General Stewart has entered Candahar unopposed, the Mussul- man citizens
looking on passively, and the Hindoo citizens being delighted. His column and that of General Biddulph met at Takht-i-pal, the junction-point of the Khojak and Gwaja Passes, on the 6th or 7th inst., the precise date being uncertain, and there encountered a force of Afghan cavalry. These were dis- persed, after a brief engagement, the Afghan General fled with his troops, the second-in-command submitted, and on the 8th inst. the British troops were paraded through the city, encamping afterwards outside. This finishes the campaign for the winter. The Government has resolved, it is stated, to await events till the spring, retaining the garrisons in Jellala- bad, Dhakka, Koorum, and Candahar, guarding the Passes, making arrangements with the Hill tribes, and completing the wretchedly imperfect arrangements for commissariat and transport. No policy has yet been announced for the future, nor have any details been published of the terms offered to Yakoob Khan ; but a whisper is circulating which has, we believe, some foundation, of an arrangement between Great Britain and Russia, under which the Afghans will be left wholly to our mercy. 'Once assured on that point, they will, it is imagined, readily make peace. Until the terms offered are known, it is impossible to form even an opinion as to the action of a State in which considerable military power has collapsed under a mere threat ; but an arrangement with Russia, made under cover of a pretended defiance of Russia, is entirely in consonance with the Government's policy.
