The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

proceed from Loodianala, refused flatly to stir until extra !
.allowances, such as are usually given on the foreign ser-
vice, should be granted them. It was found inconvenient
to contest the point, so Government gave in, and the des-
tination of the regiment was altered from Sinde to Be-
pares. Luckily, however, the recusants volunteered to
take the station originally assigned to them, and are now
on their way to Sukkur, having not only obtained all they •
asked, but promised relief within the year in case of sick-
ness. It was hoped that this matter might blow over,
and that a better spirit would quickly make its appearance •
amongst the troops. Instead of this, the disaffection spread,
and the 7th cavalry, the 4th, 34th, and 69th, with a corn-
parry of artillery, each in turn followed the evil example
which had been sat them, This was alarming enough, and,
as all the regiments which had been ordere had- refused
to move, there was reason to apprehend that disobedience
would become general. The rumours speedily reached our
enemies on the further bank of the Sutlej. Some of the mu-
tineer Sepoys are alleged to have placed themselves in com-
munication:: with the Sikhs, who believed disaffection uni-
versal throughout the army. The discontent was too ex-
tensively diffused, and too obviously attributable to the mea-
tures of Government itself, to admit of being put down or
punished by the strong hand of authority. The 7th Cavalry
and 34th Native Infantry have, it is said, been threatened
with dismissal ; the others may probably escape ; indeed it
seems doubtful if even those just named will be punished.
As a contrast to this the whole Bundelkund legion, cavalry,
artillery, and all, voluntered to proceed to Scinde uncondi-
tionally. The matter stands thus with the Bombay Sepoys
whose case is most familiar to us ; but that, we believe, of
%the Bengal soldier is precisely analagous. The pay of the
native soldier, including half batta or subsistence, is from 7
rupees (145.) to 9 rupees (18s.) a month—varying betwixt
the two according to the period of his service. In India no
allowance whatever is made beyond the net pay, including in
this, as just stated, 21 of half-batta ; but, on foreign stations,
the soldier has extra allowance of 1 rupees to
(namely, from 3s. to 55.) a month, as batta, as it is called,
and 3 rupees (65.) in name of rations, this being about the
price at which Government could provision the men from
the commissariat. In Sinde, which till last year was con-
sidered a foreign country, both these allowances were made.
The money rations, however, equivalent to nearly one-half
of their pay, were withdrawn during the years 1840 and
1841, when the troops were in cantonments, and no
enemy was in the field; they were once more granted in
January, 1842, when extensive movements became neces-
sary, and were again withdrawn on the Ist of July, 1843,
when the country became quiet and the troops retired to
quarters. By the Bombay troops this was submitted to with-
out a murmur, though the retrenchment of 3 rupees a month,
equivalent to between one-half and one-third of his pay, was
a virtual infringement of the terms of his enlistment, by
which they bound themselves to serve in Hindustan on certain
terms only—Government binding itself to grant additional
allowances in the event of their being required for foreign
service. The Sepoy will march anywhere, and against any
enemy, if faith in money matters be kept with him ; but
there is no man more tenacious than the native of India of
has pecuniary claims on his employer; he could not be made
to comprehend how a country which lie had always regarded
as foreign to Hindoetan should be commuted into a part of
it by proclamation ; nor see why, if Government chose in
this instance to make him serve on the Indus on the terms
for which lie had enlisted fur service at home, they might
not equally insist on his campaigning on the Nile or Oxus, or
marching to Bokhara as well as Hyderabad, on home al-
lowances. It was the same to him whether it was in the
hands of the Ameers, or those of the India Company, so long
as in matters'of distance, danger, and expensive living, it
was essentially the same as formerly, and as different in all
respects as possible from Hindostan. By order of the 12th
of March Government directed that the Sepoys serving in
Sinde should draw while in cantonments the same allowances
as were made in India only when troops were in the field;
and that the lines wherein they resided should be constructed
by Government, and not, as in India, at the charge of the
Sepoy. This was nearly all that was desired : it was, it is
true, a concession to clamour and not to justice, but still it
was a proper and timely one, and, if Government had erred,
it was infinitely better to acknowledge and undo the mistake
than to persist in en-or. The permanent cost of the extra
allowances now granted to the army will amount to about
50,000/. a-year. The donation of six months' batta to all the
troops near Hyderabad—about 7,000 in number, and of six
months' batta to those engaged near Gwalior, amounting to
25,000, as well as to the whole of the men, about 23,000,
who had been in Sinde, for however, short a space, or
however occupied, betwisst 28th of February, 1843, and
28th of February, 1844, the victors of Meeanee and
Dubba coining in for both gratuities awarded by the ge-
neral order—is generally believed to have been made with
a view of encouraging the reluctant troops to proceed on
their march, by holding out the hope of the bounty of Go-
trernment to those who chose willingly to serve in Siude.
The order is in several particulars remarkable. It was issued
on the evening of the day of the Governor-General's return
to Calcutta, on the second anniversary of his arrival in India
—the red letter day ever to be held iu remembrance by the
army—when the 17th of February and 'the 24th of March,
on which Meeanee and Dubba were fought, have been for-
gotten. The donation will amount in all to betwixt 280,000/.
and 300,000/. ; it is alleged to have been given in conse-
quence of the want of' information as to the distribution of the
prize property taken at Hyderabad ; and, should it have already
been determined that this is, according to custom, to be made
over to its captors, the army commanded by General Napier
this time last year will be one of the most liberally requited
that ever fought. There were 17,000 men in Sinde at the
time of the battles, and during the sickly season. Seven re-
giments have since been sent thither, and are included in the
order for the donation. The 3d Cavalry having been a week,
and a wing of the 14th Native Infantry twenty-four hours in
the country, will be equally rewarded with those who have
been there since 1838. We noticed in our last the organiza-
tion of an additional regiment of irregular cavalry, and on the
12th of February, it was intimated that 100 men would be
added to each of the regiments of the Bengal and Bombay
army which had been included in the reduction of January,
1843, which directed a similar number to be struck off. The
former army contains 74 regiments of Native Infantry—the
latter 26 ; and the number of regiments excepted amount
to 11. 8,000 infantry, with an entire regiment of cavalry,
are found necessary therefore to be added to our army in con-
sequence of, as it is declared, the exigencies of Sinde Sir C.
Napier, on the 18th of February, 1843, loudly proclaimed
the peril in which the British army was placed in the field of
Meeanee for want of a sufficiency of British officers, and re-
commended, in the strongest manner, that this defect should be
remedied withthe least possible delay. The justice and wisdom
of the complaint was admitted in all quarters ; and it was every -
•where acknowledged that, from a pitiful parsimony in the
.pay-officers, we were running the risk of destroying our na-
tive regiments altogether. The mode in which the recom-
mendation of the Governor of Sinde has been seconded by
the Governor-General, is singular ; an addition of from 8,000
to 10,000 is made to the army, without a single additional
officer to command them, while 48 officers are withdrawn
from the line for the Gwalior contingent, numbering some-
where about 7,000 or 8,000 men, The two are equivalent to
a reduction of about 100 officers in the Bengal and Bombay
armies, just at the time when an addition of about double
this number was declared by the highest military authority
indispensable. The object of these measures is apparent. lf
it cannot be shown that our wars are just or our conquests
legitimate, they must be made to seem as little expensive as
possible. Finding an augmentation of the army indispen-
sable, we increase the muster-roll of the men, without adding
to the number of their officers ; and this, too, with native
troops valuable for field service only when led by a sufficiency
of Europeans. On the first anniversary of the day on which
the second great victory by which the conquests on the
. 3ndus were confirmed became known to us, we may be per-
mitted to take a short review of the benefits derived from a
twelvemonth's possession of the "province fertile as Egypt."
The army which, in consequence of the operations in China
and Affghanistan, was, betwixt 1838 and 1843, increased by
.50,600 men, had just begun to be reduced to its previous
strength by the order of January, 1843, which directed the
extra company added to each regiment in February, 1842,
to be absorbed. We had still some 32,000 more men on our
muster-roll than we found sufficient for all ordinary emer-
gensies before the war policy of 1838 began. This enormous
surphis, which would, in all likelihood, have been struck off
had peaceful councils resumed sway, not only still exists, but
]pas once more been increased by nearly the amount it was
formerly reduced. Sinde has required to be maintained by a
force of 16,000 men, at a cost of 1,250,0001. sterling.
The pay of 8,000 Sepoys, the present augmentation, at
9a single
rupees each per mensem, amounts to 86,000/. in *, gle
year, their clothing and accoutrements to about 24,000
6
or, about 110,000/ . in all. The charge of a regiment;
a Irregular Cavalry is about 60,0001. in all. The au nta
tion, therefore, will, in all, cost about 170,000/. ; or, ifecon--
con-
tingencies be included, probably about 200,000/. The batta
conceded to the troops amounts to about 50,000/. a-year.
If these sums be put together it will be found that, without
taking into account the charge for 16,000 men permanently
maintained on the Indus at the rate of one and a quarter
million sterling, the extra outlay required already to be in-
curred amounts to 315,0001., or, adding the item just named,
to 1,540,000/. annually. This is on the single head of mili-
tary charges ; we have taken no account of charges for civil
government—the pay of judges, collectors, magistrates, or
police. The donation Latta of 150,000/. falls on the charges
of 1843 and 1844, and has therefore been rejected from our
account current. The entire income of the Ameers was esti-
stnated at 400,000/., and of this, we believe, 220,000/. falls to
the shares of our allies the Khyrpore and Bahawulpore
chiefs. The expenditure of 1,300,000/. to secure an income
of considerably less than a quarter of a million is amongst
the pecuniary advantages of the recent conquest ! The moral
effects of so valuable an acquisition may be estimated by the
fact of six regiments having at one time been driven to mutiny
by being ordered to Sinde, and Government having at length
found it necessary to come to terms with the mutineers ; and
the circumstance of its being known to our enemies that
every six or eight years a season of such sickness may be
looked for as to lay from 10,000 to 12,000 men in the hoe-
pitala, while the pestilence-afflicted stations have the strong-
' lolds of the mountain Beloochee in front, their own rear
being cut off from their supplies by the desert ! Four regi-
tnents have this season required to be sent out of Sinde wholly
disorganised by sickness: a favourite country with the army
It may naturally be supposed—just as it may be imagined a
lucrative and creditable acquisition to Government !

LAHORE.
alhe,etsgeof this country, to which so much of our atten-
l'iasu"on nale
been of late directed, continues much the same
departure of the last number of the Summary.
lieera Singh is still at the head otaffairs, and is doing all in
his power to improve
own class and cteorm his
position by enlisting men of his
the hills, and also at Lahore, with
the view, it is strongly surmised, of supplanting the Sikh
troops in the charge capital, for which purpose he is
further doing all he
(ciaentact)hoeegett the Sikh soldiers away from
whore, many being Peshawar, where the move •
dents of Mahomed Akbar Kit: are causing him great lull.•
easiness, and others to the various stations on the Sutlej, espe-
cially to Phuloor opposite Loodian Kussore, opposite
-
Yerozepore. It is, however, with some lty he has sticceed
ed in carrying out these ends, as the troo sc
vharreLthink proper,excessively
refractory and absent themselves whenievel7tlthnts
under Gene-
large detachment lately ordered to p
tul Khan Singh, flatly I efused to march until such of) them
wished it had been to their homes, and a whole
i
rotested against being sent to besiege Secalkote, r•lNtfiler,
atie
prince Kashmeera Singh, an illegitimate son of Runjeet-
Singh, has taken refuge against the Minister, and
threatens to cause him great trouble, as he is a favour-
ite with the Sikh troops, and has already beaten off
one attack made on the tort, and taken two guns. The
Ofinister, on the refusal of the regular troops to march, was
Compelled to send some irregulars, and also a corps under
the command of an officer of the name of Home. The re-
Omit will soon be known. Heera Singh feels himself so inse-
cure in his position that he has, it is said, packed up not only
his own valuables, but what is left of those of the State, in
St
ready to start them off
beeno, whither many. of
the State jewels have already sent to the care of Rajah
Gholab Singh, and amongst them the famous diamond Koh
f_7_ll:Coor, which was not worn at the enthronization of the boy
Xing Dhuleep Singh on the 2d of February. Rajah Heera
Singh had addressed a letter to the Governor-General an-
flouncing the accession, and is at the same time carrying on
puck extensive preparations of a warlike description that he
Peems evidently inclined. to the belief so general m India, that
peat cold season wipll.awaatantss the occurrence of active opera-
lions against the Our latest intelligence from
shore, under date ofs,tittehaltsth of March, received just as we
Were going to press, the Stealkote affair with Prince