INDIAN NEWS.
[From a Correspondent of the Australian.']
The communication with Caubul has been closed for nearly two months ; but the little intelligence that transpires, however misshapen and defaced by idle rumour, breathes one consistent voice of calamity. I maintain, from what I know of that second Moscow, that if the troops there are beleaguered in the citadel (which already seems to have commenced) throughout the winter, there is no calculating the extent of the suffering. Already the reports of Sir A. Burhes's assassination at the Durbar appear to be well founded : and there are dark whispers of other officers being killed or wounded to, a great amount. The sth Cavalry (two squadrons , left at Caubul) seem to have behaved nobly, but are said to have lost all their baggage and clothes while fighting — an unpleasant reward for victory ! My fears for the troops are founded, on the following grounds. No camels or horses, without good shelter, clothing, and abundant food, can survive the rigour of a Caubul winter. The Affghan camel-men all migrate to Jellelabad for this reason ; and if the troops are harassed by a beleaguering foe, who the deuce will look after the poor camels ? Deprived of these useful animals, the carrying any ammunition for a retreat is out of the question ; and, if starvation should lead to a falling back on Jellelabad, and eventually Peshawur, I ask you to conceive of a handful of troops, already heartbroken, having to make their way, pursued by an enraged population, through 200 miles of perhaps the strongest country in the world.- Arrived at Peshawur, if such a miracle should take place, any treachery of the Sikhs would overwhelm them like a torpid fly in the hands of an idle schoolboy. [From the Bengal Herkaru-oi Dec. 4.] The worst rumours regarding the state of affairs at Caubul have, we deeply regret to state, been confirmed, and the truth appears to be even worse than was anticipated by the most desponding. Intelligence from Caubul, reaching to the 9th ultimo, has heen received by Government. At that date the insurrection was still raging. It broke out, quite unexpectedly, as it appears, on the 2d of November: The bazaars were' sacked, the houses of the European officers living in the city plundered, the Treasury pillaged, the commissariat stores destroyed, and Sir Alexander Burnes, with his brother, Lieutenant Burnes, of the Bombay Army, and Lieutenant Broadfoot, of the Ist European Regiment, acting as a political assistant, murdered by the insurgents. We have heard also that Colonel Stoddar," who had, but a little time before, arrived from Bokhara, was- slain, and that another officer, whose name we do not know, was cut down in the very presence of the Shah. At first, it seems, su^h was the overwhelming force of the rebel bands, that our troops could do little more than hold themselves in their entrenched camp and the Bala-Hissar ; but a series of actions, it appears, had subsequently taken place, in which our troops had several times routed the enemy -with great loss. In these engagements we are afraid that several officers and a large number of men had fallen, all, as yet, we , regr-et to say, to no purpose. The force of the insurrection was unbroken, at the date of the present advices ; and it is said that, Sir W. H. MacNaughten had written to Captain MacGregor, at Peshawur, to say that the aspect of affairs was such that the British force would not be able to hold put many days longer. We merely give this as a rumour. The intelligence .from Jujl&.bad, which extends to the 15th ultimo, is cf a less melancholy character. General bale had moved out from Jullabad, and completely routed the. insurgents by whom that post was surrounded. Should this victory, as it is hoped, prove decisive, it will tend much to diminish the • apprehensions which were entertained on the score of supplies.
The latest news from America state that Mr. Henry Clay 'had been, put in nomination For the Presidency in. 1844. The cashier of the Commercial j JBank, New York, had disappeared, leaving a deficiency of 56,000 dollars ' The of Durham died at Genoa, on the 26th of November last, from the effects of a revere cold. The deceased lady was the eldest daughter of Lord Grefc. The master bf the Venezuela, a vessel employed in conveying free black emigrant* from Rio de Janeiro to British Guiana, has stated that the Queen's ship Acorn nkd captured the pirate brig Galnel, of eleven guns, one of them a long 32-pounder, and sixty-three men. Wheu first teen j by die Acorn, the pirate was hovering round the barque Ifdian, with emigrants from Greenock to Sydnej. The . pirates were taken to- the Cape of Good Hope.for trig. The Indian, as it is known, afterwards caught fire, ,and was burned to the water's edge.
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Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, 23 April 1842, Page 28
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814INDIAN NEWS. Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, 23 April 1842, Page 28
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