text:  An army alas! dreadfully defeated in one quarter and dangerously disaffected in another; a war of extermination in Affghanistan; probable hostilities with Burmah and Nepaul; an almost hopelessly involved foreign policy; and moreover under these desperate circumstances with a treasury _empty!_ We shall confine ourselves to one topic the war in Affghanistan--which we fearlessly and with deep indignation pronounce to have inflicted almost irreparable injury on the British nation--an almost indelible stain on the British character--and to have shaken the whole of our Eastern possessions