brother murdered, and a Lieutenant Sturt stabbed in five places in the presence of Shah Shooja, who interfered to save him, and succeeded, but seems to have little influence with his wild chiefs. All the news that comes is from a letter of Lady ———, who is in Cabul, to her husband, who was wounded at Jellalabad. She writes very heroically, and always was an active, strong-minded woman. Many people think it impossible that any one man will ever come alive from Cabul. The snow is just beginning to fall, and the passes in the best of times are very dangerous. I never can believe that 3,000 of our troops, Europeans, or sepoys, will allow themselves to be massacred, and, though of course there must be many painful casualties, I cannot see it quite in the despairing line; but the women who are there are a sore subject to think of; the Afghans are such a savage set. We know most of the ladies there; one has seven small children with her, and another two. You may imagine the state George is in, and indeed there is a general gloom in Calcutta; for everybody has friends and relations there, and then the suspense may be so long with the passes all closed.
