American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1846-03-21
GREAT BATTLE IN INDIA.

Ftro=eshah.
Our advices from Bombay, since the sailing
ofthe steamship Cambria, come down to Janu-
airy II, and furnish accounts Of one of the great
est battles ever fought by the British in our In
dian Empire, in which we have sustained the
known loss of $500 of our brave soldiers in
GLIDING the gallant Sale, Sir ]. M'kaskill, and
Major Broadfoot. When these accounts left
the scene of action for Bombay, for transmits
sion to England, there were several regiments
from which returns had not been received, SO
that further loss may be calculated upon.
An Extraordinary Gazette gives the official
account of all the military operations in this
great struggle. The result, we are proud TO
say, is as glorious and decisive a victory as ever
crowned the British arms, and equalled only
! by the field of Waterloo. Previous to laying
before our readers copies of the more impor-
tant dispatches, we prefix the following brief
outline: On the 18th, 18th and 18th of De-
cember, the Sikh army crossed the Sutlej,with,
at the lowest estimate, $4,000 men (of whom
10000 or 1000 were cavalry,) and about $50
cannon of the largest calibIe movable in the
! field, and exquisitcly finished-an artillery inn
measnrdbly more powerful than was ever
brought into the field by Wellington or Napo-
leon. 1t is only in morals that the Sikhs are
ranked as barbarous. They are race as Wig
orous in body, as acute in intellect, and as
skiliul in all the arts they cultivate, of which
war is the chief, as the generality of Euro
peans.
! The place at which this formidable host pass
ed the river may be about 40 or so miles from
! Lahore, the capital of the Puniaub, and within
much less distance of Ferozepore, the most
advanced of the British posts. Ferozepore is
about 10 or 20 miles from the point at which
! tho Silxhc tho river if IL ic en- Tnnch
The invaders having established themselves
and organized their force OH the British side of
the Sutlei, made some slight demonstration of
attacking Ferozepore in the interval between
| the 9Th and 18th; but, upon the last named
day, broke up, and taking the direct road to
! Delhie, proceeded in a southerly direction, as
if they would mask Ferozepore, leaving it on
their right. In this direction a division Of 3d.
600 of the invaders had proceeded about %
miles to place called Moodkee, when, on the
evening of the 18th, they were met by part
of the British army commanded by Sir Hugh
Cough and the Governor General, Sir Henry
| Hardinge, who, as second in command, took
the field in person.
A fierce conflict ensued, in which the Sikhs
lost the artillery attached to their division, in
number II guns. 1t was in this stage of the
battle that Sir Robert Sale and General Meas
kill fell. The contest proceeded languidly
through the 18th and 10th, the armies on both
sides being occupied with the burial of their
dead, and the reorganization of their respective
armies. During these two days the British
commander received some reinforcements; but
the invaders having fallen back upon their main
body, probably $4,000 or 10000, presented a
prodigiously augmented force, when the shock
of battle was renewed on the 2lst, at place
called Ferozeshar, about II miles in retreat
from Moodkee At Ferozeshar the invaders
had prepared strongly entrenched camp, which
they stood prepared to defend with 100 pieces
of their field artillery and $4,000 men,
Imagination can scarcely depict the fury and
the obstinacy of the two days. fight that must
have proceeded the capture of the invaders
camp with all its material and artillery, and the
utter dispersion of the invading army on the
22nd of December. The most fortunate esca-
ped to islands in the Suttej, or perhaps to the
Paunjaub bank, but the greater part were scat
tered in broken parties through the British ter
rtories Their loss is variously estimated at
from 1000 to 95, 900, in killed and wounded.
Our loss in killed and wounded, it is to be fear
ed, falls little short of $500, including so Eu-
ropean officers
ENGLAND'S COMMERCIAL POLICY.
The agitation which is now proceeding in
favor of free trade is almost exclusively con-
fined to the walls of Parliament q
The safety of the measure is insured; and
our transatlantic readers, engaged in COM
merce with England, may rest satisfied that
PEEPS commercial policy will become the law
OF the land. There will be wrangling, there
will be delay, but there will not, cannot be
defeat. The events of the last few days show
that the House of Lords will swallow the pill;
with wry faces, it may be, like children ia
king medicine, but they will gulp it down, from
a conviction of its necessity bined, prob
ably, with a conviction equally strong, that
they will be made to do so should they turn
FESTIVE.
Some fears have been expressed that Lord
Stanley would lead the Protectionist forlorn
hope in the House of Peers. He is hayward
imprudent man, with strong nerves, good
deal of snowy talent, and very little Judgment
| But it is understood that even he quails. Cob
den's speech in the House, on the night of the
division, was devoted less to consideration of
the question, on its abstract merits, than to an
investigation of the ptiful, desperate condition
of the obstructives. He clearly showed that
an appeal to the country would only Procrasti-
nate and embtter the fight, without settling it,
All laws which mar the onward progress of the
age are transtory. The peers know this. AS
Golden demonstrated, there is sufficient
amount Of public opinion at present, in favor
of free-tlade, to change, if necessary, the very
succession to the Crown ITSELF
STILL it is doubtful whether the repeal of the
corn laws will be immediate. On Monday
night, Mr.. Viers moved, in committee, for
the immediate repeal of the duties on corn, in
stead of the repeal three years hence, enforcing
his position cleverly by proof that the present
time was the best adapted for the interest
of the agriculturist; that now he could better
compete with his foreign rival, when wheat
was scarce and dear in all parts Of the world,
instead OF three years hence, when it might