Results of the Durbar.

373

Rahman and the possible encouragement he may receive from the British, if he comes as a friend, and they are very anxious to show that their combined party would be strong enough to keep the Durani kingdom together. They have, as yet, received no distinct promises from us, and it is not too much to say that we are inclined to treat their claims with contempt until we learn more of Abdur Rahman's intentions. The tribal chiefs, too, are not of sufficient importance to justify us in believing that any arrangement made with them would be of a lasting kind; and though we have so far respected their feelings as not to send our force out to Maidan to-day, we still intend to move 4,000 men under General John Ross to Sheikhabad, on the Ghazni Road, there to join hands with Sir Donald Stewart. News from Kunduz is to the effect that Abdur Rahman Khan is collecting men and raising money, and that his agents have been well received in Kohistan.

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Force sent to co-operate with Sir Donald Stewart-Strength of General Ross's Division A Force moved out to Charasia-Hasan Khan in Logar-Abdur Rahman and the Kohistanis-General Ross's Advance on the Ghazni Road-Communication opened with Sir Donald Stewart-News of the Action at Ahmed Khel-Action at Charasia-Colonel Jenkins attacked by Hasan Khan-The Charasia Force strengthened-Description of the Action-General Macpherson's Disposition of the Reinforcements-Defeat and Dispersion of the Logaris under Hasan Khan-Heavy Losses of the Afghans-The Leaders of the Attack.

THE following extracts from letters will explain General Ross's movement towards Ghazni to co-operate with Sir Donald Stewart:

17th April, 1880.

Sufficient time having been given to the chiefs who attended the late Durbar to return to their homes, the force told off to co-operate with Sir Donald Stewart's column advancing from Candahar, has started for Sheikhabad on the Ghazni Road. It left yesterday morning under command of Major-General John Ross, and tock the road to Argandeh, halting for the night at Kila Kazi, seven or

eight miles from the Cabul gorge. Its numerical strength was nearly 4,000 fighting men of all arms, made up as follows:

The officers of the Staff are-General Ross, commanding; Major Boyes, A.A.G.; Captain Dutton, A.Q.M.G.; and Dr. Macnalty, Staff Surgeon; Brigadier-General Charles Gough, C.B., V.C.; Major Gerard, Brigade Major; Major Kinloch and Major Combe, D.A.Q.M.Gs. Captain Ridgeway is the Political

Officer with the Division.

This force is of sufficient strength to hold its own against any force that can possibly be gathered together on the Ghazni Road, but it seems unlikely that it will meet with any serious opposition in that quarter. Mahomed Jan's faction has been so split up, that he will have difficulty in raising large bodies of men in future, particularly as the eyes of the Kohistanis, Cabulis, Logaris, and Safis are all turned northwards, Abdur Rahman's movements beyond the Hindu Kush being far more discussed than any tribal warfare towards Ghazni. To-day heliograms from Argandeh are to the effect that Mahomed Jan has fled to Narkh, the valley wherein are Bahadur Khan's villages visited by us in November last. Two thousand men under Abdul Gaffur, a local moollah of some importance, are said to have assembled there; but unless this force is increased tenfold, no opposition worthy of the name can be shown to General Ross. Mahomed Jan's parting shot was a summons to all the Kohistani maliks to raise their followers and

Joining Hands with Sir D. Stewart.

375

march to Ghazni to resist the Candahar force-a summons, it is needless to say, which will not be obeyed, as the Kohistanis are not foolish enough to place themselves in a position where they would be cut off from their homes. Mahomed Hasan Khan and General Karim Khan have gone to Logar to get men together. The Ghazni faction is on the horns of a dilemma, and the next few weeks will probably see our troops promenading through Wardak and Logar, collecting revenue and supplies, without any show of resistance to our orders. Of course, if Abdur Rahman makes a demonstration at Charikar, there may be another outburst of fanaticism; but, so far as we can judge, that adventurer is not too anxious to cross the Hindu Kush until matters are a little more advanced. If he can see his way to secure the Amirship easily without fighting, he will certainly make overtures to Sir F. Roberts. The rumour that he is running short of funds is very significant in itself; he cannot keep an army together unless he has the means wherewith to pay his sepoys, and he is too shrewd to risk a failure by pushing his force too far south when our army is within five marches of Charikar. We are more on the alert now than we have been since the events of December, and the Kohistanis know this perfectly well, though, perhaps, they do not know that General Macpherson's Brigade is to be held in readiness to move out at an hour's notice should local disaffection require such a step.

22nd April.

General Ross has reached Kila Durani, one march from Sheikhabad, without serious opposition. For the benefit of all humanitarian critics, I may state that strict orders have been given under which hostile villages are only to be punished by the destruction of their towers and fortified places: the houses of the tribesmen will in all cases be spared. Such grain and stores as we require will be taken-a very mild way, indeed, of "living upon the country." We pay such exorbitant prices for everything we buy, that the few maunds of corn taken in this way cannot prove any serious loss to the tribesmen.

In addition to the column co-operating with Sir Donald Stewart, it has been found advisable to send a small force to Charasia.

This is made up of two guns F-A, Royal Horse Artillery, a wing of the 92nd Highlanders, and the whole of the Guides, cavalry and infantry. The reason for this step was that Mahomed Hasan Khan was threatening all villagers who were sending in supplies to Sherpur from Logar, and the roads had become very unsafe for all kafilas. The case of the Khan of Kushi will show very clearly the state of Logar at the present moment, and the awkward position in which maliks friendly to the British are placed. This old man did all he could to aid our advance when we crossed the Shutargardan in September, and he has since remained faithful to his promises made to us. A few days ago he came in to Sherpur, and asked for advice, his case being that Hasan Khan had ordered him to send all his fighting men to Baraki Rajan and to furnish supplies for the levies being raised in Logar. The Khan would not obey the order, and Hasan Khan then threatened to destroy his villages and seize all his goods. The threat may have been an idle one, but still it was enough to intimidate the malik. He was told to return to his home and to keep Hasan Khan in play for a few days, when the advance of General Ross upon Sheikhabad, and General Stewart's arrival at Ghazni, would probably cause the dispersion of any bands under Hasan Khan. In the meantime, to hasten this dispersion, and to keep the roads from Logar to Cabul open, Colonel Jenkins was ordered to Charasia, and there he is now encamped waiting for orders. The effect upon the disorderly spirits in Logar has been most healthy. They dread an incursion into their valley on both sides, and they are now anxious to renounce Hasan Khan and all his works. There are always men to be found in every tribe ripe for adventure and guerilla warfare, and it seems probable that Hasan Khan still has several hundred of these about, and intends harassing picquets and rear-guards whenever opportunity offers. He has always a road of escape open towards Zurmut or the Shutargardan; and unless the maliks turn him out of their villages, he will continue to foment discontent in Logar until the Ghazni and Sheikhabad Forces have united and swept through the valley to Kushi. The people are willing and, indeed, anxious to send supplies to Cabul, as the prices paid by us are abnormally high; but until the presence of our troops frees the headmen from all

Movements of Abdur Rahman.

377 fear of reprisals by Hasan Khan, the flow of grain and cattle to Cabul will be sluggish and uncertain.

From the north the news of Abdur Rahman's movements is still meagre in the extreme; but the explanation most probably of this is, that he is waiting for events to be a little more distinctly shaped in Cabul before he plays his trump card and formally demands the Amirship. He has sent circulars to all the leading chiefs in Kohistan and the Cabul province, upon whose goodwill he thinks he can count; and having thus put his claims forward, he is content to rest upon his arms and make his position in Turkistan and about Kunduz secure before venturing over the Hindu Kush. His intentions towards the British may be looked. upon as unformed so far: they will depend upon the spirit in which his claims are received. If we decline to have anything to say to him-which is extremely unlikely, as it is rumoured that a Mission is to be sent to Kunduz from Sherpur-he will either raise a new jehad, or will wait until we have left Cabul, and then quietly swoop down upon any nominee we have placed on the throne, and try his fortune once more for the Amirship. If, on the contrary, we make our usual philanthropic offers of friendship, and invite him to come forward and state his case, leaving it to the decision of the chiefs and people, he will unquestionably meet us half-way, and trust to his old popularity gaining him an easy triumph. His mainstay is Kohistan, whence he looks to receive arms, money, and men; and, so far as can be judged, the Kohistanis favour his claims unreservedly. Knowing this, it has been all the more imperative that we should induce the Kohistani chiefs to come in and make their wishes known as, once Abdur Rahman is secured in the interests of the British, and his claims allowed by the majority of the tribesmen, our political difficulties would begin to clear away. An agent, Ressalder Mahomed Afzul of the 11th Bengal Lancers, was sent by us into Kohistan to confer with the maliks, and he has been successful in bringing between seventy and eighty of these men to Cabul. The chief among these are Jabbar Khan, Gholam Hyder Khan, and Khwaja Abdul Kadir, and it is no secret that they are friends of Abdur Rahman. Mr. Lepel Griffin received them in Durbar yesterday, and took from Gholam Hyder a paper sigued not only by the