faithful service' (p. 185). He left Simla on October 11, 1876, bearing with him a letter from the Viceroy to Shere Ali (p. 186), inviting the latter to the forthcoming Imperial Assembly at Delhi.

The true and full meaning of the concessions and requisitions detailed to Atta Mahomed, with the accompanying oral and written glosses, is more clearly and methodically set forth in a draft treaty (vide A., pp. 189-192) which formed part of Sir L. Pelly's instructions for the Peshawur conference. We therefore take the clauses of that draft, though in point of fact the Peshawur conference was broken off before any discussion of the treaty was reached. The draft consists of two parts, the second of which is called a subsidiary or secret agreement, and is supplementary to the first part. The principal articles are the following:-

Article 2. Between the British Government and that of the Ameer, Shere Ali Khan, Ruler of Afghanistan, his heirs and successors, there shall be perpetual peace and friendship. The friends of the one Government shall be the friends of the other; and the enemies of the one Government shall be the enemies of the other.

Article 3. In the event of the territories now possessed by his Highness the Ameer, Shere Ali Khan, being invaded by a foreign enemy, the British Government will aid his Highness, in the defence of those territories, with men and material of war; it being clearly understood and hereby provided, that the conduct of the Ameer and his Government shall, at the same time, be in strict conformity with the declarations contained in the above Article 2; and that his Highness shall have refrained from all provocation of, aggression on, or interference with the States and territories beyond his present frontier, save with the knowledge and consent of the British Government.

Article 4. In accordance with this understanding, his Highness the Ameer agrees to conduct his relations with foreign States in harmony with the policy of the British Government.

Which is supplemented in Part II., thus :—

:

It is likewise understood, in regard to Article 4, that, in return for the important pledge involved in the above article

on the part of the British Government, the Ameer binds himself to abstain from discussion of political, international, or State matters with any foreign Government, save in friendly concert with the British Government, to whom his Highness will unreservedly communicate all correspondence or overtures of this nature.

As regards resident officers.

Article 5. For the better protection of the Afghan frontier, it is hereby agreed that the British Government shall on its part depute accredited British Agents to reside at Herat and such other places in Afghanistan as may be mutually determined by the high contracting powers; and that the Ruler of Afghanistan shall on his part depute an Agent to reside at the Court of the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, and at such other places in British India as may be similarly agreed upon.

Article 6. His Highness the Ruler of Afghanistan on his part guarantees the personal safety and honourable treatment of British Agents whilst on Afghan soil; and the British Government on its part, undertakes that such Agents shall in no way interfere with the internal administration of Afghanistan.

Supplemented as follows:

It is likewise understood, in regard to Articles 5 and 61st. That, unless or until otherwise mutually arranged between the two Governments, a native Agent only need reside at Cabul city.

2nd. That, wherever in the opinion of the Viceroy of India it may be necessary to communicate direct with the Ameer on matters of an important or confidential character, a special British Envoy shall be deputed on a temporary Mission to the Court of the Ameer.

3rd. That the principal duty of the British Agent or Agents shall be to watch events outside the frontiers of Afghanistan, and to supply timely information to the British and Afghan Governments of any political intrigues or dangers threatening the peace stability, or integrity of the Afghan dominions.

4th. That the local Afghan authorities shall cordially cooperate with the British Agent or Agents for the common interests of their respective Governments.

As to assistance against domestic enemies.

Article 9. In proof of its desire to see the Government of his Highness Shere Ali Khan consolidated, and undisturbed by domestic troubles, the British Government hereby agrees to acknowledge whomsoever his Highness may nominate as his heir-apparent, and to discountenance the pretensions of any rival claimant to the throne.

Article 10. The British Government, its officers and agents, will, as heretofore, abstain from all interference in the domestic administration and internal affairs of Afghanistan; except in so far as their assistance may at any time be required and invoked by the Ameer his heirs and successors, to avert from that country the calamities of a recurrence to civil war, and protect the peaceful interests which this treaty is established to establish and promote. In that case, the British Government will afford to the Government of Afghanistan such support, moral or material, as may, in its opinion, and in general accordance with the foregoing declaration, be necessary for the assistance of the Ameer his heirs and successors, in protecting equitable authority, national contentment, and settled order, from disturbance by the personal ambition of unlawful competitors for power.

Supplemented as follows:

It is likewise understood, in regard to Article 10, that the British Government in no way desires to change its settled policy of non-interference with the internal affairs or independence of the Afghan nation; it will therefore only afford material assistance to the Ameer his heirs and successors, at their express request; provided also, that such request shall be accompanied by timely and adequate information, and that the British Government shall be the sole judge of the manner, time, and expediency of furnishing such assistance.

Then follow other articles for the establishment of telegraphs, trade routes, and so forth. The last secret article stipulates that the Ameer shall receive 200,000l. down, and 120,000l. a year afterwards, in addition to such assistance in men and money as the two Governments may deem beneficial for their interests.

Anybody who will compare these provisions with

the previous assurances given to Shere Ali, will find that, as regards the amount of assurance given to him, there is no substantial difference between them. It is true that the words of assurance used by Lord Lytton are more numerous and more important, but their sense is all cut down again to the previous level by the provisoes that the foreign aggression against which he was to be protected must have been unprovoked by him, and that in case of domestic trouble the British Government should be the sole judge of the expediency, as well as of the manner and time, of furnishing assistance. It is difficult to see how, except as regards money, Shere Ali was to take anything by this treaty which he might not have had from previous Viceroys. In return for the money he was to admit not only telegraphs, and free trade and intercourse with all their accompanying complications, but the dreaded English Residents, and to abstain entirely from politics beyond his own borders. His position then would hardly differ from that of Scindia, or the Nizam, and others of our chief feudataries.

Those who assert that sufficient concession was not made to Shere Ali in 1869 or 1873, when he would have been left with a large amount of independence, will do well to study how much it was thought expedient to offer him in 1876, when it was proposed to take away from him the whole of his liberty as to foreign affairs, and much of it as to domestic affairs.

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CHAPTER VIII.

THE PESHAWUR CONFERENCE.

ON the return of our Vakeel to Cabul great consternation appears to have prevailed among the Durbar there, and Atta Mahomed wrote several times reporting their consultations (A., pp. 192-194). On December 21, 1876, he wrote two letters, stating that the Ameer, though still disliking to receive English officers, would, on account of the insistance of the British Government, yield the point; but only after his Ministers had at the conference made representations of his views, and stated all the difficulties.

The instructions given by Lord Lytton to Sir L. Pelly will be found in A., pp. 187-192.

Before relating the events of the conference we advert to some external circumstances in order to show under what apprehensions an Afghan statesman would probably and reasonably approach the important debate to which he was called.

Besides the threats conveyed to Shere Ali by the letters of July 8, 1876, and by the Viceroy's address to Atta Mahomed, two very alarming symptoms had appeared.

In the latter part of 1876 it became known that we were about to occupy Quetta in force, and it was actually occupied on November 2. Under treaty

with the Khan of Khelat, made in the year 1854, we had a right to do this. But the disturbances in Khelat itself were hardly sufficient to justify such a step. The conjunction of it with menacing demands on Afghanistan was ominous: the more so because the occupation of