The tribesmen, undeterred by the news of the defeat of
the 19th, made a bold attack upon General Ross on the 24th. The- form of the attack is still not reported, but apparently the Logaris and people of Wardak attempted to stop his march to join Gene& Stewart. So desperate was the attack that 1,200 of the enemy were killed, and communications between General Ross and Cabul have been stopped. The Viceroy, who telegraphs the facts, does not know the extent of the British loss, and the news was four days in reaching Cabul. It is added that "some excitement" prevails in Kohistan, and General Roberts evidently- thinks an attack on Shirpore probable, and has ordered the re- pair of the defences. Indeed, on the 25th, Colonel Jenkins, with a small force, was nearly surrounded at Char-Asiab, and only rescued by General Macpherson, who advanced from Shirpore with a wing of H.M.'s 92nd. The Guides suffered heavily. If all the defeated tribesmen could join the Kohistanees the attack might be formidable, but the Afghans are hampered by trans- port and commissariat difficulties of their own, and the assailants- will probably be dispersed without much difficulty. We have elsewhere pointed out what we conceive to be the political mean- ing of the situation.
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