to go back and spike one of the guns, after which he retired inside, having lost one subadar and three men wounded, and one man killed. On arriving inside he placed the men on the ramparts; and being accidentally bayoneted in the thigh, he was released from duty, making over charge of the men to Macartney.
It being found impracticable to bring in the guns, from the carriages being broken, the European horse artillery, who had been sent out for that purpose, came back; and some guns having in the meantime been mounted on the wall and brought to bear on them, they were so broken by the shot as to be perfectly useless: and it may here be remarked, that to the day the troops left the Bala Hissar, notwithstanding frequent attempts were made by the enemy, they never succeeded in gaining possession of them.
The King, who had been in a great state of excitement during the day, on hearing of the loss of his guns, and that 200 of Campbell's regiment had been killed or wounded, was excessively agitated; the more so that, immediately on the rebellion breaking out, almost all the Pesh Khedmuts and Shah Guzees had deserted him. He ordered a dinner for the officers in the evening; as, to their extreme disgust, they were obliged to stay the night in the fort, neither men or officers having an article of any sort or kind besides what they wore. The 5th cavalry, who had accompanied the detachment to the Bala Hissar, had, after taking all the baggage from Siah Sung to cantonments, remained in the latter place.
The King, sitting with the British officers around him, was anxious to obtain their advice in the present crisis, and particularly asked that of——; whose conduct was represented on the emergency as pitiful and childish in the extreme, not having a word to say, nor an opinion to offer.
In cantonments all was confusion and indecision. The Envoy mounted his horse and rode to the gateway, and then rode back again—the best thing he could do; for had the Affghans either killed him or taken him prisoner, it would have given them a decided advantage on their part. Sir William and Lady Macnaghten had vacated the residency before 11 o'clock A.M., and came into cantonments; a circumstance which no doubt was soon known to the insurgents, and must have given them an idea that we greatly dreaded an attack from them, which was threatened at night. The guns were placed in battery, and the walls manned with double sentries. The Kohistanees are reported to have 500 men assembled at Deh Hadji in the Kohistan. The villages about the Lake are all in a state of insurrection. The whole force from the Siah Sung cantonments are come in: the Shah's 6th, the 5th cavalry, Anderson's horse, and Skinner's are in the Mission Compounds; the escort in cantonment. Lawrence has kindly promised in case of an attack to come over to us; but we are so anxious about Sturt that we do not think much of danger.
Two Sipahees were cut down near the gate of the Commissariat Fort to-day; another was killed who only attempted to cross the road. We have good news to-day from Sale at Gundamuk, dated the 1st. They were all quite well, and supplied with all that they required. Bukhtar Khan, the new governor there, had sent 500 of his tribe to Jugdaluk; 250 of Ferris's corps and 300 of Burns's Khyberries were to follow quickly, to secure the passes, and open the road to Seh Baba. The Tagow chief who attacked Sale's force on the road is said to have withdrawn his men; and now that all seems clear for our march down, this insurrection has risen up here. It was only two days ago Lady Macnaghten told Mrs. Sturt that the country was all quiet, except the little outbreak near Tézeen!
3d.—At three in the morning the drums in cantonments beat to arms, in consequence of a large body of men coming over the Siah Sung hill; they proved to be the 37th from Khoord Cabul, who, about half-past 2 P.M. yesterday, received an order to march on its receipt to Cabul. Poshteens arrived about an hour afterwards in safety, with no other guard than a couple of suwars; however, before the regiment was ready to move off its ground, the Ghilzyes had taken possession of the mouth of the pass, and were with some difficulty dislodged by two companies of the 37th, and two guns of the Shah's mountain train; the latter under Lieut. Green. The order received by Major Griffiths to march the detachment under his command on receipt of the order was accompanied by a note from Capt. Paton, Assistant Quartermaster-General, telling Major G. that all Cabul was in insurrection, &c . The Laird of Pughman (who had held the pass from the time Sale left Bhoodkhak), with all his followers, joined our force as soon as they reached his post, and marched into Cabul with them. The rear-guard of three companies and one Mountain T. gun were hard pushed, as they had to fight all the time the regiment was getting ready, and also kept up a skirmishing fight all the way in, in which all the corps joined; they had four men killed and thirty wounded. The Mountain T. gun they had in the rear eventually broke down, but was brought into cantonments. One officer, Lieut. Gordon, was wounded. Notwithstanding this, they came in with all their baggage in as perfect order as if it had been a mere parade movement; and great praise is due to Major Griffiths on this occasion. I observe I have mentioned the Laird of Pughman—a sobriquet applied to a good man, and a true one to the Shah and us. His proper name was the Syud Mahommed Khan; and for the good service he did in the Kohistan with Sale's force he obtained the honorary title of Jan Fishan Khan, or the nobleman who is the exterminator of his sovereign's enemies. It is a difficult sentence to render into English.
Jan means life; Fishan, heedless of the life of your enemies; Khan, a lord or nobleman. I am no linguist myself, but friends who understand Persian well give the above as the best translation. The common one is, "The khan or noble who throws away his life upon his enemies."
This day there was a great talk of the Kohistanees being expected to arrive to attack us. The double sentries are loaded to-day, as also the sentries placed round the ammunition and stores.
In the evening the rebels appeared in considerable numbers near Mahommed Khan's Fort, and between that and the Commissariat Fort, situated 300 yards from cantonments. We have only three days' provisions in cantonments: should the Commissariat Fort be captured, we shall not only lose all our provisions, but our communication with the city will be cut off.
This fort (an old crazy one, undermined by rats) contains the whole of the Bengal commissariat stores, valued at four lakhs of rupees, including about 12,000 maunds of ottah, wheat, and barley, and all the medical stores, &c .
No military steps have been taken to suppress the insurrection, nor even to protect our only means of subsistence (the Godowns), in the event of a siege. The King, Envoy, and General appear perfectly paralysed by this sudden outbreak: the former is deserted by all his courtiers, and by even his most confidential servants, except the Wuzeer, who is strongly suspected of having instigated the conspiracy; and suspicion attaches to his Majesty again. It is here necessary to observe, that several months ago letters calling on all true Mussulmans to rise against the Kaffirs (English unbelievers) were widely disseminated: they bore the King's signature; but Sir William Macnaghten always insisted that they were forgeries of a very peculiar description, that papers bearing the veracious signature had had their contents washed out, and these seditious writings inserted. The Shah of course said, "An enemy has done this;" and, as dead men tell no tales, much of the obloquy was allowed to rest on Moollah Shekoor, who had paid the penalty of other state crimes.
In Affghanistan the English act as they do in all other countries they visit—keep to themselves, and even (generally) employ only servants brought with them. The Envoy kept but few Affghans in his employ: he had a news reporter, at 150 rupees a month, who had the credit of concocting splendid untruths; an old moollah picked up at Kandahar, who, I believe, receives 200—a man greatly in Sir William's confidence; there is also an old cossid. These people adhere to the Envoy, and flatter him into the belief that the tumult is bash (nothing), and will shortly subside.
This day there was a grand bustle, getting guns into all the bastions. Capt. and Mrs. Trevor, and their seven children, came into cantonments. Trevor's Hazir Bashes brought them in safe; but they had to walk through the river, and to carry the children, saving only the clothes they had on. As they escaped at one gate, their tower was taken possession of by the rebels from another.
That the insurrection could have been easily crushed at its commencement, is evident from the circumstance that on
