ed that series of negotiations not less disastrous, which led to
the murder of the Envoy, to the retreat of the army, and to its ultimate
annihilation. In Lieutenant Eyre's account of their military operations,
we look in vain for any evidence of promptitude, vigour, or decision,
skill or judgment, in the commanders; and we have abundant evidence of a
lamentable want of discipline and proper spirit in the troops,
especially amongst the Europeans. Instances of high personal courage and
gallantry amongst the officers are numerous, and they always will be,
when the occasion requires them; but if the facts of this narrative had
been given without the names, no man would have recognised in it the
operations of a British army.

"_Nov_. 24.--Our troops (says Eyre) had now lost all
confidence; and even such of the officers as had hitherto
indulged the hope of a favourable turn in our affairs, began at
last reluctantly to entertain gloomy forebodings as to our
future fate. Our force resembled a ship in danger of wrecking
among rocks and shoals, for want of an able pilot to guide it
safely through them. Even now, at the eleventh hour, had the
helm of affairs been grasped by a hand competent to the
important task, we might perhaps have steered clear of
destruction; but, in the absence of any such deliverer, it was
but too evident that Heaven alone could save us by some
unforeseen interposition. The spirit of the men was gone; the
influence of the officers over them declined daily; and that
boasted discipline, which alone renders a handful of our troops
superior to an irregular multitude, began fast to disappear
from among us. The enemy, on the other hand, waxed bolder every
day and every hour; nor was it long ere we got accustomed to be
bearded with impunity from under the very ramparts of our
garrison.

"Never were troops exposed to greater hardships and dangers;
yet, sad to say, never did soldiers shed their blood with less
beneficial result than during the investment of the British
lines at Cabul."

Captain Conolly now wrote from the Bala Hissar, urging an immediate
retreat thither; "but the old objections were still urged against the
measure by Brigadier Shelton and others," though several of the chief
military, and all the political officers, approved of it. Shah Shoojah
was impatient to receive them.

The