The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-29 00:00:00

COLONEL STODDART AND
CAPTAIN CONOLLY.

Captain Grover has received a letter from Dr.
Wolff, dated Meshed, March 24th, 1844. The Doctor
strangely enough fell in with Saleh Mahommed,
called Akhoondzadeh, whose statement of what he
said people had told him of the execution of Colonel
Stoddart and Captain Conolly was published in all
the papers, and on the faith of which, her Majesty's
Government erased the name of Lieut.-Colonel
Stoddart from the list of the army, and the East
India Company that of Brevet Captain Conolly from
their list. The latter officer has, however, it appears
from the last accounts from India, been promoted to
a troop in the 6th Light Cavalry. The Doctor thus
writes :

" Saleh Mahommed told me, that the two persona
who were put to death, and of whom he gave a cir-
cumstantial account to Colonel Shiel, may have been
two other persons, and the executioner who told him
the story may have belied him. Besides this, I must
confess that two things are suspicious to me in the
extreme : he, first of all, told me that the executioner
who told him the story had been the executioner of
Stoddart; on another day, when I asked him again
which of the two executioners had put Stoddart to
death, he replied that he did not know. He, more •
over, makes a claim upon Colonel Shiel for 120 to-
mauns, which I have learnt from different quarters
he has received from Major Todd."
Dr. Wolff takes presents to the King of Bokhara,
to the value of between 500 and 600 gold tomauns ;
and he appears to have acquired the good wishes and
assistance of all the people with whom he has been
brought in contact. Ile thus relates a remarkable
circumstance :

" I have written a most respectful letter to the
Ameer of Bokhara, which I shall deliver m/self ; in
this letter I remind his Majesty of the hospitable re-
ception he granted to me, when at Bokhara twelve
years ago, and of my boldly having defended him in
England, and throughout Europe, when I heard him
accused of being the murderer of guests. I also pe-
tition his Majesty most humbly to allow me to take
back my friends to their native country ; or should
they have died on account of some fault •committed,
to inform me of the nature of their crime, and to per-
mit me to carry their corpses to England, to be buried
by their relations. I gave this letter into the hands of
the Sheik at Islam of Meshed, who read it in the
mosque of Gowker-Shah, in the presence of 5,000
people there assembled."
The Doctor also says :
" A caravan arrived here some days ago from Bok-
hara, and ask whom you please, the invariable answer
is—they may be alive, for nobody has seen them
executed ; and the Goosh Bekee, or Prime Minister,
who for five years was supposed to have been put to
death, has suddenly come forth alive and well from
prison.
" The chief of the caravan of Bokhara, Mullah
Kereen by name, who leaves that city every two
months, and has a wife there, told me two days ago,
that if any one asserts that he has seen the execution
of the two elchies (ambassadors), he is a liar."

DUNCOMBE TESTIMONIAL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR—In your paper of last night there appears a
paragraph respecting the " Duncombe Testimonial,"
in which you state that Messrs. Grote, and Co., the
bankers, have given 1001. to that object, and that it is
the Chartists who are about to raise the testimonial in
gratitude to Mr. Duncombe for his valuable services
in their cause both in and out of Parliament.

I beg most distinctly to deny that such is the case.
The delegates from whom the Duncombe Testimonial
Committee was elected, were appointed by the various
trades of London, to watch the progress of the in-
famous Masters and Servants Bill, and to adopt all
the legal means within their power to oppose and
destroy that measure. They represented no parti-
cular political opinions, but were composed of men
of all parties, who were unanimous in scarcely any
one thing except that the above-named Bill must be
opposed, and that Thomas Slingsby Duncombe was
deserving the thanks and gratitude of every working
man, and hence the proposition for a testimonial.
It is true that the Chartist body throughout the
United Kingdom are taking up the matter with great
spirit, at which the Central Committee are well
pleased—as they desire the co-operation of all men of
all parties—and from this, perhaps, has arisen the re-
port that it is a Chartist Testimonial. It is true also
that.there are several influential Chartists upon the
Committee, but they were elected at the general dele-
gate meeting of the Trades of London, and attend not
as Chartists, but as working-men. Indeed, I think
the Chartist portion of the Committee are more parti-
cularly anxious than the rest to avoid political disqui.
sitions—and the Chairman will not allow any remark
to be made which can be offensive to the opinion or
privileges of any man. Sir, I earnestly request the
insertion of this letter in your columns, as, unfortu-
nately there are many men of intellect and education,
who would be willing to assist a Trades' Duncombe
Testimonial ; but to whom the name of Chartist is a
bug-bear, which would frighten them from doing jus-
tice to a deserving patriot.—l am, &c.,
JOHN ROBINSON KELSEY,
Sec. to the Duncombe Testimonial Committee.
Central Committee Rooms, Prince and Princess,
Gravel-lane, Southwark, May 28, 1844.