—[MS. Correspondence.]
[334] “October 5.—His Lordship sent me the draft of his letter to the Hindoo chiefs, relating to the gates of the Somnauth temple; and invited remarks on it, which I freely gave; and he took them in good part, adopting some of them.”—[Sir Jasper Nicholls’s MS. Journal.]
[335] The Governor-General, when he first drafted the proclamation, only knew that Nott had reached Caubul with the gates. He may have thought it expedient to withhold the issue of it, lest by some untoward accident the gates might be lost on their journey through the passes of Afghanistan.
[336] We have no word very fitly to represent the character of the affair. The French would have called it a bêtise. It was a bêtise of the first magnitude.
[337] Memorandum, by Captain Peter Nicolson, of a Conversation with Dost Mahomed Khan: February 13, 1842. MS. Records.
[338] He was candid enough, too, at one time, to acknowledge that, after the expulsion of the British from Caubul, the only chance of establishing a settled government was through the agency of Shah Soojah. “The Ameer concluded,” says Captain Nicolson, in the memorandum cited above, “by using an expression exactly the same as one Shah Soojah uses in his letter to Captain Macgregor.” He said: “The people cannot now do without the King, for there is no one else who could carry on the government.”—[MS. Records.]
[339] Mr. Clerk was despatched to Lahore with an invitation from the Governor-General; and Shere Singh was inclined to accept it, but he was overruled in Durbar. The Crown Prince, Pertab Singh, and Dhyan Singh, the minister, were sent to represent the Maharajah at for Governor-General’s Court.
[340] A smart skirmish between Nott’s division and the enemy, on the Huft-Kotul, may, perhaps, be considered as an exception. Colonel Stacy describes it as “a severe affair;” and Nott, who was not inclined to write lengthy despatches, or to exaggerate the importance of his engagements, thought it worthy of a brief despatch. In Colonel Stacy’s Narrative and Captain Neill’s Recollections of Service, the reader will find ample details of all the operations of the rear division. Lieutenant Greenwood’s Narrative may also be consulted for some particulars of the movements of M’Caskill’s division.
[341] Lieut. Christie, of the Artillery; and Ensign Nicholson, of the 30th Native Infantry.
[342] “It was a night attack of some plunderers to obtain baggage. There appears to have been sad confusion. The two officers were about that time killed. But the guns were not, I believe, even attempted to be carried off; otherwise we certainly never should have seen anything of them again, whereas, the next day, the mountain howitzer and carriage were found in statu quo, and the carriage of the three-pounder; and were brought in. I dare say the three-pounder was not far. It in all probability upset, and parted from the carriage; but if an enemy (so usually termed) had made the attack, it is very improbable that either guns or carriage would have been left, for a very few men could carry gun, carriage, and all.”—[MS. Correspondence of General Pollock: Camp near Ali-Musjid, Nov. 1, 1842.] Of this unfortunate business, another officer writes: “Night overtook our unfortunate 3rd Brigade. The enemy, emboldened by the darkness, came down upon them in strength. Some of our men were cut off in the column. Numbers of them were hit by stones, which were flying in all directions. The confusion must have been great. The Irregular Cavalry rode right over the infantry, knocking down several of the officers. Christie and his two mountain-guns were lost sight of in the dark, and are lost, himself killed. Young Nicholson, of the 30th, is killed. As to the number of men killed, nothing is yet known; but the whole of the Gholundauz that were with Christie are missing.”—[MS. Correspondence.]