The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-04 00:00:00

SINDE.

We gave in last month's summary some particulars of the march
of an expedition of some magnitude, which started from Sukkur
about the middle of January, into the haunts of the robber tribes
nearest beyond our new frontier in the direction of Shikarpore.
Our present information from the field force extends to the 10th of
February. The force dispatched was by general order directed to
consist of 2,440 infantry, and 1,600 cavalry, besides at finely, from
Sukkur—viz.: four 41-inch mortars, two 8-pr. and two 41-inch
howitzers. From Lorkhana the Sinde horse and camel corps,
with the volunteers of her Majesty's 39th (drafts from her Ma-
jesty's 13th) mounted on camels, with two mountain guns, were to
proceed on the 13th. Ali Moored promised to bring 2,000 and
Wullee Maliomed some 600 or 800 followers into the field (it was
feared our allies would tax the supplies to a larger amount
than the value of their services); so that in all the force
probably amounted to • nearly 7,000 men, 4,500 British
and 2,500 allies, with ten or twelve pieces of ord-
nance. The troops under the governor having crossed the
desert, ('apt. Salter with the 6th Irregular Cavalry marched 40
miles, and Captain Jacob 37 with the Sinde horse, on the 16th ;
Captain Mowatt in 24 hours marched 56, Lieutant Smallpage with
136 police on foot marched 40 miles through the desert in 16 suc-
cessive hours—feats rarely exceeded in our military annals, consi.
dering the climate and country where they were performed. Ge-
neral Sir C. Napier stated that such performances made him proud
of the force under his command, " the glory of soldiers being as
of. en gained by tieir legs as by their arms." Nothing could be more
essential to their success than the celerity of their movements.
Captain Jacobs, on the 16th, reached the village of Shahpore before
the inhabitants had time to abandon it. Though strongly fortified,
and stoutly defended, the irregular horse carried it with the
rapidity of lightning, made prisoners without injuring one of
them, of all its occupants ; and their gallant leader was deservedly
complimented by the general for the resolute, prompt, and humane
conduct of his men. Capt. Salter, with the 6th Irregulars and
two guns of the mountain train, overtook the robbers the same day
near Ooch—surprised and defeated them with considerable loss—
amount:ng, it is said, to 40 killed or wounded. On this
occasion 3,500 head of stolen cattle were recovered while on
their way to the hills. The troops under General Hunter crossed
the desert to Khangur in two detachments, on the nights of the
19th and 20th, and found the way smooth and the weather cool
and agreeable; the next morning at daybreak they reached Mi.
notee ; on the 21st they started for Shahpore; and on the 22d
proceeded to Ooch. Here they were inspected by the Governor
on the 23d. On the night of the 22d Colonel Geddes had marched
with the camel corps and Captain Mowatt's troop to a place 20
miles in advance of Ooch—Bejar Khan, with some 2,500 of his
followers, being understood to have got surrounded in the vici.
nage by the tribes friendly to us. From this time our accounts
from the Kutchee force are scanty; the communication with
Shahpore is said to have been uninterrupted, arid the enemy had
learnt wisdom and retired within their fastnesses, leaving their in-
vaders to wander up and down alone through the glens. On the
25th and 26th the brigade under General Hunter and the head-
quarters of the Governor. were at Sooroo Kooshta. The pass in
front of them was, on the 27th, found deserted, and on the 29th
the troops had got through the defile, and established them-
selves within the mountain range, where water. and forage were
abundant. The army had now been thirteen days in the field ;
the commissariat had only been ordered to provide supplies for a
fortnight, and provisions began to fail.

From other parts of Sink the intelligence is of comparatively
little interest. The country continues quiet, and the health of the
troops is improving. From the return of the strength of the
armies of the Indus, with the numbers in hospital at the beginning
of last month—those with General Napier not being included—it
appears that we have a force of 10,417 In the country, or reckoning
4,500 for those absent with the Governor, of nearly 15,000
in all. Of these, 1,144 are in hospital.

CAUBUL.
(From the Delhi Gazette, Feb. 18.)

We will commence with the events in Central Asia, premising
that although our communication with that country was inter-
rupted, as stated in our last, we have since then received our usual
half monthly letters with the missing ones in duplicate, by a mes-
senger dispatched specially to Peshawur, the most recent letter
bringing news to the 26th December in the ordinary courses. It
appears from our letters that Dost Mahomed was, up to their
latest date, still at Caubul, engaged in the ceremonies of a marriage
with a young damsel of 14, daughter of l'aj Mahomed Khan, whom
his principal wife, the mother of Mahomed Ukbar Khan, had
been anxious to obtain as a bride for her son Shere Jan Khan. The
fact of her being betrothed to Dost Mahomed became only known
when the lady went to the house of the girl's father to open the ne-
gotiations for her son, and the pertanacity with which the Ameer
persisted in carrying out, his new matrimonial connexion will, we
have great reason for believing, from what we know of the conse-
quence of the like events in Mahomedan families generally, lead to
the most serious consequences. Great dissatisfaction had been
caused in Caubul, by the unwarranted disgrace of two of the most
respectable men in the pace, Sum tir Khan, Lohanee, the chief con-
tractor of customs, and Meerza Khodadad Khan, the agent of the
great Bokhara merchant, the late Buddur-ood-deen, his associate.
The pretext made use of was that they had not accounted faith-
fully for their receipts, anti was of course only advanced as usual
in all such cases with the view of extorting money. When they
have been well squeezed they may be restored to such favour as
their poverty will admit of.