AFGHANISTAN.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3477, 16 February 1880, Page 2

AFGHANISTAN.

The Bombay Gazette speaking of affairs in Cabul says:—" Fortune has once more befriended General Roberts and given b'm back possession of the city of Oabnl. Alarmed at the approach of the reinforcements under General C* Gouj;h, tbe enemy on 23rd December made a final allack on the Shirpur camp and were repu'sed with heavy lots; whereupon they are said to hare dispersed ia various directions to their horn*** As General Geugh united his forces 'with those of General Roberts the day after this success had been obtained, all anxiety: as to ttajHposstbleHEate. of the army of Cabul is now removed. It remains to be seen, however, if Sir F. Roberts is right in imagining his assailants have . gone away to their homes in the neighborhood of Kabul, the Logar Valley and Kohistan, instead of joining the Ghilzais who still threaten the line of communication with Peshawar through the JagdalakPass,and whom the snow has now begun to help in their efforts to block the road. What we may assume is that the most formidable military combination the Afghans have yet put ia motion has failed in effecting iti object of exterminating the hated Feriogbi iavaders. At the same time it is plain that on* the 14th inst. it was, within an ace of effecting its purpose. Some details of the fighting on that day show that General Roberts was completely defeated by the combined forces of the enemy, and had some difficuLy after his troops had been driven from tne heights about Cabul, in regaining the shelter of his camp, and saving the smaU reserve there from being overwhelmed by a rush of the victorious Afghans. Evidently the enemy fought with great determination; or they could never have stormed a height held by a detachment of the 72nd Highlander!, cutting these brave troops to pieces, and captuiing two mountain guns. Had they only had a few pieces of artillery with them, to use in taming to full account the advantages they had gained, the British army would probably have suffered a,, defeat from which it could never hayfe rallied. The careless self-confidence of the General allowed himself toJbe thus surprised and brought to the brink of ruin is betrayed in the ominous confession made by the Pioneer's correspondent that large stor-s of-Riiupowder had been left in the JtJaia Hissar instead of being conveyed into tbe British camp, and that our troops at Shirpur were compelled to hus* band their, ammunition against an enemy who had been fovaished wjth ample supp'ies by the rashness of the'? own commander. The suspicion ia thus confirmed that General Ibberts had not enongh ammunition to stand a long siege, and his urgent entreaties for immed'att reinforce* ments cm now be easily understood. It is not creditable to the Government of India that these facts as to what happened o-i the 14th inst., and as to General Roberts' acturi position should have been. concealed f"om the public unt'l now,., when they find their way to the l'gbtjj through the agency of a newspaper correspondent. No doubt Lord Lytton will now compose a new series of hymns of praise in honor of the ever vie* torious army of Cabul end its heroic general. It would, however, be more to {he purpose if the Viceroy would bear in mind ah that Sir F. Roberts has lost, how

the friendly quarters of the city of Cabul hare been looted by the ferocious Afghans, and probably a wholesale slaughter made of the unhappy Hindoos and Kussilbasheg suspected of complicity with the English, and how impossible it will be henceforth for the GoTernment of India to find any section of the population of Afghanistan disposed to welcome the rale of st. augers who are never weary of proclaiming the!? own might, but who seem to be no less fatal to their friends than to their enemies.