers re-
sorted to intrigue, for the purpose of defeating them.
On the 25th Sir A. Burnes writes thus :—" It is with the
highest satisfaction I inform the Governor-General that
the fortress of Pukkur has been ceded to the British
Government on the terms proposed." He trusted he
was not wearying the House by entering into these de-
tails. He would now show what pangs it must have c
th e Ameer Rustum Khan to have ceded this place.ln a letter
written by Sir A. Burnes, he said the consternation of the
Ameers was very great when it was signified to them that
this fortress was demanded. The whole family of Rustum
Khan were opposed to its being given up, and they consi-
dered the honour of the country was involved in the mat-
ter. This showed the greatness of the concession made for
the advantage of this country. Sir Alexander Burnes,
writing in December, 1828, says, that he visited Roostum
Khan, who told him he experienced the greatest difficult),
in ceding the fortress of Pukkar, and that his whole fa-
mily opposed his giving it up. He told him he was an
old man, and had but few years to live, that henceforth
he had nothing to do but submit, and be the
humble and obedient servant of England. Now
all the use had been made of him; and in Decem-
ber, 1541, Lord Auckland, actuated by a high sense of
honour, and feeling himself bound to redress for the acts
of violence and of wrong which had. been committed,
directed Sir James Carnac to do all he could to
make compensation. Such being the case, let the
House imagine the dismay and disgust with which the
Ameers must have heard the announcement which
follows, when after such wishes of the Governor-General,
when after such a long period of conflicting friendship,
after such services as they had rendered to the British
Empire, came forfh this verbose and grand epistle to
Major Outram. - The Secretary to the Gover-
nor-General wrote to Major Outram to say,
" The Governor-General directs me to inform
you, that he contemplates taking possession of
Kurrachee and the island of Bhukor." Now he did ask
that House, was there any amount of distrust—was there
any species of self-defence—which it was not justifiable
for these Ameers to resort to to defend themselves
against the unscrupulous endeavours of the English
to retain their possessions ? He (Lord Ashley) declared
his solemn conviction that they had no ground, no right
whatever to charge these Ameers with treachery, even
bad they taken the most decided and determined mea-
sures to drive the British not only from Sinde, but from
the Indian possessions altogether. Now, to turn to
other evidences in these papers. On the 4th of
June, 1842, the Secretary to the Governor-General
writes to the political agent at Sinde, and says :
" The Governor-General has learnt with regret, but
without surprise, your opinion of the infidelity
of the Ameers." He proceeded—" The Governor-
General wishes to be informed, if your
troops are in such a position as to make it easy to
annex a portion of the Ameers' possessions to the
British empire." So that on the single opinion—the
mere opinion of the Governor-General as to the infidelity
of the Ameers—the political agent was to proceed to
cut off an enormous slice of their possessions, in order to
annex it to the British Crown. Well, was it
to be supposed that Rustun Khan was not
apprised of this ? If they supposed that he, know-
ing these things, would not take every means
in his power to save himself, they must have peculiar
opinions of human nature. Sir Charles Napier, who of
course was in direct and eenfidential communication
with the Governor-General, says in a letter to that high
functionary—" I have always maintained that we only
want a fair pretext to coerce the Ameers." This
was actually announced by the representative of the
Governor-General, and was it to - be supposed that
While all this was going on, while all these schemes
were hatching, the Ameers were going quietly and un-
heedingly on—living as it were in a fool's paradise. At
a subsequent period the Governor-General writes to Sir
Charles Napier as - follows :—" I adhere to my
original intention, with respect to the Ameers ;
if any one of them commits an overt act,
his possessions shall be confiscated, and he shall depend
for subsistence on the charity of his friends."—(Hear.)
Now this was written at a time when we were assem-
bling horses, men, and materials at Sukkur ;
and could it be matter for surprise that the Ameers
became uneasy and prepared to take measures for
the safety of themselves and their possessions.
On the 27th of November Sir Charles Napier
writes to the Governor-General :—" I have made up my
mind that although war has not been declared, nor is it ne-
cessary to declare it, I will at once march into the territory
of the Ameers." How then could it be wondered at, that
the Beloochees, excited by national pride and religious
enthusiasm, should take the alarm, and prepare to act.
Why, Major Outram admitted, in one of his letters,
that it was in consequence of the advance of the British
army that the Beloochees would not be restrained, and
also (and let this fact be marked) also that the Ameers
bad been occupied the whole day in endeavouring to dis-
persethem. This brought him to the most important docu-
ment the whole—the minutes of the Conference between
Major Outram and the Ameers, on February the Bth and
9th, 1843, just previous to the battle of .Meance. It
was most important, because, although it had
been commented on both by the Governor-Ge-
neral and by Sir Charles Napier,_ they had left
untouched the most material part of the statement. The
Governor-General repeated the charges of treason
against the Ameers, and urged them as an argument to
justify their dethronement. The Ameers in that con-
ference in reply to the charge of having written trea-
sonable letters to two of the chieftains, asked
why those letters were never produced ?—(Hear, hear.)
That included the whole case. Why were the Ameers
not afforded an opportunity of proving that they_ had
never written those letters ? He appealed to the House
unitytha oft a disprovingeotparis
to do the Ameers justice—(Cheers)--and justice
on thhaedse.
been
the
could never be done them, until they had had an
opportunity
saidletters.lt lad
madeof
hand • •
writing, but Meer Nusser Khan denied that those
letters had been written with h' is authority. His words
were " If this letter is in existence show it to me." The