Mayo's

CHAPTER VII

THE PACIFICATION OF AFGHANISTAN

Ar the risk of repetition, we must give an account of Great Viceroyalty. Britain's dealings with India under the Beaconsfield Govern

Shere Ali's
Reign.

ment, on which we have already touched in the chapter devoted to the general survey of his Ministry. The suppression of the Mutiny marked an epoch in the relations of Great Britain to her Indian dependency. The conquest of India within natural frontiers was at an end. The native States were at peace, their limits defined, their dynasties were established, and their existence was guaranteed. In 1869 Sir John Lawrence was succeeded as Viceroy by the Earl of Mayo, appointed by Disraeli just before his Government came to an end. The appointment was far from popular, and Gladstone was urged to cancel it; but the proposed Viceroy proved a success. On his arrival in India he found the Afghan question still unsolved, the dispute about the frontier being difficult to determine. From Baluchistan to Chitral there is a debatable zone of tribal territory, occupied by restless warriors, who owed a very imperfect submission to their nominal suzerain, the Amir of Afghanistan; and it was hard to decide where the limit of British rule should be drawn, especially in view of the advance of Russia in Central Asia. Various plans had been formed of a very divergent character, some authorities holding that the frontier of the British Empire should be withdrawn to the Indus; others that the intermediate zone should be conquered; some that Afghanistan should be partitioned, or the country conquered between the Oxus and the Indus; but, as a fact, Great Britain had stopped at the base of the mountains, had left the tribes independent, and had regarded Afghanistan as an inviolable buffer State.

A new epoch began with the death of Dost Mohammed in 1863, an event which was followed by an internecine war between his sons. Shere Ali held the throne for two years, and was then driven from Cabul and Candahar by his elder brother Afzal. Afzal died and, as his eldest son, Abdurrahman, gave up the claim to the succession, the throne passed to another brother, Azim. In 1868 Shere Ali, starting from Herat, gained possession of all

SHERE ALI AND BRITAIN

the dominions of Dost Mohammed, and ruled them for ten years. The policy of Great Britain, at this time, was to recognise the de facto ruler, whoever he might happen to be. Lawrence, therefore, recognised Shere Ali, as soon as he had consolidated his power, and made him a present of arms and money. Lord Mayo met Shere Ali in conference at Amballa in March, 1869; but when the Amir made proposals for a closer alliance the Viceroy was compelled by the Home Government to refuse them, much to Shere Ali's disappointment. He took back with him no treaty, but only a promise of moral support, whatever that might mean. In 1869 an agreement had been made with Russia that the Oxus should be accepted as a boundary of Shere Ali's dominions to the north, and that Russia should respect the integrity of his country so long as he promised not to interfere with Bokhara.

Britain.

In 1872 Lord Mayo, while visiting the convict settlement in Shere Ali's the Andaman Islands, was assassinated by a fanatic, and was Appeal to succeeded by Lord Northbrook. The latter's relations with the Amir were not so good as those of his predecessor. Russia was making rapid advances in Central Asia, and Shere Ali was alarmed at them, especially at the conquest of Khiva in June, 1873. The Amir was deeply anxious for an alliance with Great Britain to protect him against Russia. But the Liberal Government, afraid of entanglements, gave him nothing but vague promises. Yet the opportunity of making friends with the Amir ought not to have been allowed to pass. Shere Ali was bitterly disappointed, and sought with Russia the friendship which Great Britain had denied him. Consequently, when Disraeli became Prime Minister, the Government, with a dread of the advance of Russia, suspected Shere Ali of friendly feelings towards their enemy, and desired the Viceroy to press upon him the admission of a British Resident into his country, to be stationed first at Herat and afterwards at Cabul. The Viceroy and his whole Council protested against the proposal, on the ground that this change of policy would produce a disastrous effect in the mind of the Amir. In 1868 and 1873 Shere Ali had entreated the British Government to make a close alliance with him, in order to protect him against Russia, and he had been assured there was no need for apprehension. It would be inconsistent and unwise to force upon him the alliance which had been emphatically rejected, together with a condition which he had always regarded as impossible. Unable to convince the Home Government of the soundness of his views, and unwilling to commit himself to their adventurous

Lytton and
Shere Ali.

War Declared with

Afghanistan.

policy, Lord Northbrook magnanimously resigned his office, and Lord Lytton was appointed in his place.

Lytton proved himself the willing instrument of the new Imperial policy, which, if he did not originate, at all events he executed. He acceded to the demands which Shere Ali had put forward in 1873, but the latter was stubborn in refusing the acceptance of a Resident. The Amir pointed out, with truth, that he would be unable to protect a British Resident against the fanaticism of his subjects, and urged that if he admitted a representative from Great Britain he must also admit one from Russia. Lytton apparently believed that Shere Ali was intriguing with Russia, and such ultimately became the case, although up to May, 1877, all letters from Russia were opened in the presence of the native who represented the British Government at Cabul, and communicated to the Viceroy. The occupation of Quetta in 1876 increased the terror of the Amir, and an interview which took place at Peshawar between the representatives of the Viceroy and the Amir produced no result. When the Afghan envoy, Syed Nur Mohammed, whose name should be mentioned with honour, died, Lytton refused to receive his successor, who was already on his way, and broke off communications. with Shere Ali, who naturally turned to Russia. It is difficult to defend the vacillating and yet precipitate policy of Great Britain towards Afghanistan during the ten years which followed 1868.

We have already narrated at length the conduct of the British Government towards Russia. The two nations were on the brink of war, which was only averted by the Congress of Berlin, and Russia naturally endeavoured to create a diversion in India. On June 13th, 1878, the very day on which the Congress of Berlin held its first sitting, a Russian mission, under General Stoletov, began its march from Tashkent to Cabul. Shere Ali endeavoured to arrest its progress; but the Russians threatened him with the rivalry of Abdurrahman, his nephew, who resided in their country, so that he was compelled to submit, and possibly even signed a treaty with the Russian Government. This news decided Lytton upon vigorous action, and he announced his intention of sending Sir Neville Chamberlain to Cabul. Stoletov, on hearing of this, left Cabul, and, on September 30th, Major Cavagnari, who commanded the advance guard of Chamberlain's mission, was stopped at the fort of Ali Musjid, refused an entrance to the Khyber Pass, and eventually war was declared on November 21st, 1878. Shere Ali deserves our pity; he had done his best to avert the dangers

MURDER OF CAVAGNARI

which threatened his country, and the death of his younger son, Abdullah Jan, had nearly disordered his mind.

Gundamuk.

Afghanistan was invaded by three columns-Sir Samuel The Browne marched from the Khyber to Jelalabad; Sir Frederick Treaty of Roberts executed his famous advance through the Kuram Pass, and stormed the heights of Peiwar; and Sir Donald Stewart marched from Quetta to Candahar. Shere Ali fled northwards to Turkestan, leaving his son Yakub Khan to make terms with the invader; and, rejected by the Russian General Kauffmann, died broken-hearted in February, 1879. Lytton would have preferred to dismember the conquered country, but the British Government made with Yakub Khan the Treaty of Gundamuk in May, 1879. By the terms of this treaty the Amir was to follow the orders of the British Government in conducting his foreign relations, to receive a British Resident at Cabul, to place under British control the districts of Kuram, Pishin and Sibi, together with the passes of Khyber and Michni. In return for these concessions the Amir was to be protected, by arms, money and troops, from foreign aggression and to receive an annual subsidy of six lakhs of rupees.

The chief object of the Treaty of Gundamuk was to secure Murder of that a British Resident should be established at the court of the Cavagnari. Amir Yakub Khan of Afghanistan, and in accordance with it Sir Louis Cavagnari was received at Cabul as Resident on July 24th, 1879. He had, as escort, a mounted guard of twenty-five sowars, and fifty sepoys of the Guides, the Amir having promised to protect him. Certain regiments arrived from Herat on August 5th and swaggered through the streets of Cabul, declaiming against the admission of the ambassador. Cavagnari was warned of the coming storm, but remained calm, refusing to believe the rumours and, when convinced of their truth, saying, “They can only kill the three or four of us here, and our deaths will be avenged." On September 2nd he sent a message to the Viceroy that all was well; next day he and the whole mission were murdered; not one of them was left. Yakub Khan sat in his palace, vacillating and sullen, but did nothing. Instead of employing the troops which were faithful to him to quell the disorder, he only sent the Commander-in-Chief to remonstrate. It was not till Cavagnari's head was carried through the bazaar by an excited crowd that he began to fear British vengeance.

The news reached Sir Frederick Roberts at Simla at midnight Roberts in on September 4th, and he secured the Shutargardan Pass and Cabul. determined to move 6,000 men upon Cabul as soon as possible.

in Cabul.

On September 27th the Amir arrived in the British camp and was treated with every possible mark of respect and given a guard of honour. The visit proved that he had lost all authority in his capital, and he expected that the British Government would avenge the murder of the Embassy but replace him on the throne. The Amir tried to delay the advance, but Roberts told him that not a day's delay would take place. Roberts, however, issued a proclamation that a distinction would be observed between the peaceful inhabitants of Afghanistan and the treacherous murderers of Cavagnari. On October 6th the mutinous troops were defeated and driven from the heights above Charasiah, and next day the force encamped within a few miles of the Bala Hissar and the city of Cabul. On October 12th Roberts took formal possession of the Bala Hissar, and a durbar was held at which the terms imposed upon Cabul were announced. The proclamation asserted that justice would be done if Cabul were utterly destroyed and its name for ever blotted out, but that the British Government would be merciful and spare the city. At the same time, the buildings which interfered with the military efficiency would be levelled with the ground and a fine imposed upon the inhabitants. Cabul and the country for ten miles round were placed under martial law; a military governor of the city was appointed to administer justice; the carrying of arms within the city or within five miles of the gates was forbidden, and anyone infringing this regulation was liable to the penalty of death.

Mysterious Cabul is, in itself, not an impressive city, nor is the Cabul Explosions river a majestic stream. Sometimes it rises in flood, carrying away all obstacles and drowning those who attempt to cross; generally it crawls along, impotent for good or evil, a shallow streamlet which a child could wade. But the city is the link between Central Asia and India, and its bazaars contain both the cloths of Bokhara and the textiles of Manchester, the hardware of Sheffield and Birmingham, and the jewellery of native artificers-everything, in fact, from a diamond to a dhoti. Although the reception of the British troops had been fairly friendly, suspicions were aroused by an explosion in the arsenal, in which were stored some millions of cartridges and nearly seventy tons of gunpowder. The explosion was like the shock of an earthquake. Darkness blotted out blotted out everything, and showers of bullets, stones, cartridges, and rubbish fell into the surrounding garden, some twelve men being killed and seven wounded. When another explosion took place in the afternoon the city was seized with panic, the shops were shut, and the