so that the questions in dispute between us may be made known and clear to all the Powers.  And surely the side of right will not be overlooked.  If your intentions are otherwise, and you entertain hostile and vindictive feelings towards the people of Afghanistan, God alone is their Protector and real Preserver.  Upon the course of action here above stated this suppliant before God has resolved and decided.’]

[Footnote 4:  The late Lieutenant-General Sir John Hudson, K.C.B., who died as Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army.]

[Footnote 5:  No doubt friends of the prisoners, who had come to help them to escape.]

[Footnote 6:  This occurrence was made great capital of by the anti-war party at home.  A member of the House of Commons, in commenting upon it, said that ’some ninety prisoners, who had been taken, had been tied together with ropes’; that ’on their making some attempt to escape they were set upon, and many of them slaughtered in their bonds’; and that ’the dead, the living, the dying, and the wounded were left tied together, and lying in one confused mass of bodies.’]

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLVIII. 1879

Sher Ali’s death—­Premature negotiations—­The treaty of Gandamak —­Making friends with the tribesmen—­Gloomy forebodings —­Good-bye to Cavagnari

I was informed by the Viceroy’s Private Secretary in the beginning of March that, unless satisfactory arrangements could soon be come to with Yakub Khan, an onward move would have to be made.  Accordingly I now set about preparing for such a contingency.

Sher Ali had died in Afghan Turkestan on the 21st February, and, in communicating the event to the Viceroy, Yakub Khan wrote that he was anxious matters might be so arranged that ’the friendship of this God-granted State with the illustrious British Government may remain constant and firm.’

The new Amir was told in reply that Lord Lytton was prepared to enter into negotiations for the conclusion of peace, and for the restoration of a friendly alliance between the two Governments, provided that His Highness renounced all claim to authority over the Khyber and Michni Passes, and the independent tribes inhabiting the territory directly connected with the main routes leading to India; that the district of Kuram from Thal to the crest of the Shutargardan Pass, and the districts of Pishin and Sibi, should remain under the control of the British Government; that the foreign relations of Afghanistan should be conducted in accordance with the advice and wishes of the British Government; and that British officers should be accredited to the Kabul Government, and permitted to reside at such places as might hereafter be decided upon.

Yakub Khan’s reply was not altogether satisfactory.  He agreed to British officers being deputed to Afghanistan on the understanding that they should reside in Kabul, and abstain from interference in State affairs; but he declined to renounce his authority over the Khyber and Michni Passes and the tribes in their vicinity, and refused to consent to Kuram, Pishin, and Sibi being placed under British protection.