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The History of the War in Afghanistan Part 2 A. P. THORNTON. ED M OND & S PARk< Presented to the LIBRARY of the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO from the library of A. P. Thornton HISTORY THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. HISTORY OF THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. Br JOHN WILLIAM KAYE, F.K.S. THIRD EDITION, IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATEELOO PLACE, ^u&ltsfjcrs to tfje Iniiia ©ffirc. 1874. LONDON . l-RINTKD BY W. CIOWES AND SOKS, STAMFORD STREET am; CilAKlNG CBOSS. U'i- V O X' AUB %\ mi CONTENTS. BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. [August—December, 1839.] PAGE l)a,wn of the Restoration—Difficulties of our Position—Proposed Withdrawal of the Army—Arrival of Colonel Wade—His Operations —Lord on the Hindoo- Koosh—Evils of our Policy— Defective Agency—MooUah Shikore—Our Political Agents— Operations in the Khybur Pass—The Fall of Khelat . 1 CHAPTER II. [January—September, 1840.] The Great Game in Central Asia—The Russian Expedition to Khiva —Apprehensions of Burnes —Colonel Stoddart—Affairs on the Hindoo-Koosh—Failure of the Russian Expedition—Con- duct of the Sikhs—Herat and Yar Mahomed—Mission of Abbott and Shakespear—Disturbances in the Ghilzye Country —Fall of Khelat—Arthur Conolly 32 CHAPTER III. [June—November, 1840.] The last Struggles of Dost Mahomed—The British in the Hindoo- Koosh —The Ameer's Family—Occupation of Bajgah—Disaster of Kamurd—Escape of Dost Mahomed —Feverish State of Caubul—Dannie's 13rigade—Defeat of the Ameer—Sale in the Kohistan— The Battle of Purwandurrah—Sui'render of Dost Mahomed ......... 73 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IT. [November, 1840—September, 1841.] — — PAGE Yar Mahomed and—the Douranees Season of Peace— Position of the Douranees— The Zemindawer Outbreak— Conduct of Yar Mahomed Departure— of Major Todd Risings of the Dou- ranees —and Ghilzyes Engagements with Aktur Khan and the Gooroo Dispersion of the Insurgents ..... 99 CHAPTER V. [September—October, 1841.] Aspect of Affairs at Caubul—The King—The Envoy—Burnes— Elphiustone—The English at Caubul—Expenses of the War— Ketrenchment of the Subsidies—Bisings of the Ghilzyes— Sale's Brigade—Gatherings in the Kohistan—Sale's Arrival at Gundamuck—The 1st of November .... 135 BOOK Y. [1841—1842.] CHAPTER I. [November, 1841.] The Outbreak at Caubul— Approaching Departure of the Envoy— Immediate Causes of the llebeilion—Death of Sir Alexander Burnes—His Character—Spread of the Insurrection—Indeci- eion of the British Authorities . .163 CHAPTER II. [November, 1841.] Progress of the Insun-ection—Attempted Movement on the City —Attack on Mahomed Sheriff's Fort—Loss of the Commis- sariat Fort—Captain Mackenzie's Defence—Capture of Ma- homed SheriiTs Fort— to Attempts corrupt the Enemy , . 187 CONTENTS. ^ VU CHAPTER III. [November, 1841.] PAGF Progress of the Insurrection—General Elphinstone—His Infirmities ^-Recall of Brigadier Slielton to Cantonments—Capture of the Rickabashee Fort—Intrigues with the Afghan Chiefs— The Envoy's Correspondence with Mohun Lai . 204 CHAPTER IV. [November, 1841.] Action on the Beh-meru Hills—Looked-for Advent of Sale's Brigade — Arrival of Pottinger—The Siege of Charekur—Destruction of the Goorkha Regiment—Withdrawal of Sale to Jellalabad —Question of Concentration in the Balla Hissar—Bearing of the King— The Action on the 23rd of November—Negotiations 220 CHAPTER V. [November—December, 1841.] Progress of Negotiation—Arrival of Mahomed Akbar Khan—His Character—Negotiations continued— Deaths of Meer Musjedee and Abdoollah Khan—Revival of Negotiations—The Draft Treaty . 257 BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. [December, 1841.] Preparations for the Retreat—Evacuation of the Balla Hissar— Progress of the Negotiations—Continued Delay—Variations of the Treaty—Designs of the Envoy—Overtures of Mahomed Akbar Khan — Death of Sir William Macnaghten — His Character 286 Viii CON'TENTS. CHAPTER II. [December, 1841—January, 1842.] — PA OK The Capitulation —Supineness of the (Jarrison Negotiations re- sumed—Efforts of Majoi Pottinger—Demands of the Chiefs— Tlie Final Treaty—Humiliation of the Garrison —Geueral Remarks . 31" CHAPTER III. [November, 1841—January, 1842.] — —Skirmishes with the Rale's Btigade Evacuation of Qundarauck — Enemy—Occupation of Jellalabad—State of the Defences Successful Sallies —The Fortifications repaired — Disastrous Tidings from Caubul—Summons to Surrender—Arrival of Dr. Brydon . 336 CHAPTER IV. [January, 1842.] The Retreat from Caubul—Departure of the Army—Attack on the — at Be- Kear-Guard The First Day's March—Encampment— — gramee—The Passage of the Koord-Caubul Pass Tezeen JugduUuck—Sufferings of the Force—Negotiations with Akbar Khan—Ma.«!8acre at Gundamuck—Escape of Dr. Brydon . 360 391 Avi-fcisDix . THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. — [August December ; 1839.] Dawn of tlie Restoration—Difficulties of our Position—Proposed Witk- drawal of the Army— Arrival of Colonel Wade—His Operations —Lord on the Hindoo-Koosh — Evils of our Policy — Defective Agency—Moollah Shikore— Our Political Agents—Operations in the Khybur Pass—The Fall of Khelat. Restored to the home of his fathers, Shah Soojah was not contented. Even during the excitement of the march to Caubul he had complained of the narrow kingdom to which he was about to return as ; and now, he looked out from the windows of his palace over the fair expanse of country beneath him, he sighed to think that the empire of Ahmed Shah had been so grievously curtailed. Very different, indeed, was the Douranee Empire, over which the sceptre of Shah Soojah was now waved, from that which his father had handed down to Zemaun Shah and his brothers, to be sacrificed by their weakness and disunion. The kingdom, which had once extended from Balkh to Shikarpoor, and from Herat to Cashmere, had now shrunk and collapsed. On every side its integrity 2 DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. had been invaded. Cashmere and Mooltan had fallen to from the the Sikhs ; Peshawui' had been wrested Afghans the same the by imsci-upulous neighbour ; independence of Herat had been guaranteed to a branch of the Royal the Beloocheos had asserted uukown family ; pretensions of the Princes on the in the times Ahmed Shah ; petty northern hill-frontier no longer acknowledged their alle- giance to Caubul. In whatsoever direction he turned his eyes, he beheld the mutilations to which the old Douranee had been and to recover some Empire subjected ; yeanied of the provinces which had been severed from the domain of his fathers. But the kingdom to which he had been restored was more extensive than ho could govern. There were many difficult to be at this time the first and questions solved, ; the most important of which related to the continuance of his connexion with his Feringhee allies. The British Govern- ment had now done all that it had undertaken to do. It had escorted Shah Soojah to his palace gates, and seated him upon tlie throne of his fathers. In accord- ance with Lox'd Auckland's manifesto, the time had now arrived for the withdrawal of the British army. But it was obvious that the British army could not yet be with- drawTi. The Shah had no hold upon the affections of his people. He might sit in the Balla Hissar, but he could not govern the Afghans. Such, at least, was the conviction which by this time had forced itself upon Macnaghten's mind. If the British Minister had ever contemplated the early abandonment of the restored King, the idea had now passed away. The Shah him- self felt no confidence in his own strength. He did not believe that the power of Dost Mahomed was iiTetrievably still in broken, but saw him, imagination, flitting about the regions of the Hindoo-Koosh, mising the Oosbeg tribes, and pouring down for the recovery of Caubul. BRITISH OCCUPATION. 3 There were objections, many and weighty, to the con- tinued occupation of Afghanistan by British troops— objections of one kind, which the Shah acknowledged and and of which e appreciated ; objections another, very- statesman and soldier in India must have recognised with painful distinctness. But the experiment of leaving Shah Soojah to himself was too dangerous to be lightly tried. The Shah would fain have rid himself of British inter- ference and control, if he could have maintained himself without British and the British support ; Government would fain have withdrawal its troops from Afghanistan, if it could have relied upon the power of the Shah to maintain himself But to leave the restored Suddozye to be dethroned and expelled, after the homeward march of the troops that had restored him, would have been to court an enormous failure, which would have overwhelmed our government with disgrace. Neither was the resto- ration sufficiently popular in itself, nor was there suf- ficient stability in the character of the King to warrant so hazardous an experiment. If the policy of the Afghan invasion had not been based upon error, the experiment would not have been a hazardous one. But the very acknowledgment of the Shah's inability to maintain him- self after the departure of the British army, was a crush- ing commentary on the assertions put forth in the great October manifesto. The tmth was not to be disguised. " " The adoration which had gi-eeted the Shah on his return to his long-lost dominions, was found to be a de- lusion and a sham. The palace of his fathers had received him but it was still to again ; necessary hedge in the throne with a quickset of British bayonets. So thought Lord Auckland. He had given his mind long and painfully to the subject, and had written an elaborate minute, reviewing all the circumstances of our position in Afghanistan after the entiy of the Shah into B 2 4 DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. the country. Macna^ten had been settled little more than a month in Caubul when a copy of this minute, dated Simlah, August 20, was put into his hands.
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