The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-05 00:00:00

:o Jellahabad. Captair
)ar K

went to Mahornmed Akh-
,,n, who was on a hill close to the British camp, and
red why they could not proceed according to the con-
. The reply was that they bad left, the Cabul canton-
,ents oefore the troops destined to protect them were ready,
and that no chief but he (Akhbar Khan) had the means or
--area them, notwithstanding their convention.

vention

y ...unvention is not fully known, and therefore
all its provisions cannot be stated. It is pretended that
among the articles there are some declaring, that although
the British troops were to evacuate Affghanistan, and that
notice of such a convention had been sent to General Nntt
at Candahar, and to General Sale at Jellalabad. It is said to
have been signed by General Elphinstone as Commander-in-
Chief, and by Major Pottinger as acting Political Agent, and
also by Brigadier Anguetil, and Colonel Chambers.
Akhbar Khan, whose violent hatred to the British had
been sharpened, not only by the conquest of his father's terri-
tories, but by his own exile and subsequent imprisonment in

power to pr
This niili

Bokhara, a

third day of a

retreat from Cabul, that the British should,
when surrounded by the Ghazees under his command, make
new terms with him, and promise not to proceed further than
Tazeen, until the withdrawal of the force under under Sir
R. Sale from Jellalabad was known, and he insisted on six
hostages. Major Pottinger, who was lame from a wound,
instantly offered to be one, and at Akhbar Khan's orders
Captain M'Kenzie and Lawrence were included. The Gha-
zees were however, not restrained in their attacks, and a fear-
ful slaughter followed on the movement towards Khoord
'Cabul. The column was attacked on all sides. The fourteen
'ladies who were in the centre seemed objects of special desire.
Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Boyd had each a child carried off.
Akhbar Khan, while the Ghazees were thus busy, professed
his inability to restrain them, and on the 9th January de-
manded that the ladies should be plated under his protection.
The miserable weather, the snowy wastes, the rough moun-
tain tracks, and the month of January in the coldest regi-
ons of Central Asia, compelled them to yield : the hostages
halted for some days in that neighbourhood.
The demand on General Sale to relinquish his post was
made on the 9th of January, and on that day he refused to
do so unless by orders from the Supreme Government.
His answer was taken back to Akhbar Khan. The unfor-
tunate Sepoys began again to move, and were again assailed ;
the Sepoys who form such good soldiers under the broiling
. . 4..1 L.. 4.1.-

sun- of India, being enervates anct stupinea nv toe cola,
scarcely offered any resistance, and hundreds of them were
soon disgatched by the Gharzee cut-throats, but the Euro-
peans and some brave men kept together until they reached
the pass of Jugdelluk. Here General Elphinstone and
Brigadier Skelton became hostages, and were detained two
miles distant by Akhbar. General Elphinstone wrote a note

" • the Britiah -troop 3.. mart
came to the frightful moun

ilv in the

edJugdauk

barrieadcred ; they forced the way, and r
which they defended for some time. until Brigadier An-
cinetil was killed. All order was then entirely lost, and
confusion and separation, slaughter;and destruction ensued.
Several officers who were well mounted attempted to make
good their way into Jellalabad. Some of them arrived within
three or four miles, when they were murdered and plundered,
and their bodies left on the road. Only one officer, Doctor
Brydon, of the sth Bengal Native Infantry, though wounded
in several places and exhausted, succeeded in reaching the
place of safety in Jellalabad on the 13th. Of the fate of the
other 4000 soldiers and 6000 camp followers nothing certain
is known ; many have been killed, others are dispersed, and
as yet it is difficult to decide. The names of 35 officers have
been published as killed from the commencement of the in-
surrection, but fears are entertained that they may amount
to its quadruple, out of the great number missing. Some of
the sepoys are said to have been sold as slaves to the Oosbeg
Tartars.

Letters continue to arrive from various quarters represent-
ing the state of the prisoners and hostages. Akhhar Khan
is said in a letter received from Major Pottinger, dated Jan.
23, to be at the fort of Badeeahad, in the Lughman country,
where he keeps the following prisoners, viz. :—Generals El-
phinstone and Skelton, Lieutenant Mackenzie, Captain and
Mrs. Anderson and child. Captain Boyd, Lieutenant Eye,
Lieutenant Waller, Mrs. Trevor, Lady Macnaghten, Lady
Sale, Mrs. Start, Mr. and Mrs. Ryley, Serjeant and Mrs.
Wade, Captains Troop, Johnson, and G. P. Lawrence, and
Major Pottinger. There are, besides, the six officers and
the sick who were left at Cabul op the departure of the
troops. Akbbar Khan, in the letters from tbat fort, which
are received unsealed, is described as doing everything " to
make them comfortable !"
An attempt of the insurgents to seize Ghuznee is-said to be
so far successful as that the town is in their power, but Co..
lonel Palmer, with his regiment and six-months' provisions
is stated to be safe in the citadel. AtCandahar an insurgent
force showed itself on the 10th of January, when an attempt
was made to carry off the camels belonging to the 43d Bengal
Infantry. On the lltb, Prince Suftur Jung, the youngest
and favourite son of Shah Shooja. and Mahommed Atte, the
Chief, came, with a large force within about five miles dis-
tance. General Nott marched against them on the 12th, and
in a short time dispersed the whole with a trifling loss ; the
young Prince proved himself a coward, as he is a traitor to
his father's friends. . . _

General Sale has, however, maintained his position at Jel-
lalabad, which he has fortified with a ditch, and planted can-
non in different places, with a determination to defend his
position to theutmcist. Akhbar Khan has attempted to raise
the Ooolooses, or heads of the neighbouring clans, in order
to attack Jellalabad, but the gallantry and resolution dis-
played by Sir Robert Salein October, during his march from
Cabul to Jellalabad, had given them such proofs of his bra-
very that they have hitherto rather hesitated. The troops in
Jellalabad are stated to be well provided with food and able
to keep their ground until the beginning of March, -particu-
larly since they have already discomfited two contemplated
attacks.