The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-09 00:00:00

THE OCCUPATION OF SIND E.

I'Ve find the following in the Chronicle of yes,

terday :

" Our Indian Correspondent, ' O. P. Q.,' has sent
us the following extract from a letter, written by Sir
Henry Pottinger, to a friend. in Bombay. Inde-
pendent of Sir Henry's high character for talents and
uprightness, DO officer of the empire is better quali-
fied, from experience and long residence, to give a
conclusive judgment on the affairs of Sinde."
The following is Sir Henry's letter :
" Your letter brought our happy and merry days
in Sinde vividly to my mind, and I lamented, on
reading it, if possible more deeply than I had done,
over the fallen estate' of my old friends the Ameers,
of whose case I have all along said,: and ever shall
say, under all circumstances, and in all society and
places where I may hear it alluded to, is the most
unprincipled and disgraceful that has ever stamped the
annals of our empire in India. No explanation or rea-
soning can, in my opinion, remove the foul stain it has
left on our good faith and honour, and as Iknow more
than any other man living of previous events and
measures connected with that devoted country, I feel
that I have a full right to exercise my judgment
and express my sentiments on the subject. I was in
hopes that some influential voice would have been
raised in England against the tyranny and spoliation
that had taken place, but the intelligence by the last
mail—that of July---holds forth no such prospect,
and all that I can now hope is, that the author of all
this cruelty and misery may meet with his deserts
hereafter. I shall only add, that I shall esteem it a
favour, if you will let my opinions be known wher-
ever you hear the affair mentioned, and that you
cannot use too strong language in expressing my
disgust and sorrow on the occasion."
We are inclined to regard this letter as a forgery.
It is extremely unlikely that Sir 11. Pottinger would
thus boast of knowing more about Snide than any
other person.living, or that he, a representative of her
Majesty, would apply such an outrageous epithet to
Lord Ellenborough, or Sir Charles Napier, or Major
Outran. The opinions expressed, too, are at utter
variance with Sir 11. Pottinger's sentinlent;, expressed
in his communication to Lord Auckland in 1839.
By that time no doubt remained in his mind
that the Ameers had acted treacherously towards
the Indian Government, and had been intriguing
with States hostile to England. On March 14, 1839,
he thus writes :—" I found be (one of the Ameers)
was ignorant of most of the intrigues that had been
carried on by the Ameers with Persia and the Can-
dahar chiefs during the last year; and when I laid the
proofs of them before him, and deduced from them
that our recent arrangements were, in real truth,
forced on us by the Ameers, be admitted
the fact, and said he had not one word to
urge against them." In another interview with
these chiefs, he said distinctly that " they must hence-
forward consider Sinde to be a portion of Hindustan,
in which our position made us paramount, and en-
titled us to act as we considered best and fittest ior the
general good of the whole empire." But in addition
to these strong proofs that the letter is a fabrica-
tion, we may state that before the Resident in Snide
left, several parts of the territory had been taken
possession of by the Indian GoVernment, and for•the
very reasons, too, which, induced Lord Ellenborough
to occupy the whole—namely the hostile and
treacherous 'conduct of the Ameers. In writing to
one of them he says, " It is to be perfectly under-
stood that his Lordship will not overlook the conduct
of the authorities at that place (Kurachee), in know-
ingly and wantonly offering an insult to the British
Government, and consequently that place will not be
restored." On the 7th of March, too, he thus writes,
" After their long course of deceit and treachery I
am loath to pledge my word for their sincerity.''
And in a letter of the I lth of the same month he
uses these remarkable words :—" It seems to use that
it would be better at once to take possession of Sinde
(or such parts of it as we require) by force, than to
leave it nominally with the Ameers and yet deal with
it as if it were our own. The one line is explicit and
dignified, and cannot be misunderstood, the other 1
conceive to be unbecoming our power."

After Sir Henry Pottinger's departure, which shortly
took place, and especially during the passage of the
Indian army :and their stay in Afghanistan, the.
Ameers scarcely observed one article of the treaty,
and for proof of their treachery and hostility it i 3
necessary only to refer to what has been said and
written by Dr, Kennedy and Lieut. Postans.

ANT I•STATECIIIJRC H ASSOCIATION —A meeting
of thisjassociation, of which the Rev. Dr. Cox is the presid, nt,
was held on Thursday evening last, at the King's Head, Poul-
try, to receive subsci'rions and to forward the general in-
terests a the Society: Thum a large acvesiioo to the
number of members, and great interest seems to have been es-
cited by the efforts made in various parts of the country. So
soon as the conference assembles, branch associatines will be
formed in every provincial town throughout the country.