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London, England, 1844-09-19 00:00:00

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must now stipulate for the addition of a third Commis-
sioner. I would suggest the present Master-General
of the Ordnance, on account of his high official rank,
but I will presume to say no more, only to withdraw
Lord Hardwicke or Lord Ingestre, who, it may be
insinuated, are disposed to take a too favourable view
of the value of my inventions.
I am reluctant to trespass further upon your time,
but may I be permitted to inform you that a very
great exaggeration of my claims for remuneration has
gone abroad, which you will at once discover if you
will inspect the correspondence which has passed be-
tween myself and the Government since the 2d of
November last ?

THE ADMINISTRATION OF SINDE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Your " Correspondent of the Deccan," ins teal
of giving, asks you for information about Sinde, and
seems to be really in great need of it. He calls
the assembly of twenty thousand Beloochee chiefs
at Hyderabad " a poor affair, and thinly
attended." You may tell him, if you please,
that the attendance of so many wild and war-
like chieftains, even " without their tails," in prompt
obedience to a simple proclamation of Sir Charles
Napier, is no unmeaning proof of the complete subju-
gation of Sinde; it made the Government better
acquainted with their force, and to a certain extent
with their persons—it gave them confidence—they are
now convinced that no treachery was intended; a point
which, from their own habits, they could not pre-
viously feel sure of; and as 1,600 chiefs who had never
before offered any formal submission came volun-
tarily forward on this occasion and made their "sa-
laam" to the portrait of her Majesty that graces the
palace at Hyderabad, such an expression of submissive
confidence on one hand, and power on the other, inde-
pendent of other advantages, can only be designated
as " a poor affair" by simple ignorance or male-
volence. The only apprehension that Sir Charles
Napier would appear to have had about the result of
this congregation, notwithstanding all his praise-
worthy precautions, was, that the chiefs, judging from
their own barbarous usage (or rather that of the
Ameers), might, perhaps, suspect him of intentional
treachery, and disperse ere the ceremony took place.
This would, most assuredly, have produced a painful
and not easily removed distrust throughout the country,
and obstructed its tranquillity. Now all runs smooth ;
former confidence is strengthened; the moral power
of Government is increased; and a certain degree of
personal acquaintance with more intimate communi-
cation is established between the British authorities
and the native aristocracy. As an instance of native
treachery and sense of justice, it may be recollected that
Ali Morad, some time ago, invited certain hill chieftains
to a conference at Sewan, and murdered many. Seven-
teen were sent prisoners to Hyderabad, in the
expectation of their being dealt as hardly by as
he had treated their companions. Sir Charles
Napier was furious, as might be supposed, at this
treachery. He compelled Ali Morad to make them
all the amends in his power, and immediately libe-
rated them in full Durbar. A chief amongst them
(Qoolam Mahomet Khan, I think, but am not cer-
tain) incredulously asked the Moonshee if he were
really free, and on being assured of it, hastily quitted
the assembly, crossed the Indus, and hurried off to
his native hills, proclaiming the Governor's justice,
and vowing that no clansman of his should again lift
a weapon against the Feringees. When lately, from
some misapprehension of orders, the little failure of
Tait and Fitzgerald occurred at Poolagee, this power-
ful leader instantly offered to attack the chief of that
place, who was his enemy, with 5,000 men, and has,
I believe, kept that robber in continual check ever
since, in which he will probably persevere until the
cooler season enables Sir C. Napier, if necessary, to
go in person against not only him but the whole band
of foreign marauders, that have of late been plunder-
ing the defenceless villages beyond the Indus.
Your correspondent also requires information about
the Sinde Government. You may assure him that
Sinde is governed for less than 100,0001. a-year, or a
quarter of its revenue, and well governed, leaving a
surplus of 300,0001. in the public treasury, with the
prospect of its income ere long reaching 1,000,000/.
sterling. In this cheap Government the cost of more
than 1,800 native police is included, all well armed
and disciplined, who execute their duties without
military support, and carry capital sentences into
effect with ease and safety, even amongst the most
wild and distant of the Beloochee chieftains, and far
away from all military assistance. By this newly-
organised force, only five months, I think, after the
conquest, a highland chief and two of his followers
were hung on the same gallows, in the heart of his
territory, and in his own village, by a force of but
40 police, and 100 miles distant from any troops.
This was for the robbery and murder of an Armenian
merchant, and the chief was brought up a prisoner to
Hyderabad by his own tribe, in obedience to a simple
message from the Governor, who employs no soldiers
in such matters or in the collection of revenue, but
solely in military purposes. A mole of two miles in
length is completed, or nearly completed, at Kura-
chee' to the great convenience and solid advantage of
that harbour and town, which is fast rising into an
important and comparatively populous settlement, and
will, moreover, soon be enriched by the termination of
a canal which is to unite it with Tattah, on the Indus.
Surveys and levels, which are both difficult and ex-
pensive in that climate, proceed in all directions as
rapidly as health and a burning sun will allow. Mea-
sures are also in progress to re-conduct a stream
from the Indus, about forty miles above Sukkur,
through an ancient branch into the bed of the Narra
river, on the confines of the desert, which is ex-
pected, in the course of time, to fertilise a long and im-
portant margin of that sandy waste. Large and airy
barracks, with massive walls and lofty chambers to
mitigate the deadly heat, are in the course of erection
This is a great expense, but necessary for the soldier's
health and preservation, to say nothing of his comfort.
Such money is well expended, even in a mere eco-
nomical calculation, to preserve a material instrument
of war, for a soldier is the most costly article of Go-
vernment, and should be well taken care of on that
account, if neglected (as they too often are) as fellow-
creatures. Sites are marked out for martello towers
and other fortresses, in order that a certain number of
strong defensive positions may be occupied by very
few troops, while the remainder of the army remains
concentrated on the healthiest posts of communication,
ready to act when wanted, but removed as far as
possible from the river's pernicious influence. Hos-
pitals, on the same principle as the barracks, are in
progress of building in the most healthy situations,
as far as these can be determined by present
experience; but the Governor and medical men
have still to feel their way on this important point,
and therefore health and military position are as much
as possible united. The price of labour has risen
considerably; taxes have been lowered and are col-
lected without difficulty, in most cases, by the same
officers employed under the Ameers, but strictly
watched by British officers, civil and military, who
act both as protectors to the people and guardians of
the Government's interests. The revenue is gradually
improving; the people relieved from great oppression;
the roads safe ; British officers go shooting over the
country, secure of attention and civility from natives
of all ranks and conditions. Commerce is free, and
gains are secure, which engages the good-will of the
Hindoos—an acute and penetrating race, who get at
all secret transactions. Labour is free, which insures
the attachment of the hitherto much and still partially
oppressed; race of peasantry ; and the Beloochee
landholders being now guaranteed in their pos-
sessions, which was not so under the Atneers, are,
with the exception, perhaps, of some great chieftains,
all well contented with the change. Murder, espe-
cially of their wives (a thing hitherto so common
amongst the Beloochee tribes a'm scarcely to be con-
sidered reprehensible), and their inveterate habits of
robbery, have been greatly checked, and fate, which
is always their excuse for crime, is beginning to be
at a discount in Sinde. A stern and unflinching jus-
tice is administered, yet so friendly a feeling has been
established between conquerors and conquered, that
the police can generally depend on the aid of the Be-
loochee himself in cases of emergency. A few ex-
amples will illustrate the above points. Two police-
men deserted with their arms; two others were sent
after them. They overtook the deserters in a distant
place, and attempted to capture them ; the latter re-
sisted, on which the policemen called to some Be-
loochees who happened to be in the
_neighbouring
field, who immediately came to their assistance; the
two deserters were disarmed and led away prisoners
to Hyderabad.
At the recent great meeting an old man was ob-
served endeavouring to force his way through the
crowd, crying out, " I will see him, I will h
see it'? ; i
have come 200 miles to see him, and I will see him.
In the midst of that crowd (who, be it remembered, do
not consider assassination as a crime) stood the confi-
dent and unguarded Governor, who, if there had been
any great towards the English, was open to,
would have felt, the dagger of some bar-
and probably
barian. On another occasion the inhabitants of a cer-
tain village complained of a policeman, whose miscon
duct was, after ,due investigation, proved ;
the culprit
was escorted back to the scene of his delinquency,
and, before the assembled population, had his uniform
stripped from his back, and corporal punishment in-
flicted, with an instantaneous dismissal from the corps.
The villagers stared. They expected some redress,
but no punishment for so great a man as the Gover-
nor's officer. A strong feeling of satisfaction and sur-
prise broke out into such exclamations as—" This is
justice !" " This is real justice !"—thus showing their
appreciation of an evidently new and no less pleasing
feature of public government.
These are feathers, Sir, but they show how the
wind sets, and indicate the working of the public
mind. As to the administratio4 of civil law and

In a paper bearing the last named date, which I
carefully prepared for the consideration of her Ma-
jesty's Government in accordance with a plan laid
down by Sir G. Murray, and handed to me by Lord
Hardwicke, which I transmitted to that Noble Lord
with an earnest request that it might be brought im-
mediately under Sir Robert Peel's own eye, I speci-
fied two sums, of 200,0001. each, as the price at which
I valued two distinct inventions respectively. An un-
fair prominence has been given to the aggregate
amount of 400,0001., without any reference to the
limitations under which the offer was made, or any
clear understanding of the permanent value to the
Government to be secured by the second invention
without further cost, and I have been pronounced
mercenary and exorbitant in my demands, as if I had
nakedly asked for 400,000/. as the price of some

single Implement of war applicable merely to a single
purpose, or as a condition precedent to entering upon
any reasonable experiment to demonstrate the ♦alue
of what I offered.

I put this price on my inventions, in the first in-
stance, to show my own estimate of their importance
to the country, and not, I beg leave to say, in order
that I might derive a mercenary bargain.
To convince you of this, I refer you to the follow-
ing modification of my demand, which you will find
in a letter I addressed to Sir Byam Martin and Sir

Howard Douglas, on the 6th instant.
For convenience, I here quote the words :—" 'With
respect to amount of remuneration, if I can destroy
at so inconsiderable an outlay, and so expeditiously,
both fleets and fortifications, the price of three line-
of- battle ships is not, I submit, an excessive demand
upon the generosity of a great nation like this, on the
part of a man who has spent his all in the prosecution
of discoveries which he now offers to her service. I
will, however, on this head, abide by the decision of
Sir G. Murray himself, and if any financial difficul-
ties interpose in the way of any direct promise of
money, I am willing to accept the undertaking of the
Premier, that, in the event of my discoveries demon-
strating my ability to make good my professions, he
will himself recommend to Parliament a grant of such
remuneration as may have been previously agreed
upon."
If you have not already perused the document of
the 2d of November last, which I specially prepared
for your own consideration, I respectfully request you
will now read it, for I have therein set forth the saving
in ships, stores, &c., and I may subjoin, the saving in
time—by being prepared, at any moment, to strike a
required blow, which my invention would effect, for
the public service : and I flatter myself, that if I can
convince you of my ability to perform what I under-
take, you will not regard my first appraisement of
my inventions excessive.
But to show my readiness to facilitate any ar-
rangement that may place the benefit of my inven-
tions at the national service, I am contented to leave
the question of amount to your decision as to what
you may eonsider under all the circumstances of my
case, and with reference to the value of my disco-
veries, the rate of my remuneration ought fairly to
be, subject to the following stipulations, viz., the ap-
pointment of a third Commissioner, and a personal
conference with yourself, where I may explain in
confidence to you the course I coneeive it safest to
take, and receive your assurance that in the event of
my performing what I undertake, the matter shall
not, after examination and disclosure, be cast aside,
and myself left without reward, on the plea that I
have shown enough to enable my plans to be worked
out without further co-operation on my part.
A fear of such a possibility may be ill-founded, but
it was engendered in my mind by an observation
which fell from ono of the two present Commissioners,
who virtually, though not in terms, require an uncon-
ditional surrender of all my secrets, without any gua-
rantee for the smallest remuneration, whatever may
be the success of my demonstrations.
To this unqualified surrender I cannot consent, nor
do I believe that you would require it were you per-
sonally acquainted with all the facts of my case.
With an anxious hope that you will grant me the in-
terview I solicit, I remain, Sir, your most obedient
and humble servant,
May 25, 1842.

S. A. WARNER.