THE ARGUMENT.
Afghan court life from an English standpoint. The rise and fall
of the Afghan Courtier. Untrustworthiness: the inevitable result.
Intrigue: a similar result. Question of “cause” or “consequence.”
Possibility of raising the moral plane: reasons in favour of. The
Amîr’s obvious opinion. His Highness’s great work. Certain evils.
Former condition of the middle classes: present condition: opening
of the eyes: comparison with similar class in India. Progress
in Afghanistan. Civilizing effect of the Amîr: his influence.
Dost Mahomed’s rule: his character: comparison with Abdurrahman.
Altered condition of country. The Amîr’s civilizing measures:
drastic measures. Peaceful measures: education: the teaching of
handicrafts: of art: the spreading of knowledge: prizes for good or
original work. Personal fascination of the Amîr.
Though I have endeavoured, by detailing my own experiences in the
country, to give an idea of the present condition of Afghanistan
and the character of the ruler, one must not forget that we English
in the service were on an entirely different footing, as regards
the Amîr, from any of the natives of the country. As outsiders we
noted, sometimes with amused, sometimes with painful, interest, many
occurrences which, however, concerned us only in the abstract and not
in any personal way.
[Sidenote: Rise and Fall of the Official.]
For instance, I have shown that the Amîr has raised men of the lowest
rank, even slaves, to positions nearly the highest in the kingdom.
Similarly, men of the highest rank are degraded in a day to nearly the
lowest. A high official is one day riding through the streets dressed
in velvet and gold, with a great retinue of servants around him: a
day or two afterwards, in a shabby coat, he is creeping from door to
door to beg a little bread, and I wondered if this state of things
were the _consequence_, or is it the _cause_, of an Afghan’s utter
untrustworthiness, when he is put into a position of responsibility.
As an example:--A man is made Governor of a Province on a very
moderate salary, and presently the Amîr sees him in gorgeous attire,
and surrounded by crowds of servants and horses. We, foreigners even,
could see that the pay did not run to it--it was impossible; how much
more clearly, therefore, could the Amîr see it, and yet the custom was
invariable. After a few years the man is recalled to Kabul to make
out a statement of accounts as regards the revenue and taxes of the
province. He cannot do it. Forthwith his ill-gotten wealth is put in
the Treasury, his finery, and the shawls and diamonds of his wives, in
the Government stores, and he finds himself, as he deserved, a beggar
or in jail. The sufferers--the men who have been squeezed--are the
peasants and traders. When “gentlemen” behave in this way it is not to
be wondered at that the Amîr makes a slave a gentleman.
On the other hand, there are cases, perhaps, as numerous where a man
owes his fall not to any rascality of his own, but to the combination
and intrigue of his enemies. This, I suppose, must necessarily be under
a despotic Government, where one man has supreme power. Be he ever so
wise and just a man he cannot know everything, and there being only
one man to work upon, a clever scoundrel, who has the _entrée_ to the
Durbar, and who studies that one man’s disposition and moods, can oust
a better man than himself, if he works long enough. Sometimes a man
compounds with his enemies: each party knows something incriminating
about the other, and both keep silent from mutual fear. This state of
things has existed not in the reign of the present Amîr only, but for
generations.
As a spectator I have watched the play many a time; it is interesting,
as I said, though apt to be depressing. Sometimes it is simply a
comedy; but more often the ending is tragic.
Are these rapid rises and falls to be looked upon as the _consequence_
or are they the _cause_ of the moral condition of the Afghan? The
question is an important one, if we are looking forward to a civilized
Afghanistan.
Does an Afghan in power, knowing the certainty of a fall, deserved or
undeserved, say to himself,
“I have authority now, but sooner or later somebody will undermine me
in the Amîr’s regard. I had better make the most of my power while it
lasts: get all I can out of other people, and enjoy myself. The evil
day may be long deferred.”
Looking at it in this way, it is possible to imagine that the condition
of things is the cause of his behaviour.
On the other hand, is the moral nature of the Afghan utterly hopeless?
I do not mean does he lie, steal, murder, and betray, for we know he
has done that for ages; but I mean, is the nation incapable of being
raised to a higher moral condition?
[Sidenote: The Amîr’s Great Work.]
Their frank open-hearted manner and sense of hospitality; their love
of liberty and of home; their faithfulness (sometimes) to a friend in
adversity,--I have seen this in spite of widespread treachery; the
graceful gratitude for a favour conferred: all these seem to show that
the moving spirit of the race was once on a far higher moral plane than
it is now, and one would think, therefore, that they _are_ capable of
being raised to a condition vastly superior to their present state.
That the Amîr thinks so is clear, for he has commenced to raise them by
a system of education.
To say that Abdurrahman did not come to the throne by chance is to
utter a platitude. There was a work to be done that doubtless he only
could do. It was essential that the power of the “Barons,” the great
chiefs with rival interests, should be broken and their constant feuds
ended; that the country should be united under one head; that there
should be respect for authority, and thus a possibility established
of drawing the people from the slough of ignorance in which they are
wallowing. The Amîr has done and is doing, in this country over which
he has acquired nearly absolute control, a grand civilizing work.
Still, one cannot be blind to the fact that the usual evils of
a Despotic Government exist:--the instability of every official
appointment: the great evil of the “place-seeker” to which I have
referred: the oppression of the poor; and the grinding down of
the peasants and traders. These are enough to sap the life of any
government, for there can be no strength where there is no mutual trust.
It is impossible for the Amîr, though like Napoleon he employs a
complicated system of espionage, it is impossible for him to know
all the evil that exists. In the preceding reigns the oppression of
the middle and lower classes (the backbone of every country) was far
greater than it is now, but the people had the continual excitement of
constantly-recurring intertribal wars, when every Afghan is a soldier,
to draw their attention away from their own miserable condition. Now,
they have time to think, and though their condition is far better than
it was, they are beginning to see how bad it is--to make comparisons.
That Afghanistan has during the last ten years made considerable
strides toward civilization, there can, I think, be no doubt in the
minds of those who have had the opportunity of collecting sufficient
facts upon which to base an opinion. And that this progress has been
entirely due to the remarkable Prince who is now occupying the throne
of Afghanistan--Amîr Abdurrahman--requires but little proof.
We have only to compare the condition of the country and the “bent”
of the people at the present time with their condition a few years
ago, to bring out, in a very clear light, the civilizing effect of a
far-seeing, strong man’s personality.
[Sidenote: Personal Influence of the Amîr.]
Amîr Abdurrahman is absolute autocrat of Afghanistan. His is now the
only influence that has any lasting effect upon the people. There is no
Press to guide public opinion. The influence and power of the Priests
has been enormously curtailed. The Chief Priest--the Khani Mullah Khan
himself--though treated with respect by His Highness, the Amîr, has
scarcely more power, nor does he receive a greater share of attention
than one of the Civil magistrates. The opinion of the Amîr, delivered
in open Durbar, is the keynote from which all tunes are played. It
is caught up by the Chamberlains, the Court Officials, and Pages; it
reaches the bazaars, and soon the people join in the chorus. It is woe
to the man who utters a discordant note: people look at him askance and
draw out of his neighbourhood. Attention is directed to him, and unless
he alters his note he is--dismissed from the choir.
The Amîr is, as I have said, the Chief of the powerful Durani tribe.
This tribe has been from time immemorial more tolerant and more
civilized than any other of the tribes of Afghanistan: and from it
the native rulers of the country have been invariably drawn. When we
consider the Amîr’s marvellous personal influence, we can but see it is
a happy thing that his leaning is towards civilization and justice.
That it is so can be shown.
What was the condition of Afghanistan no further back than the time of
his grandfather, Amîr Dôst Mahomed, the great Amîr--“Amîr-i-Kabir”--as
the Afghans called him?
Dôst Mahomed was Amîr of the Kabul Province; his brother Ramdil
occupied Kandahar: and Herat was held independently by Shah Mahomed,
brother of Shah Shujah. This was in 1835. These chiefs were constantly
intriguing with Persia and Russia; and their conflicting interests and
personal jealousies brought the country into a condition so unsettled
as to be little better than Anarchy. War, and in its train, robbery
and murder were so constantly carried on, that it was most unsafe for
Afghans, and quite impossible for foreigners, to travel from one city
to another. So suddenly did fighting break out, that when travelling,
one found one’s self in danger of falling into the thick of it.
Caravans--such as ventured to start--made long and wearisome detours
to avoid battlefields. The more savage of the Afghan tribes delighted
in nothing more than the chances thus offered of unpunished highway
robbery and murder.
About the year 1850 Dôst Mahomed succeeded in annexing Turkestan, and
in 1854 he managed to evict Ramdil from Kandahar. Meanwhile, in Herat,
Shah Kamran succeeded his father, Mahmud; and at his death came his
minister, Yar Mahomed. The Persians at once advanced and took Herat:
Herat being the key of India--this necessitated British interference.
Sultan Jan, brother of Dôst Mahomed, was put in possession. He died
in 1862, and there were many claimants for the Chieftainship, each of
whom appealed to Persia. Dôst Mahomed therefore advanced with an army,
besieged, and took Herat. This was his last act, for he died in his
camp a few days after.
While Dôst Mahomed was on the throne it was allowable in Kabul to
revile and curse the British openly, and although as a successful
Warrior, with bluff, hearty manners, and a free accessibility to his
people, he was a popular Monarch, nevertheless, there was not a single
act he did which in any way increased the material prosperity of his
people. To use the words of a skilled and indefatigable observer
of facts, Dr. Bellew, of whom one still hears much in Kabul--“Dôst
Mahomed, during his long reign, did nothing to improve the condition
or advance the domestic welfare of his people, nor did he introduce a
single measure of general benefit to his country. He kept it a close
borough of Islam, stationary in the ignorance of the Middle Ages, and
pervaded with the religious bigotry of that period, and, to the close
of his life he defended that policy as the only one whereby to maintain
the independence of the country. His great merit is that he had the
sense to perceive his own interest in the British alliance, and he
reaped the fruits of his good judgment in the ultimate consolidation of
his kingdom. But he was a barbarian, nevertheless.”
[Sidenote: Abdurrahman and Dôst Mahomed.]
Attention has been drawn to a certain resemblance existing between Amîr
Abdurrahman and Dôst Mahomed.
The Hon. G. N. Curzon, speaking at the Society of Arts, remarked that
the Amîr seemed to possess some of the strongest characteristics of his
grandfather, Dôst Mahomed. Without doubt this is so; and one may add
that to the strong character of Dôst Mahomed, Abdurrahman unites a high
degree of education and considerable stores of information--scientific,
artistic, and general--acquired from books, from conversation, and
from observation during his travels. To the simple manners and free
hospitality of Dôst Mahomed, he adds a dignity and kindly courtesy of
manner most remarkable in a man of his strong passions, and in one who
is constantly surrounded with adulation and flattery. He is readily
accessible to his people: and even when suffering from the pangs of
gout will listen patiently to the petitions of the poorest of his
subjects, and give rapid though just judgments in the cases brought
before him.
From my narrative may have been gathered some idea of the steps
that the Amîr has taken to civilize his people and advance
them in prosperity. Highway robbery and murder are no longer
common in the country; nor is murder or theft in the town.
Englishmen--Feringhis--have been, for the last six or seven years,
travelling constantly between Kabul and Peshawur, and never has there
been the slightest attempt to injure or annoy them. Indeed, for myself
I may say that at every halting-place when the villagers brought
their sick for me to attend to, I went among them freely, unarmed and
unguarded.
That the Amîr should have used drastic measures to bring the diseased
state of the country into a condition nearer approaching health, was
without doubt a necessity; mild measures would have been misunderstood
and completely disregarded. The savage tribes who haunted certain parts
of the highway and gave rise to such by-words as “the valley of death,”
were either killed by the Amîr’s troops, captured and executed, or
dispersed.
On the other hand, should a Kabuli wish to start business for himself,
he has but to apply to the Amîr, who will, for a certain number of
years, lend him a sum sufficient for his purposes, and this without
interest.
I have related in my narrative how that the Amîr was educating, not
merely the Court Pages and the boy soldiers of his Mahomedan regiment,
but many others, the sons of gentlemen, whom he was intending for
officers in his army.
[Sidenote: The Teaching of Handicrafts.]
The educational influence on the Afghans of the Amîr’s Kabul workshops
must be, and is, immense. The natives work in great numbers in the
shops, being taught by the English engineers who have from time
to time been in the service of His Highness, and by the Hindustani
_mistris_, who have been introduced from Lahore and Bengal.
Not only is war material produced in the workshops, but various
handicrafts are practised there. One body of men is doing leather
work--copying English and Russian boots of various kinds; making
saddles, bridles, belts, and cartridge pouches, portmanteaux, and mule
trunks. There are workers in wood--from those who manage the steam saws
to those who produce beautiful carved work for cabinets and chairs.
There are workers in brass, making vases, candelabra, lamps, and many
other things both useful and ornamental. There is another department
where they produce tin ware--pots, pans, and cans. The most artistic
are perhaps the workers in silver. They make for the Amîr or Sultana
very beautiful things: cups, beakers, beautifully embossed tea-pots,
dagger and sword handles, and scabbards. Their work is, however, rarely
original. The Amîr shows them a drawing or gives them a good English
model to copy from.
Everything European is now fashionable in Kabul, and European clothing
has become more universally worn by the Kabulis than it used to be
even at the time I entered the service of the Amîr. His Highness,
therefore, finding that his tailors, though they soon learnt the shape
of European garments, had not mastered the difficulties of “fit,” sent
for an English tailor to teach them. Classes were held on the subject
in the workshops and demonstrations given, with the result that such of
the Kabuli tailors who attended greatly improved in their system of
“cutting,” and obtained much better prices in the bazaars.
I have already related how that the Amîr desired me to start an Art
class, and with what success the artists learnt to draw.
It would be tedious and almost impossible for me to enumerate all the
different kinds of work carried on in the shops; but I think I have
said enough to show that the effects of the workshops, apart from the
output, must be immense. There are some thousand or fifteen hundred men
at work in them; these scatter to their homes at night and carry the
wonderful stories of all they see and do to their friends. In fact, the
most popular song of the day is one depicting the life of a lad in the
shops. It is supposed to be sung by the mother; but it ends somewhat
significantly by the workman being caught in the machinery and killed.
One must remember that this educational system of civilizing is being
carried on among a race of men who have been known hitherto simply
as fighters and robbers, semi-savages, and who, unlike so many of
the races of India, have shown but little if any sign that they were
capable of being converted into useful producers.
When I say, finally, that the Amîr offers prizes, and of considerable
value, for the best or most original work produced either in the shops
or elsewhere, it will be easily understood how much he has at heart the
desire to advance his people in knowledge and civilization.
[Sidenote: Personal Fascination of the Amîr.]
For a man of ordinary intelligence, such as myself, to attempt to
analyze the Amîr’s character would be both presumptuous and futile.
His intellect, though perhaps more subtile than profound; and his
wide knowledge, though more superficial than real, raise him high
above those by whom he is surrounded, and by contrast he shines as a
brilliant light among the dull flames of his Courtiers. European in
appearance, hearty in manner, with a robe of educated civilization, His
Highness is Afghan--an Afghan of the Afghans, and perhaps the finest
specimen of his race--but yet an Oriental.
We English in his service, dazzled by the glamour of his strong
personality and charmed by the kindly courtesy of his manner, grew to
feel an attachment strong and personal to His Highness; but there were
those among us of the more observant who felt, as the years passed,
that we were but as “Pawns” on the chess-board of this Prince, to be
swept off with an unshrinking hand when a move in the game might need
it.
Nevertheless, though life at an Oriental Court offers so little that
is congenial to the tastes of an educated Englishman; where, indeed,
each man strives to harm his neighbour; where truth is not, nor
honour; where Vice and Villainy walk at noonday unveiled, such is the
fascination of the Man that, had one none to consider but one’s self,
the temptation, for his sake, to re-enter the life would be almost
irresistible.
THE END.
SIMMONS & BOTTEN, LIMITED, PRINTERS, LONDON.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note
The following apparent errors have been corrected:
p. x "Usbàks," changed to "Usbàks."
p. x "Painda" changed to "Paînda"
p. xii "khirgar," changed to "khirgar."
p. xiv "ea cup" changed to "tea cup"
p. 88 "costume, First" changed to "costume. First"
p. 90 "au assassin" changed to "an assassin"
p. 103 (header) "Naíb" changed to "Naib"
p. 168 "the service" changed to "the service."
p. 171 (note) "smothered" changed to "smothered."
p. 189 (header) "The Amir’s" changed to "The Amîr’s"
p. 193 "Painda" changed to "Paînda"
p. 256 "Samarcand" changed to "Samarcànd"
p. 293 "The Amir" changed to "The Amîr"
p. 311 "muscular," changed to "muscular."
p. 335 "were Ishak" changed to "where Ishak"
p. 362 "Hîs Highness" changed to "His Highness"
p. 394 "advised,:" changed to "advised,"
p. 427 "new ta" changed to "new to"
p. 436 "many thing;" changed to "many things;"
p. 450 "mind.’" changed to "mind.”
p. 451 "my baggage" changed to "my baggage;"
p. 493 "I send" changed to "I sent"
p. 495 "“Nau Rôz" changed to "“Nau Rôz”"
p. 506 "<sc>Dear Miner</sc>" changed to "“<sc>Dear Miner</sc>"
The following possible errors have been left as printed:
p. 258 ignominous
p. 316 For God sake
p. 339 I put him at rocky slope.
p. 399 the physician;
p. 494 been drank
The following are used inconsistently in the text:
Bâbur and Babur
backbone and back-bone
Bâdshah and Badshah
Bâli and Bali
bathroom and bath-room
beeftea and beef-tea
bodyguard and body-guard
By-and-bye and By and bye
countermove and counter-move
darûst and darust
Dôst and Dost
Ghuzniguk and Ghuzni guk
goldsmith and gold-smith
Íd and Îd
kaimaghchai and kaimagh-chai
Khyber and Kyber
Kûdus and Kudus
Kurghàn, Kurghán and Kurghan
Lâla and Lala
lûngi and lungi
maidservants and maid-servants
Mahmûd and Mahmud
Maliks and Maleks
matchbox and match-box
Mazár-i-Sherif and Mazar-i-Sherif
Mazarîs and Mazaris
Mîr and Mir
mîrza and mirza
Naû Rôz, Naû Roz and Nau Rôz
nowadays and now-a-days
Ramazàn and Ramazan
Ressûl and Ressul
Sêyid and Seyid
Shere Derwaza and Sher Durwaza
Sherpûr and Sherpur
sunstroke and sun-stroke
Suffêd Koh and Sufféd Kôh
Sûnni and Sunni
sweatmeat and sweetmeat
Takh-ta-Pûl and Takh-ta-Pul
teapots and tea-pots
watercourse and water-course
Wazîr and Wazir
Zohàk-i-Marhan and Zohak-i-Marhan
End of Project Gutenberg's At the Court of the Amîr, by John Alfred Gray