NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE expedition to Chitral from Peshawur advances slowly but steadily. The Swat river was crossed on Sunday without loss; the engineers complete the road as fast as the brigades move on, thus immensely facilitating communi- cations with the rear; and the Pathans shrink back before the corps of Guides, a force which acts as a sort of permanent forlorn hope. The next pass to be assailed is 12,000 ft. high, and it is supposed that Umra Khan, who has recalled his followers from the siege of Dr. Robertson in Chitral, and has summoned every tribe with which he has influence, will make his final stand there, or at a pass a few miles further on. The point of interest, however, is not his plan, but the temper of his followers, who as yet have hardly displayed the dare-devil quality which is certainly in them. At the same time, Colonel Kelly, in command at Gilghit, the furthest frontier- station in Cashmere, is rushing towards Chitral to carry aid to Dr. Robertson. Once baffled by the heavy snow on the Shandar Pass, 12,000 ft. high, he has succeeded at the second effort in forcing his way, and is reported to have even carried his guns with him, a wonderful feat of pluck and per- severance. He will arrive before General Low, and with Dr. Robertson's force may make an important diversion in rear of Umra Khan. There is evidently some agitation among the Pathan tribes, which the Government does not dwell on in telegrams, for a fourth brigade has been ordered forward from Rawnl Pindee to act as a reserve. There are now, therefore, seventeen thousand troops on the line of march, a force which is in India a considerable one, nearly four times the army under Wellington at Assaye.
