"You shall have it, sir-yes, it shall never be said, "That a chief of our line,

"Refused to resign,

"To a stranger aught, even the sole eye in his head."
And he raises his finger to take out the eye,
When his chaplain, an eminent saint, standing by,
With a desperate shout,
Vociferates out,

"Hold fast-blood and thunder! what are you about?"
And addressing Levawn in a threatening attitude,
"Cries-"Think you that Heaven will permit this ingratitude?
"After eating his beef,
"You infernal old thief!
"And his mutton,
"You glutton!

"And worse than all that, was there ever yet seen,
"Such villainy-drinking his double poteen?
"No-rather instead,

"Let your eye quit its socket,
"And fly like a rocket,

"Into his-like a billiard-ball into a pocket :-
"And you-go to Jericho or the Old Head."

The words are scarce spoken-when to his surprise,
Poor Eochy finds himself blessed with two eyes!
While Mr. Levawn, most confoundedly done,
To his surprise finds that he hasn't got one.
And no one could paint

The delight of the saint,

When he finds matters turn up so pleasant and quaint ;
While the wondering crowd rendered dumb with amaze,
Fall down on their knees with a stupified gaze.

And now to a close that our legend we've drawn,
It remains but to say,

That from that lucky day,

The chieftain was ever called suil-Lev un ;*
And all his descendants, who numerous still,
Grew as thick as potatoes about Hungry Hill;
Where, long, like the lion at bay in his lair,
Mid his wild mountains fought The O'Sullivan Bear.
Of the saint's future history little is known,
By his chieftain of course he was amply rewarded,
But from that period forth, it is no where recorded,
That he meddled with any one's eyes but his own.

Levawn, whom the chieftain's compassion prevented
His people from slaying-'tis said much repented,
He was led by a dog,

Over mountain and bog,

And the peasants, although they at first so resented
His act, yet on finding he so much relented,
Supplied him at all times with clothing and prog.
He wandered the country around far and wide,

And we don't know the time, or the place where he died.
The thing which, 'tis said,

The chief bitterness shed

On his age-and full oft made him wish he was dead,
Was, that all the young gaffers, to vex him would cry out,
As he passed by their huts-

"THERE YOU GO WITH YOUR EYE OUT!"

A

NARRATIVE OF THE AFFGHAN WAR,

In a Series of Letters of the late Colonel Dennie, C.B., Her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry Regiment, Aid-de-Camp to the Queen.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.

SIR-Allow me to offer for publication in your periodical, the accompanying series of letters from my relative, the late lamented Colonel Dennie, containing a personal narrative of the war in Afghanistan. They are word for word the same as in the original, omitting, of course, such parts as can be of interest to his friends alone.

I have no doubt that were my dear friend now living, he would condemn—at least in their present form-the publication of letters, intended but for the eyes of those in whom he centred all his hopes of future earthly happiness; and written without that forethought and deliberation which all deem essential in launching any new bark upon the ocean of literature. I cannot but think, however, that in this consists their peculiar excellence. If there be faults in the style and composition of these letters, they are more than overbalanced by the faithfulness and truth; and written as they were upon the scenes of those actions which they profess to describe, with that freedom which the dread of criticism naturally curtails, they cannot but be regarded as forming a valuable addition to the already published histories of our military operations in the

countries west of the Indus.

Considering the high rank which Colonel Dennie occupied throughout this lamentable war, and the prominent and important parts which he so gallantly and successfully performed therein, I cannot but feel confident that the readers of THE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE will be interested by their perusal—those of Ireland especially, when they know, that although he received his first breath in England, yet by paternal and maternal ancestry, Ireland may claim as her son, one other hero, who served his country and found his grave in that far distant land. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant, WM. E. STEELE, M.D.

15, Hatch-street, 8th August, 1842.

HAVING, in a former number of this Magazine,* presented to our readers an account of our then existing relations with Afghanistan, and the position of our troops there, illustrated by a map of the seat of war, and a description of those cities and towns, plains and passes, celebrated for our victories or disasters; it is now proposed to enter upon a narration of the stirring events, which have given to these, formerly almost unknown regions, so deep and melancholy an interest.

This narrative is composed of a complete series of letters, from an officernow alas! no more-who not only occupied a high rank in the English army, but who, himself, led and conducted, or took an eminently conspicuous part in such of those late military enterprises, to which, almost alone, we may revert with every feeling of satisfaction or triumphant pleasure.

William Henry Dennie was born in England. His father, (a member of the English bar,) was nearly connected with the Irish family of Denny,† of Tralee Castle, of which Sir Edward is now the head. His mother was granddaughter

* No. 113-May, 1842.

To a private pique, (which induced a great-ancestor of the writer of the fol lowing letters to alter the final syllable of the name from ny to nie,) may be attributed the difference in the orthography of each name at the present time.

of Laurence Steele, Esq., of Rathbride, in the county of Kildare, through the youngest son of that house, William. From her he inherited all that generosity and nobleness of feeling-that ardour and enthusiasm of disposition, and moral, nay, physical courage which shone so conspicuously in every action of his life. In a word, all those qualities of head and heart which endeared him to every member of his corps, as an accomplished and considerate officer, and to all who knew him, as a warm and affectionate friend. Colonel Dennie entered his majesty's army in January, 1800; and being anxious to obtain a rank in the profession which he had chosen, which, during active service, might afford him more ample opportunities for distinction, he purchased each step as rapidly as circumstances would permit; and was gazetted lieutenant-colonel of the thirteenth light infantry on the 6th of July, 1832. In the year 1810, he was at the capturing of the Isle of France, and in India served under Lord Lake with his former regiment, the twenty-second. On the return of the latter corps from India, he effected an exchange into the thirteenth light infantry, in which regiment he served during the Burmese war, and distinguished himself so highly that the Companionship of the Bath was conferred upon him. His subsequent military career may be traced in the following pages.

The first letter of the series is dated " Landour, August 22, 1838," and is as follows:

"I much fear that I shall be too late for this mail, and that the time has elapsed for my being able to despatch this letter by the steamer, which is only now announced to sail from Bombay, on the 8th September. In ordinary times, this advertisement would suffice, but we are just now at the height of the rains of this country, and you may know what these periodical floods, or tropical monsoons mean. The whole face of the land is just now inundated, and to a stranger from Europe, wears all the appearance of another deluge. Here, in the mountains, it has rained forty-six days without intermission-what then must it be in the plains? The usual time of a letter from hence to Bombay, is twelve or fourteen days in dry weather; I have now seventeen to accomplish it in, but fear the floods will detain the post till the steamer has sailed-but at all events we must try our chance. The government has, however, an excuse for not furnishing us with earlier information, (as to the starting of this mail.) Their despatches are at this moment of such importance, that all other subjects become of minor interest: and the convenience of individuals cannot be consulted, when the interests of such an empire as India are at stake. We are on the eve of something momentous. A great army from our northern provinces is forming,

and our regiment has received orders to march on field service on the 14th October. I shall now, at last, be restored to the command of my regiment, for Colonel Sale will be the senior brigadier, and I have every reason to believe that it is intended to give me a brigade also.

The field is to be one of intense interest and curiosity-a classical and beautiful land, where the hostile foot of European has never trod since the days of Alexander the Great!* They say we are going to fight the Persians or Russians, the latter of whom are now besieging Herat, in concert with the former; and are actually not much farther from our frontier, or where we are posted, than those stations of Kurnaul, Meerut, &c., are from Calcutta. The Russians have long conceived this gigantic design: they are poor, and know that the wealth of the East has been the great object of desire of all nations in the world. They have conquered Persia, after subduing Turkey, and have really stolen across this immense extent of country, without our being almost aware of their insidious advances, till we hear of them actually besieging Herat, a fortress of Cabool, which stands on the confines of that country and Persia. The Seikh kingdomt alone divides us from Cabool, and the celebrated Runjeet Singh, whose ca

Alexander the Great, after his conquest of Persia, proceeded through this country to India by the plains and mountain passes, with the names of which we are all now familiar.

† Or Punjab. The Seikhs are its rulers; or rather the government is in the hands of the Seikh dynasty, of which Runjeet Singh was then the head. The Seikhs were originally a religious sect. One of their priests, by the influence of his preaching, animated this sect against the Moslems, and established a republic,

which until the time of Runjeet Singh, rajah of Lahore, possessed no organization. Under him they subdued all the other rulers of the Punjab, and seized upon Cashmere, a province then tributary to the Barukzye chiefs, of whom Dost Mahomed is the head. Thus the territories of the rajah of Lahore were of wide extent, stretching from the eastern range of the Indian Caucasus or Hindoo-Coosh to Scinde, and from Indostan on the east to the river Indus on the west. The forces of the rajah were well disciplined, and could even boast of being commanded by some of Napoleon's officers; of whom are Generals Avitabili, Allard, Ventura, and Court. The first is governor of Peshawar. The independent Seikh states, over whom Runjeet Singh possesses no control, and through which our armies were to pass, are a few paltry dominions on the left bank of the Sutlege or Gharra, between our dominions, and the territories of their more powerful neighbour. The latter is prevented from interfering with these by treaty, and a British agent resides there, to watch our interests and preserve their independence.-See Havelock, vol. i. p. 50.

materiel of operations. He it is who was dismissed by Dost Mahomed, the present king, and has only within these few days returned with Major Todd from Herat. Our ambassador has also been dismissed by the Persians, and his personal safety endangered. The governor-general and commander-in-chief are all here in the Himalayahs, at a neighbouring station

Simla. Thus the government being on
the spot, or so close to the field of ope-
rations, no time has been lost in orga-
nizing a sufficient force, as the Bengal
division is to be joined by an army from
Bombay, and report says Sir Henry
Fane will take the command of all
"W. H. D."

It is needless here to enter into the wisdom of the policy which induced our government to enter upon that expedition. The ostensible reasons are given at length in the published declaration of the governor-general of India, dated, "Simla, October 1st, 1838." Suffice it to say, that a period for vigorous action had arrived, and whatever might have been the means adopted by another administration, the end to be obtained was the establishment of our influence in those countries west of the Indus. The machinations of Russia* were too obvious not to awaken our suspicions or fears. The chiefs of Cabool were induced to act with open audacity to our envoy and officials, and the Ameers of Scinde, with whom we had entered some time before upon a commercial treaty, were stimulated to side with the enemy against us, and even to solicit the aid of the Persians in destroying the hated influence of the Feringees, or English, in their country.

For the purpose of carrying out the objects mentioned in the governorgeneral's declaration, and establishing Shah Soojah on the throne of Cabool, the following official appointments were then made:- Mr. W. H. Macnaghten to be minister and envoy of the Indian government at the future court of Shah Soojah, assisted in other or subordinate stations by Captain A. Burnes, Lieutenant Todd, Lieutenant Pottinger, Lieutenant Leech, and Dr. Perceval B. Lord. Lieutenant Connolly was appointed to command the escort of the minister, and Mr. G. J. Berwick to be its surgeon.

The military dispositions and appointments were as follow:-The " Army of the Indus," consisting of three divisions, (two from the Bengal presidency and one from Bombay,) was placed under the command of Sir Henry Fane, commander-in-chief of India. The first infantry division of the Bengal force was entrusted to the care of Sir Willoughby Cotton, in which were the first, second, and third brigades: the second division, under Major-General Duncan, consisted of the fourth and fifth brigades. Brigadier Sale was given the command of the first brigade, in which was the thirteenth light infantry regiment, commanded by its junior lieutenant-colonel, W. H. Dennie. Major General Nott commanded the second brigade, Brigadier Roberts the fourth, and Brigadier Worsley the fifth. The care of the engineer department was intrusted to Captain George Thompson-this, with a siege train, completed the Bengal force, consisting of about ten thousand men.

The Bombay contingent, under Sir John Keane, commander-in-chief of that presidency, consisted of an ample and well-organized force, with cavalry, siegetrain, sappers and miners, and artillery, which may be estimated at about six thousand strong.

The force subsequently received the augmentation of another brigade, consisting of the first, second, and fourth regiments of local cavalry, under the command of Colonel James Skinner.

One portion of the army cannot be passed unnoticed. It was stated in the governor-general's declaration, "that his majesty Shah Soojah-ool-moolk will enter Affghanistan surrounded by his own troops;" and in order to give this mandate effect, a mass of levies was raised in Industan, consisting of five

*It may be recollected, perhaps, that in a recent debate on this war in the House of Commons, Sir Robert Peel refused to produce papers to the house, on the ground that their production would compromise our then friendly relations with Russia. Thus tacitly acknowledging the existence of documentary evidence as to the interference of the agents of that country in this matter.