mountain, where they planted their standards and seemed determined to make a stand. "Seldom have soldiers had a more arduous task to perform," observes their commander, "and never was an undertaking of the kind surpassed in execution." These heights were assaulted by two columus, under Captain Wilkinson and Captain Broadfoot, and the Ghilzies, not daring to encounter the attack, betook themselves to flight, carrying away their standards, and leaving our troops in possession of this last and least assailable stronghold.

Akbar Khan was not personally present in this engagement, but a great number of the principal Affghan chiefs were there. This was an auspicious prelude to the important and decisive action which soon followed. But the onward march of the British forces lay through a very difficult country, of which we extract the following account, from a contemporary publication:

"Rugged ascents and descents, ravines, water-courses, and narrow valleys, are rarely diversified by level ground. From Jugdulluk to the end of the Khoord Cabul Pass, a distance of forty-two miles, there is a succession of defiles so difficult that they are said to beggar description. The Puree Duree Pass, which is the bed of the Jugdulluk river, is about three miles and a half in extent, narrow, and winding several times almost at right angles. Its average width is about forty yards, but there are three places where it is less than ten feet, and one only six, so that if an animal fell, the road would be stopped till it could be removed. The almost perpendicular cliffs on both sides appear as if threatening de

struction. A small party of armed men,' says Major Hough, would stop the passage of any force that entered it.' To turn this Pass it is necessary to cross the mountains by a road to the west of the Pass, which is not, however, practicable for guns. The Huft Kothul, or Seven Passes, are so many ranges of hills over which the road runs; one of the ascents is nearly a mile long, and very steep, and of such a form that an enemy might dreadfully annoy a column, by a flanking fire. The Khoord Cabul Pass is formed by two chains of high mountains, between which runs the river, confined within a very narrow channel. The length of the Pass is about six miles; the width not more than from 100 to 200 yards, the road crossing the river twenty-three times."

General Pollock advanced without meeting any opposition through the narrow Pass of Puree Duree to Kutta Jung, distant seven miles and a half from Jugdulluck, and, thence continuing his march, reached the Tezeen valley on the 11th. Here the enemy, under the command of Akbar Khan himself, occupied the Pass in considerable force, and while the British troops halted on the 12th to allow the cattle to recover from the effects of the fatigue of their forced march, they were attacked by the Affghans, who came so close that it was necessary frequently to use the bayonet, and repel them. The enemy made several attempts on the picquets during the night, but without any success. The action which took place next day cannot be better detailed than in General Pollock's own words :

"The valley of Tezeen, where we were encamped, is completely encircled by lofty hills, and on the

morning of the 13th it was perceived that the Affghans had occupied in great force every height not already crowned by our troops. I commenced my march towards the mouth of the Tezeen Pass, where I had left two guns, two squadrons of Her Majesty's 3rd Dragoons, a party of the 1st Light Cavalry, and the 3rd Irregular Cavalry. The enemy's horse appeared in the valley, with the intention of falling upon the baggage; but it gives me very great pleasure to state, that the dragoons and native cavalry (regular and irregular) made a most brilliant charge, and with such effect, that the whole body of the enemy's force was completely routed, and a number of them cut up. The Pass of Tezeen affords great advantages to an enemy occupying the heights; and, on the present occasion, Mahomed Akbar neglected nothing to render its natural difficulties as formidable as numbers could make it. Our troops mounted the heights, and the Affghans, contrary to their general custom, advanced to meet them, and a desperate struggle ensued; indeed, their defence was so obstinate, that the British bayonet, in many instances, alone decided the contest. The light company of Her Majesty's 9th Foot, led by Captain Lushington (who, I regret to say, was wounded in the head), ascending the hills on the left of the Pass, under a heavy cross fire, charged and overthrew their opponents, leaving several horses and their riders, supposed to be chiefs, dead on the hill. The slaughter was considerable, and the fight continued during the greater part of the day, the enemy appearing resolved that we should not ascend the Huft Kothul. One spirit seemed to pervade all, and a de

termination to conquer overcame the obstinate resistance of the enemy, who were at length forced from their numerous and s'rong positions, and our troops mounted the Huft Kothul, giving three cheers when they reached the summit. Here, Lieutenant Cunningham, with a party of sappers, pressed the enemy so hard, that they left, in their precipitation, a 24pounder howitzer and limber, carrying of the draft bullocks. Having heard that another gun had been seen, and concluding that it could not have gone very far, I detached a squadron of dragoons under Captain Tritton, and two horse artillery guns under Major Delafosse, in pursuit; the gun (a 12-pounder howitzer), with bullocks sufficient for the two guns, were soon captured. The dragoons again got among the enemy, and succeeded in cutting up many of them. Captain Broadfoot, with the sappers, advanced, and with the dragoons, happened to fall in with another part of the enemy, of whom upwards of twenty were killed. I have ascertained there were about 16,000 men in the field opposed to me, a considerable portion of whom

was cavalry. Mahomed Akbar Khan, Mahomed Shah Khan, Ameen Oolla, and many other chiefs, with their followers, were present."

This was a great and decisive victory, and Akbar Khan made no further resistance to the triumphant advance of the British troops. They traversed the Khoord Cabul Pass without opposition, and finally, on the 15th of September, encamped on the race ground at Cabul. The next day General Pollock, with a body of troops, accompanied by the Prince Futteh Jung, marched to the Bala Hissar (the

citadel of Cabul), and there planted the British colours, while the military band of the 9th Foot played the national anthem. Several of the English prisoners had already joined the camp, and before the 21st of the month the whole of them, with one exception, Captain Bygrave, who had been carried off by Akbar Khan, were restored to British protection.* The last-mentioned officer, however, reached the camp in safety, on the 27th of September. The Kuzzilbashes, whom we have before mentioned as a Persian tribe, by no means well affected to the interests of Akhbar Khan, co-operated zealously in effecting the recovery of the pri

soners.

By these brilliant successes the stain upon our arms in consequence of the melancholy disasters which befel our forces in Affghanistan, at the close of last year, was wiped away, and the prestige of our name regained its former influence in the East.

It was now wisely resolved by the Indian government that we should wholly evacuate Affghanistan, a country which we ought never to have occupied, where we could not hope to cultivate friendly relations with a wild and hostile population, and from which we could not reap one single advantage to compensate

The prisoners, including the ladies, had a very narrow escape from a hopeless captivity amongst che barbarous tribes beyond the Oxus. They were carried as far as Bameean, by the Affghan chief to whom Akbar Khan entrusted their custody; but this officer was induced to bring them back by a large reward, and they were met not far from Cabul by Sir R.Shakespeare, and a body of cavalry sent to rescue them. Soon after, Sir Robert Sale joined them on their way to Cabul, and thus met his wife, after their long and eventful separation,

for the risk and expenditure incurred in keeping (troops in garrison there. The Governor-general accordingly published the following proclamation, headed,

"Secret Department, Simla, the 1st of October, 1842.

"The government of India directed its army to pass the Indus, in order to expel from Affghanistan a chief believed to be hostile to British interests, and to replace upon his throne a sovereign repre. sented to be friendly to those interests, and popular with his former subjects. The chief believed to be hostile became a prisoner, and the sovereign represented to be popular was replaced upon his throne; but, after events which brought into question his fidelity to the government by which he was restored, he lost, by the hands of an assassin, the throne he had only held amidst insurrections, and his death was preceded and followed by still existing anarchy.

"Disasters unparalleled in their extent, unless by the errors in which they originated, and by the treachery by which they were completed, have in one short campaign been avenged upon every scene of past misfortune; and repeated victories in the field, and the capture of the cities and citadels of Ghuznee and Cabul, have again attached the opinion of invincibility to the

British arms.

"The British army in possession of Affghanistan will now be withdrawn to the Sutlej. The Governor-General will leave it to the Affghans themselves to create a government amidst the anarchy which is the consequence of their crimes. To force a sovereign upon a reluctant people would be as inconsistent with the policy as it

is with the principles of the British Government, tending to place the arms and resources of that people at the disposal of the first invader, and to impose the burthen of supporting a sovereign without the prospect of benefit from his alli

ance.

"The Governor-General will willingly recognise any government approved by the Affghans themselves, which shall appear desirous and capable of maintaining friendly relations with neighbouring states. Content with the limits nature appears to have assigned to its empire, the government of India will devote all its efforts to the establishment and maintenance of general peace, to the protection of the sovereigns and chiefs its allies, and to the prosperity and happiness of its own faithful subjects. The rivers of the Punjaub and the Indus, and the mountainous passes and the barbarous tribes of Affghanistan, will be placed between the British army and an enemy approaching from the west, if indeed such an enemy there can be, and no longer between the army and its supplies. The enormous expenditure required for the support of a large force, in a false military position, at a distance from its own frontier and its resources, will no longer arrest every measure for the improve. ment of the country and of the people. The coinbined army of England and of India, superior in equipment, in discipline, in valour, and in the officers by whom it is commanded, to any force which can be opposed to it in Asia, will stand in unassailable strength upon its own soil, and for ever, under the blessing of Providence, preserve the glorious empire it has won, in security and in honour.

"The Governor-General cannot fear the misconstruction of his motives in thus frankly announcing to surrounding states the pacific and conservative policy of his government. Affghanistan and China have seen at once the forces at his disposal, and the effect with which they can be applied.

"Sincerely attached to peace for the sake of the benefits it confers upon the people, the GovernorGeneral is resolved that peace shall be observed, and will put forth the whole power of the British Government to coerce the state by which it shall be infringed."

Before leaving Cabul, General Pollock despatched General M'Caskill with a body of troops into Kohistan, where the Affghan chiefs were still assembled in considerable force. On the 29th of September, the last-mentioned officer made himself master of "the strong and populous town of Istalif," totally defeating the numerous bodies of Affghan troops collected for its defence under Ameenoollah Khan and other chiefs of Cabul and Kohistan. The town of Istalif was so strongly situated on the slope of a mountain, that it was deemed by the Affghans almost impregnable, and they therefore, on the approach of the British troops, kept their wives and children in the town, the inhabitants of which, including refugees from Cabul, amounted to 15,000. Although the difficult approaches were filled with Juzailchees, who kept up a formidable fire, our troops rapidly carried everything before them in the most gallant style, and in a short time the town was in their possession. General M'Caskill ordered it to be set on fire in several places, and we are sorry to be obliged to add that a work of plunder and

savage slaughter now commenced, in the highest degree disgraceful to the British arms. The accounts state that for two days the place was given up to fire and sword, and all the bitterness of hatred was shown by the soldiery both European and native. Not a man was spared nor a prisoner taken,-they were "hunted down like vermin, and whenever the dead body of an Affghan was found, the Hindoo Sepoys set fire to the clothes, that the curse of a 'burnt father' might attach to his children. Is this the way in which a Christian nation carries on war?”

General Pollock also determined to destroy the Char Chouk (or Char Chuttah), the principal bazaar in Cabul, built in the reign of Arungzebe, by Ali Murdan Kkan, which was in point of architecture by far the most interesting part of the city, and was in fact the grand emporium of this part of Central Asia. It was there that the remains of the unfortunate Sir William Macnaghten were publicly exposed to insult, and it was thought that its destruction might read a lesson to his Affghan murderers of British power which would not lightly be forgotten. The bazaar was accordingly destroyed by gunpowder, before the British troops commenced their march towards the Indus. Indeed the whole city, with the exception of the Bala Hissar, and the quarter of the Kuzzilbashes, was laid in ruins. In the meantime General Pollock had been joined by General Nott from Candahar, whose exploits we relate in a subsequent part of our narrative, and Cabul was evacuated by the two armies on the 12th of October, the advanced column being under the immediate command of General

Pollock, and that in the rear under the command of General Nott. No event of consequence occurred during the march, which was, however, beset by armed hordes, prowling for plunder, and ready to cut off stragglers. In traversing the Khyber Pass, a division under the command of General M'Caskill was attacked in the dark, and, in the confusion which took place, two officers and thirty Sepoys were killed. The fortress of Jellalabad was levelled with the dust, and rendered fit only for an habitation for jackalls." Along the whole line of march every kind of devastation was committed by the troops, who were exasperated by the sight of the unburied skeletons of their unfortunate companions in arms, who fell during the fatal retreat of January this year. One writer says, "Our path is marked by fire and sword; nothing escapes us; friends and foes, at least soi-disant friends, share the same fate. Long will the British name be execrated in Affghanistan."

The leading divisions, under General Pollock, reached Peshawur on the 3rd of November, and, on the 6th of November General Nott, with the rear division, emerged from the Khyber Pass, at Jumrood. On the 1st of October the British troops under the command of Major-General England, at Quetta, evacuated that place, and commenced their march toward India by the Bolan Pass. They accomplished their passage through that tremendous defile, without much difficulty. The Kakurs, who were posted on some of the heights to intercept the march of the troops, were dislodged from their position by flanking parties, who scaled the mountain