Rebellion of Mohammad Yaqub Khan [‎201r] (91/174)

1870. ]
ameer’s RELATIONS WITH BOKHARA AND RUSSIA.
133
grain from Kkinjan for their maintenance. Eor some reason or other, Surrah
Beg’s allowance of Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 100 a day was discontinued about the end of
November ; and in consequence, in the diary of the 26th January 1871, there is
an entry that he was meditating flight. The Governor of Cabul was therefore
told to keep an eye on him. On the 11th May he made some representation to
the Ameer about his private expenses, and the Ameer then said he did not
see the use of keeping on in Cabul a man who cost him Rs. 30,000 a year. He
would therefore, after consulting the Ameer of Bokhara, dismiss him.
On the 3rd August Surrah Beg renewed his request for permission to leave
Cabul. The Ameer spoke encouragingly to him and said that, God willing, he
would ere long comply with his wishes.
528. The disturbances above-mentioned gave rise to a curious letter* to
_ Yacoob Anak, Bokhara Governor of Hissar
Diary en ng t u y. and its dependencies, on the part of
Eeramoz Khan, while in Alum’s absence sole Governor of Toorkistan. He
offered to send to Koolab Afghan troops to help to put down the insurrection,
an offer that caused much displeasure to the Ameer Skere Ali, who wrote to
say that he had been quite wrong in making it.
The first letter from Peramoz was very speedily* followed by another,
conveying intelligence that Yacoob Anak
* Diary endmg 25th July. had promptly put down the insurrection,
and brought the people of Koolab more under subjection than before. The
cause of the rising w T as, there appears reason for thinking, oppressive taxation
on the part of the Bokhara officials. Two
t Diary ending 1 st August brothersf of Jehandar Shah joined the
insurgents, but were expelled towards Karaktagin.
Section III.— The Ameer’s relations with Bokhara and Bussia.
529. I turn next to the account of the mission to Cabul of the envoy,
the intention to despatch whom on the part of the Ameer of Bokhara was
mentioned in paragraph 490.
He arrived on the 27th Rebruary, was met by Shahgassee Sheredil Khan,
and on his reception in durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , presented two letters from his master,—the one
announcing his own recovery of his rebellious Districts,—Hissar, Koolab, and
Karaktagin ;—the other congratulating Shere Alion the recovery of his power.
In Cabul the Bokhara envoy found the so-called Turkish envoy to Bokhara,
who had arrived in Cabul on the* 8th
# Diary endins 10tl1 January 1870 ' January 1870.
530. The facts regarding this person are as follows:
“ In the Cabul diary for the second week in June 1869 mention was made of a report
having reached Bokhara that Khwaja Mahomed,
See Mr. Girdlestone s Note dated 20th. December Parsee, the Kind’s envoy, was about to return
1870 ' *'« *11
to Bokhara from Constantinople, accompanied by
a man, named Khwaja Suliman, on the part of the Sultan. On the 24th of August
following the Bombay Government telegraphed that Khwaja Suliman had arrived in Bombay
with the Bokharian envoy, but that the latter had died there. As Khwaja Suliman could
show no credentials from the Sultan, nor any
* From Sir H. Elliott. letter to the Viceroy, but only a letter* of intro
duction to the Bombay Governor, the Viceroy declined to see him. In virtue of^ his
alleged mission, however, orders were given that he should be entertained and transpoited as
far as the British frontier at the public expense. On the 21st of September he arrived at
Nagpoor, in the Central Provinces, having with him the widow and infant son of the Bokhanan
envoy, and a retinue of thirty persons. There he stayed about a fortnight, and afterwards
he travelled quietly to Lahore by way of Allahabad, Agra, and Umballa. He reached Lahore
(«)
He is called so persistently, so I omit the word “ so-called” henceforth