[270] The meeting was agreed upon before the British Government had determined to cross the Indus; and Runjeet complained of its tardy accomplishment, on the ground of the expense that he was obliged to incur in keeping his troops together.
[271] It is generally acknowledged that nothing could have been more orderly or more creditable both to the regiments and their commanding officers, than the style in which all the components of the “Army of the Indus” made their way to Ferozepore. Captain Havelock, an excellent authority on such points, says: “A force has never been brought together in any country in a manner more creditable and soldier-like than was the Bengal portion of the Army of the Indus.”
[272] Captain Havelock says the 28th—Colonel Fane, the 29th.
[273] Captain Havelock’s Narrative—from which this description has been mainly written. Colonel Fane’s Five Years in India; and Mr. Stocqueler’s Memorials of Afghanistan also contribute some details.
[274] “It is worthy of notice that a strange accident befel the old Maharajah in the tent containing the larger gifts of the British Government. He was not very firm on his legs at any time, but here he had the misfortune to stumble over a pile of shells, and fell prostrate before the British guns.”—[Havelock’s Narrative.] Remembering how the Sikh Empire fell before the British guns at Goojrat, we may at least observe that this was a curious type of the destiny then awaiting the great kingdom founded by Runjeet Singh.
[275] Stocqueler’s Memorials of Afghanistan.
[276] For an account of the manœuvres both of the British and Sikh divisions, see Captain Havelock’s Narrative.
[277] These brigades consisted of the 3rd Buffs, the 2nd, 27th, 5th, 20th, and 53rd Regiments of Native Infantry. Captain Havelock and other military authorities have condemned this decision by lot. It is said that the principle of selection should have been adhered to on the reduction, as well as on the formation of the force. “Sir Henry Fane,” says Captain Havelock, “need not thus have distrusted or paid so poor a compliment to his own sagacity and impartiality; the one had seldom been at fault in India or in Europe, the other was above suspicion. Sortilege, after all, did little for the army in one instance; for it sent forward to the labours of the campaign, the 13th Light Infantry, then as ever zealous, indeed, and full of alacrity, but even at Ferozepore shattered by disease; the spirit of its soldiers willing, but unequal to the task; whilst it doomed to inactivity the Buffs, one of the most effective European corps in India.” This is the impartial testimony of an officer of the 13th Light Infantry. It was written immediately after the first campaign of the Army of the Indus. No writer would now regret the chance which sent Sale and Dennie into Afghanistan, and associated the name of the 13th Light Infantry with some of the most illustrious incidents of the war.
[278] Colonel H. Pottinger to Government: Published Papers relating to Sindh.
[279] “Just and necessary!”
——Earth is sick,
And Heaven is weary of the hollow words
Which States and Kingdoms utter when they talk
Of truth and justice.
[280] I do not intend to enter into the politics of Sindh more than is absolutely necessary to the elucidation of the history of the war in Afghanistan; but it ought to be mentioned here that the harsh and unjust treatment of the Ameers in 1838-39 has been defended or extenuated upon the grounds of an alleged traitorous correspondence with Mahomed Shah of Persia. A letter from one of the Ameers to the “King of Kings” was intercepted, but Colonel Pottinger declared that it was of no political importance, but simply an ebullition of Sheeahism, addressed to Mahomed Shah as Defender of the Faith.—[Correspondence relating to Afghanistan.] A letter, also said to have been written by the Persian King to two of the Ameers (Mahomed Khan and Nussur Khan), acknowledging the receipt of letters from them, and exhorting them to look to him for protection, was forwarded from Khelat to Runjeet Singh, who sent it in through Captain Wade to the Governor-General. But Major Todd, who by this time had joined Shah Soojah at Loodhianah, “did not hesitate to pronounce it, from its style and language, to be a palpable fabrication.”—[Captain Wade to Mr. Macnaghten, October 24, 1838. MS. Records.]
[281] Captain Wade to Mr. Macnaghten, Nov. 8 and 9, 1838. MS. Records.
[282] Shah Soojah’s force passed through Ferozepore on the 2nd. Major Todd accompanied the Shah. Macnaghten joined the royal camp at Shikarpoor.
[283] It had been no easy matter to provide carriage-cattle for that immense assemblage. The camels, which constituted the bulk of the beasts of burden, had been mostly drawn on hire from Bekaneer, Jaysulmer, and the northern and north-western provinces of India; but the country had been so drained, that at last it became necessary to indent upon the brood-camels of the government stud at Hissar.
[284] This road, some 280 miles in length, had been prepared, under Mackeson’s directions, to facilitate the march of our troops.
[285] As the army advanced, the Khan, to whose court Mackeson had been despatched to conclude a treaty of protective alliance, exerted himself to assist the enterprise, and exhibited the most friendly feeling towards Shah Soojah. He gave the Shah two guns—made him a present of money—sent a party of irregular horse, under one of his chief officers, to escort him through the Bahwulpore dominions; and allowed the officers of the Shah’s contingent to recruit their regiment from the ranks of his own regular infantry. The Shah’s regiments were in this way raised to their full strength, six hundred men having been drawn from the Bahwulpore army.—[MS. Notes.]
[286] Captain Havelock.
[287] Some of the Shah’s troops were very unreasonable in their expectations and their complaints. The raw levies of horse, just recruited from the grain districts of Upper India, made violent complaints because they found that to the westward barley was the food of horses.
[288] Sir Henry Fane was much pleased with the economy of Bahwul Khan’s Court. Though not on an extensive scale, it was perhaps, better ordered, on the whole, than that of any native potentate at the time.
[289] The cession of Bukkur was extremely distasteful to Meer Roostum. It was calculated to lower him in the eyes both of the other Ameers and of his own subjects; and Burnes, fearing that he would be dissuaded by his relatives, made the stipulation for the surrender of the place a separate article of the treaty, in order that the Ameer might conceal it from them if he feared that they would remonstrate against it. When Burnes despached Mohun Lal to Khyrpore, to deliver the treaty and the separate article, “face to face,” to the Ameer, and to demand his acceptance of its terms, “the consternation,” says Burnes, “caused by this public declaration, was very great. The Ameer first offered another fort in its stead; next, to find security that our treasure and munitions were protected; but the Moonshee, as instructed, replied to all that nothing but the unqualified cession of the fortress of Bukkur, during the war, would satisfy me. He said it was the heart of his country, his honour was centred in keeping it, his family and children would have no confidence if it were given up, and that if I came to Khyrpore the Ameer could speak in person to me many things. To this I had instructed the Moonshee to say, that it was impossible till he signed the treaty, as I asked a plain question and wanted a plain answer.”—[Published Papers.] Earnestly was Meer Roostum entreated by his family not to sign the treaty, but to resist the unjust demand. Greatly perplexed and alarmed, he wrote a touching letter of entreaty to Burnes; but by this time his doom was sealed. It was useless for him any longer to struggle against his fate; so on the morning of the 24th of December he sent for Mohun Lal, told him that Burnes had been the first and best friend of the Khyrpore state, but that he had made an unexpected demand upon him, and that his good name would be irrecoverably lost if Lord Auckland did not seize upon Kurachee, or some other place from the Hyderabad family; who were our enemies, and now triumphing, whilst he, our dearest friend, was thus depressed. If they were suffered to escape, he said, that his only course would be to commit suicide. “With this,” wrote Burnes to Government, “and saying Bismillah! (in the name of God) he sealed the treaty and the separate article in the presence of Ali Morad Khan, Meer Zungee, Soolaman Abdur, and about twenty other people.” A day or two afterwards, Burnes himself called on Meer Roostum and received his submission in person. The poor old man, declaring that he was irretrievably disgraced, asked what he could now do to prove the sincerity of his friendship for the British Government. “The answer to this declaration,” wrote Burnes, “was plain—to give us orders for supplies, and to place all the country as far as he could at our command—and he has done so as far as he can.”—[Burnes to Government: Khyrpore, Dec. 28, 1838. Published Papers.]
[290] “The aspect of affairs to the south being anything but satisfactory, the Commander-in-Chief intimated to me, in the presence of General Cotton, that the passage of the army across the Indus, even had the bridge been ready, which it will not be for ten days, was inexpedient, whilst matters were unadjusted at Hyderabad—that it was further his decided opinion that a portion of the army should at once march down towards Hyderabad. Participating entirely in these sentiments, as far as political matters were concerned, I felt myself bound to give the fullest effect to the views of his Excellency, and notify the intended movement of the troops to the south to Meer Roostum Khan.”—[Sir A. Burnes to Government: Rohree, January 28, 1839. MS. Records.]
[291] Some days after Cotton’s force had moved down the river, a requisition came for a troop of horse artillery, a detachment of cavalry, and a brigade of infantry.—[Havelock’s Narrative.]
[292] Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.
[293] Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.
[294] Ibid., Feb. 5, 1839.
[295] See Outram’s Rough Notes.
[296] Their share was twenty lakhs of rupees, a moiety of which was paid down. Seven more lakhs, making up the gross amount to be paid by the Talpoor Princes, were paid by the Ameer of Khyrpore.
[297] “The city of Hyderabad,” says Dr. James Burnes, in his Visit to the Court of Sindh, an interesting and valuable work, “is a collection of wretched low mud hovels, as destitute of the means of defence as they are of external elegance or internal comfort; and even the boasted stronghold of the Ameer, which surmounts their capital, is but a paltry erection of ill-burnt bricks, crumbling gradually to decay, and perfectly incapable of withstanding for an hour the attack of regular troops.”
[298] Kennedy.
[299] “Sir Willoughby,” wrote the Envoy to Mr. Colvin, on the 24th of February, “made his appearance in camp yesterday morning. He is evidently disposed to look upon his Majesty and his disciplined troops and myself as mere cyphers. Any hint from me, however quietly and modestly given, was received with hauteur; and I was distinctly told that I wanted to assume the command of the army; that he, Sir Willoughby, knew no superior but Sir John Keane, and that he would not be interfered with, &c., &c. All this arose out of my requesting 1000 camels for the use of the Shah and his force. Sir Willoughby was ably backed by the Commissariat officers. My arguments were urged throughout in the most mild and conciliatory tone. I was determined on no account to lose my temper; and we parted at a late hour last night very good friends. I told him I was the last man in the world who would presume to interfere with his military arrangements; but I found it requisite to tell him, during one of our conversations, that if he thought it for the good of the service to leave Shah Soojah in the lurch, without the means of moving, I should esteem it my duty, as a political officer, to protest most strongly against the arrangement, and that the Governor-General would determine which of us was right. Sir Willoughby dined with me, and at dinner the important despatches from the Governor-General and yourself, dated the 5th instant, were put into my hands. We discussed their contents in my private tent afterwards—present Sir W. C. Todd, and Burnes.”—[Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.]
[300] Havelock.
[301] “The conduct of the officers of the Khelat chief has been most creditable and praiseworthy. Syud Mahomed Sheriff, the Governor of Gundava, and Moolla Ramzan, a slave of the Khan, have attended me the whole way, procured a band of eighty of the natives to escort us, and they likewise addressed the Ameers and the neighbouring Beloochee tribes to attempt at their peril to molest us. Such has been the confidence thus given, that a great body of the migratory inhabitants from Cutchee availed themselves of our escort to ascend into Afghanistan.”—[Burnes to Macnaghten: March 16, 1839. MS. Records.]
[302] See Havelock’s Narrative.
[303] Hough’s Narrative of the Operations of the Army of the Indus.
[304] Captain Havelock says: “From the 28th of March, the loaf of the European soldier was diminished in weight, the Native troops received only half instead of a full seer of ottah (that is a pound of flour) per diem, and the camp-followers, who had hitherto found it difficult to subsist on half a seer, were of necessity reduced to the famine allowance of a quarter of a seer.”
[305] “The Khan, with a good deal of earnestness, enlarged upon the undertaking the British had embarked in—declaring it to be one of vast magnitude and difficult accomplishment—that instead of relying on the Afghan nation, our government had cast them aside and inundated the country with foreign troops—that if it was our end to establish ourselves in Afghanistan, and give Shah Soojah the nominal sovereignty of Caubul and Candahar, we were pursuing an erroneous course—that all the Afghans were discontented with the Shah, and all Mahomedans alarmed and excited at what was passing—that, day by day, men returned discontented, and we might find ourselves awkwardly situated if we did not point out to Shah Soojah his errors, if the fault originated with him, and alter them if they sprung from ourselves—that the chief of Caubul was a man of ability and resource, and though we could easily put him down by Shah Soojah, even in our present mode of procedure, we could never win over the Afghan nation by it.”—[Burnes to Macnaghten: Khelat, March 30, 1839. MS. Records.]
[306] Burnes to Macnaghten: Khelat, April 2, 1839.
[307] The Shah and his Contingent moved from Shikarpoor on the 7th of March.
[308] “His Majesty the Shah is naturally anxious to occupy a prominent position in our movements, and it is very desirable, on political grounds, that he should do so: I trust, therefore, that your Excellency will see fit to attend to his Majesty’s wishes in this particular, and to authorise his being in advance with at least a portion of his own troops, after the junction of the several divisions shall have been effected, or rather after you have made your final arrangements for the order of our advance. This you will observe will be conformable to the wishes of the Governor-General, as expressed in the accompanying extracts. His Lordship never contemplated the leaving behind any portion of the Shah’s force, except in the case of opposition being shown by Sindh and Khelat.”—[Mr. Macnaghten to Sir J. Keane: Shikarpoor, Feb. 27, 1839. Unpublished Correspondence.]
[309] “I am exceedingly obliged to you for the attention you have paid to my suggestions regarding the Shah’s troops; but your want of camels is so pressing, that I feel it impossible to retain the 1000 camels placed at my disposal. Deeply as I regret, on political grounds, the necessity of leaving behind any portion of the troops of his Majesty, I feel that any scruples on this score must give way to the more urgent exigencies of the public service.”—[Mr. Macnaghten to Sir J. Keane: Shikarpoor, March 3, 1839. Unpublished Correspondence.]
[310] Mr. Macnaghten to Sir W. Cotton: March 15, 1839. Unpublished Correspondence.
[311] Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.
[312] From Bagh, Macnaghten wrote to the Governor-General’s Private Secretary: “This is a wretched country in every respect. It may be said to produce little else but plunderers; but with the knowledge we now have of it, we may bid defiance to the Russian hordes as far as this route is concerned. Any army might be annihilated in an hour by giving it either too much or too little water. The few wells that exist might easily be rendered unavailable, and by just cutting the Sewee bund the whole country might be deluged.”—[Mr. Macnaghten to Mr. Colvin: Camp Bagh, March 22, 1839. Unpublished Correspondence.]
[313] Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.
[314] Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.
[315] The head-quarters of the 2nd brigade were left in garrison at Quettah, under General William Nott, of the Company’s army, who, at a later period, so distinguished himself in command of the troops at Candahar. Whilst Sir Willoughby Cotton was commanding the Bengal army in chief, Nott had commanded a division; but when Sir John Keane joined the Bengal column, Cotton fell back to the divisional command, and Nott returned to the brigade to which he had originally been posted. Out of this much controversy arose; the command of the other division of the “Army of the Indus” having been conferred on General Willshire, of the Queen’s army, a junior major-general, but an older officer and lieutenant-colonel.
[316] Foremost among these was the notorious Hadjee Khan, Khaukur, whose sudden defection broke up the Barukzye camp, just as Rahun-dil-Khan and Mehr-dil-Khan were meditating a night attack on the Shah’s Contingent. He joined the Shah on the 20th of April, and from this time the Sirdars saw that their cause was hopeless. Further mention of this chief will be found in a subsequent chapter.
[317] I have not attempted in this chapter to give a minute account of the march of the three columns of the invading army to Candahar. It is no part of my design to render this work conspicuous for the completeness of its military details. I do not underrate their importance; but the operations of the Army of the Indus have already been so minutely chronicled, that I have only to refer the reader to the works of Havelock, Kennedy, and Hough. The real history of the march is to be found in the records of the Commissariat department. The difficulty of obtaining carriage and supplies was almost unprecedented, and the expenditure incurred was enormous. There were two different Commissariat departments (the Bengal and the Shah’s) sometimes to be found bidding against one another. Everything was paid for at a ruinous price. The sums paid for the hire and purchase of carriage-cattle were preposterous; and the loss incurred by government from the deaths of the animals may be surmised, when it is stated that the number of deaths between Ferozepore and Candahar has been estimated at not less than 20,000. Large sums, too, were often paid for demurrage. For example, on one batch of camels hired from Bekanier and Jaysulmere, 44,000 rupees were paid for demurrage and remuneration for losses before they reached the place (Shikarpoor) at which their services were required, or were even seen by our Commissariat officers.—[MS. Notes.]
[318] Unpublished Correspondence of Sir W. H. Macnaghten.
[319] Captain Havelock, who is by no means disposed to take an unfavorable view of the policy out of which emanated the assembling of the Army of the Indus, says: “Unless I have been deceived, all the national enthusiasm of the scene was entirely confined to his Majesty’s immediate retainers. The people of Candahar are said to have viewed the whole affair with the most mortifying indifference. Few of them quitted the city to be present in the plains; and it was remarked with justice, that the passage in the diplomatic programme which presented a place behind the throne for ‘the populace restrained by the Shah’s troops,’ became rather a bitter satire on the display of the morning.” Compare Dr. Kennedy’s version of these proceedings. All the private accounts I have received, confirm the truth of the printed narratives.
[320] Kennedy.
[321] Where they remained as guests of Mahomed Shah until the withdrawal of the British from Afghanistan.
[322] As at Herat, the four principal streets meet in the centre of the city, and at their junction are covered over with a great dome. The picturesque accessories of Candahar are by no one so well described as by Lieutenant Rattray, in his letter-press accompaniments to his admirable series of “Views in Afghanistan.” With true artistic feeling, he writes; “Viewing Candahar from without, or at a distance, there is no peculiarity in its structure to strike the eye, as nothing appears above the long, high walls, but the top of Ahmed Shah’s tomb, the summits of a few minarets, and the upper parapets of the citadel. But the interior, as seen from the battlements, cannot fail to delight. Its irregular mud-houses, partly in ruins, varied with trees and minarets; the square red-brick dwellings, with doors and windows of Turkish arches; the lofty habitations of the Hindoo; the tents pitched here and there on the flat house-tops; the long terraces crowded with people, busied in their various callings in the open air; the dung and mud-plastered hut of the Khaukur, with his heavy, wild-looking buffaloes tethered round it; the high enclosures of the different tribes; the warlike castles of the chieftains; the gaily-decorated palace of some great Douranee Lord, with its fountains, squares, and court-yards; and the domed houses of the other inhabitants, the bazaars, mosques, turrets, and cupolas, rising up in the midst of stupendous and inaccessible mountains,—from the whole rise a panorama pleasing to look upon.”
[323] Kennedy. The author adds: “Shah Soojah had sheltered himself in one, Mr. Macnaghten in another, and Sir Alexander Burnes in a third. The latter had been rebuilt by one of the chiefs of Candahar for his favourite wife. It had an air of magnificence and grandeur where it stood: but in the Mogul Serai of Surat, or in Ahmedabad, would be passed unobserved.”
[324] See ante, page 332.
[325] “Facts regarding our Political Relations with Herat, and the Conduct of Yar Mahomed Khan, from November, 1837, to February, 1841,” by Dr. J. S. Login, attached to the Heratee Mission.
[326] Lieutenant North, of the Bombay Engineers, and Drs. Login and Ritchie, also accompanied them. The Mission left Candahar on the 21st of June, and reached Herat on the 25th of July.
[327] Havelock.
[328] Inverarity and Wilmer. The former was murdered; the latter escaped with his life.
[329] A convoy of camels laden with grain had been for some time expected from the southward, under the charge of a Lohanee merchant, named Surwar Khan. Some efforts had been made by the enemy to intercept this convoy, or to corrupt the Lohanee chief; and it is said that nothing but the determined fidelity of the leader of the Irregular Horse sent to escort it into Candahar, saved the convoy from being carried off to the Barukzyes. It reached Candahar, but there a new difficulty presented itself. The camel-drivers refused to proceed. There were 20,000 maunds of grain now at the disposal of our Commissariat officers; but the contumacy of these men was now likely to render it wholly useless. Surwar Khan had contracted to bring the convoy to Candahar; but the camel-drivers, afraid of the vengeance of Dost Mahomed, refused to proceed any further. There was no contending against this; so the supplies were made over to the Commissariat, and stored at Candahar, where a detachment of our troops was left.
[330] The Kohistan is the hill country to the north of Caubul, lying between the capital and the Hindoo-Koosh.
[331] This was the account of the Ameer’s tactics given by Hyder Khan. Mohun Lal, upon whose authority I instance it, was in daily personal communication with the Prince after his capture, and ought to be well informed upon this point.
[332] “The town,” says Lieutenant Rattray, “stands on the extreme point of a range of hills, which slope upwards and command the north-east angle of the Balla Hissar, near which is perched the tomb of Belool the Wise, among ruined mosques and grave-stones. As a city, it will not bear comparison with Caubul or Candahar; and a previous visit to the bazaars of either would spoil you for the darkened narrow streets and small charloo of Ghuznee. However, it possesses snug houses and capital stabling, sufficient for a cavalry brigade, within its walls; and in the citadel, particularly, the squares and residences of its former governors were in many instances spacious and even princely in their style and decorations.”
[333] The enemy, dislodged from the garden, retreated to an outwork, whence they directed a heavy fire upon our people, and did some mischief among them. Captain Graves, of the 16th Native Infantry, and Lieutenant Homrigh, of the 48th, were wounded.
[334] There has been so much bitter controversy on this unhappy subject, that I have not written this bare outline of the event without instituting inquiries among those who were most likely to have had some personal cognizance of it. That I have rightly characterised these murders I know, for I have the evidence of one who saw the butchery going on. An officer of the highest character writes, in reply to my inquiries: “As regards what is called the Ghuznee massacre, I was walking one day in camp, and came upon the King’s tents, at the rear of which I saw a fearfully bloody sight. There were forty or fifty men, young and old. Many were dead; others at their last gasp; others with their hands tied behind them; some sitting, others standing, awaiting their doom; and the King’s executioners and other servants amusing themselves (for actually they were laughing and joking, and seemed to look upon the work as good fun) with hacking and maiming the poor wretches indiscriminately with their long swords and knives. I was so horrified at coming so suddenly on such a scene of blood, that I was for the instant as it were, spell-bound. On inquiry, I ascertained that the King had ordered this wholesale murder in consequence of one of the number (they were, or were said to be, all Ghazees, who had shortly before been taken prisoners) having stabbed, in his Majesty’s presence, a Pesh-Khidmut, or body-attendant of the King. My friend and I made our exit; and he went direct to the Envoy’s tent and reported the circumstance.”—[MS. Correspondence.]
[335] The advance consisted of the light companies of the four European regiments; the remaining companies composed the other sections of the storming columns. The regiments were: the 2nd, the 13th, and 17th (Queen’s), and the Company’s European Regiment.
[336] Hough says: “Lieutenant Durand was obliged to scrape the hose with his finger-nails, finding the powder failed to ignite on the first application of the port-fire.”
[337] Havelock. Hough says: “The explosion was heard by nearly all.”
[338] Havelock.
[339] Captain Peat.
[340] I give the circumstances of Sale’s escape in the words of Captain Havelock, who has detailed them with trustworthy minuteness. “One of their number rushing over the fallen timbers, brought down Brigadier Sale by a cut in the face with his sharp shunsheer (sabre). The Afghan repeated his blow as his opponent was falling; but the pummel, not the edge of his sword, this time took effect, though with stunning violence. He lost his footing, however, in the effort, and Briton and Afghan rolled together amongst the fractured timbers. Thus situated, the first care of the Brigadier was to master the weapon of his adversary. He snatched at it, but one of his fingers met the edge of the trenchant blade. He quickly withdrew his wounded hand, and adroitly replaced it over that of his adversary, so as to keep fast the hilt of his shunsheer. But he had an active and powerful opponent, and was himself faint from the loss of blood. Captain Kershaw, of the 13th, aide-de-camp to Brigadier Baumgardt, happened in the mêlée to approach the scene of conflict: the wounded leader recognised and called to him for aid. Kershaw passed his drawn sabre through the body of the Afghan; but still the desperado continued to struggle with frantic violence. At length, in the fierce grapple, the Brigadier for a moment got uppermost. Still retaining the weapon of his enemy in his left hand, he dealt him with his right a cut from his own sabre, which cleft his skull from the crown to the eyebrows. The Mahomedan once shouted, ‘Ne Ullah!’ (Oh! God!) and never moved or spoke again.”—[Captain Havelock’s Narrative.]
[341] Havelock. The colour of the 13th was first planted by the hand of Ensign Frere—a nephew of John Hookham Frere.
[342] Havelock. The military historian attributes the forbearance of the soldiery to the fact, that no spirit rations had been served out to them during the preceding fortnight. “No candid man,” he says, “of any military experience, will deny that the character of the scene, in the fortress and the citadel, would have been far different if individual soldiers had entered the town primed with arrack, or if spirituous liquors had been discovered in the Afghan depôts.”
[343] I have been assured by an officer on the staff of the Shah’s army, that he was near his Majesty at the taking of Ghuznee, when under fire, and that he exhibited great coolness and courage. He is said by my informant, who was close beside him, to have sate “as firm as a rock, not showing the slightest alarm either by word or gesture, and seeming to think it derogatory to his kingly character to move an inch whilst the firing lasted.”—[MS. Correspondence.]
[344] Mohun Lal says: “Captain John Conolly conducted them, with every mark of deference, to a house in the town, where it fell to my lot to provide them with everything necessary which they wanted: and that responsible charge of them I had for a long time, and executed it to the satisfaction of the ladies, until they were sent to India.”—[Life of Dost Mahomed.]
[345] Captain Tayler, Brigade-Major of the 4th Brigade. Mohun Lal says that “Major Macgregor found him concealed with an armed party in the tower, waiting for the night.” Mr. Stocqueler (Memorials of Afghanistan) attributes the honour of the capture to Brigadier Roberts, who directed Captain Tayler to proceed to the house.
[346] “The Sirdar, mounted on a small horse, and accompanied by a few of his companions, was conducted by Major Macgregor to the tent of the Commander-in-Chief. Sir Alexander Burnes and myself were sent for, and as soon as the Sirdar saw him he felt a little easy in his mind; and discovering me with him, the expression of his countenance was at once changed, and he asked me for a glass of water. Lord Keane allowed him to remain in my tent, under the charge of Sir A. Burnes. I clothed him with my own clothes every day, and he partook of my meals.”—[Mohun Lal’s Life of Dost Mahomed.]
[347] Outram.
[348] Whether this step was taken by Dost Mahomed on his own account, or whether it was recommended or agreed to by his principal partisans, does not very clearly appear.
[349] Mohun Lal says that the Newab, who had acted with the greatest friendliness towards Burnes and his Mission, and was known to have been at the head of the English party in Caubul, begged that the wife of Hyder Khan might be given up to him; but preferred the request in vain. He sought an interview, too, with his nephew; and it would have been granted to him, but the official references caused delay, and the Newab took his departure without seeing the Sirdar. He said significantly to the Envoy, in the course of conversation, “If Shah Soojah is really a King, and come to the kingdom of his ancestors, what is the use of your army and name? You have brought him, by your money and arms, into Afghanistan. Leave him now with us Afghans, and let him rule us if he can.”
[350] Havelock.
[351] General Harlan, who was at Caubul at this time, has written an account of the desertion of Dost Mahomed by his followers at Urghundeh, which only wants a conviction of its entire truth to render it extremely interesting. According to this writer, the Ameer was not only deserted, but plundered by his followers at the last. “A crowd of noisy disorganised troops,” he says, “insolently pressed close up to the royal pavilion—the guards had disappeared—the groom holding the Prince’s horse was unceremoniously pushed to and fro—a servant audaciously pulled away the pillow which sustained the Prince’s arm—another commenced cutting a piece of the splendid Persian carpet—the beautiful praying rug of the Prince was seized on by a third.... ‘Take all,’ said he, ‘that you find within, together with the tent.’ In an instant the unruly crowd rushed upon the pavilion—swords gleamed in the air and descended upon the tent—the canvas, the ropes, the carpets, pillows, screens, &c., were seized and dispersed among the plunderers.”
[352] The names of many of them were subsequently associated with the later incidents of the war. They were Captains Wheler, Troup, Lawrence, Backhouse, Christie, and Erskine; Lieutenants Broadfoot, Hogg, Ryves, and Dr. Worral. Captains Tayler and Trevor joined them on the 8th.
[353] Outram says he was a melon-seller.
[354] See the “Life of Hadjee Khan Khaukur, the Talleyrand of the East,” published originally in the Delhi Gazette. It is attributed to the pen of Arthur Conolly. The writer adds: “In the camp of those chiefs conspiracies against Shah Soojah and his allies were daily agitated. Their letters formed the pride, the comfort, the hope, and the amusement of the Caubul Court.... Sometimes it was proposed by the traitors to attack the English camp in concert with the Ghilzyes at night. Fear prevented this plot ripening; but had the army met with a repulse, it would undoubtedly have been attacked in rear. At last, at a full meeting—I have it from the lips of one present at it—it was determined to join Dost Mahomed en masse. At this meeting were the Hadjee Khan, Hadjee Dost, Fyztullub Khan, Noorzye, and many others. They had been deceived by a false report of a partial action of cavalry the day before; the opportunity had arrived, they thought, for giving us the coup de grace. Hardly had the conclave separated, when intelligence was received of the capture of Ghuznee. It need hardly be said that, a few hours afterwards, Hadjee Khan and the rest were congratulating his Majesty on the splendid victory.”
[355] Akbar Khan, who had by this time been withdrawn from the defence of the Khybur line, and had joined his father’s camp prostrated by sickness.
[356] Others, however, thought that his failure was fortunate, it being only too probable, in their opinion, that, if he had come up with the fugitive, his little party would have been overwhelmed by the followers of the Ameers and the traitorous Afghan horsemen whom Hadjee Khan had taken with him.
[357] He was confined at Chunar, where he seems to have borne his imprisonment with considerable philosophy.
[358] “With regard to the ordnance captured at Urghundeh, the guns were of all calibres, chiefly below 6-pounder—one a 17-pounder, and a few of different sizes, between 17 and 12-pounders.... The number of shot left at Urghundeh was 4270, of various sizes.... The shot is hammered iron, and so uneven, that, unless weighed, their weight could not be told. They are chiefly much under 6-pounder shot.... With regard to the other stores taken at Urghundeh, nothing was of the slightest service, except the old iron of the carriages, and the axle-trees, also good as old iron only, and to which purpose they have been appropriated.”—[Lieutenant Warburton to Sir W. H. Macnaghten; Caubul, August 15, 1841. MS. Records.]
[359] “Onward,” says Captain Havelock, “moved the force, and an hour had not elapsed since the day broke when it came full upon the abandoned ordnance of the fallen Barukzye. Twenty-two pieces of various calibre, but generally good guns, on field carriages, superior to those generally seen in the armies of Asiatic Princes, were parked in a circle in the Ameer’s late position. Two more were placed in battery in the village of Urghundeh, at the foot of the hills.... The route by which we had advanced was flanked by a deep, impracticable ravine, on which the Afghan left would have rested: there their artillery had been parked, and would probably from this point have swept the open plain, and searched the narrow defile by which we would have debouched upon. Their front was open for the exertions of a bold and active cavalry, and here the Ameer might at least have died with honour.”
[360] Havelock.
[361] I am indebted for this, as for much else, to Captain Havelock. There is but little in the pages of the military analist to disturb the gravity of the historical inquirer, but it is impossible to restrain a smile at the happy wording of the following: “Let me not forget to record that Moonshee Mohun Lal, a traveller and an author, as well as his talented master, appeared on horseback on this occasion in a new upper garment of a very gay colour, and under a turban of very admirable fold and majestic dimensions, and was one of the gayest as well as the most sagacious and successful personages in the whole cortége.”
[362] Burnes was of this opinion: he erred on that point in common with many others; but his views from first to last were in favour of making the Dost our ally.—H.T.
[363] Here Sir A. Burnes had inserted the words, “I have—that is, as ex-King of the Afghans, no very high opinion;” and had drawn his pen through them. He had also originally written the word “Of” to begin the sentence, instead of “As for.”