The Sun. — 1850-08-12 (London, England)

INDIA.  PRICES OF SHARES  Head Quarters, Camp, Peshawar, Feb. 16, 1850. bay Lord,—ln furtherance of your Lorship's order; to report on the frontier defence, especially on that o f the Peshawur district, I was proceeding to Kohat, as ot an ordinary march, when the Deputy-Commissioner, Lieut.-Colonel Lawrence, informed me that a dstac'ament of sappers and miners, repairing the road between Kohat and the Pass, had been unexpectedly attacked fey a body of the Afredi tribe, aided by others of the Khyber and Durikzye tribes, to the number of from 700 to 1,200 men; they massacred nearly all the sappers and miners; no mercy was shown by the assailants, who came from the neighbouring villages, occupying the fastnesses of the long and perilous defile through the Afredi range of mountain!. 2. By this unexpected attack, unprovoked by any misconduct on the part of the detachment, the civil station of Kohat was cut off; and it became necessary to reinforce that station, and to punish the insurgent tribes. I therefore ordered the force named in the note,* accompanied by my own escort, under the command of Brigadier Sir Colin Campbell, to march for those purposes on the 9th of February. 3. On the 10th we entered the pass, and I was met by some deputies, from the village of Akhor, who endeavoured to exculpate themselves; but Lieut.-Colonel Lawrence having assured me that his information was correct as to what villages had formed the force that massacred our detachment, and that this was one of those •illages, my answer to the deputies was, that their people must give themselves and their arms up to me; that they have received money from the British Government for protecting this% road, and that instead of affording that protection they had murdered a detachment of our soldiers. I gave them an hour to consider what answer they would give to my summons to surrender themselves. At the end of the hour they returned, and said their companions would not listen to them. I therefore ordered Sir C. Campbell and Lieut.-Colonel Lawrence to crown the heights round the village, but not to fire unless fired upon. The moment our troops advanced the Afredi matcblockmen opened their fire, which was instantly returned, our troops driving the enemy beforo them in every direction. 4. The civil authorities then burnt the village, and the column advanced five miles further to its encamping ground at Gurgoon Khali, which the enemy defended; but it was taken; and we pitched our camp, under the fire of matchlocks from the overhanging precipices. 5. On the 11th we continued our march through the defile, constantly skirmishing with the enemy, and encamped at Bosty Khali, about five miles from our last ground, and immediately under the Pass of Kohat, which was in possession of some irregular troops sent by the Assistamt-Commissioner, Lieutenant Pollock, for that purpose. 6. This evening I sent the Ist Punjaub Cavalry, under Captain Daly, to Kohat, and myself examined the top of the pass. The whole of that night the enemy kept continually firing upon our pickets. 7. On the 12th, accompanied by my staff, I rode to Kohat, and examined its defences and position, &c., &c., returning to camp about four .at. I ordered Brigadeir Sir C. Campbell and Lieut.-Colonel Lawrence to make preparations for our return to Peshawur the next morning, which they accordingly did, ordering the Ist Punjaub Infantry to hold the high ground till our roar guard was out of sight, when this excellent regiment retired to Kohat, which was thus reinforced by two corps, one of cavalry and one of infantry. 8. In one march the column swept through the whole defile, skirmishing with the enemy all the way, and reaching Muthuee between three and four o'clock, seventeen miles from the morning's ground; and on the 14th we returned to Peshawur.  IN