The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-26 00:00:00

LITE RAT URE.
THE CONQUEST OF SINDE, 6-c. By Major-
General W. F. P. Napier.
[SECOND NOTICE.]
After the battle of Meanee, Sir Charles Napier
took possession of Hyderabad. The treasure in that
place was said to be enormous. Sir Alexander Burnes
had reckoned it at twenty millions sterling ;
and Bernier, the French physician, magnified it stilt
more, but said it was difficult to discover, as the
Ameers had secret vaults both there and at Omer-
cote, in which they contrived to hide their treasures
in times of disaster. Gold, silver, and jewels, how-
ever, when every search was made, did not ex-
ceed in value 400,0001. Sir Charles Napier
and his little army were supposed to have
gained immense fortunes by the victory, but un-
fortunately for them they have not yet received
any portion of the booty, nor even a promise of any.
In fact, all they got was hard fighting, plenty of
glory, but still more abuse from the Indian and Eng-
lish press, and little thanks from the Directors at
the India House. The little gallant army, notwith-
standing the disappointment, were not disheartened,
and prepared manfully to meet another army still
more formidable than that which they had defeated,
and Lord Ellenborough nobly supported them in the
struggle. On hearing, by report, of the victory at
Meeanee, he dispatched several regiments with bat-
teries and field trains, which raised the army under
Napier to nearly 5,000 men, and enabled him to
conquer Sinde, and put an end to the war.
Shere Mohamed, or the Lion, as he was
called, had collected an army with the hopes
of avenging his cousins the Ameers, and recover-
ing Hyderabad. With a formidable body of
troops, exceeding 2.5,000 men, he advanced within
ten miles of that town, and openly boasted that he
would " Cabul the British." He had a different man,
however, than Elphinstone to deal with. Napier was
not slack to meet his challenge. He secured the
Ameers, still plotting against him, even in captivity,
by placing them aboard the steamers, though not, as
had been reported, in irons, and prepared for the
contest. It is needless to describe the battle. The
British were completely victorious, and all the move-
ments, with one exception, were successful, though
there was scarcely a man on the staff above twenty-
three years of age. The Lion, however, escaped, but
his troops were dispersed, and the entire country was
subdued. General Wm. Napier thus describes the
results :

" This memorable battle, fought thirty-five days after
Meeanee, and within a few miles of that field, bears
three names, Dubba, Naraja, and Hyderabad. The first
from the village, the second from the pain, the third
from the city near which it was fought. The last is the
one by which it must be known, being that which is in-
scribed on the colours and mddals of the gallant soldieis
by whom it was won.
"Prompt as the English General had been to fight
this action, after receiving his reinforcements, he was
now still more prompt to render it a decisive one. His
first care was to gather the wounded men, and make
arrangements for transporting them to Hyderabad ; this
and the re-organization of his army for forced movements
in advance, together with the writing of his dispatches,
took about eight hours. Then, having ascertained that the
retreat of the Belooch army was principally toward.
Meerpoor, he put his troops in march again, resolute to
win all that fortune would offer to his energy and
bravery.
"The' dreadful heat was augmenting etch day - the
desert was before bim ; the Indus was on the rise behind
him ; the Lion had still a force of nearly four to one, if
he could collect his dispersed troops ; and he had two
fortified towns, Meerpoor and Oznercote, to receive and
cover his b?aten army, and enable him to prolong the
campaign. The mercury stood at 110 degrees on the
day of the battle; the troops had marched twelve miles to
find the enemy ; they had fought for three or four hour,
afterwards ; they had only rested eight hours, f
that could be called rest, when they had to cook, and
gather their wounded, and receive fresh ammunition in
the time. But all these things were disregarded by the
General, when he saw the enthusiasm of his officers and
soldiers, who met him with cheers wherever he moved.
They were disregarded also because he well knew the

importance of the occasion, and called to mind Caesar's
golden rule of war, 'That nothing is done while any-
thing remains tol"be done.' Nor was his confidence in
his men betrayed by weakness of body or mind ; not-
withstanding their previous fatigues and the withering
heat, they made more than twenty_ miles in advance
before they halted. During this march they passed
through two strongly entrenched positions which the
Lion had prepared to fall back upon ; but he could not

. . -
gather men enough in time to occupy them. This was
the first reward of the British energy the next day the
Poonah horse were at the gates of Meerpoor, forty miles
from the field of battle.
" Thus pressed, the Lion abandoned his capital, and
carrying with him his treasure and hi family, family, fled
through the desert to Omercote. The gAres of Meer-
poor were immediately opened by the people who being
all Hindoos and Scindians, welcomed the vanquishers of
the Beloochees as deliverers. It was strongly fortified
and full of stores."

Thus ended the reign of the Ameers, whose fate
has excited no little sympathy, real or pretended ;
but no wicked rulers ever so well merited condign
punishment, as the following facts will prove :
" The Ameers governed by the sword and by no other
law. The Beloochees were their troops ; the Scindian;
and Hindoos their subjects, their victims ; up to the
battle of Meeanee, any Belooch might kill a
Scindian or Hindoo with impunity, for pleasure or profit;
this licence was widely exercised, especially where
women were concerned.

" The Ameers dealed largely in the slave-trade, and
so did all their feudal chiefs, both as importers and ex
porters.

"They had, to rorm shikargahs, or hunting grounds,
laid waste, in less than sixty years, more than a fourth
of the most fertile land of Scinde, a country nearly five
hundred miles in length, and from one to three hundred
miles in breadth. And to form one of these hunting
wildernesses for a child of eight years old, they would
depopulate whole villages with less hesitation and
feeling, than an English farmer smokes a hive of bees.
They extracted money from Hindoo and other mer-
chants by torture and mutilations. They forced labour-
ing men and mechanics to work for them by the same
means, at about two pence daily w•iges, when their ser-
vices were worth ten times as much, and more often
than not they cheated them even of that pittance ; this
oppression they carried to such an extent, that when
Sir Charles Napier took possession of Scinde, scarcely
could a mason or carpent•-r or other handicraft man be
found—all had fled with their skill to distant countries.
The Ameers also restricted commerce, and oppressed
merchants and traders, because they disliked the pre-
sence of strangers, who might draw -comparisons be-
tween their rule and that of other princes. They
dreaded lest their subjects should be. told the inflic-
tions they endured were unknown save in Scinde, the
most fertile and the most miserable country of all Asia.
Finally, they stopped one of the great water-courses
derived from the Indus, purposely to destroy the fertility
of the neighbouring kingdom of Cutch, which had been
irrigated from it.

" The oppressive nature of their government is pos-
sibly unequalled in the world,' said Sir Henry Pot-
Linger. _

4-4 It is an iron despotism," wrote Sir Alexander
Burnes.

" ' They have all the vices of barbarians without their
redeeming virtues,' was the observation of Mount
Stuart Elphinstone, whose dictum carries with it the
authority of great sagacity, combined with extensive and
accurate knowledge.
" Major Outran called it a ' Patriarchal Govern-
ment.'

"But God did not form the teeming land of Scinde
with all the germs of fecundity, nor spread the waters
of the Indus to bring them forth with plenteousness,
merely to support the brutal Ameers in luxury: they
thought-sn, but his arresting and avenging hand was
laid upon them at Meeanee.

" Their actions as men were even more hideously
wicked than their actions as sovereigns.

" They filled their Zenanas with young girls torn
from their relations, who were never allowed to see them
more ; and they permitted all their Sirdars and other
chiefs to do the same. How were those girls treated ?
It would suffice as an answer, to say, that when the
Ameers fell, not one woman, old or young, mother, wife,
or concubine, would follow them to Bombay, so much
were they detested. And reason good there was for that
hatred. They and all their Sirdars and followers, alike,
perpetrated such horrid iniquities that the women would
have been demons had they not shrunk from the con-
tamination of the Ameers' company.
"If a suspicion of infidelity crossed the mind of a Be-
looch, he sought for no proof, but made the father or
mother hold the daughter by the hair while he cut her
throat, or hacked her to pieces with a sward. The
slightest quarrel, or disobedience, or reluctance shown,
was enongh provocation for cutting off the miserable
girl's nose or ears with a knife.
" The Ameers and Sirdars killed all their illegitimate
children; that was the rule ; and not unfrrquently
they extended this rule to the female legitimate children.
" And how did these monsters destroy their own off
spring ? First they gave potions called odalisques,'
to pr cure abortion ; if those failed, they sometimes
chopped the children to pieces with their own hands im-
mediately after birth ; but more frequently placed them
under cushions and sat down, smoking and drinking and

. are now in a lofty position ; but Ido not want you to crouch before
me. On the contrary, I would throw myself on my knees before
you, and beseech of you not- to leave Ireland as she is, but if you
are not willing, or not able to do something to remedy the evils
which you admit to have existence, in heaven's name I implore you,
do not mock us, but fling aside the office whose duties you feel
yourself incompetent to discharge.--(Hear, hear.) However, let
the Minister pursue what ipolicy he may, this at least is certain,
that the triumph of the Irish people is beyond all question,
provided that they continue in the same peaceful and constitu.
tional course which, under my guidance, they have heretofore pur.
sued. I was delighted to learn to-day that not a single additional
policeman was brought into this part of the country in consequence
of this demonstration.—(Hear, hear.) At the time of the monster
meetings they used to inundate us with police ; but one is now
deemed enough to preserve the peace. Even one Is more than
enough, for we had 100,000 men around us to-day, every man of
whom was himself a constable.—(Much cheering.)
The Rev. Dr. CANTWELL gave the healths of Messrs. John
O'Connell, Thomas Steele, John Gray, Thomas Ray, and the other
late State prisoners.—(Loud and long.continued applause.)
Mr. John O'Connell, M.P., Dr. Gray, Mr. Steele, and Mr. Ray,
and Mr. M. G. Conway (for Mr. Barrett) spoke to the toast.
The next toast was—" The healths of Lords Denmisa, Cotten.
ham, and Campbell, and the impartial administration of justice."
Several other toasts were drunk and responded to.
Mr. O'Connell, accompanied by several guests, retired a few
minutes before twelve o'clock, and the company separated shortly
afterwards.—Abridged from the Freeman's Journal.