Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/156

150 the General to prepare for a movement into the Bálá Hissár, or else to make one bold determined effort to replenish the fast dwindling stock of food. Elphinstone and Shelton alike rejected his proposals, and pressed him all the more earnestly to make the best terms he could with the Afghán leaders. In the first days of December the enemy were allowed to destroy a bridge spanning the river between cantonments and the citadel, and to retake Muhammad Sheríf's fort, even though the men, who had just abandoned it, volunteered to go and win it back.

By the loth of December the Envoy knew that his last hope of succour from Nott's garrison lay dead, and that no entreaties could move his military colleagues even to attempt a march on the Bálá Hissár. They only insisted on the need of negotiating a safe retreat to Jalálábád or Pesháwar. With a heavy heart he consented to do their bidding. On the following day he conferred with Akbar and his fellow-chiefs on the terms of a draft treaty which recanted every item of the policy proclaimed in the Manifesto of 1838. He engaged to withdraw all our troops and establishments as speedily as possible from Afghánistán, and to send back Dost Muhammad and all other Afgháns then detained in India. Sháh Shujá was to have the option of remaining in Kábul or returning to India with our troops. The Afgháns on their part were to furnish all needful supplies and carriage, to respect all property that might be left behind, to refrain