CAUSES OF THE AFGHAN WAR. PART I. AFGHANISTAN FROM THE SIDE OF INDIA CHAPTER I. THE POLICY FROM 1855 TO 1865 THE present history may be taken up at the time when the first treaty was made between the East India Company and the Ameer Dost Mahomed, then called Walee of Cabul. He was the Ruler whom we had overthrown and captured in the year 1839, when we invaded Afghanistan under the impression that our Indian dominions were threatened by Russian machinations from that quarter, and that we could improve matters by forcible intervention. Though our military success, and apparently our political success, was complete for a time, the result was, as everyone knows, most disastrous in every point of view, and no one of any authority is now found to defend either the justice or the wisdom of our measures. After this failure we released Dost Mahomed, who re-established himself on the throne at Cabul. For some years he was hostile to us, but afterwards desired to enter into alliance. Hence the treaty, which was concluded on the British side by Lord Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, under the authority of Lord Dalhousie, then GovernorGeneral of India, and which bears date May 1, 1855. We subjoin the entire document (vide A., p. 1): B Article 1. Between the Honourable East India Company and his Highness Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan, Walee of Cabul and of those countries now in his possession, and the heirs of the said Ameer, there shall be perpetual peace and friendship. Article 2. The Honourable East India Company engages to respect those territories of Afghanistan now in his Highness' possession, and never to interfere therein. Article 3. His Highness Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan, Walee of Cabul and of those countries of Afghanistan now in his possession, engages, on his own part and on the part of his heirs, to respect the territories of the Honourable East India Company, and never to interfere therein, and to be the friend of the friends and enemy of the enemies of the Honourable East India Company. A further treaty was made by the Company with the same potentate on January 26, 1857. We were then at war with Persia, and the greater part of the treaty has reference to the exigencies of that war. Amongst other things it provided that a lakh of rupees (10,000l.) per month should be paid by the Company to Dost Mahomed for military purposes, and that British officers should reside in Afghanistan to see that the subsidy was properly applied, and to keep the Government of India informed of all affairs, but not to advise or interfere with the Cabul Government. The 6th and 7th Articles are as follows (vide A., p. 2) :· 6. The subsidy of one lakh per mensem shall cease from the date on which peace is made between the British and Persian Governments, or at any previous time at the will and pleasure of the Governor-General of India. 7. Whenever the subsidy shall cease the British officers shall be withdrawn from the Ameer's country; but at the pleasure of the British Government a Vakeel, not a European officer, shall remain at Cabul on the part of the Government, and one at Peshawur on the part of the Government of Cabul. These articles became important when it was determined to press the present Ameer, Shere Ali, to receive European British officers to reside in his dominions. He appealed to the treaty. The words of his Prime Minister are (vide A., p. 212):- With special reference to the Treaty of 1857 which the late Ameer made with Lord Lawrence: Inasmuch as the condition of Afghanistan was thoroughly well known to Lord Lawrence, he bound himself, in the 7th article of that Treaty, that the British Government might maintain an Agent at Cabul on the part of the English Government, but he was not to be an Englishman. The Government of Afghanistan will never in any manner consent to acknowledge the abrogation of this article. Lord Lytton, on the other hand, argued as follows (vide A., p. 216) :— The only obligations ever contracted on behalf of each other by the British Government and the Barakzai Rulers of Afghanistan are embodied in two Treaties, of which the first was signed in 1855 and the second in 1857. The second of these two Treaties was contracted for a special and limited purpose, and with exclusive reference to an occasion which has long since passed away. This second Treaty, therefore, belongs to the class of Treaties known as transitory Treaties; and on both sides the obligations contracted by it have lapsed, as a matter of course, with the lapse of time. 6 And he repeats the argument in a despatch to the Home Government (vide A., p. 160). But the occasion which has long since passed away' is the Persian War, and Article 7 of the Treaty was clearly designed to begin operating when the war was ended, and to be undefined in point of duration. In fact, in the year 1867, the Government of India insisted on the obligatory character of this part of the Treaty, which was acknowledged by Shere Ali, as entitling them to send a 'Mahomedan gentleman of rank and character to reside at his Court, and there to represent the British Government' (vide A., p. 14):- On June 9, 1863, when Lord Elgin was GovernorGeneral of India, Dost Mahomed died. The successor indicated by him was Shere Ali, one of his sons. Other sons, however, disputed the legality of this proceeding, and took arms to support their claims. Under these circumstances Lord Elgin determined not to interfere with the internal politics of Afghanistan, but to recognise any ruler actually established. His policy is set forth in a despatch to Lord Halifax, then Sir Charles Wood and Secretary of State for India (vide A., p. 3). He mentions a letter received from Shere Ali to announce his father's death, and continues thus: 4. If it be true that Mahomed Ufzal Khan is raising an army it will not be long before the contest for power begins. Meanwhile, the acknowledgment by the Vakeel of the receipt of the letter, and that a reply will be sent, as also the presence of the Vakeel with Shere Ali Khan, will be regarded as indications that the British Government are not indisposed to accept Dost Mahomed's election of his successor, provided the latter is in a position to uphold the authority thus conferred upon him. In the month of November, 1863, Lord Elgin died, and Sir W. Denison held the office of Governor-General till the month of January, when Lord Lawrence assumed office. The struggle for power in Afghanistan lasted several years, during which time the policy of allowing the Afghans to settle for themselves who should rule over them was strictly observed. The good wishes of the British Government were conveyed to Shere Ali by Sir W. Denison on the 23rd of December, 1863 (vide A., p. 5). In April, 1866, our Vakeel at Cabul was rebuked by Lord Lawrence for making overtures of alliance with one of Shere Ali's brothers and rivals who appeared at that time to have got the upper hand. The Government of India wrote to Lord Ripon, then Lord De Grey and Secretary of State (vide A., p. 9), that— We intend maintaining an attitude of strict neutrality, leaving the Afghans to choose their own Rulers, and pre |