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ENTRY INTO CABOOL.

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Mooltan, and Peshawar. Although, for the present, Dost Mohammed was a fugitive, yet no one acquainted with his energy and courage could imagine that his exile would be perpetual. His reappearance would prove in the highest degree satisfactory to many who despised the Shah, and loathed, with intense bitterness, his Christian allies. Moreover, while Sujah distrusted the Afghans, he was by no means disposed to welcome the continuance of a foreign army of occupation within his capital. Yet, without the English, his reign would soon terminate; and their envoy, now well aware of the true state of affairs, could never consent to a total withdrawal of the troops, involving, as it must do, the failure of an enterprise for which so much money and so many lives had already been sacrificed.

While these and similar considerations agitated the mind of Shah Sujah, instructions arrived from the governor-general which in some measure anticipated one of the principal difficulties. Lord Auckland directed that the Bengal troops should return to India by the Khybur Pass, and those from Bombay by the route they had already traversed, a detachment being left at Cabool, for the protection of the shah, under the command of Colonel Sale.

On the 3d of September Colonel Wade, accompanied by the Shahzadah,* Prince Timour, arrived at Cabool with the Seikh Contingent. Before they reached their destination, Runjeet Singh had breathed his last, and the prospect of a disputed succession in Lahore contributed to increase the anxiety of the Anglo-Indian politicians with respect to the future. For the present, however, these troubled thoughts were shrouded beneath splendid festivities and public manifestations of joy. The Prince Royal marched into Cabool at the head of a triumphant procession, and his entry was celebrated by the institution of an order of knighthood, the chief honours of * Heir apparent to the throne,

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which were conferred upon the principal English officers by the Shah in person. Feasts, shows, and military spectacles, succeeded to this pageantry, which proved, eventually, only the brilliant prelude to scenes of misfortune and sanguinary slaughter.

Some ill-founded reports to the effect that Dost Mohammed had occupied Koondooz, and was daily gathering fresh levies on the frontier, induced Sir William Macnaghten, the English envoy, to make a requisition to the military authorities for a larger force than they' originally contemplated leaving in Afghanistan. This having been arranged, the Bombay column, under General Willshire, proceeded homewards by way of Khelat, against which place they had a mission of vengeance to fulfil. The British authorities considered that its chieftain, Mihrab Khan, had forfeited his dignity by the cold welcome he afforded to the allies of Shah Sujah when they were entering Afghanistan. His deposition, therefore, was decreed, and the army entrusted with the duty of carrying the sentence into execution. Hitherto the doomed chieftain had striven, by protestations, excuses, and general servility, to avert the threatened blow. Finding, however, no alternative between surrender and resistance, he buckled on his armour, and awaited behind his strong fortifications the coming of the Feringhee foe. They arrived before Khelat on the 3d of November, and capturing some heights to the north-west, opened a heavy fire upon the besieged, who, unable to maintain their position, endeavoured to drag off their guns into the town. Before, however, this could be effected, they were charged by the English infantry, who seized the enemy's guns, but found themselves unable to enter the gate in company with the fugitives.

All the British troops having now gained the eminences, they battered the gate with artillery until it gave way, and a storming party, who had been placed in readiness for a favourable opportunity,

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FALL OF MIHRAB KHAN.

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rushed forward impetuously and forced their way into the city. The Afghans fought with the fury of despair and deadly hate. The contest raged from street to street, every foot of ground being resolutely held to the last. At length the citadel was entered, and the besiegers encountered Mihrab Khan in person. He defended himself bravely, surrounded by his principal chiefs, eight of whom had been cut down at his side before the Khan fell. Being pierced by a musket ball he expired immediately, and the loss of their chief obliged the garrison reluctantly to surrender. A portion of his dominions was conferred on Shah Sujah, while the remainder passed over to an ancient rival of the Khan.

As the Bombay column pursued its march, the intelligence that the Russians were advancing against Khiva produced some delay; but the Russian expedition proving utterly abortive, the English troops resumed their journey, and the army of the Indus was finally broken up, a large detachment being, however, left behind in Afghanistan for the protection of Shah Sujah, All the promoters of the late war received some mark of consideration from the English Government. Lord Auckland was created an earl, Sir John Keane a baron, Mr. Macnaghten a baronet, and Colonel Wade a knight. Other honours were liberally accorded to the subordinate officers, while many considered the conquest of Afghanistan as one of the most brilliant achievements of modern days. But, even in the very hour of triumph and national exultation, sagacious and far-sighted men looked anxiously towards the future as if they could almost behold a mystic hand tracing upon its troubled front predictions of misfortune and characters of doom.

CHAPTER XXVII.

RETIREMENT OF SIR W. COTTON-FLIGHT OF DOST MOHAMMED TO BOKHARA-HIS ESCAPE, AND FINAL SURRENDER TO THE ENGLISH -TROUBLES IN CABOOL-MURDER OF SIR A. BURNES-PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE ENGLISH-MURDER OF SIR WILLIAM MACNAGHTEN-THE RETREAT.

1840-1842.

THE chief command of the army occupying Afghanistan had been given to Sir W. Cotton, but the retirement of Major-General Ramsay from active service, obliged that officer, as the next senior, to return to India in the capacity of Provincial Commander-in-Chief in Bengal. During the interval, therefore, which elapsed between the departure of General Cotton, and the arrival of General Elphinstone, General Nott commanded in Western Afghanistan, while Brigadier Sale remained encamped near Jellalabad, in what might be called the eastern division of the country; the capital Cabool being defended by the 13th Light Infantry, and a corps of Native Infantry. Ghuznee contained also a native regiment, and thus the principal strongholds being in the hands of the English, every available precaution seemed to have been taken against surprise.

In the meantime, Dost Mohammed was using every possible exertion to enlist in his cause the sympathy of the neighbouring Mohammedan sovereigns. Among these, he addressed himself specially to the King of Bokhara, a petty prince, whose inland region, almost inaccessible from every side, enabled him to indulge unchecked, in more than the ordinary caprices of Oriental tyranny. This ruler had appropriated to himself the high-sounding title of Ameer-ool-moumenin, or Com

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DOST MOHAMMED AT BOKHARA.

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mander of the Faithful, a dignity that was formerly the exclusive appendage of the caliphs of Baghdad.

The advances of Dost Mohammed gratified the vanity of this potentate, and were therefore favourably received. The Afghan chief with three of his sons presented themselves at Bokhara, and for a time revelled in the sunshine of royal favour. Unfortunately the Tartar Commander of the Faithful possessed no more principle nor sense of dignity than a mere leader of banditti. He had no sooner welcomed the Afghan exile to his Court, than he began concerting plans to rob him of the property that yet remained from the wreck of his fortunes. As is generally the custom with eastern great men, this wealth consisted principally of jewels and diamonds that Dost Mohammed had left in the safe keeping of his Harem at Khooloom. In their custody the treasure was safe, since the Mohammedan who violates the sanctity of the women's apartment, exposes himself to public censure of no ordinary kind. But the ruler of Bokhara seemed either above or below these social conventionalities. Assuming as much courtesy as he was capable of exhibiting, he intimated that Dost Mohammed would do well to remove his family into the territory of Bokhara. The Afghan listened with seeming gratitude to the proposal, but he had already penetrated the design of his inhospitable protector. Open resistance he could not offer, but while feigning to despatch a letter directing his brother, Jubhar Khan, to send off his household without delay, he adroitly substituted for this document, another missive, in which the Newab was exhorted rather to sacrifice the lives of those dear to him, than suffer them to fall into the hands of a treacherous and merciless barbarian. The epistle reached its destination in safety, and Jubhar Khan, unable to provide more effectually for the security of his brother's family, placed them under the protection of the British Govern

ment.