ification of the Levant. After alluding to the disputes with China,
her majesty proceeded to make some remarks on the subject of Canada and
the legislative bodies of Jamaica, &c.: and the speech concluded with
an expression of regret that it had been found necessary to impose
additional burdens upon the people.

AFFAIRS OF BRITISH INDIA.

The army of the Indus having achieved the object for which it had
been sent to the north-western extremity of India, by seating Shah
Soojah-ool-Moolk on the throne of Cabul, and by storming the fortresses
of Ghuznee and Khelat, commenced its retrograde march in the middle of
October. 1839. The army marched in two divisions, one to Bengal, under
Sir J. Keene and the other to Bombay, by the Bolau Pass and Scinde. At
this time Dost Mohammed seemed shorn of his power; he had retired across
the Hindoo Koosh, the passes of which were guarded, and the chiefs
of Balkh and Bokhara refused to join him. But although the prowess of
British arms had wrested from him the throne of Afghanistan, Shah Soojah
was by no means secure of it a moment longer than he was supported by
European aid, The precarious tenure by which he held his power was seen
early in this year, when Syed Hoshein, the chief of Koona, sent a letter
to his majesty, couched in the most insulting terms, and stating that,
as he had heard the Russians were advancing, it was his intention to
join them. On hearing this Sir Willoughby Cotton, who commanded one
division of the force which was returning to Bengal, despatched Colonel
Orchard from Jellalabad, with a body of troops to attack the fort of
Pooshat, where the Koona chief resided. Pooshat was captured, but Syed
Hoshein escaped. The state of Affghanistan, however, still remained
unsettled, for Dost Mohammed was employed with restless activity in
intriguing among the native princes, with a view to recovering the
throne which he had lost; and at the close of the year the British
troops which had been left to support Shah Soojah imperatively demanded
refreshment and repose. In testimony of the services of the army of the
Indus, Lord Auckland resolved that all the corps, European and native,
in the service of the East India Company, which proceeded beyond
the Bolau Pass, should have on their regimental colours the word
"Affghanistan," and such of them as were employed in the reduction of
the fortress of that name the word "Ghuznee" in addition. In the same
general order he stated,