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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1168: AFFAIRS OF BRITISH INDIA.
By Edward Farr
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The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

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, on behalf of the queen’s regiments, that he would recommend to her majesty that the same distinction should be granted to them. Besides this complimentary notice, Lord Auckland ordered that a donation of six months’ full or field batta should be given to officers and men of every rank attached to the army who advanced beyond the Bolau Pass.