each, or, in all, of six lakhs more, will be placed at your entire control, to be applied by your Highness in the manner which you may think most conducive to the furtherance of your interests and to the consolidation of your authority.

For this, again, the Government of India will expect no return, save one of the kind just indicated in the preceding part of this letter. 'I am leaving the country almost immediately, and am handing over the high office of Viceroy and Governor-General to my successor. 'But the policy which I have advisedly pursued with regard to the affairs of Afghanistan is one which I have entered on with anxious deliberation, and which has commanded the assent and approval of Her Majesty the Queen of England; and as long as you continue by your actions to evince a real desire for the alliance of the British Government, you have nothing to apprehend in the way of a change of policy, or of our interference in the internal affairs and administration of your kingdom.

It will remain for the head of the Administration to consider, in each succeeding year, what further proofs may be given of our desire to see your power consolidated, and what amount of practical assistance, in the shape of money or materials of war, may periodically be made over to your Highness, as a testimony of our goodwill, and to the furtherance of your legitimate authority and influence.

'But be assured that you will never err in shaping your course with a view to British alliance, and in considering Her Majesty the Queen of England and her Viceroy in India as your best and truest friends.'

The assistance thus given had in the meantime made it easy for the Ameer to overcome the feeble opposition which the relics of his rival's party were still able to offer. As soon as news came of Shere Ali's recovery of the capital, people and princes in every quarter of Toorkistan threw off Abd-ool-ruhman's control. His power was at once reduced to the limits occupied by his soldiers, and even they, wherever they were to be found in small numbers, found themselves subjected to insult at the hands of the country people. For a time, while Shere Ali, in grievous want of money wherewith to pay, and weapons to arm his army (for as yet British assistance had not come), was hesitating whether to move against them at once, or to maintain a defensive attitude till snow closed the passes, or even (so desperate was his need) to send back great part of his force to Herat, where it might better be maintained, and where it could wait till spring re-opened the route via Maimuna, Abd-ool-ruhman and Azim, each shunning the other's presence, were hesitating over schemes for retrieving their fallen forAt length, in the end of October, finding that if they were to keep any part of their troops together, they must make a move, they set off together, but in a temper of acknowledged despondency, towards Bameean. As their garrisons withdrew

tunes.

from the several towns, the people rose in their rear, defied their authority, and even cut up their detached parties. A little beyond Bameean they found themselves close to Shere Ali, who had come out to oppose their further advance. It was not, however, their policy to force a conflict; so a small party was sent, under Azim's son Surwur, to slip past the opposing force, and join a revolt which had thus early been raised by Azim's brother-in-law Surfuraz in his section of the great Ghilzai tribe. Surwur was successful in effecting his object; passed close under the walls of Cabul, and entered the Ghilzai country. Thither, however, he was pursued by a detachment from Shere Ali's army, which, with the aid of the more powerful section of the Ghilzais, quickly and entirely crushed him and his followers. Meanwhile Azim and Abd-oolruhman had turned aside into the hill country on their right, and by devious bye-paths made for Ghuznee. There they made no impression, the commander refusing to surrender his charge unless they should prove their ability to overcome Shere Ali; so there they encamped, losing men constantly by desertion, nearly surrounded by the forces which Shere Ali had brought up from all parts, and grievously straitened for supplies.

So closed the year 1868. On January 3 in the new year, Abd-ool-ruhman thought he saw an opportunity of cutting up an outlying detachment of the enemy. Shere Ali's movement in support brought on a general action, which ended in Abd-ool-ruhman's complete defeat. Then, when it was too late, Azim brought out his own troops, but they broke away from his control; so he fled, and Abd-ool-ruhman with him, into the Zoormut country, and thence, watched, but not pursued, into that of the independent Wuzeerees, above the British station of Bunnoo. From that place they sent to ask for an asylum in British territory, and doubtless thought that from that refuge they might, as Azim had done before, watch for an opportunity to return and renew the struggle. This time, however, they were told that, if admitted into British territory, they would not only be precluded from intriguing with partisans in Cabul, but would not be allowed to depart when they chose. For such a complete abandonment of their schemes they were not prepared. After flitting from place to place among the robber tribes of the Sooleyman range, and being plundered of nearly all they possessed by one of those tribes, they set off for Persia, and passing through the sandy desert north-west of Beloochistan, the oasis of Seistan, and the arid ridges of Beerjund, Toon, and Tubbus, appeared at Meshed in

July. During this harassing and hopeless journey, what must have been the recriminations of that ill-matched pair, with their recollections of past quarrels, mutually inflicted injuries which had brought profit to neither, and selfish struggles that had brought them to this end! After a quarrel of more than usual violence, they parted in the autumn, Azim going on towards Teheran, but dying at Shahrood on the way, and Abd-ool-ruhman making his way across the mountains to Khiva, not without molestation from the Toorkomans. Their overtures for Persian assistance had been absolutely rejected.

By this time the bazaars which they passed through were filled with rumours of the additional assistance which Shere Ali had received from Lord Mayo, the new Viceroy of India, and of the aggressive purposes to which this gift of assistance was to be turned. Afghanistan, again united and fortified by British help, was again, so it was said, to resume her former character as an active and invading power. Rumours of this change reached the Russian press, and even gave rise to some uneasiness in the minds of Russian statesmen. The truth was this. At an early period of his recovered power Shere Ali had signified to Sir J. Lawrence his desire to go down, even as far as Calcutta, to pay him a visit. The necessity of guarding against an advance of the hostile force from Toorkistan had prevented for a time the fulfilment of that desire, and by the time the Ameer was free to move from Afghanistan, Sir J. Lawrence's viceroyalty was over. Lord Mayo suffered a little time to pass, and then, in answer to a fresh expression of the Ameer's wish for a meeting, named Umballa as the place, and the date of the annual Viceregal migration to Simla as the time for the interview. The occasion was one well fitted to mark a new stage in the development of British policy in its dealings with Afghanistan. Through the cities which Shere Ali traversed as an honoured guest, successive Afghan rulers, his predecessors, had swept with fire and sword at intervals extending through a period of eight hundred years. There were still living men in whose childhood India had been in terror of yet another invasion from the same quarter, an invasion commenced indeed, but happily averted in time. Through these same cities Shere Ali's father had been taken as a captive by the nation whose succour the son was now imploring, and through them he had been sent back as a friend to reoccupy the throne from which as an enemy he had been ousted. The meeting was attended with all the stately ceremonial, the value of which no one knew better than Lord Mayo; and when he and his royal guest parted, the foundations had been laid

for an understanding, based on no treaty that might hereafter interfere with freedom of action, but on such a personal interchange of explanations as forms a much surer basis for continued friendship. Shere Ali departed an assured and contented man; but what he had got was something very much less than what he had desired. He had wanted a treaty which should commit the British Government to be the friend of his friends and the enemy of his enemies. He had wanted a public assurance that the British Government would never acknowledge any friends in the whole of Afghanistan save the Ameer and his descendants; and he had wanted a promise of assistance, not at such times as the British Government should judge proper and convenient, but at such times as his welfare should require it. What he received was the following letter:

'I regard this visit as a mark of the confidence reposed by your Highness in the Government of the Queen, which will ever be remembered. I earnestly trust that, on your Highness's return to your own country, you may be enabled speedily to establish your legitimate rule over your entire kingdom, to consolidate your power, to create a firm and a merciful administration in every province of Afghanistan, to promote the interests of commerce, and to secure peace and tranquillity within your borders.

'Although, as already intimated to you, the British Government does not desire to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, yet, considering that the bonds of friendship between that Government and your Highness have lately been more closely drawn than heretofore, it will view with severe displeasure any attempt on the part of your rivals to disturb your position as ruler of Cabul and rekindle civil war; and it will further endeavour from time to time, by such means as circumstances may require, to strengthen the Government of your Highness, to enable you to exercise with equity and with justice your rightful rule, and to transmit to your descendants all the dignities and honours of which you are the lawful possessor.

'It is my wish, therefore, that your Highness should communicate frequently and freely with the Government of India and its officers on all subjects of public interest; and I can assure your Highness that any representation which you may make will always be treated with consideration and respect.

'By these means, and by the exercise of mutual confidence, I entertain well-grounded hopes that the most friendly relations between the British Government and that of your Highness may ever be maintained, to the advantage of the subjects, both of Her Majesty the Queen and of your Highness.'

To this he replied by saying that as long as he lived, or as long as his Government existed, the foundation of friendship between his own and the powerful Government of Great Britain would not (please God) be weakened. He hoped that the

British Government would always be kind to him and keep him under its protection.

He was followed to Cabul by a remittance of the six lakhs of rupees, the remainder of the aggregate sum of twelve lakhs which the late viceroy had taken measures to send, and also by 6,500 more stand of small arms, four 18-pounder siege guns, two 8-inch howitzers, and a mountain battery of six 3-pounder guns, presented to him by the British Government, with a due proportion of ammunition, draught cattle, and nine elephants with their gear. It is believed in many quarters that since then Shere Ali has been regularly subsidised. The facts are, that in the spring of last year, in order to enable him, without wringing his people too much, to recover from the financial embarrassments into which he had been thrown by Yakoob's rebellion, he received 20,0007.; that in the end of 1869, and again in the spring of 1872, he received presents of small arms of inconsiderable amounts, and that besides these occasional gifts he has received nothing.

During the interchange of friendly letters which followed his return, the Ameer congratulated himself on having, he said, been able, as one of the results of the interview, to remove from his people the impression, consequent on the events of former times, that the British Government had an inclination to interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan. He at once plunged into a career of reformation and innovation, which was prolonged over the next three years, and which has filled his well-wishers with alarm lest he should be going too fast. Many indeed of his changes soon ended in nothing, being quite unsuited to the times, and the tempers and habits of his people. But his attempts extended to everything, from establishing a council of advisers, a system of watch and ward, a postal service, a new revenue, and a new military system, down to directions-always under the penalty of imprisonment if they were disobeyed-that the shoemakers should make none but shoes of a European pattern; the tailors only coats instead of chogas.* At intervals throughout these years, there were attempts to abolish the regular Oriental system of paying the courtiers and officials by assignments of land revenue for their support, and to introduce the plan of regular cash payments; but to work such a system requires obviously a more regularly organised administration than Afghanistan possesses, or is likely to possess for some time to come. The same remark applies to an attempt on the Ameer's part to do away with the system of

*The long dressing-gown which the Afghan wears.