ar each other to pieces as soon as they
are released from the presence of the _Feringhis_. There would thus be
at least a possibility of obtaining a nucleus for the re-establishment
of something like good order; while in no other quarter does there
appear much prospect of a government being formed, which might be either
"approved by the Affghans themselves," or "capable of maintaining
friendly relations with neighbouring states." If the accounts received
may be depended upon, our troops had scarcely cleared the Kojuck Pass,
on their way from Candahar to the Indus, when that city became the scene
of a contest between the Prince Seifdar-Jung and the Barukzye chiefs in
the vicinity; and though the latter are said to have been worsted in the
first instance, there can be little doubt that our departure will be the
signal for the speedy return of the quondam _Sirdars_, or rulers of
Candahar, (brothers of Dost Mohammed,) who have found an asylum in
Persia since their expulsion in 1839, but who will scarcely neglect so
favourable an opportunity for recovering their lost authority. Yet
another competitor may still, perhaps, be found in the same quarter--one
whose name, though sufficiently before the public a few years since, has
now been almost forgotten in the strife of more mighty interests. This
is Shah Kamran of Herat, the rumours of whose death or dethronement
prove to have been unfounded, and who certainly would have at this
moment a better chance than he has ever yet had, for regaining at least
Candahar and Western Affghanistan. He was said to be on the point of
making the attempt after the repulse of the Persians before Herat, just
before our adoption of Shah-Shoojah; and his title to the crown is at
least as good as that of the late Shah, or any of his sons. It will be
strange if this prince, whose danger from Persia was the original
pretext for crossing the Indus, should be the only one of all the
parties concerned, whose condition underwent no ultimate change, through
all the vicissitudes of the tempest which has raged around him.

Nor are the elements of discord less abundant and complicated on the
side of Cabul. The defeat of Tazeen will not, any more than the
preceding ones, have annihilated Akhbar Khan and his confederate
chiefs:--they are still hovering in the Kohistan, and will doubtless
lose no time in returning to Cabul as soon as the retreat of the English
is ascertained. It is true that the civil wars of the