After ’97 the Amir’s feelings towards England and the English changed, and those of his court had to see that they conducted themselves as comported with his mood. Sirdar Mahomed Omar told his half-brother, Sirdar Aminoolah, one day at that time, not to go before his father in the English gaiters he was wearing, and to be careful not to wear anything English on such occasions. The Amir was greatly disappointed in the failure of Sirdar Nasrullah Khan’s mission to England in ’95, which was chiefly to obtain consent to an Afghan envoy being appointed in London. As this meant dealing over the head of the Indian Government, it was negatived by the English authorities. Also the letters he received from the Indian Government, concerning his participation in the Afridi rising on the borders, in August, ’97, were bitter to him. One, which plainly hinted at the loss of his throne, if such happenings occurred again, he read out in public durbar held for the occasion, and to which all leading men were summoned, and after reading it, he accused his people of doing that which brought upon him disgrace at the hands of his ally. About this time he sent for me, and spoke for several hours on the Afridi rising, and the trouble the border tribes had caused him, and seemed particularly bitter against the Haddah moullah, Maulavi Najmudeen Aghondzada, who was the principal instigator of the rising. He said that since he came to the throne, rebellions had been frequent, and though each revolt had been put down with a strong hand (those who know the Amir’s methods will understand what his “strong hand” meant), it had not been sufficient to prevent further risings, for his people were not only the most unruly, but the most fanatical of all people. As to his having participated in forwarding the rising, the Amir argued that the people once risen and flushed with any little success, would become beyond the control of any man, and there were old scores to be wiped off between the border tribes and the Afghans, so that any rising was a menace to himself. And in addition to this, a rising in one part of the country would undoubtedly lead to similar risings and revolt in other parts, and it was only by his firm ruling and the stringent methods adopted towards those who sought to agitate the people, that the country was kept quiet.