The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-05 00:00:00

fartruin AitlL

LONDON, WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1845.

The intelligence received from India for the last six
months leaves no doubt that the hitherto peaceful Go-
vernor-General is about to assume a new character, and
follow the policy of his relative and predecessor, Lord
ELLENBOROUGH. That nobleman had to rim the
gauntlet of the Indian press, and strong attempts were
made by not a few journals in this country to expose
him to ridicule, and hold him up as a firebrand cast
among the quiet and submissive native princes of India.
The conquest of Sinde was denounced as a National dis-
grace, the opening the Indus a contemptible scheme,
and the suppression of feuds and conspiracies in neigh-
bouring states the effects of a morbid craving
for notoriety, and especially military fame. But justice
has at length been done to his character ; and though
with the spirit, it is true, of a man conscious of the rec-
titude of his conduct, he refrained, during the whole of
last session, from justifying his Indian policy in Parlia-
ment, the public voice has gone with him, and even some
of his most violent accusers are compelled to admit that
Sinde was a most valuable acquisition, and that the
Ameers were not the innocent victims so pathetically
described. The question now is—what is to be done
with the Punjaub ? It cannot remain in its present
state, for it is little better than a nest of highway
robbers, called Seikh soldiers, who depose one chief, set
up another for a few months, plunder alternately
friends and foes, and always take care to be
well paid by the new Sovereign, and to ob-
tain an indemnity for all their past misdeeds.
But the miserable inhabitants of that fine district are not
the only sufferers nor the only parties interested. The
people of Sinde, those of the British Indian possessions
adjoining, the East India Company, and, indeed, the
whole United Kingdom, have a deep interest in the
matter. Large bodies of troops mast be kept up on the
frontiers, the peaceable inhabitants of the neighbouring
regions not only live in a state of constant anxiety, but
their trade and commerce are paralysed, and the great
advantages that may be justly anticipated from throwing
open the Indus cannot, under present cirunastances, be
realised. There is a still more important consideration,
one which vitally affects the security of our Indian
empire. While RUNJEET SINGH lived the Pun-
jaub formed a secure barrier against the in-
roads of Affghans and Persians, and other still
more powerful enemies on the west ; he would allow no
trifling in that qaarter, and had a well disciplined army,
ready. to obey his commands and support measures
oflunsive as well as defensive. Since his death all the
institutions have gone to wreck : the different armies
are quarrelling with one another—they only combine in
plundering the helpless population ; and, what with the
disorganisation of the troops and the destruction of the
resources of the country by the interruption of trade from
unceasing turmoils, in a brief period the country would.
be unable to defend itself, and become only a tempting
prey fur AFBAR KHAN, or same other adventurous chief
It has already been overrun and subdued by the Affghans,
and possibly nothing averts a repetition of invasion but
the army with Sir CHARLES NAPIER in Sinde, and the
British forces assembled at Ferozepore. An Indian
paper, that should be well-informed on the disturbed
state of the country, and the evils which it spreads
around, makes these remarks:—" Who can see stores of
great wealth lavished daily in the cause of rapine and
plunder, and not regret that those gifts, which wereplaced
at the disposal of man, to minister to his happiness, should
only tend to produce his misery ? Who, in short, can
behold the garden of nature turned into a slaughter-
house by man, and not lament that barbarism which
leads to so sad a misapplication of the gifts of a kind
PROVIDENCE? But regret for these anomalies should
only make ns exert ourselves to prevent their conti-
nuance. Forced as we are to witness the ill effects of
this savage barbarism, we should bestir ourselves to effect
its removal; and it becomes an imperative duty upon
those who are in power so to regulate their policy to-
wards the
state of Lahore, that they may bring peace
and happiness into a country now remarkable only for
anarchy and confusion. If we are to form new treaties
with the Punjaub Government, it should only be on such
terms as will improve the- condition of the millions who