ABSTRACT
Lord Auckland*s Indecision.— The news of the disaster, which proved to Auckland that he had been entirely misled, was a terrible blow and, at first, he gave way to despair,1 as is shown by his message to the Commanderin-Chief, Sir Jasper Nicolls: “ I am coming fast to the opinion that our furthest point of support in advance must be Ferozepore, and that we must bear the disgrace and disadvantage of retiring to this frontier with as little of loss as may now be assured ” .2 His state of mind was such that he merely wished to despatch an insufficient force in the shape of a single brigade, with orders to march to Jalalabad, entirely ignoring the necessity for the vindica tion of our military power in Afghanistan. However, independent action was taken by the Agent at Peshawar and by George Clerk, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces, and, on January 4, 1842, a second brigade crossed the Sutlej on its march to Pesha war. Nicolls, it should be stated, was opposed to these forward movements, an opposition which certainly did not redound to his credit.
