V. 



AKCII 



100 



but aofunowing op thi. -dTUt^ he 

 IB tke foOowing year be tubljabi hi. 

 nfcMi ; in 17*0 be took Niahapoor, and in 

 ^^ In 17SS Alm-Tkhan retook 

 hfafcUd wwoHed, and added to it Caahmert By . 



th., hfafcUd wwoHed, an ae to aamert y . 



tktaeCliM* Manl he acquired all the countries of the Panjab 

 K -Te-t - -AEr B* fa. 17S ? , when the emperor of DeUu 



I in 1754, when the emperor of 

 i of the Panjab, uxl annexed it to his empire, 

 I Kbu entered Delhi with hi* army. The emperor WM obliged 

 la lam the Paniab ud Sinde in hi. hand*. The Mogul government 

 kiJ liiniaii TiStn^-' that all ia neighbour, .tucked it, with Uu- 

 certain propped of reaping considerable advantage. from their expe- 

 dtttoaa. The MahratlM eap.riallT turned these circumstance. to 

 eeoaat. They fcc aoaM time bad made rapid progress, and r 

 they took Siriund and obtained poseeanon of that part of the Pan jab 

 which l*e* ** of the river Jhelum or Jilun. Ahmed Khan retook 

 Own in 1759. and entered Delhi, which however waa besieged by the 

 M.luiIsM .nil mt.kim in *h ---- 1 -- The power of the Mahrattai 

 bad now attained nich a height, that all the Mohammedan prinpea of 

 to fear that their own supremacy wan drawing to 

 they would aoon be expelled from the country. 

 prince* therefore called Ahmed Khan to their assiit- 

 Ho came, and the famou* battle of Paniput (7th of January, 

 1761) broke the power of the Mahrattas. Ahmed Khan could now 

 bare ascended the throne of Delhi, but he contented hiinnelf with the 

 possession of the cnuntrim which bad formerly been ceded to him, and 

 returned to Cabal In the latter part of hi. life Ahmed Khan WM 

 continually contending with the Sikhs, who were nettled in 

 north of the Panjeb, and they made MTeral attempt* 



, 



HiadueUn began to fear that 

 an tad, and that they would 

 The Indian prince* therefore c 



to get possession of the plain, drained by the Fire Rivers. Ahmed 

 Khan always .iiOfead.il in driving them back into the mountain*, but 



the possession of tke Panjab remained a precarious tenure. Ahmed 

 Khan died in 1778. The empire which he bad erected extended from 

 Herat on the west to Sirhind on the east, and from the banks of the 

 Oras and Caahmere on the north to the Arabian Sea and the mouth* 

 as* tke Indue oa tke south. He WM succeeded by his'son,Timur Shah, 

 who removtd the seat of government from Candahar to CabuL Tim ur 

 marts eome attempt, to establish a more settled administration, but he 

 WM almost alway. engaged in putting down the rebellion, which broke 

 oat hi the different province, of his empire. In 1781 he was obliged 

 to march into tke Panjab to recover Mooitan, which had been betrayed 

 into the hand, of the Sikhs by the governor. He died in 1 798. At hi. 

 death tke second of his sons, Shah Zeman, WM raiaed to the throne by 

 an intrigue. He had to put down several insurrections and rebellions, 

 bat tke aflkin of the Panjab and of Herat chiefly occupied his time and 



The Sikh, bad got poeaeseion of the Panjab, and in 1798 

 be advanced without molnUtion to Lahore, when Runjeet Singh 



and waa installed by him a. 



ameinoc of tke province. Shah Zeman did not dare to remain 

 MM IB the Panjab, M his step-brother, Mahmood, who WM governor 

 of Bent, and acted M an independent sovereign, WM always ready to 

 March to rndshsr to get pnanarinn of that town, and Zeman wa. 

 naable to reduce Herat, In 1799 several great men entered into a 

 uaaapifiey for the purpose of deposing Zstnan and railing his brother 

 Hisjah to the throae. The conspiracy WM discovered and the con- 

 spirator, were tiehawt.it, among them Poyndah Khan, the powerful 

 head of Ik* Berukrvra, one of the principal clan, of the I hiranees. 

 Thi. asliaiig.il KutUh Khan, the eldest of the twenty-one son. of 

 Piiinilah Khan, from his interests, aad this warrior joined the party 

 of afahmood of Herat By hie aetieteaee Mahmood got poeseesion of 

 r, aad ma afterward. Hbah Beman fell into hi. hands, and 



throne in 

 >l-Moolk. 

 depoeed king, made three attempts to drive 



WM deprived of right. Mahmood took posMsmon of the thr 

 1MO. llu rein laeted only three yew*. Prince Boojah-ool- 

 tke brother of tke deposed king, made three atUmpta to 

 Mahmood from tke throne, but they were frustrated by the n 

 aad valour of PwMek Khan. Tke powerful tribe of the Ghiljies, 

 which bed (rrn* Man to Persia aad emperon to Hindnntan, tried 



in IftOl 

 a 



1(0* to raise one of their ohieft to the throne, irutead of 

 wt Ike/ were defeated. Mahmood however WM unable to 

 (rtveerea a alifbt deep** of sUbility to his government, and permitted 

 tteuhabttavalof tketowaa,aad in general the agriouhnral population, 

 >o ) plundered and opprwaerl by an nndisciplimed aoldirry. An insur- 

 rection took place in the town Prince Soojah, being informed 

 of it, advaamd with aa army, and found that th.- king WM beaiend 

 fal the Data HsMr. or dtedet of Cabul. which WM closely tavested by 

 lh.pojpu.u-. ratteh Khan advaneed with an army to his relief, bat 

 Prmee Heojah Moceeded In defeating him, and Mahmood WM lent to 



; 



feokk opooBled Caadakar, nd baring 

 of hi. kmffdom, gMkCT<4 a rtroag ar 

 ug lif* of an Afghan eovtretn. He m.rc 



settled the western 

 army, and began the 



Ifghan soverslyn. He marched to Siade, which 

 and paid the tribute hi arrear, and then returned by 

 to Cabul. Meanwhile Kuttoh Khan had tried t 

 Kamran, the SOB of Mahmood, who WM governor of Hrrat, and acted 

 M an independent prince, in poawMion of Candahar, but be did not 

 succeed. The Shah sent aa army to Cashmere the only province in 



rebellion, hi 1806, and it wa. .ubdued in 1806. But at the aune tame 

 Prince KvMr, a aon of Shah Zeman, had been induced to rebel by 

 Futtah Khan, and had been proclaimed King of < 'n)>nl. Imt wa. beaten, 

 and aubmitted in 1808. During thin civil war Mahmood had been 

 liberated, and had taken Candahar. Boojah marched against and 

 defeated him. Caahmere had again rebelled, and the vizier of Soojah, 

 Aknun Khan, wa. defeated and lost nearly the whole army. Thi. 

 event threw the affair, of Shah Soojah into great disorder. Mahmood 

 captured Cabul whiUt the Shah ro at Peahawnr. In the following 

 year (1809) Soojah inarched to Cabul, but hi. vizier, Aknun Khan, 

 wa. beaten and killed. The Shah, abandoned by all, became a fugitive, 

 and wa* aoon led M a captive to Caahmere. 



Shah Mahmood again ascended the throne in 1809. He aent hi. 

 army in loll to Caahmere, and WM supported by a force of Sikh, which 

 Kunject Singh sent to his amirtance. Caahmere wa. obliged to ubm it; 

 Shah Soojah waa at liberty and went to Lahore, where he was robbed 

 of the great Duranee diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, by Hunjeet Singh. 



Hunjeet Singh acquired the fortrea. of Attock, and since, that event 

 the power of tke *%*" has ceased on the eaatern aide of the Indus. 

 In 1815 the Persian, were about to attack Herat Futtoh Khan, the 

 vizier of Mahmood, marched againat them, and defeated their army, 

 but made himself master of the place, diuninaing the governor, a 

 brother of Shah Mahmood. In 1816 Futteh Khan was deprived of 

 night by Kamram, the son of Shah Mahmood, and soon afterward. 

 most barbarously murdered. The consequence of thi. wanton and 

 cruel act wa. a civil war between the powerful brother, of Futteh 

 Khan and Shah Mahmood, by which the reigning family in progress 

 of time was deprived of all it. territories except Herat Several prince* 

 of the royal family were raiaed to the throne, but soon lost it by another 

 revolution, and then several members of the family of Futteh Khan 

 occupied H for a short time, until at last the country was divided 

 among them in 1824. Do*t Mahomed Khan, one of the brothers, 

 succeeded in appropriating to himself the valley of the Cabul River 

 ;uid the adjacent district* in 1828. Shah Mahmood died in 1829 at 

 Herat, and wa. succeeded in that sovereignty by his son Kamram. 

 During these troubles Hunject Singh, the ruler of the Panjab, had 

 added Cashmere, Mooitan, and the plain of Peahawur to his dominions, 

 all of which at the beginning of Shah Soojah'. reign were appurte- 

 nance. of Afghanistan. Sinde too had become all but independent 

 since 1808. Peahawur had been lost in 1833. In this long interval, 

 Shah Soojah, who bad retired to Loodiana on the Sutlej, where he 

 received an annuity from the British government, made several 

 attempt, to re-conquer Afghanistan, but without sun-ens. Wln-n the 

 British entered Afghanistan three brothers of Dost Mahomed Khan 

 were in possession of Candahar and the contiguous countries, and 

 Herat was governed by Kamram : all the rest of Afghanistan was 

 subject to Doet Mahomed Khan. 



Dost Mahomed resided at Cabal as hi. capital city, while Rnnjeet 

 Singh wa. sovereign at Lahore, and was at the same time in possession 

 of Caahmere and Mooitan. Dost Mahomed, desirous of securing the 

 friendship of the British government, on the 31st of May, 1836, 

 addressed a complimentary letter to Lord Auckland, who arrived 

 at Calcutta toward, the end of 1885, M Governor-General of India, 

 and who appear, to have soon adopted the notion that the British 

 empire in India was in danger from the intrigue, and force, of Russia, 

 Persia, and Afghanistan. On the 20th of September, 1837, Captain 

 Alexander Burnes reached Cabul aa envoy from the governor-general ; 

 he was most honourably received ; but his instruction, did not allow 

 him to give Dost Mahomed any hopes of British assistance either against 

 Persia, which was laying liege to Herat, or to recover the territory of 

 Peahawur from Runjeet Singh. On the 24th of December a Russian 

 agent arrived at Cahnl, who promised everything, and was afterward. 

 disavowed by his government On the 26th of April, 1838, Captain 

 Burnea left ( 'dl.nl on nix return, and after visiting Runjeet Singh in 

 Lahore, repaired to Simla to meet Lord Auckland. Here it was 

 resolved that, M Dost Mahomed was treacherous (which he was not 

 in thin instance at least), and disposed to enter into alliance with Russia 

 (which was the only alternative left him, seeing that British t'ricndvhip 

 WM refused him), and could not be trusted, he should be dethroned, 

 and Shah Soojah sent with an English army to recover the throne 

 of Cabul. Two months before Captain Burnes met the governor- 

 general at Simla, a treaty had been made by Mr. MacNaghten and 

 other, with Runje. which he undertook to prepare the way 



for an easy advance . I the I'.riti-h army through the Sikh country to 

 Cabul. On the lot r, 1 888, a proclamation of war was tawed 



from Simla against DoH Mahomni. Sir Menry Kimc was at that time 

 Commander-in-chief of the whole army of Indin. which WHM then raised 

 to 808,000 men. Runjeet Singh, notwitliKUii'linc the late treaty, 

 refused to allow the |: ;.< to croc- .1 tin- 



principal rendezvous wa. therefore appointed nt Sliikarj ..... r in Snide. 

 whence the lino of advance was to IM- bytkt 



I'.i -. (,> 

 Candahar. The force on the Bengal md, 9500 strong, WM n-- 



- -i i. J thi i ...-.- i." DaMtnDerj and ie-i-r\eilni.-<i"ii, 

 4250 strong, was stationed at Firowp....r. on the banks of the < Ibarra, 

 about Ad mil. > A Bombay column of MOO men, under 



Sir .liihn Keane, was to advance through Sinde, the Ameers having 

 promised to provide supplies and the means of conveyance. Shah 

 Soojah's contingent was 0000 men. As soon as the Bengal division 



