The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-06 00:00:00

THE LATE CAPTAIN SKINNER.

BENGAL.—In our obituary to-day, we record, on
sure information, the death of Captain Skinner, late
of the 61st Regiment N. 1., and of the Commigsariat
(and very latterly the political) department in Aff-
ghanistan. He was highly regarded in his regiment.
His gentlemanly manners and feelings, and his
thorough kindness of heart, won for him the warm
esteem of all his brother officers, and they have the
satisfaction now of knowing that, much as his loss
is to be lamented, he had earned for himself a
name which must cause his memory to be lire-
served with honour, and reflect credit on the corps
of which he had been so many years a member,
and in which his professional character may be
said to have been formed. In the trying scenes
of the memorable and awful retreat from Caubul
to Jugdulluk, his noble conduct had gained not
only the admiration of his friends merely, but the re-
spect of his enemies; and we are assured, upon un-
questionable authority, that even Akbar Khan
grieved when he heard'of Skinner's death, and thus
showed himself not wholly destitute of the feelings of
humanity ; and we also know it to be a fact that he
had search made for the body, was successful in find-
ing it—unmutilated too—and had it decently interred
—a solitary instance of real respect for a fallen enemy,
by that man, which was extorted from him by his
involuntary admiration of the courage, integrity, and
wisdom of Capt. Skinner, of which the Khan still
speaks whenever the name is mentioned. We have
now details, from a good source, which differ some-
what from those furnished by a late number of the
Bombay Times, on the subject of poor Skinner, and
we believe the reader may rely on them as being per-
fectly correct. When his house was attacked on the
2d of November last, and his life clamorously sought
for by the ruffians of the city, he narrowly escaped
into the house of an Affghan neighbour (opposite to
his own) who saved him, in consideration of his for-
nin disinterested kindness to several members of the
family, and whose aged mother, in defiance of great
personal danger, and the prejudices of a Mussulman
female, came forth in the midst of the affray, and seiz-
ing him by his hand, called him her son, and drew
him into her house; and to the great risk of his pro-
tectors (whom we are sure Government will duly
honour, if they are discovered when we get to Caubul
—indeed it would be well if General Pollock named
that family in a proclamation on arriving at the capi-
tal, as one that should be protected for that deed)
he remained there—the sanctity of the harem being
violated for his sake, in the recesses of which he lay
concealed for upwards of a month. But Ameen Ool-
lah, who was then all powerful in Caubul, forced him
at last from his sanctuary, but treated him well, and
after a few days transferred him to Akbar Khan, who
soon conceived a regard for him, and over whom he
obtained so great an influence, that the prisoners have
said, if mortal man could have saved our doomed
army in the course of its retreat, poor Skinner could
have done so; and it is felt by the ladies and other
prisoners that they owed their lives, in that dread-
ful hour of danger, mainly to his efforts ; for through
great personal risk (as may easily be conceived)
and difficulty, he obtained frequent interviews with
Akbar Khan, who, under Skinner's influence, at
last agreed to save them. He endeavoured also, out
of his pure personal regard, to save Skinner him-
self, urging him always to remain with him where
alone was at that time safety, when the cry to mur-
der every Feringhee—man, woman, and child-was
all over the hills ; but Skinner firmly resisted these
persuasions, and after the interview rejoined his post,
and at last, when Elphinstone and Shelton were pri-
soners, in the afternoon of the 12th of January, on an
interview which the gallant and devoted young officer
had with Akbar Khan, the latter actually laid hands
on him to detain him (with a friendly motive) when
Skinner exclaimed—" What, Sirdar, do you violate
your faith with me ?"—to which Akbar answered,—
"If you put that construction on my actions, go; but
I implore you to stay"—but Skinner would not,
though then there was but a miserable remnant of
the force remaining, and those who now survive
think he might have, without dereliction, constituted
himself a prisoner. But he thought otherwise—and
we think he decided rightly and nobly, however fa-
tally for himself, poor fellow—and refused to abandon
duty while any of the men still held together ; and
while riding from Akbar's tent towards the handful
of soldiers still remaining, he was shot—the deed hav-
ing been perpetrated by a Ghilzie Chief who followed
him, and who is said to have been jealous of his
influence over Akbar Khan, and fearful lest it
might be the means of obtaining the liberation of the
prisoners, and the escape of the othersurvivors. Surely
this Chief is known, and will be marked accord-
ingly. Thus fell Captain James Skinner of the
61st, an officer whose really great value to the ser-
vice was only thoroughly known when Government
were about to be deprived of his services • for one
who knew him well, in Affghanistan, and who is
most competent to appreciate the qualifications that
render an officer pre-eminently serviceable to the state,
thus speaks of what we may call his local professional
character :—" Had James Skinner lived, his perfect
knowledge of the language, habits, and modes of
thinking of the people of the country, and of their
real social and political state, combined with his in-
fluence among all with whom he came in contact,
from his acknowledged integrity, persuasive and gen-
tlemanly manners (for he had more tact in his inter-
course with Affghans than almost any man I have
ever seen) and his various other qualifications as a
servant of Government, must shortly have raised him
to that station to which, although ong entitled, his
claims were not understood until the late adverse cir-
cumstances of his countrymen in Affghanistan called
forth this display." The loss of an officer to whom,
at a still early. period of his life, such a character as
this is deservedly given by one fully capable of a due
appreciation of public conduct and character, is indeed
a loss to Government, which is not to be supplied
without very great difficulty, if to be fully supplied at
all; but it must afford great and just consolation to
Captain Skinner's friends and relatives to be able to
say, on such undeniable grounds as those we have set
forth, " he would have achieved honourable greatness
in his country's service, had it pleased God to have
spared him for a longer course of duty."—English-
man, June 14.

A storm took place in the afternoon of Wednesday
last, at Nismes, during which the lightning struck the
tower of the church of Sainte Perpetue, broke the cross
at the top, destroyed part of the cornice, set fire to the
wood-work, and then went perpendicularly down into the
body of the building. Here, after traversing the vestry
and burning the wood-work of a chaTel, the fluid passed
out through a fissure made in the wall. Although the
explosion was tremendous, the Cure,. who was writing in
the vestry, had sufficient presence of mind to seek assist-
ance, and join in extinguishing the fire. Material damage
was done. The gilt frame of the altar-piece was entirely
blackened, and the inkstand of the Care was melted, and
the glass broken.