INDIA. {From the Sydney Herald, June 18 )

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 326, 10 July 1849, Page 3

INDIA. {From the Sydney Herald, June 18 )

Wn have some later news from the seat of war in India, which has reached Sydney via Singapore, Adelaide, and Hobart Town. We have no papers of our own ; and we give the only Indian extracts onfined in the Hobart Town Adoeiliser, horn which it will be seen that we have gained a peifect victory over the Sikhs, and this time with very little loss, The article from The. Friend 0/ India ex^Uvus the yo ition in which Shere Singh was placed, or rather we should suy hid placed himself; and beyond the fact of his having been attacked and beaten, wo have no information.

PROGRESS OF EVENTS IN THE PUNJA.UB. {Ftom the Friend of India, March 1) The ilu'i monotony of our proceedings in the Punj ub has b^en broken by the mogt unexpected niul st.i:t!ing event. Shere Singh has ugiin outmanoeuvred our G -neral. The reader is of course aware that after the victory of Chillinwalla, which enabled the enemy to take u\i a stronger position than lie had previou ly occupiul, the Commander in- Chief entrenched his own camp, and determined to wait for the reinforcements which General Which was bring n< np. It is rat'ier a novel sight for a British a> my to th ow up entrenchments in the face of an enemy, who was said to be enlucy overwhtlmed with a sense of UU " utter discomfi'ure ;" but such baa actual y been tbs case, and cur entre chtueuts are pronounced impregnable. On the llth of February, Sheic S ngh drew up his army as if he designed to attack us.fand e^e yjpnparatiou was made to meet him. But this movement, hid no object but to conceal his retirement fiom us, in which he Completely succeeded. O.i the morning of the 12lh the enemy's tents had totally dUappea.ed from the heights on which th-:y lud I ecn planted for a month, and General Gilbert Boon afie rode Uj> to their encampment, and found it vacant, Tne Commanderin Chief also repaired to the spot and evamined their poiition, which appears to h ive been strong by natur ■, and rendered still stronger by that knowledge of thescience of encampments in which th 3 Sikhs are so preeminent. The cap'nre of their po-a'ton, it is remarked, could not have been achitved except at a fearful sacrifice of life. But the question immediately arose, where were t!>e Siklra ? So admirably organised was our in'elligence department, that a body of eix-y thousand nun with n r ty guns had been able to n ove away without our obtaining the slightest intimation of their departure. Nor wis this singular ignorance of the movements of the enemy to be ascnbid to any deficiency in our establishment 1). There were at the time two di tinct Quarter-Mas cis establishments in our camp. There was the Quirtcr Ma ter-Goneral oJ the Company's Toops, and me Quarter-Master-Gene-ral of the Quten's tro ps. The latter liaiahcidy been deemed a 6ir.eeure; on the present occasion neither o f them seem to have been of much value. But still the question, where are the enemy gone to ? and the geneial opinion seemed to be that they had retreated across the Jhelum. Soon after, however, it was discovered that they had imperceptibly turned the flank of our army, and, having got into its rear, had proceeded to Goojerat, in the n< ighbourhood oi Chenab, with the intention of niirching direct on the capital, leaving our own troops behind in their own impregnable intienchments. Meanwhile General Whish, who had been moving up by forced marches fiom Muoltan along the le rtbank of the Chenab, had reached Ramnuggar, the scene of that useless conflict, in which the livei of the lamented Cureton and Havelock were laerificed ; and well was it for vi that the General had used guch expedition in his movements. He was tbul enabled to plant him' self in the high road to Lahore, and prevent the rapid march of the insurgent army on the city, in which they would have found themrelves joined by a disaffected population, and oppoied only by a weak force. He is now enabled to hold them in check on the left bank of the Chenab, while the Comn-andei •in-Chief, having at length discovered the line of their march, by the ar rival of some of our own troops whom they had driven in, moves down with the graml Hrmy upon them. This movement may turn out to l)e the most fortunate which the enemy could have made for uj. His former position could not have been carr.ed without feaiful slaughter in our ranks. Those who have examined his euttenchmeuts pronounce them sponger than any we have yet been requited to attack. Sheru Singh has now plated himselr in the centre of our forces., and it is difficult to account tor this uppirently falt,e movement, unless it is to be explained by the cUmour of bis ttoop« for pay, and the necessity which was thus imposed on him ot quieting their irn|O tv-

nity, by promising to mm eh them i-u the c<tpitfll. Thia he might probably have effected, il ho had not dtL^a'd the movement till the Alaoltau foiee had cotno up, and was prepared to intercept him. His plans have b. en baffled, and ha will no* be obliged to fi o ht us under very disadvantageous circumstances. The news of his having ao successfully eluded Lord Gough, and hh being; in full march towards Lahore, caused no small consternation in that town. The ladies, women, and children, weie rapidly removed from the enenmprnent at Amwkullee to the citadel. And here we cannot but pi use for a moment to reflect on the ineffable folly of a^ain allowing women and children to remain within the ciiole of hostilities. There appmra to be an absolute infatuation in our proceedings in this respect, of which i}ot even the most fearful calamities can cure us. With the catastrophe of Cubul yet fresh in our recollections, ladies were allowed to accompany the army to Ghul or, and one of the first shots of the enemy is said to have touched the car of the elephant on which a Udy was seated. While daily reminded of the unfortunate position of Mr*. Lawrence, the lady of Major Lawrence, now a prisoner with her children in the hands of the enemy, the w men and children have been allowed to remain at Lahore, though every Udy and every child should have been peremptorily sent across the Sutledge the moment the standard of war wm raised in the Punjaub. But they were allowed to remain as though L>hore was as secure as Calcutta, and they might h tve bean exposed to all the horrors and inconveniences of a wegej but this is a digression, snd unfortunately, a perfectly useless one, for it is to be feared that even ex perienca cannot teach us wisdom. The fortifications of Lahore were put in order to meet the enemy, and there can be no doubt that if the garrison h id actually been besieged they would have held out till a sistance arrived. But, we blush as we record the fact, that in* the tenth mouth of hostilities, with the largest army in the field which have ever been collected in India, under the oideis of one commander, accompanied bymoie guns than *' the Duke" had with him at Waterloo, we are obliged to provide for iho defence-, of the capital of the Punjaub. There can, however, be little doubt that the army of Sherc Singh, Iming no longer any advantage from its position, will be definitely disposed of as our troops come up wUh it. But after this has bten accomplished, we have Bt til a long march befo/e uj through a d fficult country, to Pesbawur, and there appeals at present little hope that the war will be brought to a close dm ing the present season. The maintenance of an army of bctwean forty and fifty thousand men in a field through two campaigns, will inflict a blow on the finances of the Company, from which it ia nut likely to recover for many years, and during this dreary period all internal improvements must be folded up. These improvement*, as Lord Weili sley remarked, " will necessarily occasion expense, but it is an expense which the Coiupa y must incur, or forfeit eviry title to the character of a wise and munificent sovereign.*' But even the necessity of maintaining that character musi bend to the financial difficulties of our piescnt position. The Court of Directors were natu ally anxious to meet Parliament, on the rx.iiiat'on of their charter, with a flittering picture of their finances : and tlut it is not improbable that they have indulged a hope dv* ring the past year of charing oft" a portion of their loam, and thereby Cbtablishi ig a cl.iim to public confidence. But all these bright and " fa<r} |f visions have been rudely dispelled by the untoward progress of even s, and there is no pro-p-ct at present but of an addition of several millions to the debt.