1 INTRODUCTION. XXVII
2 Cabul expedition was far more quixotic than ever it was supposed
3 to be ; for had the Jummoo Rajah only combined with " the
4 Wallace of Cabul/'* which it is well known he intended doing,
5 if the Affg-han troops could have checked the advance of
6 General Pollock, for Goolaub Sing was too knowing to
7 think of attacking the British until they were repulsed.
8 Had such an event, however, taken place, it is quite evident
9 that Pollock, attacked in front and rear, must have been
10 destroyed with his whole army ; and Dehan Sing, with the
11 army at Lahore, would have been too much for the force
12 under Sir Jasper Nicolls; and without the special interfer-
13 ence of Providence, the Seiks would even have destroyed a the
14 Army of Reserve," though headed by " the Brumegem Na-
15 poleon" himself. But weak as we were in undertaking the
16 Affghan campaign, we were not quite so weak as we were
17 wicked. The war was not so impolitic as improper, and the
18 hope of being able to reinstate Shah Soojah was certainly
19 not quite so absurd, as to expect that the rajh of Runjeet
20 Sing would last.
21 Major Lawrence said it would end with the " old Lion,"
22 as the Maharajah has been called; though, perhaps Mr.
23 Thackeray's appellation of " the old Robber" would be more
24 correct.
25 In the " Punjaub Adventurer " Dehan Sing is made to
26 speak like Cassandra, and foretell the destruction of the
27 rajh, and all the bloodshed that ensued.
28 What a country the Punjaub was then to have between
29 * Of all the names that have been applied to Ukbar Khan, Mr. Roebuck's ap-
30 pellation of " the Wallace of Cabul " was the most happy ; for, be it remembered, that
31 although the Scotch Hero was a Christian, and a much better educated man than the
32 Cabul chief, even he commenced his career as a murderer; and I have never read
33 that he repented of the deed ; yet I believe to this day it is the opinion of the best
34 informed, that to secure the person of the Envoy, was the extent of the treachery
35 intended by the Dooranee Patriot.