The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-12 00:00:00

KHIV A.

A letter under date the 20th of March, from Jellalabad,
says—" With regard to the Russians we have had various re-
ports—one that comes from Herat, and given out by the en-
voy, is, that the Russian advanced division of 16,000 men
was attacked at night by a horde of horsemen and severely
handled, that cholera had broken out in their camp, and they
were halting forty 'perches from Khiva. Some time ago a
report of this sort reached us from Bokhara, another, and
the (latest, is from Burnes, who says that the Russians are
again moving. The general opinion is, that their object is
to get to Bokhara—and if they succeed in reaching Khiva
after marching over so great an extent of country, it will be
an easy journey from Khiva to Bokhara, and at the latter
place they will procure cattle and supplies in abundance, in
fact everything they require; and from Bokhara to Khoolum
is about thirty marches ; their route would be through a
country particularly fertile, so that they would have no neces-
sity for a commissariat. But from Khoolum to Caubul, a dis-
tance of 250 miles, the road leads over passes 12,000 feet in
height, in other places through narrow gorges, and for many
miles is so narrow that two horsemen cannot ride abreast,
and several officers who have been that road say that it is im-
possible for. any army to force those passes if they were occu-
pied by our troops—therefore we ought to have a few strong
regiments of infantry. always cantoned at Caubul, or Chojar.
As for cavalry, they are perfectly useless, and only in the way
in this mountainous country, and require infantry to protect
them. In fact between Ghuznee and Beshawur there is not
a single piece of ground that cavalry could act on, to any ad-
vantage."--Bengal Hurkaru, April 16.
Letters have, we are assured, been received from Sir
Alexander Burnes, asserting that a Russian army of 24,000
cavalry and infantry with 70 pieces of artillery arrived at
Khiva, and are making every arrangement for their onward
progress to Bokhara. Sir Alexander places implicit reliance
on this, and strongly urges, that should it prove true, a Bri-
tish army should cross the Hindoo Caucasus. Despatches
to this effect have gone down to the governor-general, and it
is conjectured, that as a first step, an army of observation,
consisting of four regiments of infantry, one regiment of
cavalry, and some artillery will be formed.
In the face of all this we fear there are little grounds for
holding out a prospect of relief to our Affghan friends. There
is, we know, a very current and much credited report, that
her Majesty's 9th regiment at present at Agra, the sth and
Ist cavalry, and some native corps, will. proceed to the west-
ward, and us the intention of sending them appears to have
been formed before what is mentioned above had transpired,
the inference is that a relief was contemplated. A little time
will, however, relieve the suspense of the troops in Affghan-
istan, if not, themselves.
Shah Shoojah was to leave Jellalabad for Caubul on the
20th March.—Agra Ukhbar, April 18.

CAUBUL.
(From the Bombay Courier, April 21.)
By a letter from Caubul, dated in the early part of last
month, we learn that her Majesty's 13th light infantry was
still in a very weakly condition, having lost during the pre-
ceding 14 months no fewer than 117 men. Between 50 and
60 of these casualties had occurred subsequent to the regi-
ment's arrival at Caubul. The number of men fit for duty
appears to have been only 340, and these are represented as
not being in a very efficient state, from the combined effects
of the campaign, bad food and climate. The latter, though
extremely cold, does not appear to be 'congenial to the Eu-
ropean constitution. The winter bad' been very severe, at-
tended with intense frost, and snow covering the ground'to
the depth of three feet for two entire months. The return
to Hindoostan appears to be looked forward to with much
eagerness, and it is to be hoped the exigencies of the state
will not be such as to cause these gallant and enuring men
to be disappointed.
From Jellalabad the only news we have, is the decided re-
moval of the troops to Caubult—the regithents are not speci-
fied, but it is said all are to go except the 48th. It is also
reported that the 59th now at Loodianah, the 38th at Feroze-
pore, and the 54th at Kurnaul, are to advance to the north-
ward. If this be the case, some removals, we suppose, will
take place from Delhi. The climate at Jellalabad is, said to
be " heavenly ;" the thermometer is 66 degrees in the house
at noon.