ion of parliament, and the differences which had lately sprung up
between the British government and that of Persia.

AFFAIRS IN THE EAST INDIES.

Her majesty, in her speech on the prorogation of parliament, alluded to
an army which the governor-general had led across the Indus. This
"army of the Indus" was put in motion for the western frontier at the
commencement of the present year; and the circumstances which led to so
important a proceeding were briefly these. The kingdom of Affghanistan
has been called the land of transition between eastern and western Asia:
a proverb says, "No one can be king of Hindoostan without first becoming
lord of Cabool." The founder of the Affghan empire was Ahmed Shah, who
died in 1773. Ahmed Shah made several victorious incursions into the
East; and his son, Timour Shah, followed his example. The decease of
Timour Shah, however, delivered over the Affghan empire to the domestic
hostilities of his sons; and the rival tribe of the Barukzyes
took advantage of their dissensions to precipitate them from their
sovereignty. When, indeed, Sir Alexander Burnes visited Affghanistan in
1833, the only portion which remained in the hands of a descendant of
Ahmed Shah was the principality of Herat. The remainder was parcelled
out in the following manner between the usurping family:--Dost Mohammed
Khan ruled in Cabool; Sirdar Sooltan Mohammed Khan ruled Peshawar,
although his two brothers. Peer and Sared Mohammed Khan, shared its
revenues; and Candahar was governed by Kohun Dil Khan, assisted by
Ruhun Dil and Shere Dil, his two brothers. The chief of Cabool owed his
success to Futteh Khan, the chief of the great family of Barukzyes, and
the most powerful of the Affghan nobles. Futteh Khan, in fact, governed
the kingdom under the designation of vizier, while Mahmood abandoned
himself to debauchery. If Mahmood, however, submitted to the ascendancy
of his able minister, not so did his son, the prince Kamrau. By his
orders Futteh Khan was seized at Herat and deprived of his eyesight;
and a few months afterwards the unhappy vizier was literally hacked to
pieces by the courtiers of Mahmood, in the presence of that monarch.
In the days of his power Futteh Khan had distributed the different
governments of his kingdom among his numerous brothers, and this act
drove them into rebellion. Mahmood abandoned his throne without a
struggle, and, although he retained Herat, with the title of king,
became, in ef