Shelton's dispositions as a commander could
not well have been worse; his bearing as a soldier, although undaunted,
imparted to his hapless troops nothing of inspiration. The obstinacy with
which he held the hill after the impossibility of even partial success
must have been patent to him, was universally condemned. It need scarcely
be added that his loss was very severe.
No more fighting was possible. What, then, was to be done? Elphinstone
and Shelton were at one in opposing removal into the Balla Hissar.
Macnaghten, to whom Shah Soojah had communicated his urgent
recommendation of that measure as the only expedient which could secure
the safety of the British troops, fell in with the views of the military
authorities. There came to him a letter from Osman Khan, the chief who
had called off his adherents on the previous day from pursuing the
fugitives fleeing into cantonments. Osman wrote that, if his troops had
followed up their successes, the loss of the cantonments and the
destruction of the British force were inevitable; but, he continued, that
it was not the wish of the chiefs to proceed to such extremities, their
sole desire being that our people should quietly evacuate the country,
leaving the Afghan sirdars to govern it according to their own customs,
and with a king of their own choosing. In communicating this letter to
General Elphinstone, Sir William asked for the latter's opinion on the
military possibility, or the reverse, of the retention of the British
position in Afghanistan.
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