The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-01 00:00:00

fourttNbition

SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Clock.

OVERLAD MAIL.

INDIA AND CHINA.
(From the Morning Herald.)
We have just received, by Extraordinary Express,
from Marseilles, our file of papers, brought by the
Overland Mail. At this late hour we can do no more
than give such extracts as appear to be important :
(From the Bombay Monthly Overland Times.)
SUMMARY.
The hot and rainy months are always the newsless ones in
India; field operations are never pursued then unless in
eases of extreme emergency, and communications by land
and sea become tardy and difficult. The rumours of the
muster of a'grand army of from 60,000 to 80,000 on the Sutlej
have died
_away ; and though it is still understood that
orders were given for the collection of 12,000 baggage camels
in Sinde, and stores for 50,000 men at Ferozepore, the fur-
ther report must either have arisen on insufficient founda-
tion, or the Governor-General, as his hour of danger be-
came known, must have abandoned his schemes of conquest.
The meeting of the Beloochec chiefs at Hyderabad on the
24th May has passed off very peaceably, with what good results
remains to be seen. Sickness has not increased with the
rapidity that was apprehended amongst the troops. The
Mahratta city and district of Boorhampoor has been quietly
taken, possession of, no obstruction having been offered.
It is said to have been restored to the Mahrattas. Gwalior
continuo tolerably quiet. The recent outbreak in the Pun-
jaub appears to have terminated for the present with the de-
feat and slaughter of Ittur Singh. The entrenchments at Fe-
rozepore have been heavily armed, but no other movement of
any moment had been heard of since our last. The Bengal
%flops continue sulky rod discontented in Upper Sinde.
(sAng robbery has been for some time past prevalent in the
Northern Concan and in some parts of the Deccan. The
practice of a system of opium adulteration in Bombay,
so extensive as to threaten infinite injury to the trade,
has just been disclosed. Intelligence from China ex-
tends to the Ist of May, but it is of little interest save
;et a commercial point of view. The accounts of Lord
Ellenborough's recal reached Bombay on the 6th June, and
would. be received in Calcutta by express on the 15th. The
determination of the Court of Directors occasioned some stir-
s rise—but infinite relief—to the peace-loving portion of the
community. Cholera has prevailed amongst some of the
Madras troops to an extent almost unprecedented. A severe
storm was experienced at Calcutta on the 18th May,
while anothak of lesser violence visited .Madras in Jurie.
The monsoon set in at • Bombay on the 4th of June, when
two inches of rain fell. No subsequent fall of any magni-
tude has occurred, and great inconvenience fur want of wa-
ter has been felt in consequence.
SINDE.
Our • intelligence from Sinde at the date of last month's
dispatch, extended to the 16th of May, and now comes down
to the 4th of June. The news of the month is much less in-
eeresting than we had veetered to anticipate. The meeting
of the Beelooehe chiefs at Hyderabad on the 24th of May
scent off very quietly : from 15,000 to 20,000, including at
-•
tendants, are believed to have been present : from 30,000 to
35,000 were expected. The principal object of getting
them together is said to have been to warn them solemnly
against persisting in the territory-appropriating prac•
awes to which they have hitherto been oecasionallyaddicted ;
spoliation requires to be practised on a large scale before it
becomes legitimate, and our new enbjects are required to
attend to the precepts, not the practice, of their conquerors.
The Governor and his unruly guests are said to have parted
mutually pleased with each other. Her Majesty's birthday
was celebrated at Kli) spore in a manner similar to that in
which it was kept at Hyderabad. The thermometer at Hy-
derabad ranged from 86 deg. to 110 deg. in the shade; sick-
nese- had not increased-this year so fearfully as last at the
corresponding period. Her Majesty's 86th had lost fourteen
men very lately, of whom nine had fallen victims to strokes
of the sun.
From Kurrachee we hove intelligence by boat to the 4th
of June. Ilis Excellency the Governor had returned
thither on the let, from the meet!ing at Hyderabad. Mr.
John M'Leod, late of the Bombay Land Revenue Depart-
ment, had been appointed Collector of Sea Customs for the
mouths of the Indus. The communication by sea betwixt
Bombay and Kurrachee will continue closed for some months
to come.
Our latest letters from Sukkur are to the 31st of
May, The Beelooches seem for the present to have sus-
pended their marauding operations around Shikarpore ;
we must of course pocket the affront of the repulse at
Foolajee, or be prepared for worse. The Bengal 64th were at
Shikarpore, still sulky and discontented. One sepoy had
lately shot another, and his comrades had refused to surrender
the murderer to justice. The mutineers were detained at
Sukkur. The 7th Cavalry, which had just come down from
Feroiepore, had crossed the Indus from Roree, and were
about to proceed to Shikarpore. General Hunter had arrived
on the 7th at Sukkur, and taken command. General Simp-
son continued at Shikarpore. Shere Mahomed was
'said to have still a larger number of men and amount of
sooney at his disposal than could have been imagined. Sir
rapier was said to have solicited from Lord Ellenborough
active employment in the Punjaub; and to have proposed
moving a force into Mooltan simultaneously with the advance
of the main army on Lahore. The recal of the Governor-
General is likely to have given the death-blow, for the pre-
bent, to the system of general aggression and periodical war
known by the name of "Peace in Asia."
LAHORE.
No sooner has one scene of blood and strife been con-
clad,ed on the theatre of this miserable country than ano-
ther presents itself to view. More blood has been spilt,
more inserrections have taken place, more money has been
squandered on the vacillating troops of the State, to se-
cure their services for the nonce, and each circumstance
has weakened the present Government, and reduced it
to a point below which it cannot well descend: In our
last we mentioned that further troubles might be ex-
pected, and they have indeed burst on us with
a violence which we did not expect. To proceed,
however, with a narrative of events as best illustrating
our position of the necessity of interference. It may be re-
membered that an influential member of the Sindhanwallati
family, Ittur Single uncle of Ajeet Singh, the murderer of
Maharajah Share Singh, succeeded in effecting his escape
trout the Punjaub into our territory, and thus preserving
a life which would have been forfeited to the oath
or' Raja Heera Singh to put every member of the family
who might fall into his hands to death, for the act of Ajeet
Singh in murdering Dhyan Singh, and which was kept, ex-
ept as regarding a lad of about nine years old, who was
epared at the urgent intercession of one of the Sinters. The
family residence of the Sindhanwallahs, at Raja Sansee,
near Urnritser, had been destroyed, and the whole of' their
fended property seized or resumed. Ittur Singh continued,
therefore, with a son and some nephews who had also
managed to escape, to reside within the British territory,
first at Patteealah, or Umbellate and lately at Thanesur, a
holy city near Kernel. It is supposed, but not ascertained
ter a fact, that when Sirdar Lena Singh,. one of the most
powerfel and influential chiefs in the Punjaub, left the
eountry oil a pilgrimage to Hurdwar (in April), he entered
into communiteetieu with Sirdar Ittur Singh (probably had
an interview with ii!n),and kept up the same until his return
northwards from the eee•e' gathering to which he had been at •
zended by a retinue of upwarue 454+60 men. On Sirdar Lena
Singh leaving Hurdwar, and ourzs.re aaything was surmised
or' the movements of Ittur Singh, it w-. 7,1 geezeelly asserted
that lie had no immediate intention of' return,
to Lahore—
a declaration equivalent in any native state to ie-
utfeetien to the existing Government, and lie spent his to7e
in visiting the valley of Dhera and its neighbouring settle-
ineete. shortly after his arriving in the vicinity of the
reeidence of Itturpeogh, it became known that that
chief entertained an intention of re-crossing. the Sittlej,
in the hope of creating a diversion in his favour
amongst the troops, who it ie said, had, as in the case
of Raja Suchet Singh, made overtures of a favour•
able nature to him, and in default of any heirs to the throne,
lttur Singh was the next claimant through a descent from a
mutual ancestor with Runjeet Singh. He consequently
assembled a nninbet" of men (about 700, chiefly horsemen),
and with them (who must, we apprehend, have been a part of
Lena Singh's retinue) crossed the Sutlej about the 30th of
April, but where was not exactly known to us, though it
must have been in the neighbourhood of Loodhenah. Indeed
subsequent accounts have it that he crossed out of the terri-
tories of the Raja of Lodwa. It cannot farther have been for-
Botten that a Sikh priest of great influence, named Bhace
eer Singh, had assembled a number of followers, with
whom he had attended the great bathing ceremony at Um-
ritaer, and subsequently taken up a position on the banks of
the Beeah (a tributary of the Sutlej, which it joins at or
near Hurreekeputtun). This party of Bhaee Beer Singh's
bad for some time past been strengthened by the coalition
of the two Princes Kashmeera Singh and Peshoura
Singh, illegitimate sons of Runjeet Singh, who having been
driven out of Seealkot, which they had defended for some
time with spirit, took refuge with the Bhaee Beer Singh as
holy character, under whose protection they would be safe
from the machinations of Rajah Ileera Singh. The number
of followers of Bhahee Bheer Singh and of the Princes has
been variously estimated at from 5,000 to 7,000. The former
probably, the true number. The first step of Sirdar Ittur
s4.••;ingh, after crossing the frontier river, was to join this party,
and he did pa within twee days, when the whole body moved
slowly down the right bank of the Beeah in the direction of
Hurreekeputtan. The intelligence of the invasion of Sirdar
Ittur Singh became only known at Lahore on the afternoon of
the 3d and we will give an account of the transaction at
the capital from the notes of our correspondent there,w hich may
be dependd,on, as we have concomitant testimony of their
accuracy;—" In the evening important news arrived that
fsirdar Ittur Singh had recrossed the Sutlej, and WAS on his
way to-join Bhaee Bheer Singh and the Princes. Raja
Ileera Skrigh.was greatly concerned on hearing this intelli-
gecce, acct, immediately summoned a council of those
who were his friends, and having consulted them, repre-
sented that Ittur Singh hail no doubt crossed the Sutlej
with acme bad intentions. The officers of the different
battalions were summoned to the durbar, and directed
20 bring,with then two sepovs of each battalion, brigade,
rissallah: They accordingly assembled, and were ad-
-14, Raja lleerali Singh, as follows :—"That he
heard on good anthority that Ittur Singh had given to the
Britieh autheritiee a promise in writing to divide the revenue
the Punjanb, their share to he six annas on every rupee ;
that he was now with Bhaee Beer Singh, and was doing his
utmost to unite the whole of the Sikh troops, when, with the
desistance Of the British, he would take possession of all the
territory of the Punjaub. He, the Minister, was only ser-
vant of the Silica'. Khalsajee, and was prepared to attend
any
otster4 the Sirkar Khalsa might communicate to him, but he
;mist askthem where they (the troops) Were to get their Pre
eent high rate of pay from, if Ittur Singh should succeettan:l
annas on the rupee to the British II
"v • up give • authorities' •e
therefore, should desire them to think over the subject, and to:
their answer enable him to make such arrangements as should
e, eremite all opposition. As for Bhaee Beer Singh be did
not know why he was opposed to him, as he couldget every-
thing be required from the Sinter, and his aiding in destroy_
arty the country was wicked.' On this the officers and eepoye
eaid they would take the night to consult, and give a posi-
tive reply on the following morning; they then took their
leave, but Heera Singh kept the chiefs for a long while in
.consultation. Purwannalis were ordered to be addressed to
the officers in charge of the ferries of Sutlej and other places,
reproving them for their gross neglect of duty, in having
allowed Ittur Singh to cross the river and join the Bhaee. It'
they wished to avoid punishment they met now do their
utmost to seize hint on his flight from before the troops who
'were about to oppose him ; but should Ittur Singh escape,
the officer whose ghat be should cross at might depend on
being punished,. Other purwannahs to a similar effect were
written to Sheikh Entamsood-doon and Nehal Singh Aloo-
wallah.
" Mey 4.—This morning the officers and sepoys who
had been present on the previous evening, again attended
and informed the Minister that they were the servants of
the Sirkar, and were ready to march any moment they
were ordered by the Sirkar ; they would certainly punish
Item. Singh, and not spare even the Gooroo if he should
join the Sindanwallash. In regard to Ittur Singh being a
friend to the British, and having promised them six auntie

in the rupee, they did not care one bit, and if he should
happen to escape and cross the Sutlej, they were fully
prepared to follow him into the British territory, and never
stop till they had seized him. The Minister was highly de-
lighted at this declaration, and praised them much. They
further declared that in case of Ittur Singh crossing the Sut-
lej and their wishing to follow, they were in no way to
be checked by the Minister. He, however, remarked that it
was necessary to be very particular, as the territory on the
other side the Sutlej was the property of the British and
was defended by numerous troops. It was then ordered
that 2,000 suwars should march in the evening, and make all
haste to reach the Hurreeke Puttnn ghaut, from whence
they were to spread in small detachments right and left to
prevent Ittur Singh from recrossing the river. At the same
time four battalions of Lauret (?) Saheb, and others were
ordered to move direct on the camp of Bhaee Beer Singh to
seize the Sindanwallah. Gen. Mehtab Singh was directed
by letter to leave Umritser immediately, and proceed in
the same direction. Two Kohistanee battalions were
directed to follow. It was generally said in the town that
the Princes, as well as Ittur Singh, would certainly be
seized if they remained with the Bhaee. The troops which
left Cashmeer in a state of mutiny have reached Lahore."
The troops marched accordingly on the morning of the
sth; their numbers have been variously estimated; but we
believe there were about twenty-four regiments of infantry,
a large body of irregular cavalry, and 120 guns, of which 24
were heavy pieces of ordnance. On the evening of ,the 6th
they encountered the enemy, who, however, averse to a
battle so late in the day, retreated and took up a strong
position at a village named Nourangabad, some distance
from the right bank of the Beeah. In the meanwhile
Prince Peshora Singh 'seeing, it is supposed, the desperate
state of his party, left the camp of Bhaee Bheer Singh, and
reaching Lahore on the evening of the 6th, gave himself up
to the Minister, and was well received by him. On the
morning of the 7th the troops of the State advanced, and the
insurgents being drawn out in line a cannonade was com-
menced, and such was the fear entertained by the troops of
coming to close quarters, that they absolutely maintained
the same distance during the whole conflict, mowing down
the followers of the Gooroo in large numbers. The Gooroo
Bheer Sing having been mortally wounded by a cannon
ball, which crushed both his legs, and received besides a
sabre cut across the shoulder, one of the Generals of the
army of Heera Sing asked leave to go and see him. This
officer, named Golab Sing, was on his way met by Ittur
Singh, by whom, after an altercation, he was shot; his fol-
lowers immediately fell on IttnrSingh, and put him to death,
and his head having been struck off, was forthwith sent to
Lahore. Kashmeera Singh also fell in the conflict,
having first offered to surrender, but afterwards re-
sented an endeavour to make a prisoner of him ; and the
soldiers, being deprived of their leaders, fled. Many of
them were drowned in the Beeali in attempting to cross;
and two hundred women belonging to a regiment which had
followed the fortunes of the Princes after the fall of Seeal-
kote, fell victims to their zeal in the cause. The heavy
cannonade, which lasted. for upwards of three hours, was
distinctly heard at the station of Ferozepore. The
news of the victory, and the head of Ittur Singh, reached
Lahore almost simultaneously between ten and eleven at
night, and a salute was immediately ordered to be fired in
commemoration of the great victory obtained at Nourungabad
by some forty thousand men, with one hundred and twenty
guns, over not seven thousand insurgents. At Lahore it
was said that the loss on both sides was one thousand men
killed. The wounded were not taaken into account. In the
meanwhile events were occurring in the Sikh camp likely to
lead to the very threatened destruction of such relations as
exist between the Government of I.ahore and that of
British India. The occasion of the heavy firing heard
during the morning of the 7th was communicated
by the political to the military authorities, and it
was at the same time intimated that such was the bad
feeling of the Sikh troops towards us, from the idea that we
had assisted and intended following up ittur Singh's hostile
views, that they had come to the determination, before they
Dwitted Lahore, of crossing over, and " even of marching to
elhi I" Indeed, matters had come to such a head in the
Sikh camp towards the afternoon of the 9th, that it was
communicated to the political :agent, on good authority,
that 12,000 irregular cavalry, and 8,000 infantry were
fully prepared to cross the river during the following
night, with 60 guns, and bad collected a sufficient number
of boats to ferry over at least halT that number, at a ghat
about seven koss north of Ferozepore (probably Murree
keghat). The information seems to have been of such a
nature that it would have been the height of imprudence to
have doubted it, and suwars were consequently sent out
in all directions to procure authentic information, and all
the troops in the station held in readiness to assemble on
the lint sound of alarm, and which they actually did in a
very few minutes, in consequence of a bugler on the right
sounding without orders. The night, however, passed off
quietly; and in the morning it was ascertained that a dis-
patch from Hera Singh (who had heard from his Vakeel at
Ferozepore that we had nothing to do with Ittur Singh's
mad attempt), had been received in the Sikh camp ordering.
the troops to return to Lahore, there to receive the rewards
he had prepared for them for their gallant behaviour against
the rebel forces. The videttes , sent by Major. General Vin-
cent, commanding the station, during the night to see how
the land lay across the river, reported that the drums of the
Sikhs beat at a very early hour in the morning, and that by
sunrise scarcely a vestige of the camp was to be seen.

Since the above transactions, everything has been in a
state of utter confusion. The troops returning to Lahore
have increased in their demands, and Heera Singh, quite
tired out with the proceedings of this unmanageable
rabble, was actually preparing to leave the capital when
the troops heard of his intention, and placed guards not
only round the city to prevent his egress, but even round
the Minister's house to watch his movements, while Heera
Singh brought to his assistance in case of an attack on him,
as many of his own particular troops as were in the neigh-
bourhood of Lahore, consirting chiefly of hill men. The
artillery seem also inclined, heingchiefly Hindoostanees from
the Company's territories, to stand by him in his emergency,
being in religion opposed to the true Sikhs or Singbs, who
form the great majority of the regular troops of the Lahore
army. These troops are now greatly exasperated at
the death of one of their most celebrated Gooroos, or
religious instructors, Bhaee Bear Singh, which they lay at
the door of Heera Singh, maintaining that they would
never have fought against him, had the Minister not incited
them to do so by representing that Ittur Singh and Beer
Singh were supported in their rebellion against the Khalsa
by the British. They also pretended that Hera Singh had
put Peshora Singh to death when lie surrendered, and de-
manded that he should be given up to them. The Prince
had in reality gone to his own district, and when a deputa-
tion of the troops waited on him to see him and request his
returning to the capital, he honestly told them he feared to
become the victim of their wiles, as had been the case with
Suchet Singh and Ittur Singh, and after declining to ac-
company them be tied, it is not yet known in what direction.
The troops of Goolab Singh are in a general ferment. Se-
veral regiments have left their posts at Cashmeer, at
Peshawar, and elsewhere, and returned to Lahore and fresh
disturbances have broken out in the Derajat on the western
bank of the Government, leaving the anny all powerful.
Sirdar Lena Singh having considered it unadvisable to
return to Lahore in the present state of affairs, has proceeded
on a pilgrimage to the holy shrines at Muttrs.—Della Gazette
Orerlaml, June 7.
GWALIOII.—We noticed in our last the occupation of
Boorlianpoor by detachments of Bombay troops from Mhow
and Asseerghur. The particulars were as follow :—On the
17th of May, Major Morris, with a detachment of 400 men,
proceeded from A sseerglnir to Booth an poor, arrangements hav-
ing been made by Col. Sherrill' for the evacuation of the Mah-
cotta troops on the approach of our detachment. The town was
peacefully surrendered to us and the force sent from Mhow
on the 1-3tli, as formerly enumerated, was countermanded
when four marches from their destination. The Agra
Ukbar affirms, that the city is to be returned again to the
Mahrattas, it having been seized upon by mistake of the
Governor-General, and the measure, which had occasioned
the greatest sensation at the Gwalior Court, had been re-
scinded, and the troops desired to retire, upon the remon-
,
t ran
-'a of Colonel Sleeman and Sir Richmond Shakspere.
t
Intiigues prk.7eed amongst the Council of Regency.

6-71-NA•
RIOT AT CANTON.—On Monday
ember, 1842), L.4t, 0t23 of those riots
similar to those which, on one occasion (in b,f
caused the destruction of three foreign hongs, oc,7:irred at
Canton, again caused by the disorderly conduct of some sa,
men, although we are -happy to say that on this occasion it
was quelled without producing any such disastrous conse-
quences. It appears some Manilla seamen, belonging to a
Swedish ship at anchor at Whainpoa, had a quarrel with
the Chinese, who began to pelt thein with stones, upon which
the Manilla men charged the mob, and it is said stabbed a
Chinese. The mob, however, after haying been dispersed
in the first instance, soon returned, and threw stones
at the seamen in the Company's Garden, and the
latter had to take to their boats. As usual in
such cases, the mob then assembled in front of the
Factories in considerable numbers, and some apprehen-
sions were entertained that they might proceed to
violence, but a detachment of police and soldiers was cent by
the authorities from the city, and the mob was dispersed
soon after dark without having done any damage. Her Ma-
jesty's Consul had meanwhile, we understand, sent to Wham-
podfor assistance, and in consequence about 200 men from
the ships arrived in boats early next morning, at which time,
however, we are happy to say everything had returned to its
wonted quiet.—Canton Press, March 16.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
(THIS EVENING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Their Lordships met at Five o'clock.
Lord CAMPBELL called the attention of their Lord-
ships to certain amendment made in the House of Com-
mons upon the Common Law Process Bill, and gave
notice that he would move to make these amendments
the subject of a conference.
The Insolvent_ Debtors' Bill was read a third time and
passed.