AFGHANISTAN. 



9 



attacks upon the marauders and finally cut 

 them off. 



The general demeanor of the inhabitants of 

 Candahar after the occupation of the city was 

 quiet ; nevertheless, two attempts were made 

 to assassinate British officers. One was 

 against Major St. John, general political su- 

 perintendent, who was fired at but not wound- 

 ed ; the other against Lieutenant Willis, of the 

 Royal Artillery, who died a few days after- 

 ward from the effects of his wound. Gholab 

 Hussein Khan was appointed civil administra- 

 tor of Candahar, under the supervision of 

 Major St. John. General Stewart prosecuted 

 a reconnaissance to Khelat-i-Gliilzai, a town 

 eighty-eight miles northeast of Candahar, on 

 the road to Ghuznee and Cabool, and occupied 

 it without resistance January 20th. General 

 Biddulph was dispatched to Girishk, at the 

 ford of the Helrnund, on the road to Herat, 

 and reached his destination, also without op- 

 position, on the 29th. General Stewart re- 

 turned to Candahar, where he made prepara- 

 tions to send his surplus troops back to India, 

 while he retained with him as many men as 

 would be needed. Approaches toward Yakoob 

 Khan with reference to negotiation were re- 

 pelled by him, he answering in writing that 

 he had orders from Shore Ali to hold Oabool 

 and would do it. He was, however, troubled 

 at home with quarrels with his tribal chief- 

 tains. He having occupied a fort of the Ghil- 

 zais at Tezeen, hostilities were begun against 

 him by that tribe. 



Shere Ali, after his flight from Cabool, made 

 his way toward the Russian frontier. He be- 

 came ill, and sent to General Kaufmann for 

 a military surgeon. On his arrival at the Rus- 

 sian frontier, his followers were disarmed, he 

 alone being allowed to retain his arms. The 

 Russian authorities endeavored to persuade him 

 not to go to St. Petersburg, but he insisted up- 

 on it. He was said to have been astonished at 

 his treatment by the Russians, he having ex- 

 pected to be received as an ally. His illness, 

 which arose from a gangrene of the thigh, in- 

 creased, and ho was obliged to remain at Ma- 

 zar-i-Shereef, near Balkh, and postpone his 

 journey to Tashkend. He, however, dispatched 

 an embassy to Tashkend, consisting of his neph- 

 ew, his Grand Vizier, his Minister of Justice, 

 and his Minister of the Interior, which traveled 

 in state and was attended by a numerous suite. 

 General Kaufmann had received instructions 

 from St. Petersburg, in anticipation of the ar- 

 rival of the embassy, to decline all negotia- 

 tions. He had previously stated to an Amer- 

 ican correspondent, in explanation of the atti- 

 tude of the Russian Government, that there 

 would be no Russian interference between Af- 

 ghanistan and England unless a European war 

 should break out in which Russia and England 

 should not be on the same side. " Besides," 

 he added, " it is the Emperor alone who can 

 decide the future." All question on this sub- 

 ject was put to rest by the death of Shere Ali, 



which took place February 21st. The event 

 was officially announced to the Viceroy of In- 

 dia in a note written to him February 26th by 

 Yakoob Khan, who also, speaking of a pre- 

 vious letter he had sent to the Viceroy, added, 

 " As my father was an old friend of the Brit- 

 ish Government, I send this information out 

 of friendship." Shere Ali was attended by a 

 Russian doctor, Javorsky, who states that after 

 his death the town was in a state of anarchy 

 for five days. A conflict broke out between 

 the partisans of Yakoob Khan, his brother 

 Ibrahim Khan, and his nephew Ahmed Khan. 

 The partisans of Yakoob Khan were victorious, 

 and appointed a new governor, who released 

 Javorsky from the prison into which the con- 

 testants had thrown him, and escorted him to 

 the frontier to secure his personal safety. The 

 ambassadors sent by Shere Ali to General 

 Kaufmann took leave of him March 9th. The 

 Russian General, acting under instructions from 

 the Czar, gave them no message to the new 

 Ameer. The coldness of the Russians toward 

 Shere Ali indicated that they had adopted a 

 different policy in reference to the British in 

 Afghanistan from that which it had been sup- 

 posed they would pursue. In explanation of 

 the change, it was believed that an understand- 

 ing had been reached between the British and 

 Russian Governments, involving a toleration 

 by the former of certain features of the Rus- 

 sian policy toward Turkey, in consideration of 

 a similar toleration by the Russians of the Brit- 

 ish operations in Afghanistan. The diplomatic 

 correspondence on the Central Asian question 

 published in February showed that the with- 

 drawal of the Russian embassy from Cabool 

 had been arranged for in December, 1878. 



General Biddulph's rear -guard was attacked 

 on the march from Girishk on the Helmund, 

 February 26th, by from 1,500 to 2,000 Alizai 

 Duranis, who were driven off with an esti- 

 mated loss of 150 killed. This event rendered 

 necessary a continued occupation of Girishk. 



Yakoob Khan was proclaimed Ameer imme- 

 diately after the death of Shere Ali, and seems 

 to have had no difficulty in retaining the rec- 

 ognition he had already gained at Cabool. Ef- 

 forts to negotiate with him were continued by 

 the British, with at first but little prospect of 

 success. In the latter days of March Major 

 Cavagnari informed the Viceroy that there 

 were no hopes of coming to peaceful terms 

 with Yakoob Khan, and an immediate advance 

 on Cabool was ordered. The British forces 

 suffered from the guerrilla attacks of the native 

 tribes, in consequence of which expeditions 

 were sent out on the 1st of April to Futteha- 

 bad and Lughman, with orders to reduce the 

 tribes holding those places to obedience. ^ A 

 squadron of hussars of the former expedition, 

 in crossing the Cabool River at night, missed 

 the ford, and Lieutenant Harford and fifty men 

 were drowned. The other expedition attacked 

 the Khujianis who were threatening the col- 

 umn, and defeated them. 



