The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-06 00:00:00

AFFGHANISTAN

It is scarcely possible to remove the mist which prejudices
and party madness have already thrown around the accounts
received from Cabul and its neighbourhood, since the disas-
trous retreat in the beginning of January.

The Bombay Times, in its overland despatch, paints every
thing in most gloomy colours, although there is not sufficient
reason for such clamour and horrifying statements. The
truth of the affair is now breaking out, and the disasters of
Cabul and of the mountain passes appear attributable to dis-
united councils in the British camp, and to the total ineffici-
ency of the military leaders. A private letter from Sir W.
H. Macnaghten to his friend the Hon. Mr. Erskine, dated
Cabul, the 9th of December, 1841, has been published by the
Friend of India. It is as follows, and speaks fearful tales:—
" We have now been besieged 38 days by a contemptible
enemy, whom the cowardice of our troops and certain other
circumstances, which I will not mention, have emboldened
to assume an attitude of superiority. Our provisions will be
out in two or three days more, and the military authorities
have strongly urged me to capitulate. This I will not do
till the last moment. We have rumours that a-force is com-
ing to our assistance from Candahar, and 1 sincerely trust it
may, for we have no energy or spirit among those here."
A letter, dated the 30th of January last, has arrived from
Major Pottinger, from which it appears that " General El-
phinstone, at the time after the murder of Sir W. H. Mac-
naghten when the evacuation of Cabul and its neighbourhood
was under discussion in the British cantonments, was so ill
from gout and a wound, that all active measures bad devolved
on Brigadier Shelton ; that Major Pottinger proposed march-
ing from the cantonment to the Bala Hissar, or evacuating
Cabul, with the sacrifice of their baggage, and fighting their
way to the nearest British station. Brigadier Shelton de-
clared the first proposition impracticable, and the council of
war would not agree to the second; consequently General
Elphinstone acquiesced in the vote of the council of war,
which was for the disastrous course adopted."
Thus, instead of regarding the disasters of Cabul as a proof
of Affghan prowess, they must be looked upon as demon-
strations of the incapacity of the British generals. This
view is corroborated by the fact of Shah Soojah being ena-
bled still to maintain himself iu the Bala Hissar ; and by the
gallant defence of Jellalabad by Sir Robert Sale, where he,
notwithstanding every difficulty, has maintained his position
since last October. General Nott is still master at Candahar
and its environs, from whence the Affghans have not been
able to expel him. The fact seems therefore clear, that if
the British troops had been well commanded at Cabul, nei-
ther the evacuation of that place nor the wretched retreat
would have been necessary, and then the fatalities of that
miserable proceeding would have been spared.
Sir Robert Sale was safe in Jellalabad up to the 4th of last
month ; he had secured provisions for himself and his troops,
and was determined to resist to the last. An earthquake on
the 19th of February had done great damage to the fortifica-
tions and buildings of the town, but the resolution of the
general and his troops had not only repaired the damage,
but routed a party of Afighans under Akhbar Khan, who
endeavoured to profit of the occasion, and to attack the 13ri-
tish position.
The troops sent to the relief of Jellalalad have met with
various discouragements. The want of cannon caused the
failure of Colonel Wilde's movement into the Khyber Pass.
Great sickness, but luckily no heavy mortality, attacked
those that arrived near Peshawar before General Pollock.
The attempt made to buy over the Khyberrees did not suc-
ceed, although a quarrel had taken place between two of their
tribes about the spoil they had previously acquired. On the
25th of February General Pollock issued an order for a march
into the Khyber Pass, in order to relieve Jellalabad. This
order is described as giving dissatisfaction to several of the
officers inasmuch as it limited the quantity of baggage they
were allowed to carry. It has, it appears, been since found,
that as Jellalabad was not in immediate danger, it would be
bast to await the arrival of the 3d Dragoons before the attempt
was made on the Khyber Pass. The Hindoo soldiers, inde-
pendent of their dislike to cross the Indus, entertain a strong
aversion to the barbarity and treachery of the Affghans.
The brigade from Ferozpore, under the command of Bri-
gadier White, was on the banks of the Chenaub on the 9th
of March, and expected to cross the Jeelum on the 19th or
13th, and would, therefore, reach Peshawar in the beginning
of this month. The force under General Pollock
Pollock
ock would then
be respectable, and fully capable of effecting the passage.
The Siekhs continue to afford to the British troopsa eevveerny fsaaciid-
ao. y There
have,
lay in passing through their territorieAtshff,egahsnaednp
it
that a strong body is ready to co-operate
regiments.
in
however,attacking
been
ot
somee K n
ye
desertions
foarndm
The letters from the prisoners in the hands of the Affghan
chiefs are e
very short, an
r d generally requesting money' to re-
Another
v eve ar i a oups
roofotfboefirtpheewsseinakgoVreanss tost.
the Affghan leaders is,
that Colonel Palmer has been able, with his small and feeble
detachment, to maintain himself in Ghuznee during four
months, from the beginning of November.c
The last intelligence from
Aff-
ghans within twenty miles of that
aannecalyed;
March. All was safe there.was a large
Thereandahar is to the 10th
_of
Softer Jung, a son of Shah Sooja, body of An-
tre with the British troops. '1 • 'of " 000
roops. 1 here were upwards 7,000
troops in Candahar, and a reinforcement of 2,500, with
tobudtread
money and ammunition, hai been sent to General Nott from
Sukkur. Khelat y Ghilzie was with its garrison of 1,00
men, all safe, although it is situate 80 miles from Candahar.
their
rleenatd:
oen1::
The decision of Lord Ellenborough being now taken to up-
hold the reputation of the British troop s in A irghllataand owUdel
may hope that in a short time the relief of Je
open the campaign with a brilliant exploit:.
t prevails • the
In Khelat and Scinde apparent tranqvulY of the
benefit
inhabitants have already begun to know the , properties.
British rule, in the security of their persons and

T'37, has infused
INDIA.
Madras Se-
The departure of Lord Auckland has taken place. Vari-
ous addresses, proving how much his Lordship was appreei_
ated at Calcutta, were presented to inni• Lord EllenborowYn
who reached Calcutta on the.2Sth of February,
new spirit into the preparations for. the reinforcements to
China by his going on board to examine the transports.
The disturbances caused by the mutiny of the
poys have terminated, and all is.trancinil in those
There are symptons of confusion being likely t
at Oude, where the old
.K.mg is acting the 0 0 break out
instigation of a crafty minister. oppressor, at the
In the small state of Judpore there has been
created, but it is nothkely to produce an . some alarm
y important results.

waddle having left Rangoon, all is quiet there. He
Tpheadra orderedr, where the Court stopped some time,
proceed
60 of, those who had accompanied him to
and he but whom he convicted of robbery, to be beheaded.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BODY OF A MURDERER.—We
understand that te body of the man Cook, of Bitton, who
cd murdehr and suicide, and whose interment, owing
to the peculiar nature of the verdict of the coroner
Ps jury,
could not take place without permission of the judges, was
secretly removed at night from his late residence, and con-
veyed no one knows where, or by whom,
or for what purpose.
That the door was found open in the morning, and the body
gone, is all that the neighbours know about the matter.—
Bristol Times.