MEMORANDUM.--I have lost this letter, which I regret the more, because
it gave a very full account both, of Cabool and its environs, as well as
of many interesting circumstances which took place during the time the
Bombay division of the army remained there.
As far as I remember its contents, it began with the march of the army
from Ghuzni to Cabool, the desertion of the troops of Dost Mahomed, and
his flight from the capital. It described his pursuit by a party of
officers and cavalry, volunteers from the British army, commanded by
Captain Outram, who accompanied Hadjee Khan Kauker, the principal chief
of the country, with a body of 2000 Afghans, who had joined Shah Shooja
at Ghuzni.
It stated, that after a few days had expired, the party had nearly
reached the fugitive, when Hadjee Khan refused to proceed, stating,
amongst other excuses, that his men had dispersed to plunder, and that
he had not any means of preventing it; and Captain Outram was obliged to
proceed without him. It had been supposed by Shah Shooja, that Hadjee
Khan had been so committed with Dost Mahomed that he might be safely
trusted upon this occasion; but there is not the least doubt but that he
was engaged in correspondence with him during the whole time, and that
Dost Mahomed was thus enabled to effect his escape with his family,
although Captain Outram with his party pursued him as far as Bamian. If
Hadjee Khan had not acted in this most treacherous way, there could not
be a doubt but that Dost Mahomed must have fallen into the hands of
Captain Outram. Thus Hadjee Khan proved his double treachery; for which,
on his return to Cabool, it was understood the Shah would have put him
to death, but for the presence of the English, upon whose interference
his sentence was changed to perpetual confinement in one of the state
prisons.
It described, also, the arrival of the eldest son of Shah Shooja, with
the contingent from Runjet Sing; his meeting with his youngest brother
on the road, near the city, who went out for that purpose upon an
elephant, richly caparisoned, attended by a suitable cortège; his
reception by the British army, and afterwards by his father, at the Bala
Hissar, where my son mixed with the troops of the Shah, who filled the
palace yard, and was thus enabled to witness the first interview, which
was anything but that which might have been expected when the eldest son
arrived at the palace to congratulate his father on his restoration to
his throne. The King was seated alone in an open balcony, slightly
raised above the court, where his officers of state were ranged on
either side, on the ground. The Prince advanced through a line of troops
and public officers, but did not raise his eyes from the ground. When he
came near his father, he prostrated himself in submission to the King,
who called to him "that he was welcome;" after which the son ascended to
the balcony, where he again made a prostration, when his father raised
him up, and seated him near him. The peculiarly careful conduct of the
son on his approach appears to have arisen from a consciousness of his
father's jealous and suspicious temper, and a fear lest even a smile
interchanged with a friend at the court might be construed into hidden
treachery. Soon after this, the chief persons of the court made their
salutations to the King, to each of whom he said a few words, and the
ceremony was ended.
My son added, that he little expected when he was at the levee of his
late Majesty King William, before he left England, that the next
ceremony of the sort at which he should be present would be that of the
King of Afghanistan, in Central Asia, a person with whose name and
country he had not then the slightest acquaintance.
The youngest son of Shah Shooja, whom I have mentioned, is described as
a beautiful boy, under twelve years of age, ruddy and fair as an English
child. He is a great favourite with his father at present, and usually
accompanies the Shah wherever he goes. His childhood probably protects
him from suspicion of treachery or intrigue.
My son appeared to have mixed occasionally with the inhabitants of
Cabool, and, through the introduction of the Persian interpreter, to
have become personally acquainted with some of the leading persons of
the city. They are described by him as being particularly affable and
civil to the officers of our army, with, some of whom he paid a visit to
a man of rank, at his country-house, and with whom they dined. Nothing
could exceed the attention of their host. He shewed them his stud
consisting of more than fifty horses, and every other thing that he
possessed, (except his women,) and the hospitality and good fare was
unbounded. Neither was the curiosity of these persons less in inquiring
minutely into everything they saw when they visited the officers in the
camp, than their desire to please in their own houses; and he appeared
to have left the place with a most favourable impression of the upper
ranks of the city.
Of the city itself, its magnificent bazaar, filled with the richest
manufactures of the East, its gardens abounding with the finest fruits
in the world, and the fertile country that surrounds it, his
description is the same as that which will be found much more at length
in the Travels of Lieut. Burnes, in 1832.
Cricket and horse-racing appeared to be the chief recreation of the army
during the time it remained inactive; and the two divisions having
fortunately come from different Presidencies, the same spirit of rivalry
amongst the officers, in the sports of the camp, was as naturally
excited at Cabool as in any of the counties or garrisons of their native
land.
The evening before they left their ground, two miles from Cabool, he was
sent with a subaltern's party to search through all the worst parts of
the city for men who were missing from the camp, but after spending many
hours, he returned without finding any. They had been paid the day
before, and had got away to the liquor-shops; but all turned up in the
morning except one, whose body was found murdered, near the camp.