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PRESENTED TO THE RIGGS LIBRARY » GEORGETOWN COLLEGE, ft BY I W. WARRINGTON EVANS, A. B„ M. D„ 1 f December 14, 1891. || 'irrrrnm-rm - - - ”" =v TT - mrrTi , i-Tn m ini fm ro fm in ini i n; inTiTTfn) n i i nr( i . i ipni awSmi </ a LINES ADDRESSED TO DOST MAHOMED ON THE BATTLE FIELD OF KANDAHAB, WHEN CON¬ TENDING WITH SHUJAH, 1834. Stand ! cried his Mentor, whither wouldst thou flee ? The ground thou stand’st on’s all the world to thee; Thy throne the saddle, crowned by natal star— Thou stand’st a warrior in the midst of war ! Here find a throne, or fill a hero’s grave. Where rest the houseless and the hopeless brave; For God, the Prophet, and thy deeds of fame, A martyr’s paradise, or victor’s name. A MEMOIR OP INDIA AND AYGHANISTADN, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT EXCITING AND CRITICAL STATE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THOSE COUNTRIES. COMPRISING REMARKS ON THE MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN CABUL, BRITISH POLICY IN INDIA, A DETAILED DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTER OF DOST MAHOMED AND HIS COURT, ETC. OTft!) an ON THE FULFILMENT OF A TEXT OF DANIEL, IN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT PROPHETIC CONDITION OF MAHOMEDAN NATIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, AND THE SPEEDY DISSOLUTION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. BY J. HARLAN, LATE COUNSELLOR OF STATE, /fD-DE-CAMP, AND GENERAL OF THE STAFF TO DOST MAHOMED, AMEER OF CABUL. PHILADELPHIA: J. DOBSON, 106 CHESTNUT STREET. R. BALDWIN, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. H. BOSSANGE, 11 QUAI VOLTAIRE, PARIS. 1842. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1842, by Judah Dobson, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. C. Sherman, Printer, 19 St. James Street. CONTENTS. PREFACE. Massacre—Whigs—American interest—Tory policy—British tenure of India—Successful invasion of Cabul by the British —Whig policy opposed by the Tories—Army of the Indus— Importance to England of the Cabul conquest—Destitute condition of the British army—Signal failure of the expedi¬ tion against Cabul—True policy of England in Cabul— Genius of the Avghan institutions—Abuses of the English policy in Cabul—English diplomacy at fault—Avgbans fierce, semi-barbarous, and unconquerable—Intricate topo¬ graphy of Avghanistaun—M’Naghten’s false policy—Cru¬ elty of the English—Citizens of Cabul favourable to the English—Murder of the Russian ambassador in Persia— City of Cabul shelled by an English mortar battery— M’Naghten killed—Dismal prospect of the British army— Alternative—Indian troops contemptible—Proper military movement for the English—Metropolitan importance of Cabul—Ability of Cabul to provide for the subsistence of a garrison—Treasonable treaty of the English functionaries —Origin of the feud betwixt Shah Shujah and Dost Ma¬ homed—Origin of Dost Mahomed’s power—Origin of the IV CONTENTS. war of the British with Dost Mahomed—Policy of Dost Mahomed—English diplomacy at fault—Consequences— Policy of Shujah— On dit of Russian policy • - - 1 CHAPTER I. Reply to Count Bjornstjerna’s Work on British India— Preliminary remarks—Sources of information on India, Persia, and Avghanistaun—Value of the Count’s opinions illustrated—His misstatements displayed and corrected— His false inferences from philology—His assertions false and inconsistent with himself—Historical fact misstated— Inquiry into the stability of the British tenure of India— Power of opinion—Routes into India—Proper route into India from the north of Europe—Topography of the routes into India—Population of British India—Diplomacy the weapon for Russia—Political obstacles to an invasion from the North removed—Russian Policy in Persia—Persian policy—Uzbeck policy—Russian influence in Central Asia —Inducements to invade India—Reflections on the progress of civilization-"-Missionary efforts in India—Traditionary prophecies of the Orientals—Eastern Question—American missionaries—Moral condition of the Asiatic—Russia pre¬ ferred to England by the nations of India - - - 25 CHAPTER II. Reply to Count Bjornstjerna’s India, continued— Misre¬ presentations confuted—of topography—of moral obstacles —Avghan policy—Practicability of Avghanistaun for artil¬ lery—Relative powers of the camel, north and south of the Caucasus—Consequences of English errors in policy—mili¬ tary insignificance of the Indians generally—Plan of a Russian invasion—Character of the British government in India—Policy of the English, and of Alexander the Great, ' CONTENTS. V contrasted—Plan of Alexander’s conquests—His philan¬ thropy—Antiquities still prove the extent of civilization— Results of the English conquests—of their abuses—Origin of the British power in India—Their artifice and duplicity —Their rule of “ divide et impera”—Confirmation of the East India Company’s power - - -. - -55 CHAPTER III. Geographical Boundaries of British India —Character of the population—of the soldier—Physical powers—Evils of Fiscal policy—Mendicity and misery - - - 70 CHAPTER IV. Foreign Relations of British India —River Indus the natural, moral, and political frontier of India—Avghanistaun not a part of India—Effect of Russian influence - 76 CHAPTER V. Routes into India —Base of action against India—Resources of the Uzbeck States—Facilities of water carriage to the progress of Russian civilization in Central Asia—Accessi¬ bility of India from the north— Note, Origin of the name “ Peshour”—Greco-Bactrian dominion in Avghanistaun—of Parthian— Note, Cave of Prometheus—Persian dominion —Roman antiquities in the Panjab—Scythian dominion in Cabul—Toorkey—Princes of Ghoree—Modern Persian in¬ roads—Ahmed Shah—Size of the English dominion—Im¬ portance of Bulkh as a military position - - - 80 CHAPTER VI. References from English Authorities on the Foreign Relations of British India— Ava—Nepaul—China—In- VI CONTENTS. ternal discontent—Nepaul and Kandahar—Cabul—Russia —Heraut’h—Ava—Nepaul—Internal discontent—Russia Agitation by the native Indian press—Persia and Russia— Domestic politics—Military weakness—Policy of Russia Threatened dangers of the Indo-British Empire from foreign causes—Domestic dangers—Pear of Russia—Idem—Mys¬ terious conspiracy in the south—Extract from the debate in the House of Commons on the motion for a vote of thanks to the army of the Indus—Importance to the English of the Cabul conquest .------94 CHAPTER VII. Descriptive Character of Dost Mahomed —Birth—Parent¬ age—Profession—Kills his brother’s enemy—Military ac¬ complishments—Habits—Early display of diplomatic tact— His policy—Rise to political power—Is a reformed drunkard —Literary pursuits—Becomes Ameer of Cabul—Relations with the Seiks—War with the Seiks—Retires to Cabul— Pursuits—Age—Personal appearance—Personal habits— Dress—Address—A politician—His eloquence—Timidity— Drunken revels—Anecdote of his rise to power—A reformer of morals—Questionable bravery—Despotic—His duplicity —Queen-Mother—His obstinacy and corruption—Licen¬ tiousness—Of the haram—His wives and children—His po¬ licy towards the English—His residence—Avghan plainness —His attendants and amusements—Routine of business— Ameer passionate—Secession of his brother—Military habits — Durbar — Ceremonies of Durbar—Meals—Cookery— Servants—Fruits—Pastimes and enjoyments—Evenings— Nights—Chess—Tastes of the Ameer—Fondness for story¬ telling—Allegory of Avghan avarice and poverty—His plain¬ ness—Military habits—His brother the Nawaub—His hypo¬ crisy—His Veneration—Enthusiasm a religious principle— Motives of his political intrigues with foreign states—Seik CONTENTS. vii diplomacy—Ameer passionate—Secession of his brother— Military habits—Attendants on the march—Daily routine— Smoking—Domestic habit—Avghan civility—General drink of the Avghans—Head of the Mahomedan religion—Ameer’s religious persuasion—Selfishness the key to his character— —His financial abilities—Fiscal economy of the Orientals— Origin of the Toorks—Their decline—Commercial commu¬ nity—Ameer’s rapacity—His mode of borrowing money— Concluding remarks— Note diplomatic - 117 APPENDIX L Illustration of the British Position at Jillalabad. 173 APPENDIX IL Illustration of a Text from Daniel, &c. —Eastern poli¬ tics—England’s unchristianlike position— Note, Eastern Question—Fulfilment of prophecies—A point of Mahomedan feith—Power of the sooltaun—His origin—Origin of his power—His policy—Causes of the decline of Mahomedan population—Source of revenue—Traditionary prophecies current in the East—Allegory of Dijaul—Object of Christ’s advent—Remaining independent Mahomedan powers of Asia—Christ the Soul of God—Volney’s opinion of the dis¬ solution of the Turkish empire—Mahomedans zealous for the advent of Christ—Christians indifferent—Reproof- Origin of the traditionary prophecies—Consequences of the fell of Mahomedanism—Conflicting interests of the European powers in relation to Turkey—Battle of Armageddon— Restoration of the Jewish nation—Universal redemption— Michael the Grand Duke of Russia to restore the Jews— Warning and conclusion ------ 178 APPENDIX III. English Account of the Massacre - - - - 196 ERRATA. Page X, line 4th from bottom, for “ later” read late.” “ 3, “ “ • for “ to whom” read “ to those whom.” “ 5, " 15th from top, dele “ and.” “13, “ 16th “ for “the” read “that.” “ 16, “ 13th “ for “ themselves” read “ itself.” “ 16, “ 9th from bottom, dele “ and.” “ 21, “ 8th “ for “ guerilla” read “ guerrilla.” “ 25, “ 3d from top, for “ Bjorstjerna” read “ Bjornstjerna.” “ 26, “ 12th from bottom, for “ Bjorstjerna” read “ Bjornstjerna. “ 41, “ 8th “ for “ Krauchee” read " Kranchee.” “55, “ llth from top, for “Gujerath” read “ Gujerat’h.” “ 84, “ 5th “ note, for “ Peukola” read “ Pekhora.” “ 85, “ 2d “ note, read “ Finjan of Gholebund” is. “ 89, “ 3d from bottom, for “ Amir” read “ Ameen.” PREFACE. The massacre en masse of a British army has awa¬ kened an intense desire for information concerning the people and the country which have been the cause and scene of that appalling tragedy, and pro¬ duced in that feeling a result which the profoundest interests of philanthropy and politics, of religion and government, have heretofore, inauspiciously and unsuccessfully, strove in vain to accomplish. From day to day our opinion is confirmed, and a long train of terrific disasters still mark the malignant track of that destructive meteor in the political history of England, “ A Whig Ministry,” as the frantic policy of British statesmen of that denomination in India astound the world with the developements of their awful and bloody sequences long subsequent to the origin of their designs. Having been frequently interrogated concerning the probable consequences of the later movements in Avghanistaun, I think I shall not be intrusive by publishing, during this moment of general excite¬ ment, the ensuing pages, which were written in 1 2 PREFACE. January last, and are excerptions from my notes on “ The British Empire in India.” In thus antici¬ pating myself lam guided by the wish to gratify public curiosity, and in the attempt to be explicit and comprehensive I trust my labours may not be found deficient in utility. With the submissive resignation of a mind pre¬ pared to receive the decrees of incontestable destiny I recur to the maxim “ The calamities of England are blessings to America”—and here let us deplore with the sanctity of filial piety the afflictions of our race. We breathe the requiem of our afflliated attachments, and say with the French, “ Le roi est mort, vive le roiand as the Te Deum and gloria in excelsis mournfully ascend to heaven, let the voice float softly over the ashes of ten thousand dead. Earl Auckland, Baron of Ghuznee,* and ye, innumerable host of subordinate moths whose “ fire- *Lord Auckland was created an Earl, and General Sir J. Keane was made Baron of Ghuznee; the first for planning the policy which, it was said, would confirm the integrity of the British Empire, and preserve India to England, by the conquest of Avghanistaun; and the other for the glorious campaign with the army of the Indus, that performed feats of valour rivalling the victories of Alexander, and exceeding the celebrity of his most illustrious adventures. Honours of knighthood, ribands, and brevets were showered upon the conquerors of the miserable Avghans with the unsparing liberality of royal munificence, which the breathless solicitude of imminent hazard wrought into existence. PREFACE. 3 new stamp of honour is scarce yet current,” called into existence by the extinction of a free and, there¬ fore, not ignoble nation, “ will all the multitudinous seas” wash out the remembrance of your bloody deeds, or would ye, like Pilate, cleanse your hands after relinquishing your victims to the mercy of infuriated enemies. Englishmen, what says the award of conscience ? If the destruction of the British army involved no other consideration than the dreadful annihilation of so many wretched human beings, the soul would revolt from the view, and recoil within itself to avoid the contemplation of inhuman scenes so abhorrent to philanthropy. It is with feelings of profound regret that we mourn the departed; with unaffected sympa¬ thy we commiserate the afflicted and affiliated sur¬ vivors of that fierce retributive visitation of Provi¬ dence upon a sinning and incorrigible host; and as we implore the mercy of an offended Deity for the redemption of the doomed, we draw before our yearning faculties the veil of hopeless beneficence, trusting for all things in the mercy of heaven. We turn now to the world, and with philosophy at our right hand, let us look at the balance which the inexorable “ fiat justitia” has placed in the grasp of expediency, and behold the descent of power in the scale to whom hereditary right, and the force of circumstances, and command of posi¬ tion, all tend to establish and confirm a claim to supremacy. On this subject those who read the 4 PREFACE. following sheets will readily form a just decision. Circumstances are displayed as they exist, and the power that Russia could exert, and the results, of tremendous import to the civilization of the human race, that must follow from the exercise of that power, are plain ; but whether Russia has or will participate in the instigation of measures so prolific of benefit to man, the will of Providence alone can direct. The English Tories believe that the Emperor Nicholas, like themselves, is and ever has been averse to the extension of dominion in the far East, which the principle of self-defence has heretofore forced upon these powers. “ Whatever may have been the policy of Russian diplomacy,” say they, “ since the reign of Peter the Great, experience proves that the Emperor Nicholas not only avoids all cause of jealousy to England, but is even indif¬ ferent to the affairs of Central Asia.” The British in India are in the midst of danger without the interference of Russia. “ God is great,” but I cannot distinctly comprehend how the Eng¬ lish, should they be forcibly dislodged, can either relinquish their hold on Avghanistaun with safety to their empire in the East, or recover their late posi¬ tion without incurring an expense of treasure and waste of blood which even the colossal resources of her government could not sustain. Their own experience in the American revolutionary war; that of the French in Switzerland ; the Russians in PREFACE. 5 Circassia, and themselves again in Cabul, proves the utter folly of attempting to hold in subjection a hos¬ tile population. To conquer a dominion by control¬ ling the political parties of a state is a feasible policy, or to reform by gradual means without annihilating the institutions of a subjugated country may be the effect of time and perseverance, but to subdue and crush the masses of a nation by military force, when all are unanimous in the determination to be free, is to attempt the imprisonment of a whole people: all such projects must be temporary and transient, and terminate in a catastrophe that force has ever to dread from the vigorous, ardent, concentrated vengeance of a nation outraged, oppressed, and in¬ sulted, and desperate with the blind fury of a deter¬ mined and unanimous will. Many are surprised at the apparent ease with which the English took possession of Cabul. This seeming phenomenon may be readily explained. The government of Cabul under Dost Mahomed was of an oligarchical form ; he ruled as the para¬ mount of many chiefs. When the British invaded Cabul, they were nominally led by Shah Shujah U1 Moolk, the representative of the ancient regime, who was to the Avghans what Louis XVIJI. was to the French, but more popular than the Bourbon: he was surrounded by English officers, and sustained by a British army, who preceded all their move¬ ments by the alluring fascination of gold. Awaken¬ ing the cupidity of the Cabul chiefs, they advanced 6 PREFACE. to take possession, as resistance dissolved before the magic charm of Plutus, and each chief was literally purchased by coin and profuse promises to abandon the interests and fellowship of the ameer, and in¬ duced to embrace the service of the king. Nay, in their audacity they offered to purchase Dost Ma¬ homed himself, by tending that prince a bribe to relinquish his sovereignty, and enter a prison pre¬ pared for himself and his adherents in the uncon¬ genial climate of Hindostan !* The merits and de¬ merits of the policy which suggested the invasion of Cabul, the march of the army, and their general mismanagement whilst there, have been much dis¬ cussed. Their policy was opposed by the Duke of Wellington and the Tories, but this party, labouring under the curse of Whig measures, has been obliged to sustain the honour of the country and integrity of the empire, to carry out the mistaken and vicious views of their predecessors. They believe the mo¬ tives of the Whig ministry were erroneous; that the pretext to remove the pestilence of Russian councils and intrigues from the frontier of India was founded in error, and that the object of the conquest, to con- * The English proposed to the Ameer that he should accept a pension of £10,000 per annum, and retire into Hindostan. The prince, disdaining the ignominy of self-degradation, preferred exile, and he fled to Tartary. Subsequently he fought two unsuccessful battles with the English, and ultimately rendered himself a prisoner to the enemies of his dynasty. He was sent into India, and, I be¬ lieve, allowed £20,000 per annum. PHEFACE. 7 vert the country of an independent nation into a line of frontier defence, by occupying their strongholds as garrisons, and converting a whole nation into mere camp followers, was impossible and unneces¬ sary ; but now that the Indian government has in¬ volved itself in the responsibility of maintaining a paramount position in Cabul, to sustain her supre¬ macy in India must continue firm in her designs, or relinquish the principle of her political existence in Asia. Great was the importance attached to the successful result of the invasion of Avghanistaun. An army of twenty thousand fighting men, accom¬ panied by sixty thousand camp followers, thirty-five thousand camels, besides innumerable pack-horses and wheeled carriages for the transport of artillery, baggage, and commissariat stores, was concentra¬ ted in Scind, and leaving Sukkur Buckker as their base of action, penetrated with great waste of life and property, and expense of treasure, through the sterile, inhospitable, and desert wastes of Beloochis- taun, debouching from the Bolan pass upon the plain of Quetta. The country consists of mountains divided by small unproductive valleys, with barely vegetation sufficient to sustain the pastoral popula¬ tion, which is sparse and savage. The quantity of water is only capable of sustaining small bodies of men and animals, and the army was necessarily divided into details to pass through a country where large masses must have perished from thirst. The camp followers were in a great measure unpro- saisas | arttl the % % c-b Vicinity. 4^ 4 Mar^sm :-'4®\\w;j 111 t«M; ,, %•AvMw/b mmw^. Hegrant {^) 8118 rTeffte iVille l Sktikar Werrafi V^n Ka rra Mill , /l rut Skeena \istfr <y*?L aTcholtito^ m 'X'hoord Cabal '////!/. mNW'iiiim WZ;M ~~" W '~V ’ r r?y>axr?./,7 rnd'j,* \Char ■Mss e ah Wmm kx wmr*y : ^ mi PH I..-,,,.. v v/( mu#' '/ff'iilI'iii'i !'' lereeket uphxcglMil&t. I L- Smtla/rlrJ.ifhJ’A//'* <4 Corrm.rxfr 8 PREFACE. tected, and subjected to the depredations of a hos¬ tile population : they were slaughtered in numbers; the baggage of the army was plundered by the pre¬ datory natives; their cavalry was exhausted from famine; their artillery horses, unfit to drag the guns, were led by the men ; and they arrived at Quetta in a state of destitution little different from disorganiza¬ tion. Here a council of war was held, and the expediency of reluming positively debated I The desertion of an Avghan chief* from the interests of the Kandhar Sirdars filled those leaders with the terror of domestic treason; panic fears pervaded themselves and their adherents, prompting them to sudden flight, and they became refugees at the court of T’heran. The British army advanced; Kandhar fell; Ghiznee followed; and the quiet occupation of Cabul ended an uncontested though expensive cam¬ paign, the operations of which originated causes of expenditure, against which the Duke of Wellington had prophetically forewarned his countrymen. The fourth year is passing since the commence¬ ment of these military demonstrations : unheard-of obstacles have been subdued by dint of much human suffering; a king has been dethroned, and another restored ; a kingdom lost, and won, and lost again. The Avghan people have been kept in commotion by continual domestic strife and civil wars; trea- * Hadji Khan Kaker, created Nusseer ul Dowlah by the Shah —in reward of this treasonable desertion of the Kandhar chiefs. PREFACE. 9 sures exhausted; torrents of blood shed, and the whole affair terminated by the massacre of the in¬ vaders, whose numbers were said to be ten thousand souls. Thus the expedition has signally failed, and in that failure we behold the retributive justice of an avenging Deity; for those believe not in God who perform the deeds which characterize the misrule of England in the East; and they have received the punishment of Sennacherib for their infidelity, in the necessity of a just and merciful Deify, when English arrogance inconsistently proposed to supersede the order of Nature or the Divine Will, by enforcing the slavery of nations in the East, whilst engaged in the abolition of individual negro slavery in the West. Thus is England condemned by her own laws; and it is written, “ out of the words of thy mouth shalt thou be judged.” The government of the Avghans by their own institutions would have been an experiment suffi¬ ciently facile, and a conquest, the achievement of which might have been effected with the pretext and the show of right. But no condition of submis¬ sion short of absolute servility, and the abolition of their national identity, could satisfy the English in their projected conquest of Avghanistaun. They accordingly attacked the system of government, which has been the cherished form of society amongst the people from the earliest period of their political existence. The population is divided into numerous tribes independent of each other, every 10 PREFACE. one separately governed by a chief selected from the oldest family in the community, though not always the oldest member of that family: the power is held during good behaviour, and in case of a vacany by death, an election is made of the heir of the late chief, or should he decline, a brother or near relation is elevated. The chief is to be viewed as an executive officer, and adminsters the laws of the tribe, which are the result of usage arising from expediency strictly in consonance with the cus¬ toms of the people. He can levy no revenue; there are in fact no expenses of government. In a tribe each head of a family is a patriarch ruling in the undisturbed possession of his domestic hearth, bound by the common interest to sustain the peace¬ able and safe enjoyment of life and property of his community, and himself as an integral part thereof. The attachment of the people is to the community, and not to the chief, who is liable to be removed by a council of the tribe for any flagrant misconduct. The chief represents the tribe in their foreign rela¬ tions, calls out and commands the militia, who main¬ tain themselves, and administers the judicial system of his tribe. If the English had conciliated the heads of tribes, arranged them round the king, as sustainers of the government, which privilege they had a right to expect, they would have become willing hostages for the good conduct of their tribes. But the king, “who can do no wrong,” drove these representatives of the people away PREFACE. 11 from his court, seized and imprisoned many who presented themselves for employment and honours, telling them plainly his bayonets were preferable to their swords; deputed the offices of state to a swarm of hungry expectants, who attended him during his thirty years’ exile, and filled up the appointments of revenue officers and governors of districts with household slaves and military re¬ tainers. These proceedings being sustained by the English gave rise to the prevalence of profound but subdued disgust, which lately displayed its effects in the sanguinary finale of the invaders. The Eng¬ lish, who know well the value of gold, could have controlled the movements and policy of the Avghans by fiscal diplomacy, without incurring the odium of invading and subjugating an unoffending and dis¬ tant free people, whom to subdue to European forms of civilization was impossible. They are but the “ spirits of the waste” who inhabit the wild and sterile deserts of the Caucasian mountains. Their indomitable love of independence is characteristic and incorrigible. They are now what they ap¬ peared to be under the name of Bactrians in the muster-roll of nations as given by Herodotus in the expedition of Xerxes into Greece, the fiercest of the savage nations of Scythia. Kings have risen amongst the Avghans, and conquered India, but in retaining their conquests have relinquished their native country; they have been transiently subdued. 12 PREFACE. but never enslaved or permanently conquered and held in subjugation by a foreign power. The Greeks when they ruled Bactria, did so by a race of hereditary princes born in the country, who ceased to be subject to the Greeks in Europe. The experience of history, derived from the period of Alexander, from the legends of the Seleucidse or the Greco-Bactrian successors to that dynasty, the invasion of the Parthian Prince Mithridates, or the defeat of Crassus, so similar in many of the incidents to the melancholy fate of “ the army of the Indus,” and the contemporaneous operations of Russia in the same range,—Cabul being on the eastern and Circassia the western extremity,—all go to prove the unconquerable nature of these semi-civil¬ ized communities inhabiting the vast range of moun¬ tains ; and Lord Auckland, in place of being made an earl and receiving the thanks of Parliament and the Queen, should have been impeached, degraded, and despoiled of his hereditary honours. I have appended a map of Cabul and the vicinity, by which the intricate nature of the country may be perceived by inspection. Sir William McNagh- ten was a self-conceited gentleman, who marched into Avghanistaun with the air of Bombastes Fu- rioso, advocating to the governor-general a system of policy which has wrought the reward that cruelty, false faith, and criminal duplicity will ever receive. A nation whose principle of existence PREFACE. 13 lies in the disunion and separate interests of its constituent tribes, became united by common op¬ pression into one unanimous community, goaded to madness by the systematic and consecutive tyranny of their invaders. The populace were infuriated by a sanguinary and unjustifiable act, and in modern warfare, a measure of unheard-of barbarity, on the part of McNaghten. English papers of March 5th, state, “ He requested the king to admit a mortar- battery into Balia Hissar, to shell the town!” to re¬ venge the murder of Burnes, whose death was per¬ petrated by a body of religious fanatics, and not, as might be supposed from the bloody infliction of shelling a densely peopled city, by an insurrection of the inhabitants en masse. The natives of the city of Cabul were the friends of the English; they had luxuriated several years on the fatness of English munificence, in the midst of an improvident soldiery,—wherefore was de¬ struction rained upon them ? If a public func¬ tionary had fallen in a popular commotion there, the recent example of the Emperor Nicholas in the case of Greybeadoflf, his ambassador at the court of T’heran, who was murdered with all his staff in a popular tumult, might have suggested to Sir William the line of expediency; but those who disdain heaven, are vainly taught by the experience of man; and quick was the retribution of Providence for that black unnecessary deed of blood. When 14 PREFACE. the mortar-battery opened on the city, and the con¬ fiding unoffending inhabitants, who had always been taught to repose on English justice, faith, and mercy, saw the mangled limbs of their wives, and children, and suckling infants, strewed about their domestic hearths, with a desperate and simultaneous impulse, they'rushed on the commissariat godawns,* and another moment saw the British army in the grasp of an insulted and unrelenting foe. The headless trunk of their chief now lay weltering in its gory death—for McNaghten was murdered in a forced interview with the Avghans,—and they looked around in vain for the prospect of retreat. Their route for ninety miles lay through a mass of mountains, inaccessible at all seasons except by narrow defiles, in some places mere ravines or chasms in the immense alpine masses, often tower¬ ing two thousand feet above the plain, from whose mural sides and elevated heights rocks and stones might be securely rolled down on the fugitives. Now all nature reposed in her cold interminable sheet of snow. The inclemencies of winter, which always completely incapacitates the Indian soldier, were in their full prevalence in a climate where the earth is usually frozen hard as steel nearly four months of the year. They gazed upon the vast expanse before them; the mountains around them, * Storehouses. PREFACE. 15 and all the country covered with snow, presented the dread result of a hopeless retreat; despair froze up the current of the blood as it curdled round the fainting heart; death stared them in the face with the option of starvation, of perishing through cold, or of dying with arms in their hands. Strange that a British army should not have chosen the latter alternative! If there ever was a doubt of the utter worthlessness of the Anglo-Indian army, on occa¬ sions of great emergency, and extreme peril, let this example suffice to set the question for ever at rest; for the English prints expressly state, as the cause of the massacre, that the Indian troops becom¬ ing disorganized, deserted their officers, disbanded and dispersed, some to safety and dishonour secured by treason, but many to death from the hands of an unmerciful enemy, or the still more merciless inclemency of climate. When the commissariat godawns were seized, the army of fighting men, which was just large enough to garrison the citadel called Balia Hissar, should have marched into that stronghold, which is entirely inaccessible to any mode of warfare of which the natives could avail themselves. They should have removed the popu¬ lation inhabiting the fortress, and they could have protected with their arms the inhabitants of the city, as it lies immediately under cover of the Balia Hissar, and they could have kept open a communi¬ cation with the country through the citizens. There 16 PREFACE* are several small forts and strongholds in various parts of the city; every large house has a strong portal and sort of bastion tenable against a siege if the assailants should be unprovided with artillery; each resident has a rifle, always ready for use, and the city of Cabul has, in fifteen minutes after the sounding of an alarm, been known to show upon the terraces of the houses, 10,000 armed men, fiercely bristling with the artillery of grim-visaged war. The city of Cabul has frequently rebelled against the king or its chief, during the civil wars of the ancient regime, and without extraneous preparation, readily sustained themselves in a slate of insurrection for thirty or forty days consecu¬ tively. During the winter, the citizens of Cabul have always six months’ store of flour or wheat laid up in granary. 17 that signed the treaty by which a British army of 10,000 men has been betrayed to ignominious death, justly deserve the award of treason. Thirty years have passed since the civil wars of Avghanistaun terminated for a brief period in the expulsion of the ancient regime. These wars were fomented, first by the pretenders to the throne spring¬ ing from the common ancestor, Timur Shah, the progenitor and king who preceded the present in¬ cumbent, Shah Shujah. Causes of domestic conflict were kept in continual operation by the leaders of the Barikzye tribe, whose chief had been decapi¬ tated by order of Shah Zeman, the brother of Shah Shujah. The murder was avenged by the son of this victim of an evil policy, and this son, the Vizier Futty Khan, was the eldest of twenty-one brothers, amongst whom the Ex-Ameer Dost Mahomed is to be numbered. The worse than savage murder of Futty Khan by Kameran Mirza, son of Shah Mahmood, a successful opponent and half-brother of Zeman, whom he blinded, and Shujah, renewed the blood-feud betwixt the Suddoozye, or king’s tribe, and the Barikzye, or tribe of the Ex-Ameer. The latter thoroughly and completely prevailed, under the direction of Mahomed Azeem Khan, the full brother and successor of Vizier Futty Khan; he was succeeded by his son Hubeeb Ullah Khan, who governed an insubordinate multitude, distracted with the vices of their princes, until a long night of 2 18 PREFACE* anarchy was dispelled by the advent of Dost Ma¬ homed, who was called by an almost unanimous voice of acclamation to assume the reins of power, which the feudal lords of Cabul were ready to strike from the rude grasp of a depraved and monstrous voluptuary, a young man, his nephew, eighteen years of age, the slave of every evil passion. Dost Ma¬ homed attained the sovereignty of Cabul in 1824, and was hailed by the feudal chiefs as head of an oligarchy. This form of government continued, through the troubled movements of a restless people, with whom the prospect of peace is ever the pretext of tumult and strife, until 1839. This community of scorpions was ruled by Dost Mahomed with results that confirmed his character for diplomatic tact. With the means of attaining those results the politician has naught to do. There can be no doubt Christian morals and philanthropy would have been horrified at the violence, cruelty, and savage bar¬ barity of a prince, whose title to supreme power was sanctioned by his abilities in the administration of a remedy or prophylactic measure against all the moral and political depravity of a community upon which Rhadamanthus would have gazed with fatu¬ ous and timorous dread ! The strongest proof of Dost Mahomed’s firmness, decision, pertinacity, and finesse, is to be seen in the fact of his having instantly relinquished the pursuits of an habitual drunkard on attaining sovereign power, together with the simul- PREFACE. 19 taneous and sincere repetition of his example by all his companions in licentiousness and arm's. In the winter of 1837-38, an individual arrived in Cabul from the camp of Mahomed Shah, who was engaged in the siege of Heraut’h. He repre¬ sented himself as a Russian courier, who came, it is said, with a complimentary letter from the Em¬ peror of Russia, addressed to Dost Mahomed. The chiefs of Kandhar (the Ameer’s brothers), had already acceded to a Persian alliance, and the Ameer, apprehensive of being superseded in the patronage of the Persian Shah or the Russians, commenced hedging between the three agents then at Cabul, representing Persia, Russia, and England. To the English he held out two stipulations, which he made the sine qua non of a treaty offensive and defensive, and the establishment of a garrison of British troops in the citadel of Cabul. viz.: a pay¬ ment of twenty lacs of rupees, (two hundred thou¬ sand pounds,) and that Runjeet’h Singh should be obliged to relinquish his pretensions to the natural territories of Avghanistaun within or west of the Indus. The utter and deplorable incapacity of the English agent originated a line of bewildering policy, commenced in the feebleness of a narrow mind, and finished with a deluge of misery and blood. Such indeed was the expedition to Moscow, of which this is a repetition on a small scale; though the conse¬ quences may be more important to the social con- 20 PREFACE. dition of man than the great political convulsion alluded to. The tenure of British India, and consequently the integrity of the British empire, is at this moment sustained by a single hair, and that so tensely drawn that the slighest adverse movement will certainly snap asunder the retaining power. The thousand native princes of India are regarding with intense anxiety and ardent hopes the movements of the British army before the Khyber pass, and the fate of General Sale at Djillalabad. Every able-bodied man, whose numbers are not less than five millions, covetous and exasperated enemies, is standing with “the foot in the stirrup and hand on the spear,” gloating on the hope of plunder which the traditions of old age have placed in fascinating visions before them. The sentinels are in the watch-towers and their runners are in the w r ay,—and the earliest promulgation of the last reverses of the British in Avghanistaun will signalize the destruction of every Englishman throughout the whole of India. If the Avghans slaughter the remnant of British troops under General Sale at Djillalabad, and defeat the British army in its projected attempt to force the Khyber defile, the British power in India expires instantly, without a doubt, as it will without a strug¬ gle—except the death-throes of their officers, as the native, army strangle them in their beds. The In¬ dians can more readily perform than the Avghans PREFACE. 21 could conceive. Simultaneous movement, whether the effect of design or fortuitous occurrence, or the consequence of circumstance, will eventuate in the same conclusion. So far in this massacre of the British army nothing has been effected to disturb the Anglo-Indian government. But the clouds that have gathered in the Indian Caucasus, and scathed with their lightning the British army, have not ceased to thunder on the invading host. Should they rain de¬ struction on the beleaguered forces at Djillalabad, an electric shock will rapidly pass through the chain of connexion that unites the Indo-British empire through¬ out, and important consequences must ensue beyond the control of England, which will seriously derange the supremacy of that race in India. The Avghans can submit to be defeated daily during the next six months; news will reach us of the repeated decisive victories of the British forces; but we, who are acquainted with the value of an English bulletin, know that the repetition of a decisive battle implies the continual necessity for defensive operations— and the Avghans will conduct a guerilla warfare, which exhausts by the pertinacity of incessant as¬ sault. The English admit that their position cannot be maintained against artillery. Should Djillalabad be a defensible position against native aggression, which certainly is not the case, even in English hands, where the disparity of the antagonists is measured by thousands against hundreds in favour 22 PREFACE* of the assailants, a deficiency of provisions will oblige these brave men to yield, not to their ene¬ mies, but to the dismal alternative of— death. Sir Robert Sale and the English troops under his com¬ mand, when no other choice remains but the stipu¬ lation of death or dishonour will unhesitatingly prefer the grave of honour in place of honour’s grave. I incline to the belief that circumstances will again fight for the Avghans and destroy the remnant at Djillalabad, in which case the garrisons of Ghuznee and Kandhar must follow in the same train of events that involves the safety of their com¬ rades. The English will endeavour to avail themselves of Shujah ul Moolk’s influence to regain their posi¬ tion. They say, with singular naivete, “ the king refused to accompany us in our retreat, and was immediately able to surround himself with three thousand followers in the Balia Hissar.” The king never desired any greater favour of the English than a loan of money, with which he proposed to restore himself in his own way, by sustaining a party until he could ascend the throne. He is now upon the throne surrounded by a strong party, and his first wish is to rid himself of English tutelage. He will probably consummate his purpose; and the English, when they trust to Shujah, repose upon a broken reed, which will transpierce the hand of confiding faith. PREFACE* 23 Whilst I write, (May 7th,) the last accounts from England say, “ On the authority of a Berlin cor¬ respondent, upon whose information, derived through letters from Moscow, great reliance is placed, the Times states, that the Shah of Persia has marched against Herat’h at the head of 60,000 men, and that Russia has furnished a subsidy of two million rubles in order to enable the Shah to make the movement.” If this statement is founded on fact, the fatal spell begins to work. Note. —In referring to English policy, I trust my English friends will distinctly draw the line of separation betwixt the system that elicits restrictions, and the country at large, and allow me the privilege of admiring those whose friendship I claim, with¬ out ranking me amongst the enemies of their household gods whom we mutually adore. INDIA AND AYGHANISTAUN. CHAPTER I. REPLY TO COUNT BJORSTJERNa’s WORK ON BRITISH INDIA. I am not acquainted with any historical subject amongst modern incidents which has been more elaborately or more ably treated by writers of emi¬ nent pretensions than the British Empire in India, an important phenomenon in the political history of the human race, and justly entitled to a careful investigation. The patient and persevering applica¬ tion necessary to eliminate from an extensive and promiscuous mass the atoms of a fair synopsis, de¬ serves our warm approbation; and the individual who devotes himself to the task with the motive of communicating information of a nature so full of interest as the general advancement of knowledge involved and displayed in the events of history, is entitled to, and shall receive, our grateful acknow¬ ledgements for the admirable design; but the errors of a work, whether accidental or premeditated, can¬ not be redeemed by the merit of the subject; and we 26 INDIA AND are particular in referring to the blunders of the treatise under review, because an invincible name does more to substantiate error than a controverted attempt to confirm a false position; the effort pro¬ ducing a conflict which must result in the predomi¬ nance of truth; whilst the silent and unimpeached influence of a name imperceptibly impresses its force upon a plastic receptacle, and insensibly cor¬ roborates the grossest mistakes. On this subject the most efficient information can be derived in a form sufficiently condensed for the general reader, from Harpers’ Family Library, en¬ titled “History of British India,” in three vols. 16 mo. If to this publication is added “ History of Persia, from the earliest ages to the present time,” by James B. Frazer, Esq., complete in one vol., with a map and engravings; and the well arranged and minutely true account of Avghanislaun, by the Hon. Mount Stuart Elphinstone, a synopsis of Indian and Persian history becomes available, in¬ cluding all that a philosophical inquirer could desire. Amongst the collaborators upon British India one of the latest candidates for public appro¬ bation is “ Lieut. General Count de Bjorstjerna,” &c. &c., (of Stockholm,) formerly chief of the staff, and at present Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Great Britain. The Count is an admirer of the English government, and his work, for that essential cause, is, in the opinion of our great Colossus of the world, “judicious and luminous, and will afford more complete informa¬ tion on the British Empire in the East than any work of the same extent in our own language.” (Preface of the English translator.) The Count has laboriously referred to all accredited authorities AVGHANISTACIf. 27 on India, and enumerates more than one hundred published sources, besides a host of unpublished manuscripts, many of them voluminous deposits in the archives of the East India Company, from which his knowledge has been culled, and his opi¬ nions made up or confirmed. He presents himself to the public as an individual perfectly acquainted with his subject, and consequently soliciting and deserving the attention of his auditors, and doubt¬ less, in default of more correct knowledge, he may bear away the compliment of merit which his pre¬ tensions in no kind justify us in awarding. The Count is more than unfortunate in almost every opinion he has expressed. He is indeed un¬ wise, for he compromises by his misstatements, in the fullest latitude, the gratuitous approbation of his English friends. The value of the Count’s opinions and accuracy may be readily estimated at the onset by recurring to his puerile inferences drawn from facts which, in his imagination, are worthy of remark. He directs our attention to a won¬ derful coincidence, a discovery unthought of here¬ tofore, and refers to the occurrence with a matter- of-course sort of self-complacency of an edifying caste. He says, p. 10 of “ The British Empire in India”—“During his residence in India (1324-53) Batuta gained the favour of Mahomet, the Em¬ peror of Delhi, who sent him on an embassy to the Emperor of China. Mahomet was descended from the Sooltauns of Khorassaun, who had conquered India. The whole dynasty of these sooltauns had the surname of Oddin, a circumstance which I consider it right to notice here.” By referring to the History of India mentioned above, page 184, we see, “In the year 1316 the crown (of Delhi) was 28 INDIA AND placed on the head of Mubarrick I., one of the Emperor’s sons. He was murdered after a reign of three years, and amid the confusion which fol¬ lowed (p. 185), Tuglick, a slave, belonging to the warlike border tribe of the Jits, ascended the throne.” Tuglick urns succeeded by his son Jonah, who assumed the title of Mahomet III.; but instead of following his father’s example, his crimes sur¬ passed those of his most guilty predecessors, and made him, during a reign of twenty-seven years, the execration of the East. “ Mahomet, it appears (p. 186), had at length resolved to adopt a milder system, but death interrupted him before he could realize his intentions, and delivered India from the dreadful scourge of his government in the year 1351.” This Mahomet was the son of a slave, and not, as the Count observes, “ descended from the Sooltauns of Khorassaun,” &c. “ The whole dynasty of these sooltauns (those of Khorassaun, who had con¬ quered India,) had the surname of Oddin.” Merely alluding to the culpable and inexpressive looseness of the Count’s style, we must meet this assertion with a direct denial. 29 Deen, to the period of the Moghul dynasty, established by Baber in 1525, are mentioned in history by their proper appellatives, without a surname. It is pro¬ bable some who were elevated from a low condition, may have had the surname of U1 Deen, according to the Mahomedan usage. This cognomen would have corresponded with the denomination of those who were called after some attribute of the faith, whilst there are many names which would not admit of the association. Such are Mahomed, Kei Kobad, Kera, (unless this last should be intended for Khire,) Ghuffoor, Omar, Mubarrick, Tuglick, Mahomed, et id genus omne. Admitting, for the Count’s gratification, that they all took the surname which distinguished Kuttub, by what method of pronunciation, or by what value of letters, can U1 Deen be called Oddin. U1 is the Arabic article the, Deen means religion in the same language, and the word Kuttub signifies pole or axis (of the earth)— Kuttub ul Deen implies, “axis of the faith,” i. e., the faith of Mahomed. The name is derived from the Mahomedan era, and cannot be in any way coinci¬ dent with the Scandinavian name Oddin. Fancy the surprise of the Hyperborean worthy, could he break the cerements of his tomb at this moment, and find himself saluted by one antiquarian as a Hindoo devotee, whilst another familiarly addressed him as a Mahomedan priest! The Count’s great disco¬ very, of which he had so much to make in reserve, a circumstance which he sagely suggests, “ I con¬ sider right to mention here,” goes for naught. 