THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5608, 14 February 1879, Page 6

THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN.

We extract the following items in reference to the progress of events in Afghanistan from the Indian papers received by the mail: — The special correspondent of the Englishman with General Roberts’ column con* eludes his account of the Feiwar Kothul fight as follows The more one sees of the Eosition, the more one is amazed at its ever aving been taken. It ought to be impregnable, and probably the result might have been different if the right column had not surprised them on the left. The accounts of the fight show that the enemy fought with the neatest desperation; they had stockaded the hills, and were driven out of them only at the point of the bayonet. Numerous hand-to-hand fights took place. So dose was it sometimes that Captain Cook, pfthe Goorkhas, who flufighimself over a breastwork and ran a man through with his sword, could not get it out. An Afghan rushed up and struck him in the face, and was pistolled by Maj or Galbraith. Poor Kelso was snot at one or these stockades; he was with the leading gun of his battery; he thought the stockade was dear, having gbt the leading mule oyer, but saw it was full of men who must hare come back; he turned round to stop the second gun and was shot through the back of the head. Anderson of the 23rd, hearing calls for support, rushed forward with some 20 men of his regiment; they were met by a larger body of Afghans, who overpowered them, killing nearly all their number, shooting Anderson in the shoulder, and cutting him down. He killed two of them, but it was no use, they slashed him with their knives, and barbarously out his head off, and carried it away. It must have presented a wonderful scene, this fight through dark pine forests, no one knowing quite where they were going. Regiments hurried on losing their wav, but always pressing . forward, driving the nearly invisible foe l>aok. Our loss is supposed to bo about IBQ killed and wounded; the enemy’s not known, though it must be very heavy, At one stockade, after 10 minutes' fighting, 42 dead bodies were counted. The 72nd Highlanders, the 6th Goorkhas, the

12th Punjab Infantry, and louThZTT leiy guns are camped hero, the 11 being behind on the Pass. The guns are to be placed in theKumnn w ptui M The Pathansof the WpEfr Infantry are recruited f rom be^J^ o border. They were, in short a “ OQI trymen, and perhaps the relations hf conn ' of the men they were going to B ? me They behaved most disgracefully Th agaiQß t. simply not fight. At the first voile vtv W ° ul(l back and, I hear, tried to run scene of the fighting. They the their officers imploring of them not to hT® 11 Up » the regiment; but thev would not fight kept hiding and skulking behind hSMS rocks, and they were that day mor«V® d encumbrance than a help in the baHi» a 011 bodies of the men were brought upbv'offi* ll to the front, and they fi re a off theft 1 * when under the eyes of their officers W?r* neither showed ior pretend™» enthusiasm for the fight. The SikW»? T regiment, notwithstanding the prenonw!,influence of the Pathanl, beCedt jfe they musthave been more or less the Afghan influence. wecl “I A correspondent, writing from the throughlQuettah, onJDec. 30, says in S' sists of regulars-three regiments cavalry % 600 troops each; one of infantry 600 J 7' 01 artillery, fire heayy batteries. There S’ field-guns. Two hundred ZindawarGhaziL 00 tics are shortly expected, and a l ßo & mounted irregulars from the villaeea w ■ WOO of the Amir's cayalry. Four tcS of the infantry are encamped outside Hr remaining 200 doing duty mside the’iw The cavalry have a night picket at Zaker £ miles and a half oq the Quettah road ’ Alt the troops are armed with smooth bores a general levy has been called, and will u armed and fed by the Amir. NonehS£ t been collected. The walls are in decent re pair. The irrigation channels have ben, turned on the country, and the road beyonj Taktipul. Pathan deserters from this in* hare armed at Candahar, and have receive! present of money from the Governor, aS Jellalabad was occupied by General Sir Samuel Brown on the morning of Dec 20 without opposition. The army marched’into toe town through the eastern or Peshawm Gate, and marched out through the western or the Cabul Gate. The fort is almost precisely m the condition in which it was left by our troops at the close of the old war v!n£ Hn f- 1 } ong sfcreefc > in at a heightof 40ft, still runs straight throught it from east to west. The walls and the bastions though from time to time repaired after the shattering of earthquakes, are the same. The very houses in which our officers lived are some of them at least, still standing, and most interesting of all, the plot of ground along the inner side of part of the fort, projecting from the west towards the river north of the Peshawur Gate, and which served as the cemetery of the European dead, is still pretty mubh as it was.

A correspondent of the Pioneer gives an account of a well organised raid which was made upon Bazzar Valley by two flying columns from Daka and Ali Musjid respeclively. General Tytler’s column was fired upon from the heights, two men were killed and four wounded.

The country through, which the column passed has never before been visited by Europeans, and the effect of the punishment will be to show the Zukka Kheyls that they can easily be reached. An order was issued thanking the men for their gallantry and good conduct during the four days they were out; they really behaved grandly, and the last day marched into Daka across an unknown country, doing 19 or 20 miles without once halting tor food. A correspondent of the Times of India, under date Deo. 30, furnishes the following account of the execution of Afghan marauders:— “The day before Christmas the Kurrum Talley witnessed a tragical scene, and to-day, the day before New Year’s Day, the valley witnessed one still more tragical. Four Afghans belonging to the tribe of the Jajis, who were captured on Thursday while cutting camp followers to pieces in the Durwaza Pass, were brought into camp under a strong escort. General Roberts, knowing the depredations the Afghan tribes have been committing, resolved to make a stern example of British authority, and ordered the prisoners to be hanged. Two others who were brought into camp afterwards were ordered to be publicly lashed. The scene of the execution was close to the headquarters camp. A number of rice-field platforms slope down towards the branch of the Kurrum river, beyond which three low hills are situated. The day was warm and brilliantly sunny, and groups of natives sat on the dry, pebbly bed of the river, and the low hills around, patiently waiting the execution, which they apparently could not understand. Under an embankment facing the stream stood the gallows, a rough telegraph pole stretched across two upright poles, with four nooses dangling from the centre. At 11 o’clock the four prisoners were brought to the foot of the gallows, accompanied by a strong escort of Native infantry. The prisoners were without head-dresses, and their clothes were hanging in tatters, and with their long black hair and keen sharp faces looked thoroughly unscrupulous ruffians. All was soon over, and the bodies were cast into one grave beneath the gallows. Of the other prisoners one received the lashes unconcernedly. The other shouted that he would avenge the deaths of those who had been hanged. He was taken back to prison, and will probably be hanged to-morrow. These events are causing a profound sensation in the country around.”