[Book VII., chapter 3, page 72.]
[The following is the correspondence to which reference is made in the text.]
Jellalabad, March 8th, 1842, 9 P.M.
My dear General,
I had the pleasure of receiving a few hours ago yours of the 26th ultimo. I must confess that its contents have deeply disappointed me, since I gather from it that it is not your intention to advance to my succour until you shall have been reinforced by the brigade which you expect to reach Peshawur on the 22nd instant. Now, independently of other considerations, Macgregor will inform you that he yesterday got a Dust-i-Khat from the Shah’s Durbar at Caubul, demanding categorically our evacuation of this place. He referred the King and his councillors to you, and their next measure will probably be to march an overwhelming force against us, aided by our captured iron nine-pounders. I have reiterated in several letters the fact that mes mains ne sont pas assez forts pour résister tel artillerie, and therefore desire to make you once more fully aware of the risk, if not certainty, of our being overpowered if your advance to our support is not sufficiently prompt to anticipate this movement of our enemies. The responsibility, therefore, of such a result, will now rest entirely upon you, and not on me. Money is not now of the slightest use to me, Mahomed Akbar having established a most rigid blockade, which effectually prevents all supplies from reaching us. Our foraging parties are also daily attacked.
Believe me to be, my dear General, yours sincerely,
Robert Sale, M.-G.
P.S.—As I remark that your letter does not contain any distinct avowal of an intention of advancing even when your reinforcements reach you, I shall be obliged, for the sake of this garrison, if you will specifically inform me when it is probable I may calculate on its being relieved.[352]
At the same time Macgregor despatched another letter of a similar tendency, and to this letter Pollock replied:
March 12th, 1842.