nments, abandoning the fort to the enemy. A few minutes
previously an attempt to relieve him had been made by Ensign
Gordon, with a company of the 37th native infantry and eleven
camels laden with ammunition; but the party were driven back,
and Ensign Gordon killed. Captain Swayne now accordingly
proceeded towards the spot with two companies of H.M.'s 44th;
scarcely had they issued from cantonments ere a sharp and
destructive fire was poured upon them from Mahomed Shereef's
fort which, as they proceeded, was taken up by the marksmen in
the Shah Bagh, under whose deadly aim both officers and men
suffered severely; Captains Swayne and Robinson of the 44th
being killed, and Lieutenants Hallahan, Evans, and Fortye
wounded in this disastrous business. It now seemed to the
officer, on whom the command had devolved, impracticable to
bring off Ensign Warren's party without risking the
annihilation of his own, which had already sustained so rapid
and severe a loss in officers; he therefore returned forthwith
to cantonments. In the course of the evening another attempt
was made by a party of the 5th light cavalry; but they
encountered so severe a fire from the neighbouring enclosures
as obliged them to return without effecting their desired
object, with the loss of eight troopers killed and fourteen
badly wounded. Captain Boyd, the assistant commissary-general,
having meanwhile been made acquainted with the General's
intention to give up the fort, hastened to lay before him the
disastrous consequences that would ensue from so doing. He
stated that the place contained, besides large supplies of
wheat and attah, all his stores of rum, medicine, clothing,
&c., the value of which might be estimated at four lacs of
rupees; that to abandon such valuable property would not only
expose the force to the immediate want of the necessaries of
life, but would infallibly inspire the enemy with tenfold
courage. He added that we had not above two days' supply of
provisions in cantonments, and that neither himself nor Captain
Johnson of the Shah's commissariat had any prospect of
procuring them elsewhere under existing circumstances. In
consequence of this strong representation on the part of
Captain Boyd, the General sent immediate orders to Ensign
Warren to