A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year. Volume 2 (of 3) by Edwin Emerson

Author:Edwin Emerson [Emerson, Edwin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789389169690
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Alpha Edition
Published: 2019-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

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1842

THE situation of the British in Afghanistan was so critical that they could MacNaghten's murder unavenged not avenge the murder of their countrymen. Negotiations were actually renewed with Akbar Khan upon his statement that he had not meant to murder the British envoy, but had been goaded into the act by the taunts of MacNaghten. Promises of safe conduct were obtained. In January the British forces began their retreat from Kabul. Then followed a series of treacheries and mutual breaches of faith. Akbar Khan and his hordes of Afghans dogged the retreating column exacting further concessions. The The retreat from Kabul English women and children were demanded as hostages. From the heights of the Khaibar Pass, the Ghilzai mountaineers poured a destructive fire into the Englishmen. Akbar Khan's followers made common cause with them. Thousands of Englishmen were slain, or perished in the deep snows of the Khaibar Pass. The wounded and those who fell behind were butchered by the Disaster of Khaibar Pass Afghans. A fortnight sufficed to cut the whole column to pieces. Of the entire force of 4,000 soldiers and 12,000 followers, one single survivor succeeded in reaching Jellalabad. He was a British surgeon named Brydon, who dragged himself on all fours out of reach of the Afghans; but he lived to tell the tale for more than thirty years afterward.

Colonel Stoddart and Captain Connelly had been sent as British emissaries to Bokhara. When the news of the British massacre at Kabul reached Bokhara, both men were promptly thrown into prison. Later, when the news of the British disaster in the Khaibar Pass reached Bokhara, the Ameer had the two envoys taken from their dungeons. They were publicly beheaded in the market-place of Bokhara.

Such was the state of affairs in India when Lord Ellenborough landed at Lord Ellenborough in India Calcutta in February, to succeed Lord Auckland as Governor-General. The first trying need was to rescue the remaining British garrisons at Jellalabad and Kandahar. General Pollock, with a strong force of Sepoys, was sent through the Punjab and Peshawar. In April, he pushed his way through the Khaibar Pass, in the face of fierce resistance from the mountaineers. The relieving force reached Jellalabad none too soon. General Jellalabad relieved Sale and his garrison were fighting for time. In a last sortie they had just inflicted a telling defeat on Akbar Khan and his besieging army. From Kabul the boy sovereign of the Afghans fled out of Akbar Khan's reach and put himself under the protection of General Pollock. Akbar Khan now wrote to General Pollock, offering to deliver up his British prisoners and hostages if he would withdraw from Afghanistan. Lord Ellenborough showed himself inclined to accept this proposition. The British officers at the front were furious. General Pollock wrote to Nott at Kandahar not to move until further instructions, while he himself reported to headquarters that he could not retire to Jellalabad for want of transports. Eventually, Lord Ellenborough consented to modify his instructions. Without waiting for this, General Nott was already marching on Kabul.

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