Some Eminent Women of Our Times: Short Biographical Sketches
John Stuart Mill · en
However, for a time the English army in Afghanistan did not realise the
difficult and dangerous position in which they were placed. Dost Mahomed
fled; and not long after he surrendered himself to the English, and was
sent, with his wives and children, as a prisoner of war to India.
Everybody now thought all trouble and danger were over, and the married
officers and men of the English garrison sent for their wives and
children to join them at Cabul. Shaj Soojah was established there and
received the congratulations of the English. Lawrence, however, observed
that the Ameer’s own subjects did not join in these congratulations, and
moreover Shaj Soojah himself began to show signs of getting tired of his
English friends. No special danger was, however, anticipated; the
English envoy, Sir W. MacNaghten, was about to leave Cabul, having been
appointed to the Governorship of Bombay. Had he left, he would have
taken Lawrence with him as his secretary. When the preparations for his
departure were nearly complete, the clouds that had long been gathering
at last burst in storm. The Ghilzye tribe rose in rebellion because they
had been deprived of an annual subsidy of £3000, nominally paid them by
Shaj Soojah, but really supplied by the British. This insurrection had
the effect of a match applied to a train of gunpowder. The whole of
Afghanistan was presently in arms; the safest and most easily defended
routes for the return to India were cut off. The insurrection spread to
Cabul itself; the houses of the English residents were attacked and
burned, the Treasury was sacked, and several officers and men were
murdered in the streets. An attempt to send help to the English from
Jellalabad was unsuccessful; the Afghans were victorious, and held the
small British force entirely in their power.