Rebellion of Mohammad Yaqub Khan [‎225r] (139/174)

PEESIAN EXCUSES. TWO ENGLISHMEN IN CABUL
181
, . 661 ; , 1 0n the 4th Alison wrote again to Mirza Sae Pf l r
precis of the correspondence, not only with tha at,-, , ? oaeed, sending a
with Mirza Saeed himself, and saying- Moos Wee-ul-Mamalek, but
thiS COrreSP ° ndenCe * tW ° faCts ar _ e clear,—-the first is, that Yacoob Khan hein.
* Mr. Alison’s letter dated 5th May. ln rebellion against the ruler of A fo-hnniof 1
o • i -j • j au , having been defeated, souo-ht refuirp i n a p •
Seistan and was renewed there; the second is, that the late Prime Minister as ured 1 T
2nd January that Persia would never allow him to march on Herat throuT PmknT
tory, and that Yonr Excellency in a memorandum dated the 19th March declared that r
Pers,a should at any time from mot.ves of humanity, feel themselves called upon t aff«d\
asylum to such persons (meau.ng Yacool, Khan), or should they ever do so it would nl
heutaXUrnm!* 116 ^ ° f ^ ^ G ~^, nor caus^ any harm'’e!
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4f
v , - would now appear fiom the intelligence commumcated to Your Excellency by me on
tlie 1st May that not only has Yacoob Khan been allowed to march on Herat 3 thioimh
ersian territory, in spite of the assurance to the contrary given by the ex-Prime Minister hut
that much harm has come from the asylum given him in Persian territory, notwithstanding
declaration made in Your Excellency^ memorandum.” °
66.2. Mirza Saeed replied on the 12th May saying, that if things had hap
pened as was^ represented, the blame must rest on Mr. Alison himself for having
contented himself with receiving verbal assurances from the Moostowfee-uf-
Mamalek, instead of communicating those assurances with his own opinion, either
* Mr. Alison’s letter dated 5th May. ^ Mhrza Saeed himself on tour with the
Shah, or to the members of the Foreign
Office who remained at Teheran. He said—*
“ The Persian Government have never had the faintest idea of his having re-entered
Afghanistan, nor have they received any intelligence respecting the position he (Yacoob Khan)
has taken up. dhey have never given him any injurious assistance, nor will they do so, and
this department still adheres to its above-quoted sincere intentions.”
Mr. Alison rejoined on the 16th May—
X should be glad, indeed, to learn that the reports respecting his hostile incursion into
Mr. Alison’s letter dated 5th May. Afghanistan from Persian territory are devoid of
foundation; but, should they unhappily be true,
the question (irrespectively of the repeated assurances on the part of Your Excellency) seems
to me to resolve itself into whether the Persian Government be responsible or not for the acts
or shortcomings of its subordinates.”
663. On the 13th April Uslum arrived in Cabul and was received with
much honour. He brought with him two Englishmen, who had joined him at
Candahar, and who said that they had become Mahomedans, and wished to spend
their lives in Afghanistan.
“ («) One of them, Mr. Hanson, represented that he was the Adjutant of a European
Diary ending 13th April 1871, Regiment in Bombay, and that his father, George
* Anson ? Hanson, is a General* in England.”
He said he knew no language but English. The Ameer named him Sikundur
Khan, and promised to appoint him commandant of the newly-raised troops on
Ks. 1,000 a month, and his companion, Mr. Green, Gun Manufacturer, Superinten
dent of the Government Iron Factory An East India Company trading post. , on Rs. 200 a month.
In the diary of the 1st May it is mentioned that these two Europeans, named
now Mr. W. Halans and Mr. Robert Green—
“ having commenced intercourse with Armenians in Cabul, one day became drunk in their
_. . w hmise. A dispute occurred between the servants
iary ending 1st May 1871. 0 f the Armenians and of Mr. Halansb regarding
the theft of Rs. 112 belonging to the Armenians, and though Mr. Halans^ denied having drunk
spirits, the Ameer has reduced his allowances from one thousand to five hundred rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a
month on account of his misconduct, and has ordered the Armenians not to allow him to come
to them.”
In the diary from the 15th to the 17th August it is mentioned that the
Ameer, disgusted with the conduct of these men, had turned them out of Cabul,
and was sending them down towards Candahar.
(a) Colonel Phayre in his news report of 23rd March, said that two Europeans, converted to Mahomedanism —one an
officer, the other a soldier—had arrived at Khelat on their way to Candahar. One of them said his name was Brown and
that he had been Adjutant to a Highland liegiment.