21st.—We marched to Killa Kazee; and great was the contrast of our present happiness and comfort, compared with what our state had been, when we last bivouacked under the trees at this place. The obnoxious fort was deserted; but the troops obtained forage there; and the place was destroyed by fire: as also a fort of Sultan Jan's. But guards were sent to the Kuzzilbash forts near us, to protect the property of our friends. A reward has been offered for Capt. Bygrave, and it is supposed he will be brought in to us shortly. At three o'clock we resumed our march to Cabul; and passed through the great bazaar; where the shops were shut, and all looked very desolate, and unlike the busy city it was when we were here last year, and the inhabitants found their trade prosper under our rule. We were greeted, on our arrival at the camp at Siah Sung, with a salute of twenty-one guns.
And now my Notes may end. Any further journals of mine can only be interesting to those nearly connected to me.
ADDENDA.
On the 20th of October, the Envoy wrote to Sir Alexander Burnes, in consequence of information he had received from Capt. Trevor, which indicated an unquiet state of feeling among the people of Cabul. But Sir A. Burnes, on whom the intelligence department devolved, assured him that Trevor must be mistaken; as he knew nothing of any meditated rising of the people: and that all was as it ought to be. Notwithstanding this, Trevor assured the Envoy that a number of Ghilzye chiefs had left Cabul for hostile purposes.
On the 1st of November, Sir A. Burnes congratulated Sir William on the prospect of soon leaving Cabul in a perfect state of tranquillity. We might attribute his anxiety to calm the Envoy's mind, by assurances of the peaceful feelings of the people of the country, to anxiety on his part to succeed to the situation to be vacated by Sir William: but it appeared questionable whether he would permanently have done so; as Col. Sutherland had, it was said, been nominated for the appointment.
There can be no doubt, from what we have since heard from the Affghans, that Sir A. Burnes wrote to Sir William Macnaghten for a regiment: and that no aid was given, either to him or Trevor, Anquetil or Mackenzie, is well known. Where the blame rests, it is not for me to determine.
Not only did Taj Mahommed Khan, but also the Naïb Shureef, warn Sir Alexander. The latter was very intimate with him; and they were both well known to most of those officers who at all associated with the Affghan gentlemen.
Mention is made of the Naïb in one of the Bombay papers; in which he is represented as a very respectable person,—a Naïb in Capt. Johnson's office. Khan Shireen Khan is the head of the Kuzzilbashes; and Mahommed Shureef was his Naïb, or the governor under him;—a man of large estates; who, from his adherence to our cause, has had to fly his country, with what little he could save; but leaving landed property, worth above two lakhs of rupees, to the mercy of his enemies, the Barukzyes. Naïb Shureef paid a large sum for the interment of the bodies of Burnes and his brother. It was asserted that he was deceived, but his intention was equally good. After the return of the British force to Cabul, the bodies were reinterred.