The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-08 00:00:00

THE DISASTERS IN AFFGHANISTAN

(From yesterday's Times.)
We have been favoured with the following interesting letter
from the only uncaptured survivor of the Cabul army—Dr.
Brydon. It is addressed to his brother, and dated Jellala-
bad, January 20.
" My dear Tom,—Here I am at this place, all safe, but
not all sound, having received three wounds on the head, left
hand, and knee. I have lost every thing I had in the world ;
but toy life has been saved in a most wonderful manner ; and
I am the only European who has escaped from the Cabul
army (although we have heard of two having been taken by
the enemy, it is very doubtful if they will be spared). Two
natives only have reached this place, making, with myself,
three persons out of an army of 13,000.
" I got on very well till within about fifty miles of this,
with the exception of losing all my baggage, &c. I then lost
the horse on which I was riding. Flaying taken one of
my servants, who was wounded, up behind me, we fell
rather too far in the rear, when he was pulled off from
behind, and I fell with him. I was instantly felled to
the earth with the blow of a large knife, which wound-
ed me in the head. I, however, managed to avert the
second blow, by receiving my enemy's hand on the edge of
my sword, by which his hand was somewhat damaged, and
he dropped his knife, and made off as fast as he could,
and I, following his good example, managed to reach the
main body, minus ray horse, cap, and shoes, which last 1
lost in the snow. I was then trudging along holding fast
by the tail of another officer's horse, when a native, who
was riding close by, said that he could ride no further.
and told me to take his horse, which I did without delay.
I do not know who the man was, as it was quite dark at
the time, .but the saddle must have belonged to an Affghan.
I now got to the front, where I found a number of officers,
who determined to push on, as the men would obey no
orders, and were halting every minute. We travelled on
slowly all night, fired at occasionally from the sides of the
hills, and found ourselves at day-break about thirty miles
from this, our party consisting of only seven officers, five
European soldiers, and myself, the rest having lost us in
the dark, and gone by some other road. .

" At about 10 a. tin. we were attacked and surrounded on
all sides by horsemen : three officers and the five Europeans
were here killed. One of the officers was Lieutenant Bird,
of the Madras army, who fell close by my side. I, with
the remaining four, got clear of the horsemen, and pushed
on ; three of our party being well mounted, left the fourth
and myself far in the rear, when he, after coming on some
way, said.his horse was done up, and that he would hide
until night, for which pUrpose he 'left me about four miles
from this. He was taken and killed. _

" I proceeded slowly for a short time, when I saw a great
many people running towards me in all directions. I waited
until they got pretty close, and then pushed my horse into a
gallop and ran the gauntlet for about two miles under a
shower of large stones, sticks, and a few shots, in which I
had my sword broken by a stone, my horse shot in the spine
close to the tail, and my body bruised all over by the stones.
I was now attacked by a horseman, who left a party of about

six, whom I saw leading away one of our horses who
had gone on ahead ; these three were killed ; and having
nothing to defend myself with, and my horse being quite done
up, he wounded me on the knee and hand, when seeing me
stoop down he galloped away as fast as he could, thinking, I
suppose, that 1 was looking fora pistol. I now proceeded
unmolested, and arrived here about one o'clock, quite done
up, AS was also my poor horse, who lost the use of his hind
legs next day, and died two days after without ever getting
up after his arrival. If you receive this, let them know at

hom” that I am alive, as I have not been able to write since
October last. and perhaps we shall not have the road open
when the next overland starts. Since arriving here I have
had three shirts, three pair of socks, a jacket, and a pair of
trousers given to me. A very fine stock, you will say ; how-
ever, it' must do until I can*get another outfit. Write to
me and let me know the news from home.
" Your affectionate brother,
" WILLIAM BRYDON."
" P.S. 1 arrived here about noon on the 13th. All fur-
ther particulars you will find in the papers; so I can write no
more at present, it being awkward holding my paper whilst
writing."