of Messrs W. H. Allen c^ Co.'s Publications. 39 



HOWARD HENS MAN, Special Correspondent of the "Pioneer" 

 {Allahabad} and the " -Daily Neivs" {London"). 



The Afghan War, 1879-80. Being a complete Narrative of the Capture 

 of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the March 

 to Candahar, and the defeat of Ayub Khan. With Maps. Demy 8vo, 



2IS. 



" Sir Frederick Roberts says of the letters here published in a collected form that 

 ' nothing could be more accurate or graphic.' As to accuracy no one can be a more 

 competent judge than Sir Frederick, and his testimony stamps the book before us as 

 constituting especially trustworthy material for history. Of much that he relates Mr 

 Hensman was an eye-witness ; of the rest he was informed by eye-witnesses immedi- 

 ately after the occurrence of the events recorded. We are assured by Sir Frederick 

 Boberts that Mr Hensman's accuracy is complete in all respects. Mr Hensman enjoyed 

 singular advantages during the first part of the war, for he was the only special corre- 

 spondent who accompanied the force which marched out of Ali Kheyl in September 

 1879. One of the most interesting portions of the book is that which describes the 

 march of Sir Frederick Koberts from Oabul to Candahar. Indeed, the book is in 

 every respect interesting and well written, and reflects the greatest credit on the 

 author. " Athenaeum. 



Sir H. HUNTER. 



Bengal MS. Records, a selected list of Letters in the Board of Revenue, 

 Calcutta, 1782-1807, with an Historical Dissertation and Analytical 

 Index. 4 vols. Demy 8vo, 305. 



" This is one of the small class of original works that compel a reconsideration of 

 views which have been long accepted and which have passed into the current history 

 of the period to which they refer. Sir William Wilson Hunter's exhaustive examination 

 of the actual state ot the various landed classes of Bengal during the last century 

 renders impossible the further acceptance of these hitherto almost indisputable dicta 

 of Indian history. The chief materials for that examination have been the contem- 

 porary MS. records preserved in the Board of Revenue, Calcutta, of which Sir William 

 Hunter gives a list of 14,136 letters dealing with the period from 1782 to 1807. Nothing 

 could be more impartial than the spirit in which he deals with the great questions 

 involved. He makes the actual facts, as recorded by these letters, written at the 

 time, speak for themselves. But those who desire to learn how that system grew out 

 of the pre-existing land rights and land usages of the province will find a clear and 

 authoritative explanation. If these four volumes stood alone they would place their 

 author in the first rank of scientific historians ; that is, of the extremely limited 

 class of historians who write from original AISS. and records. But they do not stand 

 alone. They are the natural continuation of the author's researches, nearly a genera- 

 tion ago, among the District Archives of Bengal, which produced his ' Annals of 

 Rural Bengal ' in 1868 and his ' Orissa' in 1872. They are also the first-fruits of that 

 comprehensive history of India on which he has been engaged for the last twenty years, 

 for which he has collected in each province of India an accumulation of tested local 

 materials such as has never before been brought together in the hands, and by the 

 labours, of any worker in the same stupendous field, and which, when completed, will 

 be the fitting crown of his lifelong services to India. These volumes are indeed an 

 important instalment towards the projected magnum opus ; and in this connection 

 it is of good augury to observe that they maintain their author's reputation for that 

 fulness and minuteness of knowledge, that grasp of principles and philosophic insight, 

 and that fertility and charm of literary expression which give Sir William Hunter his 

 unique place among the writers of his day on India." The Times. 



Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 



