Major-General Sir Charles Napier, K. C. B., Commanding the forces in Sinde and Beloochistan, to T. H. Maddock, Esq. SIR, Sukkur, October 12, 1842. I LOSE no time in forwarding the enclosed dispatch from Major-General England, which has this moment reached me. I hope I may be allowed to offer my congratulations to the Governor-General on the successful termination of so arduous and difficult an operation. I have, &c. C. NAPIER, Major-General. Major-General Richard England, commanding Sinde Field Force, to T. H. Maddock, Esq. SIR, Camp, near Dadur, October 10, 1842. I HAVE the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the Right Honourable the GovernorGeneral in Council, that the troops destined to descend to the Indus by the Bolan Pass, finally evacuated Quetta on the 1st instant, and have accomplished their march through that defile without much difficulty. 2. In order to facilitate the movement of this large body, which, with the acquisition of the garrison of Quetta, consisted of more than seven battalions, with details of cavalry, eighteen pieces of artillery, and an increased retinue of invalids, and of stores, I divided it into three columns of route, retaining the last in as light a form of equipment as possible, in the hope and supposition that, if the tribes, through whose country we should pass, were inclined to attack us, they would prefer to make their chief efforts on the last departing division; and I, therefore, sent the greater portion of the sick and public stores with the leading divisions accordingly. 3. It has proved that this conjecture was right, because the two preceding divisions have been wholly unmolested in their progress through the Pass, whereas, on the morning of the 3d, I found the Kakurs posted in some numbers on the steep ground which commands the upper extremity of the narrow zig-zag near Sir-i-bolan. 4. These insurgents, however, had only time to deliver a few rounds on the column, when their attention was fully engaged by the flanking parties which covered our left, and which I now reinforced by a strong detachment of the 6th regiment Bombay Native Infantry, and by nearly the whole of the 5th regiment of irregular infantry, under Major Woodhouse and Captain Macdonnell, respectively. 5. I had every reason to be satisfied with the handsome manner in which our troops ascended these stupendous heights, and cleared them of the enemy; and Major Woodhouse speaks very highly of the conduct of a party of Brahoee horse which accompanied him in this affair. 6. On this occasion also Major Outram gave me his able assistance, as well as in flanking the lower extremity of the Bolan Pass near Kundye, where I had good reason to expect again to meet some hostile tribes, but the total disappointment of the Kakurs on the 3d, and the effectual flanking arrangements made on all occasions by our troops, seem to have prevented any renewal of interruption. 7. I beg leave to enclose a list of the casualties which have occurred during their passage of the Bolan Defile. 8. As I now consider the chief difficulties of this march to have terminated, I trust I may be permitted to bring to the notice of his Lordship the Governor-General, the general good conduct of the troops I have had the honour to command, during these prolonged and laborious operations; and I venture to submit the names of Major Waddington, Commanding Engineer; Major Wyllie, Major of Brigade; Major Boyd, Acting Assistant Quartermaster-General; Captain Davidson, Deputy Commissary-General; and Surgeon Wight, in chief medical charge; and to claim his Lordship's favourable estimate of the exertions of these Officers in their several departments and capacities; and it is with the utmost satisfaction I am enabled to assure his Lordship that, owing to the discipline which has been exacted, these British columns, in emerging from the Bolan Pass, will leave amongst the peaceable inhabitants of the countries they have quitted, a well-merited character for forbearance and humanity; whilst, in the deliberate and systematic order of their march, during which every enemy has been beaten off, and no stores lost or captured, the power of our arms has been alike equally and imperiously made manifest. 9. The garrison of Sebee will be withdrawn tomorrow, and that of Dadur on the 12th or 13th, when I propose to resume my progress to the Indus. I have, &c. R. ENGLAND, Major-General, Com manding Sinde Field Force. Return of Casualties in Skirmishes with the Enemy, since the March of the Head-quarters from Quetta, on the 1st, to its Arrival at Dadur on the 9th instant. Camp, Dadur, October 10, 1842. Poona Auxiliary Horse-2 horses wounded. 6th Regiment N. I.-1 private wounded. 20th Regiment N. I.-1 assistant-surgeon killed; 2 privates, 1 bheestie, wounded; 4 dooly bearers missing. 5th Irregular Infan'ry (late Shah's)-1 private, killed; 1 subadar, 5 privates, 1 lascar, wounded. Total-1 assistant-surgeon, 1 private, killed; 1 subadar, 8 privates, 1 bheestie, 1 lascar, wounded; 4 dooly bearers missing; 2 horses wounded. Grand Total-2 killed; 11 wounded; 4 missing; 2 horses wounded. Assistant-Surgeon J. Brickwell, killed. The Brahoee Chief, Mahomed Khan, slightly wounded, and 1 horse killed. H. WYLLIE, Major, Major of Brigade, Sinde Force. Remarks. 1 private dangerously wounded; 3 privates, 1 bheestie, 1 lascar, severely wounded; 1 subadar, 4 privates, slightly wounded. Total Wounded-11 men, and 2 horses severely. NOTIFICATION. Simla, October 25, 1842. THE advance of the British armies to Ghuznee and Cabool having led to the restoration to freedom of the British prisoners in the hands of the Affghans, Dost Mahomed Khan, his wives and family, and the wife and family of Mahomed Akbar Khan, and many Affghan chiefs, remain in the absolute power of the British Government, without having any means of procuring their li beration. To this condition of disgrace and danger has Mahomed Akbar Khan reduced his father, and his wife, and his family, and the chiefs, his countrymen, by making war upon women, and preferring the continuance of their captivity and suffering, for objects connected only with his own safety, to the general exchange of prisoners, which was offered by the British Government, and the consequent restoration to liberty of those whose honour and whose happiness should have been most dear to him. But the British Government is desirous of terminating, at the earliest period, all the evils which have arisen out of the Affghan war; and the Governor-General, enabled by the recovery of the British prisoners who were in the hands of the enemy, to follow the course most in accordance with clemency and humanity, declares that, when the British army, returning from Affghanistan, shall have passed the Indus, all the Affghans, now in the power of the British Government, shall be permitted to return to their country. The Affghan chiefs who are thus released, will, before they pass the Sutlej, present themselves at |