No such disastrous news has for many years reached this
country as that which has arrived from India. "The progress of our arms" was carried merrily on till our flag was set beside that of our puppet, SHAH &wait, in Cabal ; but there the progress has abruptly ter- minated in the total engulfing of "our arms." Yes, Sir WIL- LIAM NPNAGHTEN had just written home to declare our supremacy established, when all Cabal rose beneath his feet : Sir ALEXANDER BURNES was the first swallowed in the earthquake of arms ; next, Sir WIT LT TM himself, Governor of Bombay and representative of the power of England in North-western India, was destroyed, and his mutilated remains were made the object of ignominous ribaldry ; and at length, if very general rumour is to be believed, the English army of occupation has been literally,expunged. Corunna, Walcheren, all the reverses that have chequered our military career, baffle the memory to find a parallel to the utter defeat which, in the eyes of the barbarians of the Indian frontier, has crushed our power. Yet that is indeed not the worst. Whether in a fatal retreat or dying on the spot, it was the hard lot of the despairing warriors to leave behind them sixteen English ladies, one of whom was the wife of their chief. Assuredly, if the fate of the perished army were certain to be renewed, another would volunteer on the first call to rescue that tender band, if rescue be possible ere it is too late. Before the anxiety for them, horror at the barbarity of the officer's death, at the sickening details of thousands of dead bodies strew- ing the snow, pity for the troops cut off in their brave persever- ance to the last, sink to insignificance. It is a positive relief to learn that the delicate women were put to hard menial offices ; and some hope lurks in the assurance that they are detained as hostages to exchange for DOST MOHAMMED. The flush of outraged humanity passed, what, it is asked, is the consequence of the disaster to the country ? Six thousand men, in a military sense, are no irreparable loss to mighty England ; nor can a few tribes of barbarians ultimately resist our exerted energies. But the event speaks of two facts in terms too plain to be mis- understood. Mistaken indeed must that policy have been, that could blind its followers to preparations for an outburst so wide, so stimultaneous, and so systematically supported. That, the policy of years, it must be the work or the cost of years to repair. But it is observed that the natives were always in possession of the re- ports of the successive disasters some days before authentic ac- counts reached the European functionaries. The natives, then, have extensive secret understandings reserved from their alien rulers. In what part is our hold certain ? The question points at itisim_ atm to stirgthen our hold ; for to retreat in the face of ',urrendc posts which are torn from us—were a policy which it wituld be 4cult to recommend, and impossible to expect.
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