The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-20 00:00:00

THE SLAUGHTER AT CAUBUL

The letter of a colour sergeant of General Pollock's army,
received in this city, and dated,from Meerut, in Match last,
gives the following description of the scene which met the
eyes of the troops in the memorable Pass :
On the morning of the 16th September we resumed our
march, and proceeded the whole road without interruption,
or without seeing a single Affghan, and on the 17th encamped

within three miles of Caubul, surrounded by the most beauti-
ful gardens, vineyaida, orchards, and plantations, which
quickly underwent a close shearing by soldiers and camp fol-
lowers, and here, as at Ghuznie, our tents were all day
heaped with fruits and vegetables of every description. A
force from General Pollock's camp passed our lines on their
way to recover the prisoners at a small fort about forty miles
„ff, where they were confined under the charge of a Chief who
bad once been a subadar in the Company's service, but had

Deserted over to the Affghans at the time of Lord Keane's
campaign, and got into favour with the Affghan Princes ; but
seeing that the British were likely to be masters, and also
that by restoring the prisoners, the whole of whom bad been
entrusted to his safe keeping, he might insure forgiveness
and a suitable maintenance—this was all very fortunate, as
otherwise we might have remained in the country for a cen-
tury without a chance of recovering them. It was, therefore,
with feelings of inexpressible pleasure and delight that we
saw them enter the camp, a few days after, all dressed in the
Affghan costume, ladies as well as men. They appeared in
very good condition, and the sight of so many fair faces, to-
gether with the smiling little countenanees of the beautiful
and unconscious children, was truly gratifying, and suffi-
ciently rewarded us for the part we had taken in their release.

" We started on the forenoon of the 12th Oct. towards the
Coord Caubul pass, and encamped at the Bhood.Khack at
the entrance, distance about 16 miles from Caubul, the road
all the way beiug strewn with the disjointed skeletons of the
late unfortunate army. We halted here one day to admit of
Pollock's division getting through the pass, and on the 14th
began our march through what might justly be termed a dis•
mal charnel-house, containing the mutilated and insulted
skeletons of hundreds of human creatures. There they lay
in heaps just as they fell in some places; in others, single
skeletons would be seen propped up against the rocks, with
heaps of loose bones scattered about at their feet, skewing
that they had been placed as targets, and that the loose bones
were used as missiles to throw at thew. The sight was truly

shocking. The sound of the crashing of human bones under
the wheels of our artillery guns was awfully grating to the
ear. In places where the rocks jutted out at either side, and
formed a

breastwork, which i

ably be supposed some of the unfortunate retreating army
might have taken advantage of—it was at those places that
the heaps of human skeletons and bones indicated the hope-
less resistance which was made. The poor arm would be
seen raised as if warding off the fatal blow of the assassin—
the knees crumped up in excruciating pain and misery—some
with the hand pressed against the fatal wound, others with
the fore finger pointing upwards, as if pointing out to the
heathen villian that there was an Almighty God witnessing
their hellish actions, and that his vengeance would sooner or
later overtake them—others again, who, it was evident, had
been but slightly wounded, were iu a crawling attitude, as if
making an effort to gain some place of shelter from the intense
cold, which eventually killed them ; and some could be seen
far up amongst the rocks on each side, as if they had been
endeavouring to escape that way .when death arrested their
further progress. Feet would be seen standing by themselves,
with the socks still adhering to them ; hands in the same way ;
fingers and toes scattered all about, and heads separated from
the body.
" The pass is four or five miles long, with a stream of wet,

running through it, occupying in many places the whole
breadth between the mountains, the sides of which are very
steep and inaccessible, the widest part not being more than
twenty and thirty paces, and in some places not more than
the same number of feet. From this until we arrived at
Gundamuck on the 20th, which 1 think is abont 90 miles, the
road is thickly covered with human skeletons—some dia.
jointed, and others whole, with the shrivelled flesh sticking
to the bones."

The Times of yesterday acknowledges the receipt of the
following information dated Paris, Saturday night. " The
official evening papers contain the following :—' The insur-
rection broke out with success on the 11th inst. at Valencia,
on the 12th and 13th at Barcelona, and on the 15th at Tar-
ragona. In the two first of these cities the troops joined the
people. General Valdez, Via:things, and Legal, and the
wife of General Zurbano embarked on board the English brig
Savage, which left the port to convey them to Port Vendres,
where they arrived this morning. [This last fact must have
arrived by telegraph this day.] Zurbano has quitted Barce-
lona and merched for Saragossa at the head of 11 batal-
lions.

He and e;;;YI;Ody knew iliaitlis,,atisfactionprevailett in (

talonia. It remains to be seen whether assurances given by
his friends that his existence did not depend upon the state
of feeling in that province or in Valencia, or Granada, or
Malaga are correct or otherwise. I shall continue my ex-
tracts from the official papers.'
"The Impartial of Barcelona of the 10th contains the
following Yesterday at St. Andre de Palomar, immedi-
ately after the pronunciamento, a ,banquet was given to the
troops; the feast was concluded by a magnificent hall, atten-
ded by the young ladies of the city in their gayest dresses.
The fall of the Ayacuchos is hailed even by the fair sex.
A proclamation has been issued by the supreme junta to
the army.

The total amount of the subscriptions paid into the Qua-
daloupe Central Relief Committee up to the 13th instant
was £2,786,364.

It is said that, in a few days, the French post-office will
dispatch letters twice a•day by the Rouen railroad, viz., at
seven in the morning, and one in the afternoon.

MOVIISSIL RAIN.—A strange 01low liquid has rained
lately at Futtlehpore, Sicree. The matter adhered to the
fingers when touched, and dyed the ground where it fell.—
Indian Journal.

A. republican journal has appeared at Barcelona. Under
the title is a wood-cut representing a Catalonian striking a
knife into a general officer. The word justice is written be-
neath.

The Journal de Frankfort states, from Vienna, that the
steam-boat Vienna, which plied between that city and Pres-
burg, had run on a bank, and been sunk. Several of the
passengers were Arowned, and a large quantity of merchan-
dise was lost. - a.

Some opinion may be formed of the commerce of the
American lakes by ths following statement :—One day this
month there arrived ilk Buffalo 58 steam-boats and other
vessels, all full freighted. The principal articles comprising
their cargoes were 27,053 barrels of tlour, 60,720 bushels of
wheat, 2,268 barrels of actin:3, 2,291 kegs of lard, 1,-171 brls.
of pork, 595 brls. of beef, 765 brls. and kegs of butter, be-
sides a variety of other agricultural products.

A BONNE-BOUCHE FOR THE MESMERISERS.—The Jour-
nal de Villefranche contains the following :—" The town of
Thixy bas been thrown into astonishment by the following
phenomenon boy of twelve years of age, afflicted with
catalepsy, astounds all who are present, at each period of the
attacks, with the correctness of his replies to questions that
are put to him as to what is passing out of the room in which
he is interrogated. He announces also the precise period of
the return of his attacks. All the physicians, ecclesiastics,
and scientific persons of Thizy., flock to witness this phe-
nomenon. Catalepsy, which is only natural magnetism,
would be thus the precursor of magnetism rendered pellet:,
by science."
The Buffalo Commercial Adrerliaer last received gives the
following fearful paragraph :—GoNc OVER THE FALLS.—
We learn that on Friday last a wan went over the cataract,
on the Canadian side of the Niagara. He was driving a pair
of horses and had backed into the river to get a load of sand
somewhere nearly opposite Navy Island, when the current
bore off the waggon and horses beyond the control of the
driver towards the rapids. A person who witnessed the peri-
lous situation made off in a canoe to intercept them, but get-
ting alarmed for his own safety had to change his course and
return again. One of the horses extricated himself from the
waggon, and swam in safety to the shore, while his mate and
the driver were seen to pitch from one shoot to the other,
until they both plunged into the abyss below.
A deplorable accident took place on Sunday morning in
the Cathedral of Amiens. Seven men were employed 50 feet
from the ground in placing a sort of screen over one of the
side entrances, to protect the persons engaged on some works
of sculpture, when the cornice on which one end of theist:al-
folding rested gave way, and six of the men were precipitated
to the ground. One man in falling caught at a projecting
piece of work, which broke his fall, so that he escaped nearly
without injury. Five others came to the ground with great
violence; one of them was killed on the spot, three of them
were despaired of, and the fifth, who fell on his feet, is sutler-

ing very acutely from t:!e greatness of the shock. The man
who remained above was saved by being at the other end of
the scaffolding at the time it gave way, and had time to step
on a neighbouring joist.
PRUSSIAN COMMERCE.—BERLIN, JUNE B.—There is CI-
., ,••

traordinary activity this year ►n our ports on cue Damm►e, aim
though so little is wanted by Great Britain, in consequence
of the abundant harvest which it had last year, the corn
trade of Dantzic, and still more that of Konigsberg. is more
flourishing than it ever was before. More than 700 ships
have left Konigsberg with cargoes up to the end of May,
whereas in general not above 500 leave that port in the whole
year. These ships were chiefly laden with rye, which they
took to Stettin, Lubec, Bremen, and Holland. The failure
of the crops in a great part of Germany has fully indemnified
the Baltic provinces for what they have lost by the diminished
exportation to England. The greater part of the corn is sent
from Stettin to Berlin, whence large quantities are forwarded
by the Anhalt iron railway to Saxony, which is in need of a
considerable supply. The sending up cargoes to Holland is
a new speculation : they are to be sent up the Rhine to sup-
ply
the Rhenish provinces. The price of rye is rising, so
that if is nearly equal to that of wheat.—Dulei paper.