be of advantage to the authors." In the night they were taken to Akbar Khân's house in the city, where he received them courteously, and expressed his sorrow for the events of the day. They now learned, for the first time, the fate of the envoy and of Capt. Trevor.

It seems that the plan which had been arranged, was to seize the person of the envoy, and bring him into the city, where the chiefs hoped to be able to make him consent to any terms they would dictate. But he made so strenuous a resistance, that Akbar Khân, despairing of being able to carry him off alive, and excited by his passions, shot him in the body with a pistol, his own gift at the conference; and the Ghâzees then rushed on and hacked him to pieces. His head was cut off, and his body and that of Capt. Trevor, were afterwards exposed in the bazaar of the city.

Such was the fate of Sir William Macnaghten, the original author of the ill-omened expedition to Afghanistan. He was a man of considerable talent, but, as would appear, not of correct political views; full of confidence in himself, and too ready to place confidence in others. His last acts evinced great imprudence; but it is only fair to conclude that his sufferings, from the lamentable incapacity and total want of decision and energy in his military coadjutors, had made him desperate, if they had not actually impaired his mental powers. Had he possessed the requisite authority, it is probable that he would have averted the subsequent calamities; for with him, as we may have observed, had originated every measure of energy.

It may well be supposed, that the fainéans in the cantonment made no effort to avenge his fate. On the contrary, as soon as they had ascertained it, they requested Major Pottinger to act in his place, in carrying on the treaty with the chiefs. These now required, that all the guns but six should be left behind; that all the treasure should be given up; and that married men and their families should take the place of the present hostages. Christmas-day passed gloomily. The day following, letters came from Peshawur announcing the march of reinforcements from India, and Osman Khân offered to escort them all safe to Peshawur for five lacs of rupees. Shortly after arrived some shroffs, or bankers, for the purpose of negotiating bills on India to the amount of fourteen lacs, payable on the promise of the late envoy to the chiefs, if the troops were conducted safely to Jellalabad. Major Pottinger protested strongly against thus binding the government, merely to save their own lives and property, and proposed rather to hold out at Câbul, or to march for Jellalabâd. But the council of war decided unanimously to treat and to pay any thing, rather than to fight. As the chiefs required four married hostages with their families, a circular was sent round to try if that number would volunteer, on being assured of an allowance of 2000 rupees a month; but Lieut. Eyre alone consented to remain. The chiefs, therefore, agreed to waive that part of the treaty; the bills were given, the guns were transferred, and the sick were sent into the city, where they were to remain under the protection of the chiefs.

CHAPTER XV.

The Retreat-Slaughter at Khoord-Câbul Pass-Delivery of the Women and Children-Massacre at the Tungee Tareekee-In the Jugdulluk Defile-Total Destruction of the Army-Defence of Jellalabâd-Of Kandahar-Lord Ellenborough Governor-general-Loss of Ghuznee-Victory at Jellalabâd-Advance of Gen. Pollock-Re-occupation of Câbul-Advance of Gen. Nott-Destruction of Ghuznee-Recovery of the Captives-Evacuation of Afghânistân.

Ar nine o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 6th January, 1842, the British forces issued from their cantonments to undertake a dreary march, over a country covered with snow and through dangerous defiles, for Jellalabâd. They numbered 4500 fighting men, and the camp followers amounted to at least 12,000 men, beside women and children. An Afghân chief, named Jubbar Khân, was to be their escort. It had been the earnest advice of their Afghân friends, that they should, if possible, get through the Khoord Câbul pass on the first day, but perhaps it was not possible; at all events, the general would not make the effort, and they advanced only six miles that day. They bivouacked for the night in the snow, and numbers died of the cold.

The following morning (7th) they marched four miles to Bootkhak; but, instead of entering the pass, they halted there for the night, at the desire of Akbar Khân, who, it seemed, was now to be their escort. This day they sustained many attacks from the Afghâns, and were obliged to spike some of their guns. Akbar Khân required that six more hostages should be given, to ensure their not going beyond Tezeen till Gen. Sale should have evacuated Jellalabâd; and next day (8th) Major Pottinger, and Captains Lawrence and Mackenzie, whom he specified, were sent to him. About midday the mingled mass began to enter that formidable defile, of which the sides were filled with ferocious Ghiljyes. The stream which ran foaming and roaring through it had to be crossed eightand-twenty times. No order could be preserved; soldiers and camp-followers alike pressed on amid the dense shower of balls from the Ghiljye juzails,

and 3000 are stated as the lowest number of those

who perished in the pass. In this fatal passage Lady Sale's son-in-law, Lieut. Sturt, was mortally wounded. That gallant lady herself was also wounded in the arm, as she galloped along with the advance. At length they reached Khoord Câbul, where they bivouacked under a fall of snow which lasted till morning. The troops were most anxious to go on, justly deeming their only chance of escape to be in the rapidity of their advance; but at the desire of Akbar Khân, the general made them halt. About noon, Capt. Skinner arrived with a proposal from that chief, that all the women and children in camp should be placed under his protection, and he promised to escort them safely, keeping them a day's march in the rear of the army. Though little reliance could be placed on Afghân honour, the general was persuaded by Capt. Skinner to trust him, and the married officers with their families, and the other women and children, were committed to the charge of a party of Afghan horse, sent for the purpose. During this

however (Dec. 7), returned in greater numbers. Policy suggested to turn the inhabitants out of the town; but an unfounded idea of their being faithful to the British, and the reflection on the cruelty of turning so many poor people out to perish in the snow, made the idea be dismissed at once. The consequence was, that they dug a hole through the wall (16th), and admitted their countrymen, and the garrison after a night and a day's hard fighting, had to retire into the citadel. The weather now proved extremely severe, the snow often fell to a depth of two feet, firing was exceeding scarce, and provisions very scanty, the sufferings of the men who were natives of India were almost beyond endurance. A kind of truce, therefore, was made with the enemy (Jan. 15), by which the fort was to be surrendered on the arrival of Shems-ud-dîn Khân. This person did not arrive till the middle of February, and Col. Palmer continued to amuse him for some time longer. At last the patience of the Afghans was exhausted, and the garrison marched out (March 6), under the security of a treaty signed and sworn to by all the chiefs that they should be escorted in safety to Peshawar, with their arms, baggage, &c. They were to remain in a part of the town under the citadel till the road to Câbul should be clear. But they soon had a specimen of the usual Afghân faith; the very next day their quarters were attacked, and many of them slain by the Ghazees. This continued till the 10th, during which time Shems-ud-dîn repeatedly sent, offering the officers his protection if they would leave the Sepoys to their fate. This they steadily refused to do; but the men themselves, thinking they had no other chance of escape, resolved to dig a hole through the wall, and try to reach Peshawur, which they fancied not to be more than fifty or sixty miles off through the mountains. They asked their officers to accompany them, and on their refusal made the attempt, but with the success that might have been anticipated. They got bewildered in the fields, and in the morning they were cut to pieces or made prisoners. The officers had mean time surrendered, and on renewed oaths of kind usage, but they were, of course, illtreated and plundered. The treatment, however, varied according to the intelligence that came from Jellalabad or Kandahâr, and the hopes or fears of their guards.

Before Lord Auckland resigned the government, he had been making preparations for the relief of Jellalabad, and immediately after Col. Wylde's repulse, a force of some magnitude was assembled for that purpose at Peshawur, to move under the command of Gen. Pollock; but it was not till April that that officer was able to march for the Khyber Pass. Meanwhile Gen. Sale had succeeded in putting the works of Jellalabâd in a condition to resist any attempt of the Afghâns, when there occurred (Feb. 19) one of those earthquakes which are common in that country, and which levelled in an instant the greater part of the works. The garrison, undismayed, instantly commenced the labour of restoration, and by the end of the month the town was again in a state of defence. Akbar Khân, who was now only seven miles off, could find no solution of this phenomenon but magic. He soon after invested the place, and kept up a strict blockade. Various gallant sallies took place, and at length (April 7) a brilliant attack was made on

his camp. Three columns, two of 500 men each and one of 360 led by Cols. Dennie and Monteith and Capt. Havelock, issued from the town early in the morning. They found the enemy, 6000 in number, drawn out before their camp, their right resting on a fort, their left on the Câbul river; some works were filled with marksmen. Capt. Havelock's column succeeded in piercing the enemies' left; the central one directed its efforts against a square fort in the line which was obstinately defended, and here the gallant Dennie fell mortally wounded. The rear of this fort being gained, orders were given for a general attack on the enemies' camp. The Afghans made every effort, by a sustained fire and by charges of cavalry, to check their advance, but in vain; their line was penetrated on all sides, their guns were captured, and their camp set on fire; and their whole force was soon in full retreat. Nine days after this victory (16th) Gen. Pollock and his forces reached Jellalabâd. By the judicious employment of flanking companies to storm the heights, he had threaded the formidable Khyber Pass without any loss of men or baggage.

Gen. Nott still retained Kandahar. Leading out a part of his troops (March 7) he drove the enemy over the rivers Turnak and Urgundab, and then (9th) put them totally to the rout. During his absence an attempt on the city was defeated with great loss to the assailants. In the end of the month, Brig.-gen. England, who was advancing from Sinde, having reached Quetta in safety, was as he moved on from that town so vigorously opposed by the enemy in the passage of a narrow defile, that he was obliged to fall back to Quetta with a loss of 98 men killed and wounded.

In this month also occurred an event, which, though of no great consequence in itself, tended to relieve the British government from some embarrassment, namely, the death of Shâh Shûjah. As he was riding from the Bala Hissar to his camp at Siah Sung with the eldest son of Nawab Zemân Khân 7, the latter shot him with a doublebarreled gun.

There was now a victorious British force at Jellalabâd, and another at Kandahâr, which could be easily reinforced from Sinde. The Afghâns, it was clear, could not withstand the British troops in the field, and they never could remain long at unity among themselves. The fine weather, moreover, was at hand, and provisions would be more easily procured. It is of absolute necessity in the East to make a display of power, as forbearance is sure to be ascribed to impotence. All, therefore, we should suppose, pointed out the policy of the return of the British to Câbul, and making the Afghâns conscious of their power. But such had not been the policy of Lord Auckland. Overwhelmed, as it would appear, by the turn affairs had taken at Câbul, his only thought had been how to get the remaining troops out of that fatal country; and it was for this sole purpose that the forces of Generals Pollock and England had been assembled. The policy of his successor was not different; in all his letters and orders to Sir Joseph Nicholls, the commander-in-chief, to Generals Pollock and Nott, the theme is the speedy evacuation of Afghâ

7 On the outbreak of November 2, the Afghâns had proclaimed this person Shâh, and struck money in his name.

A. D. 1842.

nistân, provided the prisoners had been recovered. | Against that course these two officers remonstrated in strong terms; and it was at first conceded, that the troops should not commence their march for India till the autumn, and at length, in the month of July, a reluctant consent was given to their advance on Câbul, if they felt themselves strong enough to do it in safety. From all which it appears quite plain, that the restoration of our military glory in the eyes of the people of the East, was due solely to those two distinguished officers, both of whom belonged to the Company's service.

As soon as Gen. Pollock had obtained permission to act on the offensive, he had sent out a force under Brig. Monteith, which destroyed five-andthirty forts in the vicinity of Jelialabâd. On the 23rd August, he marched from that place for Gundamuk. On his arrival there (23rd), he learned that the enemy were in some force at a fort and village two miles off; and next morning he led a part of his troops against them, but they fled after a slight resistance. The troops remained nearly a fortnight at Gundamuk, and then (Sept. 7) resumed their march for Jugduluk, in two divisions, under Sir Robert Sale and Gen. McCaskill. The first division, on coming to a pass on the road, found the heights, which formed a kind of amphitheatre on the right, held by the enemy, who were thus enabled to fire into the column across a deep ravine, and do some injury. Some troops were sent to dislodge them, before whom they retired without fighting, to the summit of a steep lofty mountain. But hither they were followed, though with great labour and difficulty, and they retired as usual. The first division then advanced to Tezeen, where it was joined by the second. A halt was made for a day, to refresh the cattle belonging to the latter; and the enemy ascribing this, of course, to the fear of advancing, commenced attacking the pickets on the left flank, and when repelled there, on the right, but with as little success. Next day (13th), when the army commenced its march, all the hills round the valley of Tezeen were occupied by the enemy, and their horse appeared in the plain. Troops were sent to dislodge them from the heights, and they advanced boldly to meet them; but they could not withstand the bayonet, and their horse were scattered by the charge of the British cavalry. At the fatal Huft Kotul, leading out of the valley, the Afghâns offered a determined resistance, but they were driven from position to position, and the whole British force, emerging from the pass, marched unopposed to Khoord Câbul. The Afghâns are said to have had on this occasion 16,000 men in the field, led by Akbar Khân in person. The British loss was only thirty-two killed and 130 wounded. On the 15th, Gen. Pollock encamped at Câbul; and next day, amid the roar of artillery, the shouts of the troops, and the sound of martial music, he planted the banner of England on the Bala Hissar.

We are now to trace the march of Gen. Nott to the same place. In May, he had been joined by Gen. England, and by the garrison of Khelat-eGhiljye, which he had been ordered to withdraw. While the troops sent for this last purpose, under Col. Wymer, were away, the enemy to the number of 10,000 occupied some hills near Kandahar; but Gen. Nott, with only 1000 infantry, 250 ca

187

valry, and twelve guns, marched out against them, and carried their positions in less than an hour 8. When Gen. Nott got permission to move, his confidence in his troops was such, that he resolved to take only a part to Câbul, the rest retired with Gen. England, by way of Quetta, to Sinde. On the 9th Aug. Gen. Nott commenced his march, with a large stock of ammunition and provisions for forty days. They met with little annoyance till the 28th, when a party sent out to protect some grass-cutters, whom the enemy had fallen on, came in the ardour of pursuit on an Afghân army, by whom they were driven off with considerable loss. As the attack on the grass-cutters had proceeded from an adjacent fort, a party was sent against it. Some persons came out to sue for forbearance, and an officer and some men were directed to enter, and see if their statements were true. But as they approached the fort, they were greeted with a shower of balls, and the troops then rushed in and slaughtered all in the place, which proved to be full of armed men. Shems-ud-dîn, of Ghuznee, being now in the vicinity of the British camp in great force, Gen. Nott led out one-half of his troops against him (30th). After a cannonade on both sides the British advanced to the attack, and the enemy at once broke and fled. The troops at length (Sept. 5th) appeared before Ghuznee, and were preparing to make an assault the next day; but when the morning came it was found that the citadel had been evacuated in the night. As it had been determined to destroy this place, fourteen mines were sprung under the walls of the citadel, and the gateways and principal buildings of the town were fired 9. On his further march to Câbul, Gen. Nott dispersed a force of 12,000 Afghâns, and he reached that city on the 17th, two days after Gen. Pollock.

A few days after the arrival of Gen. Nott, a force was sent under Gen. McCaskill against Istalif, a place about twenty miles north-west of Câbul, strongly situated on the side of a mountain. The Afghâns reposed great confidence in its strength, but it proved unable to resist the British. A great portion of it was destroyed, and the same was the fate of Charikar; and thus terminated the military operations in Afghânistân.

The recovery of the prisoners was now the only matter of importance. After the fatal 9th of January, they had been conveyed to the vicinity of Jellalabâd, where they had been detained in a fort, at a place named Buddeeabad, while Akbar Khân was engaged in his operations against that town. After his defeat, on the 7th April, they were removed, and taken to different places on the way to Câbul. During these removals, Gen. Elphinstone breathed his last, and his body was sent to Jellalabâd for interment. On the 24th May,

8 On this occasion, he said, in a letter to Gen. Pollock, "I would at any time lead 1000 Bengal sepoys against 5000 Afghâns. My beautiful native regiment," he adds, "are in perfect health and spirits."

9 The tomb of the celebrated Sultan Mahmood was at Ghuznee (above, p. 10), and as it was reported that its doors had belonged to the temple of Sômnât (p. 9), Lord Ellenborough directed that they should be brought as a trophy to India. This absurd act has been commented on and ridiculed abundantly. We may just observe, that that temple had ceased to exist for ages, and that a great portion of the British troops in Afghânistân were Mussulmans.

they arrived at a fort in a valley, about three miles from Câbul, and there they remained till the 25th August, when they were obliged to set out for Bamîan, it being Akbar Khân's declared intention-as Gen. Pollock refused to evacuate the country on condition of their being released-to send them to Kooloom, to be distributed as slaves among the Usbeg chiefs. Their conductor, named Saleh Mohammed Khân, was an Afghân, who had been a subahdâr in one of Shâh Shûjah's regiments, but who had deserted to Dost Mohammed in 1840. On the 3rd September, they reached the valley of Bamian, where they remained till the 11th, when a positive order for their immediate departure for Kooloom came from Akbar Khân. All hope of deliverance seemed now at an end, and they were resigning themselves to their fate, when Major Pottinger came to say that Saleh Mohammed had offered to deliver them to the British general, on being assured of 20,000 rupees in cash, and 1000 rupees a month for his life. With this offer they gladly closed, and they all signed their names to the requisite documents.

Still they were by no means out of danger, for Akbar Khan was hourly expected to arrive, on his way to Kooloom, and Saleh Mohammed's troops could not be relied on. On the other hand, the Huzareh tribe, that inhabited the valley of Bamîan where they were, being mostly Sheeahs, were strongly in their favour, and declared their readiness to take up arms on their side against Akbar. Major Pottinger boldly nominated a new governor to the province, in the name of the British government, and made grants to the different chiefs; and the two little forts which they occupied were secured as well as was possible. On the 16th, hearing that Akbar Khân was a fugitive in Kohistan, they ventured to commence their flight. Next day, when resting after the descent of a mountain, they beheld a party of horse, emerging from a pass into the valley. These proved to be a body of 600 Kuzzilbash horsemen, who, accompanied by Sir Richmond Shakespear, had set out from Câbul to deliver them, and had travelled ninety miles in two days. No time was lost in advancing, and on the 20th they met at Argundee Gen. Sale and his brigade, who had been sent to meet and protect them. We need

not say that the meeting was a most joyful one 1. It only remained now to withdraw the troops from Afghânistân, and to renounce all connexion with that country. Dost Mohammed and his family were, accordingly, set at liberty; and on the return of the army, the Governor-general indulged his taste in a grand military pageant at Ferozepore, where was a great display of painted elephants and triumphal arches, with waving banners and the roaring of artillery. The old doors of Mahmood's tomb, also, performed a part in this military pantomime. It had also been intended, in imitation of the Romans, to parade Dost Mohammed and his family in the procession, but the good sense of the Governor-general, or of his friends, saved the English name from this stain 2.

1 Including Ladies Macnaghten and Sale, there were thirteen ladies with nineteen children, eight of whom belonged to the widow of Capt. Trevor. Lady Sale acknowledges that, according to Afghân ideas of elegance and comfort, they had on the whole been well treated by Akbar Khân.

2 As Lord Auckland commenced with adopting the phra

Thus terminated in pageantry a useless and calamitous war, entered into, as we have seen, without necessity and without the requisite degree of information, and conducted in a manner calculated to disgrace the British name, had it not been for the talents of a Sale, a Nott, and a Pollock, who spurned at the idea of quitting a country as fugitives which they had entered as conquerors. The expense also proved by no means inconsiderable; for it is asserted, that this effort to keep off the Russian bugbear cost the Indian government not less than seventeen millions sterling.

CHAPTER XVI.

Transactions in Sinde-Sir C. Napier sent thither-Attack on the Residency - Battle of Meeanee-Reduction of Sinde-Observations on that Transaction-Affairs of Gwalior-Battle of Maharajpoor-Conclusion of Treaty-Sir Henry Hardinge Governor-general-Death of Runjeet Sing-Affairs of the Punjab-Campaign of the SutlejBattle of Moodkee-of Ferozshuhur- of Aliwâl-of Sobraon-Treaties-CONCLUSION.

AFTER the close of the Afghân expedition, the attention of the government was directed to Sinde, a country with which the British had hitherto had few relations.

In 1786, the dominant tribe in Sinde, named Kulbooras, had been displaced by another tribe named Talpoora. Meer Futteh Ally, the chief associated his three brothers in the government of this tribe, fixed his abode at Hyderabâd, and with himself. He assigned two other portions of the country to two of his relations, and hence arose the states named Khyrpoor and Meerpoor, of rulers prevailed as at Hyderabad. These rulers in the former of which the system of a plurality title, as we have seen, was the usual oriental one of Sinde are usually named the Ameers. Their of superior might, and was therefore as good as

those of most rulers in India.

The transactions of the British with the Ameers, were of little moment till 1832, when the English merchants having begun to fancy that a great and lucrative trade might be opened with the nations of Central Asia by means of the Indus, a treaty was, as we have seen, concluded with the Ameers for opening the navigation of that river to the British under certain conditions, two of which were, that they should convey no military stores through the country, and put no armed vessel on the Indus. Some years later (1836), Sinde being menaced by Runjeet Sing, the British government appeared as mediators; and by a treaty concluded with the Ameers (1838) they agreed to the residence of a British minister with an escort in their country.

concluded, and as Sinde had formerly paid tribute About two months after the tripartite treaty was to Câbul, Shâh Shûjah agreed to give up all claim to this tribute, which he had never received, for such a sum as would be determined by the British government. To this arrangement the Ameers,

seology of the French republic, so Lord Ellenborough continued it. His imitation of Buonaparte's bulletin is but too well known for his fame.