routs Akbur head of a considerable force; but he was unable to make any impression on the town, though his troops prevented the usual foraging parties from bringing in fodder and provisions. On April 7, the garrison sallied in three columns, attacked The garrison Akbur Khan's camp, and totally routed the whole of attacks and his force, capturing their guns, baggage, and ammuni- Khan. tion, and burning their tents; but the gallant Colonel Dennie was unhappily killed in an assault on one of the little forts in the plain, which need not have been noticed. No more was seen of Akbur Khan or his army; the country around Jellalabad submitted, and supplies of provisions of all kinds became almost superabundant. Such was the condition of the illustrious garrison' on the arrival of General Pollock, after a trying but gallant defence of five months. At Kandahar, General Nott had received a summons like that to Jellalabad, to evacuate the place; but he never en- General Nott tertained a doubt as to his true course of action. He at Kandahar. called in his detachments, concentrated his forces, and bid defiance to the enemy. On March 10, when he had sallied out against a body of insurgents, a treacherous attempt was made at night by a body of fanatics, incited by a chief believed to be in the English interest, to carry the town; but it was happily defeated with a loss of 600 men to the assailants. As had been done for the relief of Jellalabad, a force under General England had been sent up the Bolán pass, from Sinde, to reinforce Kandahar; but on March 28, the general was slightly General checked át a village named Hykulzye, and though no England at more than ninety-eight men had been killed and wounded, retreated, in face of the indignant protestation of the officers of his force, to Quettah, whence he wrote to General Nott, that whenever he retired from Kandahar, 'assistance would be rendered to him.' General England was, however, peremptorily ordered to advance, and did so; when the defences at Hykulzye were found to be as contemptible as they had previously been supposed by every officer, except the general. Hykulzye. general. There were now two opposing forces lying between the boundaries of Afghanistan; but a strange indecision as to Indecision of further operations possessed Lord Ellenborough. He the governorhad left Calcutta after issuing a notification in regard to the abandonment of the policy of the tripartite treaty, and evacuation of Afghanistan; but, as he wrote, not before the establishment of our military reputation, by the infliction of some signal and decisive blows upon the Afghans, which may make it appear to them, to our own subjects, and to our allies, that we have the power of inflicting punishment upon those who commit atrocities 6 and violate their faith,' &c. Nevertheless, on April 19, he announced to the commander-in-chief, Sir Jasper Nicolls, his determination that the forces of Generals Pollock and Nott should evacuate Afghanistan, and return to India direct. No mention was made of the rescue of the captive officers, ladies, and children, and they were apparently to be left to their fate. Public India. This change of sentiment produced a very strong manifestation of indignant feeling throughout India. So cowardly feeling in and dishonourable a proceeding, after the previous official declaration, would have been witnessed with contempt by every native court in India, and happily it was averted. General Pollock opposed it in a dispatch of May 13, to the commander-in-chief, and he was directed to remain, until October, at Jellalabad. General Nott and Major Rawlinson at Kandahar, feeling their recovered strength, had become confident in their position; and the garrison of Khelát-i-Ghilzye had repulsed a desperate attack on the fort with heavy loss to the assailants, There was no possibility of refusing to obey the order of the governor-general; but the time of withdrawal had been left to the general and Major Rawlinson, and allowed a wide margin for contingencies. Yet the uncertainty prevailed till July, when Lord Ellenborough wrote to General Nott, suggesting the possibility of his return by way of Ghuzny and Kabool, but he at the same time pointed out the great risk which would attend this course, and left the decision to the general himself, who was thus obliged to incur the responsibility of failure should it occur. At the same time, and under similar terms, General Pollock was left at liberty to advance on Kabool to meet General Nott. On the part of neither of these brave men-brave morally as well as physically-was there the least hesitation. General Nott, after once more defeating the insurgents, left Kandahar on August 7, and General Pollock marched on the 20th of the same month, with a noble force of 8,000 men, both armies directing their course upon Kabool. Murder of The unhappy object of all the waste of blood and treasure, Shah Soojah, existed no longer. From the departure of the Shah Soojah. British forces, he had remained in the Bala Hissar, nominally acknowledged as king, though the real power of the State remained with Akbur Khan and his confederates. On April 5, the king was induced to leave the citadel to receive the homage of the army to be employed against Jellalabad, and was shot by the way. His son, Futteh Jung, recovered his body, and was himself proclaimed king: but parties ran high in the city, Akbur Khan there was perpetual fighting in the streets, and on becomes Akbur Khan's arrival from Jellalabad, an action was supreme. Dispatches to Pollock and Nott. Their determination. fought in the field, which resulted in his victory over the factious chiefs, and the restoration of nominal tranquillity. Difficulty the captives. Throughout India and Europe, the movements of the English forces upon Kabool were watched with intense interest. Kabool might indeed be reached, but would the cap- of recovering tives be rescued? Akbur Khan had already threatened to remove them to Khooloom, and distribute them among the Oozbeks if Jellalabad were not evacuated, and Pollock's force did not return to India. On an advance on Kabool, therefore, it was apprehended that this threat would be put into execution; but no consideration of private interest delayed the march. The captives had, on the whole, been well treated; and Lady Sale's journal describes the life they led, at Tézeen, at Buddeabád, again at Tézeen, and a fort near Kabool. General Elphinstone indeed died in April, but his remains were sent to General Jellalabad, by order of Akbur Khan, and interred with military honours. Death of Elphinstone. General advance. General Pollock's operations were skilfully directed, and eminently successful. After destroying all the small forts around Jellalabad, he reached Gundamuk on August Pollock's 23, where he halted for several days; but on September 7 Jugdulluk was gained, and on the 13th he met Akbur Khan at Tézeen at the head of an army of 16,000 men, which had taken up a formidable position commanding the before fatal Huft Kotul pass. Here the skeletons of the victims of the retreat strewed the ground; and the British troops, native as well as European, were excited to the last degree. The Victory of splendid Afghan horsemen fled before the charges of Tezeen. dragoons and native cavalry; the British infantry, European and native, crowned the heights with ringing cheers, and the enemy, hardly awaiting their approach, fled in the utmost disorder. The British loss was only 32 killed and 130 wounded. On the 14th the army was at Khoord Kabool, and on the 15th it encamped at Kabool itself, where the flag of England was hoisted on Kabool rethe Bala Hissar on the 16th, and saluted by salvos of occupied. artillery and the cheers of the army. Nott. On the side of Kandahar, General Nott had been equally fortunate. He had marched, after being joined by the Proceedings garrison of Khelát-i-Ghilzye: and such had been the dis- of General cipline he had preserved, that the people of Kandahar lamented the departure of the English troops with tears, embracing them as friends, and bidding them God speed. General England had been dispatched by way of Quettah to Sinde with the heavy General Nott's picked force, lightly though perfectly equipped, was capable of any fatigue or exertion, and all were in stores. UU the highest health and spirits. No resistance was encountered till the force reached Ghuzny; where, on August 30, the governor, Shumsh-ood-deen, attempted to dispute the advance, but was easily defeated. The fortificaThe gates of tions of Ghuzny were blown up, and the so-called gates Somnath. of Somnath, in regard to the possession of which Lord Ellenborough had written special instructions, were brought away. Up to within twenty miles of Kabool, General Nott experienced no further opposition. On September 14, he found about 12,000 Afghans drawn up to dispute the road; but they were forthwith attacked, and, as he simply wrote, our troops beat them and dislodged them in gallant style.' On the 17th, two days Nott's force after General Pollock's arrival, the Kandahar brigade " General reaches Kabool. The fortifications of Ghuzny blown up. marched into Kabool. : rescues To effect the release of the captives was now almost the only remaining object. On August 25, they had been sent The captives. off to Bamián, and would have been removed beyond the Hindoo Koosh mountains; but the commander of their escort, Saleh Mahomed, had been offered, through Mohun Lall, 20,000 rupees, and a pension of 12,000 rupees a year, which, under General Pollock's success, was irresistible; and, confiding the offer to Major Pottinger, and Captains Lawrence and Johnstone, they confirmed it. Pottinger, however, found that the people of the country were friendly and nominating one of the local chiefs to the office of governor, he was soon at the head of a considerable number of partisans. Before, however, any trial of their fidelity Sir Richmond occurred, 600 Persian horsemen, led by Sir Richmond Shakespeare Shakespeare, had followed up the captives, and marchcaptives. ing ninety miles in two days, arrived on September 17, and they were safe. Two days afterwards they joined the column which had been dispatched under Sir Robert Sale, and finally thirteen ladies and nineteen children arrived at Kabool, to receive the welcome of the whole army, after a captivity of eight months. The successful operations against Istaliff on September 28 and 29, and against Charikar, conducted by General McCaskill, were the last military operations in Afghanistan; and after destroying the noble bazaar at Kabool, on the ground that Sir William Macnaghten's mangled remains had been exposed in it (a needless act of comparative barbarism), army leaves the whole British army left Kabool on October 12, on its return to India, traversing the once fatal passes, and the Punjab, without incident. It was accompanied by the family of Shah Soojah, who, having now no hope in their own country, returned to the protection of the British Government. The British Kabool. The last military operations. CHAPTER II. THE ADMINISTRATION OF LORD ELLENBOROUGH (continued)— THE CONQUEST OF SINDE, 1843. poor. LORD ELLENBOROUGH had prepared a noble welcome for the armies of Afghanistan. He formed a camp at Ferozepoor, as The welcome well for the pomp of reception, as to be ready to check at Ferozethe Sikhs should any hostile demonstrations occur in regard to the movements of Pollock and Nott. So far the arrangement at Ferozepoor was entitled to credit; but those who were received in theatrical pomp were ashamed of it, and the terms of the notification of October 1, 1842, if substantially true, need not have recapitulated errors which were admitted on all hands. More wilful, and more curiously absurd, was the pro- The gates of clamation in regard to the gates of the temple of Som- Somnath. náth, or what were at first supposed to be them. 'My brethren and friends,' wrote the governor-general to the native rulers and people of India, 'our victorious army bears the gates of Somnáth in triumph from Afghanistan, and the despoiled tomb of Mahmood looks on the ruins of Ghuzny. The insult of 800 years is avenged.' The remainder of the bombast need not be repeated. A translation had to be read at every native court in India, and Residents and political agents blushed while they read it; and while, to every Mahomedan, many descendants of the old Afghan warriors who had conquered India, it was a direct insult, by the Hindoos it was received with incredulity and scorn. For, after all, were the gates those of Somnáth? As the governor-general proceeded to Agra, the gates received worship by some of the Brahmins of Muttra; but on their arrival at Agra, they were wisely deposited in the magazine, whence they have never since emerged. Dost MaHappily, the indignity of causing Dost Mahomed to be homed present at the Ferozepoor pageant was not inflicted; position. he was dismissed kindly by the governor-general, and to his death declared that the honour and consideration with which he had been treated in India could not have been exceeded; yet 15,000,000l. and 20,000 lives had been sacrificed in removing him from a power to which he was now free to return. returns to his During the operations in Afghanistan, the Ameers of Sinde had continued to observe, submissively and faithfully, the The Ameers treaties which had been imposed on them. Troops and of Sinde. military stores passed up and down the Indus without molestation, |