The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-05-29 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL

ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAUB TO TIIE
BRITISH DOMINIONS.

By an extraordinary express, in anticipation of the
overland mail, intelligence has been received from Lahore,
the north-west provinces, and Calcutta to the 9th, Madras
to the 10th, and Bombay to the 17th ult. The event of
the fortnight is the formal annexation of the Punjaub to
our empire. The Maharajah is to receive a pension of
50,000 dollars a year; the chiefs who have been faithful
are to retain their estates ; the property of those who
have appeared in arms against us is to be forfeited. There
is no other news of any moment. Everything through.
out India remains at present in a state of the most pro-
found tranquillity. The political news from China, of
the 29th March, is unimportant. The murder of Captain
A. F. H. Da Costa of the Royal Engineers, and Lieut. J.
Dwyer of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, in the vicinity of
the village of " Wong-ma-kock" district, about 10 miles
from Victoria. is unhappily confirmed. The body only
of Captain Da Costa had been found.

At the date of the last advices, General Sir.W. Gilbert
had reached Attock, and was in hot pursuit of the flying
Affghans. He crossed the Indus on the 19th and 20th,
and pushed on by forced marches for Peshawur, where
he arrived on the 21st and 22nd. The Affghans, flying
in terror of their lives, without baggage or impediment,
had proved too fleet for him : the y had ascended the
passes, and got beyond his reach, before he could approach
within twenty miles of them. The gates of Peshawur had
been shut against them, but they burnt the cantonments
and house of the resident, and destroyed the suburbs and
villages around. The war was now entirely over, and so
soon as the intimation of the complete success of General
Gilbert reached the Governor-General a proclamation
was issued, intimating that the Sikh sovereignty had
ceased, and that the Punjaub was annexed to our domi-
nions. The chief secretary, Mr. Elliott, proceeded
straight to Lahore on the 26th, accompanied by a strong
escort of troops. He arrived on the 28th, and next morn-
ing read before the assembled durbar the determination
of the Governor-General. The Prince, no longer Sove.
reign, is to receive an allowance of £40,000, and to reside
within the British dominions. His mother will be per-
mitted to join him. Poonah, it is said, will be the place
of their abode. The few chiefs not convicted of treason
are to retain their estates ; the property of those who
have appeared in arms against us is all confiscated. The
Sikh soldiers are not to be entertained in our service.
The government is to be managed by a council of three—
Mr. J. Lawrence, Mr. Mansell, and Colonel Sir H.
Lawrence, of which the last is president, with a salary of
£B,OOO a-year ; the others have each £4,800. Four
commissioners, with a large array of deputy commission-
ers, act under these. Our new dominions comprise
100,000 square miles of ground, yielding a revenue of
about a million, and containing a population of about
three millions. For some time to come it will in all like-
lihood prove a heavy drain on our finances, its revenue
falling short of its military expenditure—the charges of
government devolving on India. Thirty-three thousand
troops have been ordered to stand fast for the present
within the country— thirty-eight thousand more are
maintained close at hand. We were, however, left but
little choice—annexation latterly was almost forced upon
us. The people of Umritsur and Govindghur are said to
have received the news of the annexation with rejoicings ;
those at Lahore are said to be sulky and discontented—
the extinction of the court is naturally distasteful at the
capital. On the whole, the change of sovereignty will,
we believe, be acceptable to all but the Shill military
chiefs.

LABUAN.-Our advices from Labuan are of the 30th of
March. The colony was perfectly healthy, but no new
settled had arrived, nor was there as yet much additional
traffic with the natives. Hitherto, road-making and
ditching had been the chief occupations. The cargo of
coal lately shipped to Singapore had been sold at the
highest market rate, although the stock of English coal at
that port was at the time heavy. From Sarawak ac-
counts had been received of rather large quantities of gold
having been lately found in the interior. Since the de-
parture of the Meander for Hong Kong, the Sakarran and
Serebas Dyaks had renewed their piratical cruises with
the greatest audacity, and it is believed they had killed
not less than 400 people during the last two months. At
the time of the withdrawal of the Meander, they were
preparing their fleet of prahus, and might then have been
put down with comparative ease, while now that they
have gained strength and confidence, the task will be a
troublesome one. Sir James Brooke, however, intends
attacking them in June.