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MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS OF 
It is, however, often said that these people are fickle and faithless, and 
that subsidies and conciliation, though good in theory, will fail in practice. 
I am of course aware that there are considerable difficulties to be encoun¬ 
tered, nor do I anticipate that our friendly overtures will produce any 
immediate striking result; but turning for a few moments to the history of 
our dealings with the Afghans, of recent years, it will be found that the 
conciliatory friendly policy, on the only occasion when it has been fairly 
tried, at once bore good fruit, and that too on a very critical and momentous 
occasion, and in a way we little expected. I will quote the instance. 
In the year 1856 Dost Mahomed was the ruler of Afghanistan, and being 
anxious for obvious reasons that the Persians, who had then captured Herat, 
should be driven out of it, we entered into a treaty with Dost Mahomed 
accordingly. The following is the first and chief article of the treaty :— 
“ Whereas the Shah of Persia, contrary to his engagement with the British 
Government, has taken possession of Herat, and has manifested an intention to 
interfere in the present possessions of Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan, and there is 
now war between the British and Persian Governments; therefore the Honourable 
East India Company, to aid Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan to defend and maintain 
his present possessions in Balk, Cabul, and Candahar against Persia, hereby agrees 
out of friendship to give the said Ameer one lac of Company’s rupees (£10,000) 
monthly during the war with Persia.” 
The other conditious of the treaty were that the Ameer should maintain 
a certain force under arms, and should receive an English officer. He was 
also presented with 4000 muskets. 
This treaty was signed by the present Lord Lawrence, who was then 
Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, on the 26th of January, 1857 (mark 
the date), and one result was that the Persians were driven out of Herat as 
we wished; but another, and quite an unexpected result may, I think, be at 
all events in part attributed to our timely conciliation. 
In May, 1857, only four months after the treaty was signed, the great 
mutiny broke out, and the Punjab, like all the rest of India, was in extreme 
peril; but although it is believed that Dost Mahomed was urged to attack 
us, and although it is said that thousands of Afghan horsemen were eager 
to be let loose across the border, it is nevertheless a fact that this great 
old chief, who had little cause to love us for our treatment of him in 
former years, did not draw the sword nor move a man against us in the 
hour of our dire extremity. It is of course impossible to say how far our 
kind reception of him, and our liberality towards him in the previous 
January, may have led him to remain quiescent the following May, but at 
least it may be concluded that our treaty was made at a very opportune 
moment, and to my mind it is a pregnant proof that the Afghans are not so 
faithless as is often asserted. 
Dost Mahomed died in the summer of 1863. The son of his selection, 
the Ameer Shere Ali Khan, now rules in Cabul, after a long civil war, and 
at the beginning of last year come down as far as U mb alia to visit Lord 
Mayo, the present Yiceroy of India. He was royally entertained, and has 
also been granted a subsidy of equal amount to that temporarily given to 
his father. 
Although the mere grant of a subsidy is not the highest form of 
