miles. Incessant labour has put this place into a respectable state of defence. Eleven guns and five mortars are mounted on the works, which have now a widened rampart and growing parapet of three feet. Meanwhile the Khyber is in a state of insurrection. Ali Musjid has been besieged; Captain Ferris' corps at Pesh Boluk was attacked, and it is believed that he only escaped with his people by concluding a convention with the assailants, and retiring to Peshawur. We have, however, no certain information regarding him. I forward copy of General Elphinstone's last communication, written in French, in consequence of its being known that the enemy have employed two young men, in structed in English in Delhi or Loodianah, to read our intercepted

dispatches. I am happy to perceive that the general approves of my measures. Captain Macgregor and I have written to Captain Mackeson to send up through the Khyber to us ammunition, treasure, and provisions, and to call upon the Sikh government to aid us, according to treaty, with 5,000 troops. I can, in every event, I trust, maintain myself here for thirty days, and await reinforcement from India; and I should hope that Major-General Elphinstone will be enabled to retain possession of all he holds at Cabul. His Excellency will not fail to perceive from the above detail, that all measures of reinforcement and succour ought, at this crisis, to be prompt and energetic. I have, &c.

R. SALE.

Cabul, Nov. 18, 1841.

Mon cher Sale,―J'ai reçu votre lettre du 15mo. Je pense que vous avez très bien fait is vous envoi des renforts de la place de

Peshawur, et que vous vous trouvez dans la situation de nous aider, ne manquez pas de la faire; nous sommes dans un peril extrême.

Jellalabad, Dec. 2. 1841.

Sir, I have to request the favour of your informing the Commander-in-Chief, that the enemy who had for some days annoyed my garrison, by sending forward parties to open a desultory fire on our soldiers labouring on the works, appeared in force yesterday morning, closely environed the northern and western faces, and partially surrounded the whole place. A desire, under present circumstances, to reserve our am.

munition, would, perhaps, have induced me to tolerate this audacity somewhat longer; but as these continued attacks had at length the effect of compelling our people to suspend their exertions to complete the parapets, and as the reports of our spies indicated an intention on the part of the rebels to establish mines under the scarp of our defences (a species of operation in which some Khails of this country are exceedingly skilful), I determined to remove them by a

sally to a more convenient distance. I therefore formed a column within the Cabul gate, consisting of 300 of the 13th, 300 of the 35th, a detachment of Sappers and Jezailchees, two guns of No. 6 Light Field Battery, and the whole of the cavalry. I placed this force under the immediate command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dennie, purposing to superintend the operation myself from the ramparts.

On the gate being thrown open, the column advanced at a rapid pace, and then, according to my previous instructions, the sappers diverging to the left, swept the whole space in front of the walls in that direction, and moved towards the rocky mounds on the right of the main road from Cabul. The security of the other flank was in like manner provided for, by a company of the 35th being extended facing towards the river, whilst the cavalry had been ordered to follow the track of the main column, then forming and wheeling to their left to intercept all fugitives on the plain in that quarter. These movements were made in uninterrupted succession, and with great spirit, and an animating cheer burst from our soldiers the moment they found themselves beyond the walls. The enemy poured their fire upon Colonel Dennie's column as soon as it debouched, but dismayed by the unchecked speed of its advance, broke, and deserting the ruined forts in their rear, fled across the plain obliquely towards the river. They were promptly and hotly pursued up to its bank by the Jazailchees and the skirmishers of the 13th; and Captain Abbott pushing his guns at the gallop up to a point which commanded the stream, formed battery, and com

pleted the deroute. His practice here was excellent, and the enemy suffered visibly and severely from his round shot and shrapnell. Many of them fell under his fire and that of the infantry and irregulars, and many rushing into the river, and missing the ford in their consternation, got into deep water, and were swept away and drowned. The cavalry also successfully sought an opportunity of charging on the level, and once more found ample employment for their sabres. The sappers too, surprised, by a sudden onset, a mass of the Ooloos, which was moving on apparently with the intention of operating against the southern front of the walls, and dispersed them with slaughter. The enemy now were in panic flight on every side, and the reserves having been steadily reformed, the work of demolishing the walls of old forts which had afforded cover to petty assailants, was commenced.

The effect of this sudden and unexpected blow has been electrical. The insurgents have not only fled from the near holds of the Zilne Urbol and two others, in which the Ghiljee Chiefs Uzeez Khan and Gool Mahomed and Golam Jon, son of the revolted Urz Bezie, had taken up their quarters, but retired from the whole line of the Char Bhag forts, and only rallied at Umr Khail, at the cautious distance of twelve miles from our ramparts. The latest information is to the effect, that the rebel commander has demanded a strong reinforcement of horse from Cabool as an indispensable condition of his making any fur ther attempt against us. Our loss has been trifling beyond calcula tion or hope. I have, &c.

R. SALE.

Jellalabad, Jan. 13, 1842. Sir, I beg to acquaint you, for the information of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, that Assistant-Surgeon Brydon, a few hours since, arrived at this place wounded, and has reported that, on the faith of a treaty, our troops left Cabul on or about the 6th instant.

They were treacherously attack ed on the road by overwhelming numbers, and from the nature of his recital there is reason to expect that he is the only one of the fugitives that we shall ever see alive.

Relying on his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief's promise to relieve us as soon as possible, I have resolved on the most determined defence of this place; but if his Excellency will understand that the parapets are not cannonproof, and that as the Cabul force has abandoned all their guns, we may expect to be besieged immediately by the Affghans, aided by a considerable artillery, I feel that this short statement is the strongest appeal I can make for succour.

I have, &c.

R. SALE.

Jellalabad, April 7, 1842. Sir,-Information was, on the evening of the 5th instant, brought into this place, in the most positive and circumstantial terms, by spies from the enemy's camp, to the effect that the force under Major General Pollock, C.B., had met with reverses in the Khyber, and retraced its steps towards Peshawur; and about ten o'clock A.M. on the 6th, a feu-de-joie and salute of artillery were fired by Mahomed Akbar, which were said to be in honour of the same event. It was on the same day, and through similar channels announced to me, that the Affghans were sending additional reinforcements to aid in defending their frontier passes. Although I could not wholly depend on these statements, which were improbable in themselves, and accompanied by counter reports, of

a new revolution at Cabul, which was assigned by some as the cause of the rejoicing; and of the defeat of the Ghazees in Khyber; and by an account of the intended, and even actual, retreat of the Sirdar into Lughman,-I adopted on a full consideration of various circumstances and rumours, the resolution of anticipating the last mentioned event, if it had not come to pass, by a general attack on the Affghan camp, in the hope of relieving this place from blockade, and facilitating General Pollock's advance to our succour. I accordingly gave directions to form three columns of infantry, the central consisting of her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry (mustering 500 bayonets), under Colonel Dennie, C.B.; the left, of the 35th Native Infantry (also 500 strong), under Lieutenant Colonel Monteath,

C.B.; and the right, composed of one company of the 13th Light Infantry, and one of the 35th regiment Native Infantry, and the detachment of Sappers under the command of Lieutenant Orr (the severity of Captain Broadfoot's wound still rendering him noneffective), amounting to 360 men, commanded by Captain Havelock, her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry; these were to be supported by the fire of the guns of No. 6 fieldbattery under Captain Abbott, to which Captain Backhouse, Shah Shooja's artillery, was also attached, and by the whole of my small cavalry force under Captain Oldfield and Lieutenant Mayne.

The troops issued from the Cabul and Peshawur gates at daylight this morning. So far from the Sirdar having made any dispositions to avoid the encounter, his whole force (not falling short in all of 6,000 men), was formed in order of battle, for the defence of his camp; its right resting on a fort, and its left on the Cabul river; and even the ruined works within eight hundred yards of the place, recently repaired, were filled with Ghilzye marksmen, evidently prepared for a stout resistance. The attack was led by the skirmishers and column under Captain Havelock, which drove the enemy in the most satisfactory manner from the extreme left of his advanced line of works, which it pierced at once, and proceeded to advance into the plain; whilst the central column directed its efforts against a square fort, upon the same base, the defence of which was obstinately maintained. With the deepest regret, I have to record that, whilst nobly leading his regiment to the assault, Colonel Dennie, C.B., of her Majesty's 13th Light

Infantry, received a shot through his body, which shortly after proved fatal. The rear of the work having been finally gained by passing to its left, I gave orders for a combined attack upon the enemy's camp. It was in every way brilliant and successful. The artillery advanced at the gallop, and directed a heavy fire upon the Affghan centre, whilst two of the columns of infantry penetrated his line near the same point, and the third forced back his left from its support on the river, into the stream of which some of his horse and foot were driven. The Affghans made repeated attempts to check our advance, by a smart fire of musquetry, by throwing forward heavy bodies of horse, which twice threatened to force the detachments of foot under Captain Havelock, and by opening on us three guns screened by a garden wall, and said to have been served under the personal superintendence of the Sirdar, but, in a short time, they were dislodged from every point of their positions-their cannon taken, and their camp involved in a general conflagration. The battle was over, and the enemy in full retreat in the direction of Lughman by about seven A.M. We have made ourselves masters of two cavalry standards, recaptured four guns, lost by the Cabul army and Gundamuck forces, the restoration of which to our Government is matter of much honest exultation among our troops; seized and destroyed a great quantity of matériel and ordnance stores, and burnt the whole of the enemy's tents. In short the defeat of Mahomed Akbar, in open field, by the troops whom he had boasted of blockading, has been complete and signal.

The fall of an officer so distin

guished as Colonel Dennie will be felt as a public calamity; lamenting it on every account, I must yet share with his country, his regiment, and his friends, in the consolation afforded by the reflection that he was killed whilst most gallantly performing his duty. I have to express my entire satisfaction with the conduct, in this action, of Lieutenant-Colonel Monteath, C.B., commanding one of the two infantry columns under my own eye, and of Captain Wilkinson, 13th Light Infantry, on whom the charge of the other devolved on the death of his Lieutenant Colonel; of Captain Oldfield and Lieutenant Mayne, who led the cavalry, and of Captains Abbott and Backhouse, and Lieutenant Dawes, Artillery.

The able and judicious manner in which Captain Havelock moved the force under his command, which acted on a line sufficiently distant to render the manoeuvres independent of my immediate controul, demands my particular and sepa◄ rate commendation.

My acknowledgments are also especially due to my Brigade-Major, Captain Hamlet Wade, whose exertions were on this day, as they have ever been, most meritorious; to Major Frazer of the Light Cavalry, who acted as my Aide-deCamp; and to Captain Mainwaring, Commissariat Officer with the Force, who was present and active in the field. Captain Macgregor, Political Agent, handsomely offered his services with No. 6, light field-battery, and was most useful in serving the guns.

I inclose returns of killed and wounded, and of ordnance and stores captured.

Lieutenant and Adjutant Wood, Her Majesty's 13th light infantry,

made a dash at one of the enemy, and in cutting him down, his charger was so severely injured as to have been since destroyed. Captain Havelock reports in the most favorable manner the gallant conduct, throughout the day, of Lieutenant Cox, Her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry, and he was the first of the party which captured them, to seize two of the enemy's cannon.

It will be seen from the preceding details, that the force employed in this successful enterprise amounted to about 1800 men of all arms. The safety of the place was entrusted, during the action, to the ordinary guards of its gates, and one provisional battalion of followers of every description, armed with pikes and other weapons, who manned the curtains, and made a respectable show of defence, as they have done on all occasions of attack on the walls. Captain Pattison, 13th Light Infantry, was left in command of this diminished garrison;—a sally was made from the Cabool gate by Lieutenant Wade, of her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry, towards the conclusion of the engagement, into the fort before which Colonel Dennie had fallen, when it was observed that the enemy were abandoning it; all that it contained was set on fire, and some of its defenders were bayoneted.

The enemy's loss during the day must have been severe; the field of battle was strewed with the bodies of men and horses, and the richness of the trappings of some of the cattle seemed to attest that persons of rank had fallen.

Lieutenant-Colonel Monteath has mentioned to me, in high terms, the gallant behaviour of