Neither
he nor his adviser Macgregor appears to have realised how incumbent on
the garrison of Jellalabad it was to hold out to the last extremity,
irrespective of consequences to itself, unless it should receive a
peremptory recall from higher authority; or to have recognised the
glorious opportunity presented of inspiriting by its staunch constancy
and high-souled self-abnegation a weak government staggering under a
burden of calamity. Than Sale no braver soldier ever wore sword, but a
man may delight to head a forlorn hope and yet lack nerve to carry with
high heart a load of responsibility; nor was Macgregor so constituted as
to animate his chief to noble emprise. Fast on the heels of the gloomy
tidings from the Khyber mouth there came to them from Shah Soojah, who
was still the nominal sovereign at Cabul, a curt peremptory letter
obviously written under compulsion, of which the following were the
terms: 'Your people have concluded a treaty with us; you are still in
Jellalabad; what are your intentions? Tell us quickly.'
Sale summoned a council of war, which assembled at his quarters on
January 27th. Its proceedings were recorded, and the documents laid
before it were preserved by Captain Henry Havelock in his capacity as
Sale's staff-officer. Record and papers were reclaimed from Havelock's
custody by General Sale before the evacuation of Afghanistan, and had
been long lost to sight.
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