“In your Lordship’s letter of the 8th, you have, I think, given a preference to General Nott, wherefore Sir E. Williams need not be disturbed. To send him to Cawnpore merely to force his way to Jellalabad and Caubul, and then return, giving over the command to a junior officer, would, I think, be unfair. As to his holding the chief command, it is a matter of no moment to me. The officer to command, if your Lordship could find such a man, should be also the Envoy—a Malcolm, Close, or Ochterlony.”—[_Sir Jasper Nicolls to Lord Auckland: December 19, 1841. MS. Correspondence._] “Twice I laid before the Governor-General the name of Major-General Sir Edmund Williams, and as a Light Infantry officer he was deemed most qualified to meet an enemy in a mountainous country; he was active, zealous, and in perfect health. In the command of a division he had shown a clear judgment, and given me satisfaction.... The Governor-General gave such an unwilling and discouraging reply to my second communication, that I clearly saw the whole onus of the appointment and its consequences would be mine.”—[_Sir J. Nicolls to Lord Fitzroy Somerset: September 2, 1842. MS. Correspondence._] “In obedience to your Lordship’s wishes, that Major-General Lumley should be placed in command of the force assembling at Peshawur, I requested his attendance at my tent, and placed the despatch now acknowledged (_Governor-General in Council to Sir J. Nicolls: December 15, 1841_) in his hands. The general is still very weak, though improved in health; he is willing to proceed, but requested that his medical adviser should be consulted as to his ability to undertake such a service. Assistant-Surgeon Turner decidedly assured me that his state of health would by no means admit of the required exertion and exposure.”—[_Sir J. Nicolls to Government: December 24, 1841. Papers relating to Military Operations in Afghanistan._] LORD AUCKLAND AND THE RETRIEVAL QUESTION. [_Book VII., chapter 1, page 27._]