General Roberts and the Khyber force have established com- munication,
and a new route is being opened between Jellalabad and Cabul, along which supplies can easily pass without danger of attack, except in a single defile. The clansmen offered no resist- ance, and outside Herat the soldiers in Afghanistan are throwing down their arms. For the rest, General Roberts is ruling behind Cabnl like a little king, building barracks, pulling down the Bala Hissar to get firewood, and executing weekly batches of persons who, he is told, were implicated in the massacre of the Envoy. He has collected supplies for five months, hutted his men, and is daily sending out parties to bring order into the surrounding villages. Ho shows plenty of energy, and is, we believe, quite confident in his position,—but, though we shall be thought croakers, we cannot like the situation. The disarmament is all nonsense, as he cannot get a tenth of the arms ; the snow will fall heavily in a few days ; and this high- handed government must be intolerably exasperating. With the snow deep on the ground, a popular revolt aided by the hill-men might yet place his force in the position of a besieged garrison. The Sepoys are useless in excessive cold; "all their fingers become thumbs."
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