The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
• CHRONICLE.— The Ministerial journals
would have done much better to have attended
to our advice in the beginning. From what
errors, inconsistencies, and needless advocacy of
the most shameful and untenable doctrines
wojild they not have been preserved, had they
allowed Lord Ellenborough's conduct to remain
undefended as it was obviously indefensible.
When the intelligence of the order to retreat
was first published, it was boldly justified, one
day upon the ground of the impracticability of
the march to Caubul, another of the danger to
'the prisoners by which it would be attended.
For a moment, however, the fact of the order
having been issued was never questioned. Times,
Herald, Post, and Standard, all admitted it
" Lord Ellenborough has issued the order," said
' they, "but he could not avoid it. Under the
circumstances it was the most politic thing he
could do. It is wholly impossible for either
General Pollock or General Nott to advance to
Caubul ; and even if they could advance, their I
doing so would only expose the prisoners to
certain destruction. Therefore Lord Ellenbo-
rough has judged and acted wisely in ordering
the troops to retreat." The next mail arrives,
and lo ! the Governor-General has counter-
manded his first order, and notwithstanding all
the weighty considerAtions of policy and human-
ity, both General Pollock and General Nott have
been ordered to advance. Did we not tell you
it would be so ?• On the sth of September we
noticed an observation of a writer in the Tunes,
which was to"the effect that " a forward move-
ment would not take place unless it was ordered
from home," and we then remarked—" Most
fortunately the move in advance has been ordered
from home, and will be carried into effect, But
it will be in violation of the orders of the Gover-
nor-General of India." We spoke confidently,
and not upon light grounds. The -Government
writers, however, were confounded by the sup-
position that upon a question of such magnitude
Sir Robert Peel should take a course so directly
in opposition to Lord Ellenborough. They ven-
tured to deny it. In repeating our state-
ment we referred, in justification of Sir Ro-
bert Peel, to the express promises which he had
given to the House of Commons. We were told
that these promises were only given " under the
influence of the general excitement that prevailed
at the time," and that it would be " very unfair
to hold Sir R. Peel to the strict letter of his en-
gagement." To this pitiful appeal we answered
(on September 13)—" We must interpose to
protect Sir Robert Peel from the imputations
cast upon him by his own supporters. Events
willjustify his policy and our anticipation. The
Right Hon. Baronet meant what lie said when
lie undertook to redress the reverses of the last
campaign, and that policy to whichhe has solemnly
pledged his Government he will carry into effect.
For a season he must endure, as the head
of the Government. the disgrace which
the dastardly conduct of the Governor-Gene-
ral of India has cast, not alone upon
the Ministry which appointed him, but upon
the country to which he belongs. But the
orders subsequently sent from England, and
which most probably the next snail will tell us
have been acted upon, if they do not altogether
exculpate Ministers, will at least limit their
responsibility to the secondary offence of having
handed over our Eastern empire to the manage-
ment of a man so shallow, heartless, and con-
ceited as Lord Ellenborough." And yet with
this controversy in recollection, some of these
very journals have now the coolness to charge us
with want of due caution in considering the order
to retreat! We have throughout the contro-
versy done the Government the justice, done it
in opposition to the earnest protests of all their
own writers, of declaring our well-grounded be-
lief that they would be no parties to the das-
tardly fatuity of their Indian servants. We
knew and said, that collie what would, Minis-
ters would order an advance upon Caubul.
POST.—A Correspondent at Calcutta, who
has access to the best sources of political infor-
mation, has favoured us with a communication
which enables us to assert, in the most unquali-
fied terms, that the Governor-General of India
never gave an order, either to General Pollock
or to any other officer, for the evacuation of Aff-
glianistan by the British troops; and to assert,
moreover, that Lord Ellenborough, from the
moment of his arrival in India to the date of our
Correspondent's letter, never used any language,
privately or officially—no single word, by tongue
or pen—importing that his Lordship contem-
plated the withdrawal of the British force from
A figlianistan, until everything had been done that
the honour of Great Britain and the mainte-
nance of her character, authority, and pre-emi-
nence in India could be supposed to require.
We learn from the Correspondent above referred
to, upon whose information we implicitly rely,
,;
that whatever militarY movements may recently I
have taken place at Candahar and Jellalabad,
and whatever may be their object, those move-
ments are not the result of immediate instruc-
tions front London, but of the deliberate, cohe-
rent, and unvaccilating system of policy adopted
by the present Governor-General, and pursued 1
without the slightest deviation, even for a mo-
ment, since his Lordship's arrival in India—a
polity-always in harmony with the wishes and
the determination of the British Cabinet, with
which his Lordship's mind was so fully imbued
before he left England, that lie could feel no
difficulty, and incur little risk of error, in
giving to those wishes and that determination
their due application and proper force in
every conceivable emergency. We heartily
condole with the Morning Chronicle on the
discovery that the innumerable columns of
eloquent and patriotic indignation which it has
bestowed upon Lord Ellenborough's order for
the British army to retire within the line of the
Indus have been thrown away upon a mere
phantasy. No such order was ever issued. No
such order will be issued. On the contrary, the
most diligent, strenuous, and systematicexertions
have been made to restore the British army to an
efficient state for the execution of such operations
as may be necessary for the recovery of the Bri-
tish prisoners now in the hands of the Affghans,
and for obtaining such further satisfaction as na-
tional honour requires us to exact for the savage ex-
cesses practised by our barbarian foe, in the course
of a war into which the Indian Government had
rushed, regardless alike of policy, humanity, and
justice.W hen these objects are achieved, the whole
immediate purpose of the present Indian Govern-
inent,inAffghanistan,willhavebeenaccomplished;
and Lord Ellenborough willhavefulfilledin India
what seems the proper and natural function and
destiny of Conservative statesmen, at home and
abroad, in having redeemed the errors of his
Whig predecessor, and averted or repaired the
national calamities they were calculated to pro-
duce. Wo also assert, with perfect confidence
that we shall be justified by the future course of
events, that the British Government of India will
not make any further attempt to conquer Aff-
glianistan, with a view to the permanent occupa-
tion of that country. It is universally felt, both
in Great Britain and in India, that no military
operations ought to be undertaken
tan, beyond what maybe needful
in
for obtaining
-
is
Affg
the prisoners, and rescuingtbade Beikritterisphrnisaemoeffrtohme
the disgrace which the mad
_
Whig Government has brought upon
ait'groTssillye
invasion of the Affghan territory was
unjustifiable proceeding from the beginning, and
to persevere in it for one moment longer than
we are compelled to do by the necessity
re-
trieving the misfortunes and disgrace it
Conservative Government.
occa-
sioned, would be utterly unworthy of an honest
sof
L s
itey'at.i.) p
TIMES.—Our readers will have
a seenewaitcl-1
much interest in our Saturd
i-Uhilzie by
dtteodf
theirNNith
cheerfulness and constancy to .
t inferior in the ccoaupntat i
n ofC
pa-
tience and courage with w
rtahieg,daeclfeelfteezetceofilio.
ch it has been car-
ut not the
officers and corps
rsiaelde,stifibroreuegbattojetilliaelatioaldal.e
Weffeort. d so o.bf General
etrsuabumdei
the privations
tiehdic;tiwoinliand reward. We would also
lin' hoot bh ea v de
mendi
t er e
odfedt
si
call attention to the very just observations of our
Hyderabad Correspondent upon the services of
General Nott.
It is strange," be says, " that while laudatory
orders have been poured forth upon Sale arid
and not less than either well merited, Ge
of his neral Nott
ish3uotulfdorhhavise comparativeabdemeniratbrleeatmedainwtittnhane
. neglect.
position at
Candahar, and his entire repeated overthrows of the
rebel forces, the rebel* forces would have acquired
strength, and the destruction of that army might have
been achieved by them. During
and badly enough off for winter, without money, the whole of last
sup-
plies, he preserved the discipline and military feeling
of his army, and
as spring advanced no one could
have been more active
than he was in du' pering the
enemy from every position which they bad assumed:'
We should not feel that we had done
without expressingce in
our cordial cO4PlArreP
these sentiments. General *Nat -
has not been
our duty

tffiocumbeieets,
themand instantitnrinutonpoinutehtly.
Ite
hwaitshohuetfahiliesddi
would be hard indeed if the completeness of his
successes were to have the effect of diminishing
the public appreciation of them. He has never
found himself in imminent danger, it is true, but
how far is it owing to his own decision and con-
duct that he has not been so? Enough, however,
of this subject, which is probably already under
the consideration of Government. Our corre-
spondents refer to another matter, which we con-
fess we cannot look upon without the greatest
apprehension. As if we had not enough upon
our hands, it seems that a quarrel -is blowing
up between ourselves and the Sikhs—Our old
allies, and in favour of whom (for the Sikh pos-
session of Peshawar was the real point in dis.
pute) we rejected the alliance of Dost Ma-
homed, and involved ourselves in the present
Singh.
perunhappy struggle. "It is said," we bear,
m.
" that Shere Singh has applied to Lord Ellen-
borough/01tisheilfr, Einishi
tehr,t
commands the Sikh army, which is in his inte-
rest, so dint interference becomes more pro-
bable." If this be not truth it is marvellously
like it ; it precisely tallies with the
natural appre-
hensions which the history
of the Sikh empire
thus far would suggest to any thinking. mind.
Runjeet'Shigh's greatness was based simply-
his efficient and well-disciplined upon
which we gave him every a army—a poser
assistance to pertixt--
formed by European advice, and upon European
The machine s
models. o created was only kept
in order by the piercing and resolute mind of
him who had called it into being; and now, when
the reins of government Lade passed into less
capable hands, that the soldiery should feel their
power arid proceed —or attempt—to cast off the
feeble successor oftheir old leader, or at least to
enforce the substantial dominion of a leader more
agreeable to their own wishes, and, perhaps,
much less inclined to British interests, is so
likely that very little evidence is necessary
to make us apprehend its truth. " I do not
say," says our correspondent, " that the Sikh
Government wishes for war (with England), but
the army does, and has done so for years. The
Sikh soldiery are a vain and insolent body, and,
as they are, desire nothing more than an oppor-
tunity of thrashing the Feringees, which. in
their hearts, they think they can do." This may
very well be true, and if they choose to seek a
quarrel, they must take the consequences, which
probably will be little favourable to themselves.
If interference is in good truth forced upon us
by the insolence, rebellion, or treachery of the
army of our old ally—if we are unable to keep
our faith with his descendant without assisting
him against his refractory subjects—or, again, if
in this critical position of our affairs they for
whose sake we plunged into it break faith with
us, and leave us to weather the consequences of
their ruler's umbition—let the interference be
what it ought to be, and what the formation of
the new army of reserve on the Indus, and the
movement of General England from Can-
dahar in the same direction give every pro-
mise that it shall be—decisive and overpowerwg.
But it should be observed that, up to this time,
at far more trying moments than the present,
when a hostile movement in the Punjaub would
have had consequences on our empire which it is
difficult to. calculate, and which it is somewhat
alarming:even to think of in retrospect, the Sikhs
remained firm and decided in our alliance. Nor,
though we have heard of many vague suspicions
and unauthoritative surmises, is there any pro-
ducible fact to stand against the hearty co-opera-
tion which General Pollock seems hitherto to
have found in that very army whose disaffection
is now asserted. And though it may be true
that, according to the shifting character of
Asiatic politics, new feelings may have arisen,
fresh individuals have been cast up into the pos-
session of substantial power, yet still the preva-
lence of any deep hostility towards ourselves
must be allowed to be rendered pqma facie very
improbable, by its non-appearance at that not
very distant period of difficulty which war so
eminently calculated to call it out. We should
hear, then, with the utmost regret that these
indications had proved delusive,—that a new
enemy had arisen where we most expected, and
had most right to expect, a constant and active
gratitude, and that it was necessary, at the risk
of arousing a most formidable league against Ulb
and of losing no small character for constancy in
our friendships, to turn our arms upon a country
hitherto so steadily attached to our interests. It
need hardly be said we should view with in-
finitely greater dissatisfaction. an event so un-
likely that we will not venture to think it pos-
sible,—any attempt to compensate ourselves for
our failures in Affghanistan by an unprovoked
attack on the tempting territories of tt.e Pun-
jaub. If it were to appear that our Gt. vern-
' ment had taken advantage of any existing
distractions in that country and of the Or-
sence of so large an English force upon its
frontier to' intimidate its rulers into a sur-
render of their independence ;—if, without
invitation from their ally, without aggres-
sion from their ussumed enemies, they allowed
themselves, to be led by mere opportunity into
the wanton spol:at.on of an active and unsus
pectinsg friend ;—if the change of Governors and
of poTicyliandia only amounted to this, that in-
stead of an unjust war with the Affghans, we
were to involve ourselves in an unjust war with
the Sikhs and Affghans united—a war of which
the daring impoliey would quite equal its in-
justice—then, indeed, we should begin to remem-
ber that quos Deus cult perdere prius demented,
and to fear that our disaster at Caubul w:4:3 only
the ominous beginning of those disasters with
which our unprincipled temerity was to over-
whelm us. But the character and professions,
both of Lord Ellenborough and of those to whom
he is responsible for the exercise of his authority,
forbid such a notion. We believe in his pacific
intentions—we believe in his pacific instructions,
and we cannot, and will not doubt that, for every
reason conibined—credit, safety, generosity—he
would shrink from so equivocal a step as a breach
with the Sikhs, unless the preservation of an
honest peace became plainly impracticable. We
trust the honour of the country in his hands.
Yet, if we are to have another war, we shall be
not a little anxious to hear " the rights" of it.
We have had one lesson on this subject, and are
far from wanting another.

In these dull times some of our Contemporaries
appear to have great difficulty in filling up their
numerous columns. In one this morning the Exa-
miner recurs at least thirty-two times in an article on
the everlititing boundary question ; and the Chronicle,
in the same article, is repeated twenty-three times.
A letter has been received at Lloyd's from the
Admiralty, stating that orders had been sent to the
Admirals at Portsmouth and Plymouth to dispatch
all vessels at their disposal, with provisions and water;,
to the chops of the Channel, for the use of the home-
ward bound merchantmen. •
To preient disappointment to officers applying for
employment, we most positively state that the ropos
current in Naval circles, that several ships of the line
are about to be commissioned are totally tuifounded.
No line of battle ship will, under present
000
circum-
stances, be commissioned this side of
di Christmsableas ; in
n
the mean time there are nearly 2,spo
in the several ports ready for any emergency. Great
inconvenience is occasioned to the Admiralty, as well
as to officers and their friends, by the circulation of
groundless reports.—Naral and Military Gazette.
On Saturday evening last an inquest • was held
before Mr. Higgs, at the Crown, Long-acre, on the
body of Charlotte-smith, aged 24. John Booker,
coffee and eating-house keeper,
of No. 118, Long
acre, said that the deceased, his sister-in-law, had,--
whilst assisting him in his business in the caw- it;
of a waitress become acquainted' with a
Yo
name of, John Sheriff, who usedtoung man
of the
break
fast and dive a, the home, In ,a short time
the deceased ho tine much attached to him, and
believing that a marriage would
to either, -accepted his offer, be advantageous
andbanns were pub-
lished. Sheriff hadsince the
taken her
disap-
peared, since which she had purse and
and persuaded of the h°LI
I appeared disconsolate,
last, w went hen witness to .On Saturday
hermorning bed-room, he found
her hanging by the bell-rox, and quite dead. Wit-
nessialuced her to whatever .that the conduct of Sheriff'
destroy hersoi.f. Sheriff was a har-
ness-maker, and
of Mr. Wils was, a short tine ago, in the employ
Oxford-street" ,at the corner of Park-street, in
Verdict—" 'Temporary Insanity,
brought on by the heartless villanv of John Sheriff."
The C
Coroner and
Jury recommended the friends of
deceased to issue a warrant for his: ,apprehension, and
to charge him with the robbery.
However much the proprietors ar the Lancaster
and Preston Railway may benefit by the leasing of
their line to the Lancaster Canal Cone:pany, it does
not appear that the arrangement will comtribute much
to the advantage of the public. We und, srstand that
the cheap boat has been taken oft the canal, and that
the mode of .communication in the district i s now an
unmitigated monopoly.—.Railtray Times.
Crhpc is greatly on the increase in Lineil. ln and
lh the neighbourhood. During the last fortn' e.. se ve-
ma l horses have been stolen, and during lastg
ll'reek
scarcely a night passed.without one being missed. ,
would seem as if the thieves seized upon the periods
of the fairs in various parts of the
country
quickly upon each other, in order to induce follow ii
thelobet lg
belie
that animals stolen were taken to some of these fair:::i.
There are strong reasons for the surmise that there
is a party in Lincoln who steal, and-alter clipping the
tails and manes, and otherwise defacing the prominent
marks of the horses, send them off to another party
for sale..:—Stamforerhf ercusy.