dar-Jung, despairing of the cause, of which he had perhaps been from
the first not a very willing supporter, came in and made his submission
to the British commander.

[29] "The fieldworks _believed to be described_ in the despatch
as 'consisting of a succession of breastworks, improved by a
ditch and abattis--the latter being filled with thorns,' turned
out to be a paltry stone wall, with a cut two feet deep, and of
corresponding width, to which the designation of ditch was most
grossly misapplied.... A score or two of active men might have
completed the work in a few days."--(Letter quoted in the
_Asiatic Journal_, Sept., p. 107.) On whom the blame of these
misrepresentations should be laid--whether on the officer who
reconnoitred the ground, or on the general who wrote the
despatch--does not very clearly appear: yet the political agent
at Quettah was removed from his charge, for not having given
notice of the construction in his vicinity of works which are
now proved to have had no existence!

During the progress of these triumphant operations in Western
Affghanistan, General Pollock still lay inactive at Jellalabad; and some
abortive attempts were made to negotiate with the dominant party at
Cabul for the release of the prisoners taken the preceding winter. Since
the death of Shah-Shoojah, the throne had been nominally filled by his
third son, Futteh-Jung, the only one of the princes who was on the spot;
but all the real power was vested, with the rank of vizier, in the hands
of Akhbar Khan, who had not only possessed himself of the Bala-Hissar
and the treasure of the late king, but had succeeded in recruiting the
forces of the Affghan league, by a reconciliation with Ameen-ullah
Khan,[30] the original leader of the outbreak, with whom he had formerly
been at variance. All efforts, however, to procure the liberation of the
captives, on any other condition than the liberation of Dost Mohammed,
and the evacuation of Affghanistan by the English, (as hostages for
which they had originally been given,) proved fruitless; and at length,
after more than four months' delay, during which several sharp affairs
had taken place with advanced bodies of the Affghans, General Pollock
moved forward with his whole force, on the 20th of August, against
Cabul. This city had again in the mean time become a scene of tumult and
disorder--the Kizilbashes or Persian inha