Treasury to a number of Afghán chiefs in lieu of their former blackmail, was a hazard which Macnaghten shrank from incurring. But in spite of his remonstrances, the Governor-General insisted that all such payments should thenceforth be settled by the Sháh himself, for he had been long enough supported by British funds. Burnes also had pressed the Envoy hard in the same direction. In the last days of September Macnaghten summoned the chiefs of the Eastern Ghilzai tribes to Kábul, and bade them look to Sháh Shujá for the future payment of their subsidies on a reduced scale befitting their sovereign's present needs. The chiefs listened without a sign of dissent, salaamed to the Envoy, and went off to plunder a caravan at Tazín, and to block up the passes between Kábul and Jalálábád. In a few days they were busy plotting with their fellow-sufferers in the Kohistán, in the Kháibar Hills, and in Kábul itself, against a Government which could not keep its word[1].
Macnaghten took the matter lightly enough. The outbreak, he thought, might easily be quelled by the troops returning to India under Sir Robert Sale. He spoke of 'the impudence of a few hundred rascals,' who blocked the way through a pass within fifteen miles of Kabul. It annoyed him that such a breeze should ruffle the peace of the country he was about to leave; but he felt sure that, this little outbreak once quelled, Afghánistán would become quieter than
- ↑ Lawrence; Durand.
