of all claims for arrears of tribute from the whilom vassals of an Afghán king. Seeing that Sind had long since cast off the yoke of Kábul, while Shujá himself in 1834, had solemnly renounced, through releases written in copies of the Kurán, all further claims on Sind, this sudden revival of an extinct demand did not commend itself to the Amírs as evidence of English honour or goodwill[1].
The triple alliance against a ruler whose proffered friendship we had deliberately spurned, whose right to govern his Afghán subjects had been proved by every incident of his wise, just, and vigorous rule, marked the first stage in a course of high-handed robbery, pursued under pretexts transparently false. The full extent of our folly and wrong-doing was destined for some years to be veiled from English eyes by the Afghan Blue-Book of 1839, which confused white with black by a process of skilful garbling, afterwards exposed by the eloquent historian of the Afghán War. Out of Burnes's own letters the compilers of that remarkable fiction contrived to show that the Amír of Kábul and his kinsmen of Kandahár had behaved as eager and determined foes to the British power. Every word of Burnes's writing which so much as hinted at Dost Muhammad's desire to compromise his quarrel with Ranjít Singh, or to exchange the friendship of Persia for that of England; every reason that Burnes put forward for trusting in Dost Muhammad, and for counteracting Persia by
- ↑ Kaye; Cunningham; Thornton.
