"The progress of our arms" in India has received a
severe check : arms which have conquered the whole of that vast peninsula, which have crushed a NAPOLEON, and withstood all Europe, have been baffled by hordes of nameless barbarians in the North-west pro- vinces of India. A "little war," which should not attract much notice in the Estimates, was carried on there : we had a creature to our use, whom we set up on the throne to rule for us, he paying us by bestowing on British officers the order of the Dooranee em- pire: tribe after tribe was conquered, if at much expense of life on our side occasionally : Sir WILLIAM MACNAGHTEN was perfectly satisfied with the aspect of affairs and the position of British as- cendancy ; when lo, one November morning, Cabul rises against us ; seventeen days elapse without our troops being able to make head upon the insurgents ; and in all parts the British are dislodged from their outposts, massacred, besieged, or driven away. England might have let Cabul alone in the first instance ; or might have converted its ablest and most influential rulers to be her own instruments, without intermeddling in their internal affairs. Now, we have been repulsed ; and our "national honour" is effectually pledged to quash Cabal, first exhilarated by success and presently to be exasperated by retaliation. The sequel of the "little war" will probably be one under which the Estimates will groan.
Among the most distinguished victims to this our policy is Sir ALEXANDER &Ram ; whose conviction of the error of the policy which he was sent to aid did not, prevent the unintermitting per- formance of his duty till he fell in its active discharge.
For these losses, a series of butcherly- successes against the in- capable Chinese cannot compensate. Chusan, impregnable Chin- bite, and wealthy Ningpo, are in possession of our forces. Sir Hama Pornsom awaits reinforcements and a favourable season to proceed to the Grand Canal and Pekin—to go straight on, in AS pAllittikntil his demands are satisfied. But for these brilliant sue- the Opium War we must pay as liberally as for our gains western India.
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