226 
LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
nevertheless the vigour of his mind continued un- 
abated, and though he grieved in silence at his own 
premature decay, he did not lose sight of the inter- 
ests of his empire. Having summoned Khalifeh, his 
prime minister, a noble in whose abilities and in- 
tegrity he had great confidence, he ordered him to 
set out at the head of a large body of forces to 
recover Badukhshan. This, however, the minister 
evaded by plausible delays. Knowing that the com- 
mand had been given at the suggestion of Huinaioon’s 
mother, in consequence of the strong prejudice which 
she knew the minister entertained towards her son 
and his great ascendency over her royal consort, 
Khalifeh determined to resist it. He was well 
aware of the prince's, and [likewise of the sul- 
tana's anxiety to remove him from the capital, be- 
cause of the confidence which Baber reposed in him. 
The emperor, eager to regain Badukhshan, issued 
an order that the prince should accompany his mi- 
nister and assist in recovering the government which 
he had lost by imprudently quitting it, and thus 
leaving it exposed to the incursions of his enemies. 
Humaioon, however, unwilling to depart from the 
court of Agra at such a critical juncture, pretended 
that anxiety for his father, in his present state of 
debility, obliged him to defer entering upon an ex- 
pedition which would remove him so far from a ten- 
der parent for whose welfare he felt the strongest 
solicitude. Under this plea, therefore, he refused 
to quit the royal presence. Mirza Suleiman, a 
nephew of the amyr whom Humaioon had deputed 
to the government of Badukhshan during his ab- 
