THE SECOND WAR : THE AFGHAN WAR. 5 



intrigue going on at Cabul, Lord Auckland foolishly resolved to treat 

 the Ameer as an enemy, and to drive him from Cabul, and for this 

 object he entered into an alliance with Runjeet Singh, the ruler of 

 the Punjaub, and with Shah Soojah, the exiled ruler of Afghanistan, 

 in order to secure the latter's restoration to the Afghan Throne, and to 

 to overthrow the power of Dost Mahommed Khan, the reigning Ameer. 



Here then, was the fatal cause of that ill-starred war in Afghanistan ; 

 a war that cost England and India ^^15, 000,000, and which sacrificed 

 20,000 men of all arms and 60,000 camp followers ; a total of 80,000 

 lives, besides the Afghans who fell in the struggle of which we have 

 no estimate. 



It was on Oct. ist., 1838, that the Governor-General of India 

 issued his declaration of war, and that an army of nearly 20,000 

 fighting men, accompanied by 60,000 camp followers, 35,000 camels 

 and pack-horses, artillery, baggage, and stores, concentrated in Scinde, 

 at Sukkur, as their base of action, moved forward through Beloo- 

 chistan and the Bolan Pass into Afghanistan. 



" Success all along the line " crowned the invasion and march to 

 Cabul. The British forces conquered Dost Mahommed Khan 

 after an obstinate resistance, dethroned him, captured Ghuz- 

 nee, Jellalabad, and made a triumphal entry into Cabul, 

 installed Shah Soojah on the Throne, and placed Sir William 

 McNaghten British Minister at Cabul, who really believed 

 Shah Soojah as safe on his Throne, as Queen Victoria 

 was safe on the Throne of England, but alas ! he was cruelly deceived. 



On Nov. 2, 1840, Dost Mahommed Khan, galled by hfs over- 

 throw, invaded his conquered dominions, and won at Purwandurrah 

 a decisive victory over the combined Afghan and British forces, but 

 not wishing to reap the results of the victory, he rode up to the 

 British lines and offered his sword to the British General as a token 

 of submission. 



The British Commander, favourably impressed by such an incident, 

 returned him the sword, treated him with great distinction, and 

 offered him a princely residence and income in India. 



Exactly a year after this incident, an insurrection broke out in 

 Cabul, which led to the assassination of poor Alexander Burnes and 

 his brother ofiScers; and this was really the turning point of the 

 Afghan disasters. The head of this insurrection was Akbar Khan, 

 a son of Dost Mahommed Khan, whodemanded that the British troops 

 should quit Afghanistan, and that his father should be restored to the 

 Throne. 



