Sir,-In obedience to the orders of his Excellency the Commanderin-Chief, conveyed in your letter to my address, No. 816, dated 29th March, 1843, I have the honour to report as follows, upon the several particulars therein specified :

1. At what hour the action at Istaliff began, and when it terminated?

The attack commenced between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, and the firing totally ceased in about two hours from that time. The place was completely in our possession by ten o'clock.

2. Whether I gave up the town to plunder for a fixed number of hours, or suffered the troops to wreak vengeance upon it in their own way, and as long as they chose?

My instructions from MajorGeneral Pollock being to destroy the town by fire, I did not deem it necessary to restrain the troops employed in its capture from seizing such property as they might find in it. The 2nd brigade was principally concerned in the action, and was not withdrawn to camp

till about half-past four o'clock in the afternoon, when it retired, having been relieved by Brigadier Stacey's brigade. During a part of their stay in the place, all the soldiers, sepoys, and camp followers took possession of whatever they found in the houses; but with regard to Her Majesty's 9th Regiment, I am enabled to state that, for three hours previous to retiring, Lieut.Col. Taylor assembled the regiment in a garden, and restrained the plunder as much as possible. The articles chiefly taken by the men of that corps were quilts, nearly all of them having lost their bedding during the advance to Cabul. the following morning, with a view to the restoration of order and discipline, I took measures for putting a stop to the pillage, by sending Brigadier Tulloch with the 2nd brigade to relieve Brigadier Stacey's troops. Brigadier Tul loch's orders were to patrol the place, and expel from it all soldiers not on duty, and all camp followers. The provost serjeant, with a detachment of irregular cavalry, was posted in the town throughout the day, to aid in carrying these orders into effect.

On

3. To what extent was the town burned, and by whose orders?—

About one-third of the town was destroyed by fire, in obedience to the orders of Major-General Pollock; a copy of which is annexed. My instructions were to burn the whole; but not more than the portion above stated was accomplished, the chief attention of the engineers and other officers employed having been directed to the destruction of the better sort of buildings.

4. Treatment of the women? A single instance only of the maltreatment of a woman has come to my knowledge. When the troops were finally withdrawn from the place, an officer discovered accidently that such an act had been perpetrated, but it was not possible to trace the culprit. The conduct of the soldiers and sepoys towards the women was almost universally good.

When the troops first attained the highest point of the town, vast numbers of women and children were making their way up the mountain; several men were in terspersed among them, and fired upon our soldiers, who abstained from returning the shots, lest they should injure the women. At the same time a considerable number of women and children were so far in the rear that our foremost troops, European and Native, were mingled with them, but suffered them to proceed entirely unmolested.

About fifty women (some of them apparently of great respectability) were captured in the town. These were assembled, by order of Brigadier Tulloch, and conveyed under an escort, commanded by an officer (Lieutenant Vigars, of the 9th), in safety to our camp, where

they remained during the night, close to the tent of the chief, Jan Fishan Khan, contiguous to my own; and were sent next morning to one of his forts.

When the second brigade reoccupied the town on the day succeeding the storm, Brigadier Tulloch directed that all prisoners belonging to the place who might be found should be brought to the spot where he had established bis head-quarters; and during the whole day the sepoys of the 26th Native Infantry were conducting to this place with care and kindness, aged and infirm men and women, and young children, till a large number were collected.

They were provided with food and warm covering, and were left in safety at that spot. When the troops withdrew next morning, they appeared grateful for the protection afforded them.

5. Whether there were any cases in which Affghans were killed in cold blood, after resistance had ceased; if so, by whose order?—

I am firmly persuaded that no such case occurred. Our more advanced troops, in rushing through the streets, were fired upon from some of the houses; they returned the fire, and in this way an irregular discharge of musketry was kept up, by which two or three old men, one woman, and perhaps two or three children, were killed; but this only occurred at the on

set.

The troops on their way through the town found, in two or three places, small parties of the male inhabitants, who begged for quarter. They were in every case protected, and brought along, to ensure their safety till opportunity offered of letting them go uninjured.

Scarcely any coercion was ne

cessary to prevent the practice of cruelties. No disposition to it, but the reverse, was evinced by the troops, after the first excitement of the attack had subsided. While that continued, it is probable that ten or twelve unarmed Affghans may have fallen a sacrifice.

The second brigade, on withdrawing from Istaliff, formed the rear guard of the force. When calling in the picquets, a large party of Affghans suddenly appeared on the hill just quitted by the furthest picquet. The Brigadier, supposing they intended an attack, ordered one of the mountain-train guns, which he had placed in position, to be fired upon them. The shot did not take effect, and it was immediately afterwards perceived that these were unarmed men, apparently having no purpose but that of picking up the posteens and quilts left by the troops upon the camp ground. The Brigadier ordered that they should not be molested, and they were unhurt, although within a few yards of our troops.

6. Capture and destruction of Charekar?

On arrival at Charekar, the place was found to have been abandoned

by the inhabitants, and all property withdrawn.

Pursuant to my instructions, I destroyed the greater part of the town by fire; and the service on which the troops had been employed, being of a nature to excite in them a disposition to plunder and violence, I issued the annexed orders, dated Charekar, 3rd October, 1842.

Its effect was such as I desired, by repressing disorder and restoring the proper discipline of the force.

I have also annexed a copy of an order issued by me, with similar views, previous to our arrival at Istaliff.

Besides the written instructions from Major-General Pollock, of which I annex a copy, I received the Major-General's verbal orders to the same effect, dwelling particularly on the destruction of Charekar, which had been the scene of treacherous barbarity towards our officers and troops.

I have, &c.
(Signed) JOHN M'CASKILL,
Major-General,

Late in the Command of the
Force in Kohistan.

1842.

Sir, The chief object of sending out a body of troops under your command is, if practicable, to secure the person of Mahomed Akbar.

The force is not to proceed be yond Charrekar: such forts and

villages in the vicinity of Charrekar, or on the road thereto, as may be occupied by the enemy, should be destroyed by fire.

The troops are not to be absent from head-quarters more than twelve days.