The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-05 00:00:00

as a' prisoner at Sukkur. His detention was considered
a breach of faith on our part, and though he was after-
wards relieved, his clansmen vowed vengeance against
us, and this is in obligation they rarely failed to carry into
effect. lam as yet without particulars of this unfortu-
nate affair. So much as I have stated is universally
believed in. Two troops of irregular horse, with'
Captain Foster's artillery, were immediately pushed
on from Sukkur, while the 9th Native Infantry, pre-
viously under orders to proceed to Ferozepore, were
commanded to hold themselves in readiness to
push on to Shikarpore at a moment's notice. The
present reverses took place near Poolagse, close by the
scenes of Clark and Clibborn's disasters in May, and Au-
, gust, 1840. The system these warriors invariably pur-
sue is to dash down upon us from the mountains in the
hot season, and so draw us into the desert, where the
quickness of their horses enables them to escape from
us. I tremble at the thought of another hot wee-
! ther campaign of however limited extent or dura-
tion. It was thus our mishaps begun in 1840,
which terminated in the siege of Caubul. We taught
the enemy to defeat us on a small scale, till they
learned to put in practice against us the bloody
instruction e had given them on the largest.
do not know is hether or not this will do anything to en-
lighten you as to the geography of the western frontier
of young Lgypt. You all seem to be content to assume
that our boundary has actually been improved, and
then proceed to argue on the illegitimacy of the means
resorted to for its improvement. If you turn to the
map you wi:l find that Shikarpore, Larkhana, Kolra,
Tette, &c., are on the western bank of the Indus, with
our own strong posts in our rear; those of the enemy
in our front. Should the Murrees manage to sack one or
two of these posts, the people at home may discover that,
at least in a military point of view, it is anything
but an expedient arrangement. The editor of the
Naval and Military illagazine I observe, recommends
to station posts on the Beloochee hills ; I thought Khan
Kelat and Quetta had cured you of this nonsense ; a
map of Beloochistan would show you that the hills that
skirt the Indus extend for 500 miles in the direction of
Persia, resting on an unexplored country, about the de-
bouchure of the Helmon. You must double the Indian
army before you can supply this without posts. A
-great noise will doubtless be made about the collec-
tion of 130,3001. of revenue, reported to have taken place
at Hyderabad and Kurrachee. It must be kept in
view that this has to meet an expenditure of a million
and a quarter on troops alone. The mutiny amongst the
Bengal regiment ordered for Sinde has, for the present,
been subdued. The men have been frightened by the dis-
bandonmeat of the 34th N. 1., one of the least offending of
the mutinous corps, and the publication of a juggling" ge-
neral order," which is interpreted one way by the soldiers
and another by the Government. The men believe that
everything which they desired has been conceded to
them ; whereas, Government, in reality, intends to
give them no more than what they previously pos-
sessed. The 64th, in which mutiny first made its ap-
pearance, having afterwards volunteered its services, ar-
rived at Sukkur on the 9th of April, and it is said broke
out into mutiny afresh so soon as they discovered the
trick that had been put upon them. Should this
prove true, it will be pleasant to have one regiment
disaffected and two others nearly devoid of officers, in
presence of a fierce, vindictive, and indefatigable
enemy. The facts above given are chiefly de-
rived from Kurrachee letters. At Sukkur they are all
BeNgallees, and have but little correspondence with us
in Bombay. Sir Charles Napier left Kurrachee on the 2d
and arrived at Hyderabad on the 7th April; and after re-
viewing troops, inspecting cantonments, and flying about
everywhere, returned again to the sea-coast on the 17th.
The building of a Government house has been com-
menced at Kurrachee, and here the general treasury,
medical stores, and general head-quarter establishments,
have been sent. It is believed that Lord Ellen-
borough will find himself compelled to rescind the
order that Sinde should be occupied by Bengal
troops alone, and once more commit the charge of the
line of the Indus to the Bombay army. An absurd sys-
tem of mystery-mongering has obtained since the news-
papers become somewhat free in their strictures on the
recent conquest. A register is kept at all the post-
offices both of the addresses of letters and the names
of the party who send them ; and these are very
unscrupulously used for the detection. of news-
paper correspondents. It is curious how the
General forgets how easily this may be evaded. It is
said that he, when he used to write fur the ***, sent his
letters to his wife, Lady Napier forwarding them, not to
the editor, but to a friend high in the staff. The
Ameers of Sinde have been sent round from Bombay to
Calcutta ; while here they were treated with the utmost
kindness and attention by the Governor, Sir George
Arthur. Gwalior wears a somewhat threatening aspect.
Lord Ellenburough appears to be equally unfortu-
nate in his policy, either in going too far, or not far
enough. Sinde is an example of the first, Sindian coun-
try of the second of these. The regency which we have
set up in Gwalior has become in the last degree unpopu-
lar. Ram Pas Phalkea, our protege, is now suspected
of having been the author of the disturbances which
occasioned our advance. Determined to be revenged on
his opponents he betook himself to the plan not
unfrequently resorted to in Europe in the 15th
century, of bringing in a foreign foe to upset the indepen-
dence of his country for the sake of overwhelming a rival
party. His confederates doubt, his brother chiefs despise,
and his victims detest, a traitor such as this set over them
by the force of foreign bearance. The Gwalior contingent,
powerful as it is, would do little against a general rising of
the Maarattas ; and should the Government we have
set up be overturned, we have nothing for it but the
commencement of a new war, and the ultimate appro-
priation of the country altogether. Insurrection and
disorder continue to prevail in the Punjaub, and the
period is obviously not very far removed when we shall be
called upon by one party or another to act as allies or ar-
bitrators, in either case ultimately to take the place of
principals, and make a quarrel first and the country sub-
sequently our own. Dost Mahomed is said to be rapidly
consolidating his power around Catibul, and should he
seize upon Peshawur, as is most likely, and we conquer
the Punjaub, as is next to certain, we shall find Akbar
Khan, whom we would have hanged if we could
have caught him, our next door neighbour, and
probable our most able ally. Lord Ellenborough
is at present at Calcutta, but it is said
that he was about to proceed to Allahabad, conceiv-
ing that nothing in the way of civil or military ar-
rangements can be properly managed without his
personal presence. The death of Sir William Case-
ment will be a great loss at the Council Board. From
China we have news to the 18th of March. The
difficulties attendant in carrying the various com-
mercial arrangements of Sir H. Pottingor into effect
begin already to be experienced. It is singular that the
first instance of this has arisen from a British merchant
putting himself forward as an informant against opium
smuggling, with a view it is said of gratifying private
malice. The hot weather has set in all over India, and in
this quarter apprehensions of inconvenience for want of
water begin to be entertained, in consequence of the defi-
ciencies 's rains. Trade during the past
month ofbelaes ea
been done
dyoner
to a fair extent, although in prices
no improvement is observable. The short period of the
nth has
active season now remaining, and the large supplies
of goods arriving and expected, have produced in
holders an anxiety to get rid of their stocks, which
being thus pressed upon the market can only be realised
at declining prices. We have suffered a severe loss in
our society by the death of Dr. John Grant Malcomson,
formerly of the Madras medical service, lately of the
house of Forbes and. Co. He was a man of great talent
and learning, of the highest integrity and utmost bene-
volence of character ; lie was cut off by dysentery when
engaged in a tour through Goozerat.
0. P. Q. IN THE EAST.

SINDE.
We have letters from Sinde to the 10th April, and learn
that some disturbances had taken place in advance of Shikar-
poor; that the Beloochees had carried off some 1,100 head
of cattle from a place, name not given, some 50 miles to the
west, and had subsequently advanced to within six miles of
the town, and burnt a large village. Two troops of Captain
111‘Kenzie's 6th irregulars had been sent of to Shikarpoor
under Lieutenant and Adjutant Holmes. The dispatch of
Captain Forster's company of Bombay artillery has already
been mentioned, and the 9th Infantry were ordered to hold
themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice. The
10th are already there. The 64th had reached Sukkur on
the 9th instant, and Col. Moseley had assumed the temporary
command of the station. Capt. Graham and his company of
artillery arrived at their destination on the 4th. Capt. Ger-
rard, of the Commissariat, reached on the Bth. The whole of
the surveyors in the neighbourhood of Sukkur were to pro-
ceed to Hyderabad, and ultimately to Kurrachee. General
Simpson was shortly expected in Upper Sinde. Her Majesty's
13th Light Infantry gave a grand entertainment on the an-
niversary of the victory of Jellalabad. The 9th Infantry, if
not required at Shikarpoor, were to march for Feroiepore on
the 15th instant ; the sick, convalescents, and heavy baggage
to proceed by water. The hospital returns show that every
man in the regiment had been at least twice in hospital, and
some much oftener. Of the eighteen officers who were pre-
sent at one time since the arrival of the corps in Sinde, there
are now seven, viz., one major, two captains, one lieutenant,
and three ensigns! Another letter that we have seen men-
tions that the number of plundering Beloochees was very
great ; also that Sir Charles Napier was on his way up with
the declared purpose of taking a share in the coming war
with the Punjaub.—Delhi Gazette, April 20.
CAUBUL.

We continue to receive regular correspondence from our
friends at Caubul, Jellalabad, and Peshawur; the latest which
have come to hand bring the news of Caubul down to the
20th of March. Dost Mahomed Khan continues at Caubul,
busy in his usual occupation of extorting money, wherever
he thinks he shall be successful in obtaining it. He is also
reinforcing, as frequently as his means will allow of, the army
of Mahomed Akbar Khan, and has certainly succeeded to
a considerable extent in consolidating his rule over a very
large portion of the former Dooranee kingdom, further, per-
haps, than it ever extendedbefore our invasion of Caubul.
Mahommed Akbar Khan is still engaged in his operations
in the hill districts north of Jellalabad, and has gained a very
decisive battle against the tribe of Othman Khel, a fierce and
warlike people inhabiting the hills east of Bajour. He is
bent on proceeding further north, and all appearances tend
to prove that, having subjugated the Sikh dependencies of
Dher, he will follow the course of the river Punjkora, and
passing through the district of Lower Swat, immediately
north of Peshawur, enter on the territory (if that province
by way of Hushtnugger. The advance of his brother, Ma-
homed Azeem Khan, with a considerable body of troops to
within a short distanCesof Kohat, on the south of Peshawur,
strongly corroborates this view, and we, may safely surmise
that he will remain there until Mahomed Akbar Khan is in
a position to co-operate with him from the north. The Go-
vernor of Peshawur had begun to be seriously alarmed, and
sent at first written remonstrances to Akbar Khan against
his marching to Dher, threatening that such a proceeding
'would be considered as an act of hoStility against the Sikh
Government. As Mahommed Akbar ichao semis to IWO
paid little attention to these letters, Mahomed Rufeekb, the
Caubul Vakeel at Peshawur, undertook to proceed to Bajour at
the suggestion ofPeerMahonamed, who has to appearance done
all he could (though we may safely conjecture his inclina-
tions lead to wishing his nephew's success) to restrain the
advance of Mahommed Akbar Khan. •
PI-INJAVP. •
Fresh tragedies have been enacted around Lahore, and the
most distinguished of the chiefs continue to embrue their
hands in each other's blood. Raja Heera Singh having in-