Under the absolute Amir

by Frank A. Martin

All the members of the royal family, that is, the whole of the Mahomedzai family, received an allowance from the Government. Four hundred rupees a year (about £12 10s.) was allowed to each boy, and three hundred to each girl, and food from the royal kitchen was also supplied to the greater number of them; but this was stopped under the régime of the present Amir, and a further allowance in money granted instead. The greater scarcity of food, and its consequent dearness, was the chief reason for doing so.

The officials of the Government and others attached to the Amir received salaries of from two hundred to six thousand a year, and although many have incomes derived from their own lands, they all live beyond their apparent income, the surplus being obtained in ways best known to themselves; usually, the greater the rascal the greater the income. Formerly the salaries of the officials were paid by barats (orders) on the revenue due from different lands in the country, and the officials had to collect this themselves, whereby the expenses of revenue officers were spared the Government. But eventually one of the highest officials used to buy up all these barats, charging so much per cent. discount, and collect the whole, a proceeding profitable to himself, but detrimental to the interests of the country, as his agents left the ryots (cultivators) nothing to live on, more often than not, and caused many of them to leave their bit of land and seek employment elsewhere. This wholesale robbery by the collectors of revenue is one of the chief causes of the present low state of the exchequer.

Officials are given titles according to the work or department they have charge of, but in addition many receive the title of colonel or brigadier, or other military title, without being attached to a regiment, and these are called Civil officers. All officers of the army and officials are given a feast once a year, on the occasion of the jeshan, or celebration of the anniversary of the Amir’s title of “Light of religion and faith,” and on this occasion all men are received in durbar, and are afterwards given a dinner, and as the palace will not hold all, the bulk of them sit in the adjacent gardens, and their dinner is served to them there.

The officials in their treatment of the English residents in Kabul, reflect the mind of the Amir and his attitude towards the English Government, and when the Amir happens to be prejudiced against the Indian Government, on account of their attitude towards him being firmer than is consistent with the consideration he considers due to himself, the English in Kabul are included in his displeasure, and all officials follow the lead of their master by being scant of courtesy, to the verge of rudeness. At other times, when the English are in favour, the officials are profuse in their offers of service. Among themselves, when one official is in high favour with the Amir, and they all take their turn at that, for no one of them is in favour long, the favoured one is fawned on and flattered by all the rest of them, but in their hearts they hate him, and plot his downfall at the time they flatter him.

The Law Courts of the country, if they can be called so, are divided into two sorts. Offences against or cases pertaining to their religion are first tried in the court of the Khan-i-Moullah (chief moullah), and if beyond his powers, are referred to the chief Sirdar, and afterwards to the Amir. Offences against the law are tried in the court of the Kotwal (city magistrate), and those cases beyond his powers are also referred to the chief Sirdar, and again by him, if beyond his jurisdiction, to the Amir. For social offences persons are tried by their peers; the commoner by commoners, and the khan (chief) by khans. To the above courts the present Amir has added a special jury to try those cases which would otherwise be referred to him, and this jury, although given special powers to act, must send their findings to the Amir for confirmation. The present Amir has also formed a parliament consisting of about thirty heads of departments, who discuss the laws requiring reform, and when, after the discussion, a majority is in favour of any alteration, the proposed new law is written down for the sanction of the Amir, who afterwards confirms it or otherwise, but mostly otherwise in those cases I heard of. To the parliament is also delegated the trial of those cases which involve the sifting of much evidence, and take time, the finding of the parliament, as in other cases, having to be confirmed by the Amir. Another jury has also been appointed to try those cases of prisoners who have been imprisoned without trial, of which there are many in Kabul, where prisoners of all sorts generally average between twenty and thirty thousand, with orders to report fully to the Amir on each case.

For the last ten years of his life the gout that the Amir suffered from gradually took greater hold of him, and he could walk but very little, and had to be carried whenever he went any distance, while for the last two or three years he was unable to stand, and had to be carried about, even in the room. He got gradually weaker also, through the repeated attacks of illness, which came on at shorter and shorter intervals, and gradually, too, his brain became affected, until it was only at times that he was able to think or reason clearly. In this condition he had to rely still more on his officials, and eventually the power of the government practically lay in the hands of three of them, who in the Amir’s weakened condition had gained his confidence, and were able to turn his mind in any direction they pleased. These men, as the habit of the country is, usurped the power they had while it was theirs, until their conduct became so arrogant that they made themselves very unpopular. One of them even went so far as to take away by force the carpenters and carts at work on Sirdar Habibullah’s new house, giving the Amir’s name as the excuse, and knowing the Amir was not in the condition to properly listen to his son’s complaint, even if the son had the audacity to place the matter before his father. This man was degraded from his office soon after Sirdar Habibullah became Amir.

Eventually, in the spring of 1901, Amir Abdur Rahman suddenly had a stroke, and it was thought that it was all over with him; but he rallied, and lingered on until some six months later, when, on October 1, he died, and it was said that his feet were dead a few days before, and the stench from them was such that no one could stop long in the same room with him. On the day when the Amir lay dying, and it was seen that there was no hope of recovery, Sirdar Habibullah and Sirdar Nasrullah, together with several of the leading officials, held a consultation, and decided upon the steps to be taken immediately the Amir’s life had passed, for trouble and revolt were confidently expected as soon as it became known for a fact by the people that the Amir was dead, and also it was expected that the Queen-Sultana would try to get the army to side with her in getting her son Mahomed Omar crowned Amir; she had a good deal of influence, and was popular with most people. It was decided at this council that Sirdar Habibullah was to succeed his father, and that when the Amir was dead he should at once occupy the fortified palace of Arak, in which is the treasury, together with the stores of modern arms, for the possession of that would make him practically master of the situation, and when there, even should the soldiers rise, as was feared, there was the possibility of holding out until matters quieted down, and terms could be arranged.

At the time of the Amir’s death, which occurred at night, all the princes and the leading officials were present in an ante-room of the Baghibala palace, where the Amir lay, having been present from the afternoon, when they were summoned from their council with the announcement that the Amir could not last much longer. When those who were watching came in and announced that the Amir was dead, one of the chief officials present took the late Amir’s hat, and putting it on Sirdar Habibullah’s head, declared him Amir, upon which all present, taking his hand in turn, gave the vows of allegiance, and called him Amir, and another of them, going into an adjoining room, where Sirdar Mahomed Omar sat, brought him in, and told him to acknowledge the new Amir, which he did, giving the vows as the others had. That official earned the Queen-Sultana’s undying hatred for doing this.

The new Amir then went to the city, with most of the officials and his own followers, and occupied Arak, having already arranged matters with the brigadier in charge of the picked troops there, and who was soon after raised to the rank of colonel. Sirdar Nasrullah Khan was left at Baghibala that night to superintend the removal to Arak of all furniture, carpets, ornaments, etc. This he did the same night by carts, and in the morning he brought in the Amir’s body to Arak also, but while doing so was escorted by a strong force of cavalry, in case the news of the Amir’s death should have leaked out, and a rising be precipitated by the sight of the body being carried in.

That day, too, the furniture of the Queen-Sultana was sent from the harem serai inside Arak to her palace, Gulistan Serai, just outside the walls, and the new Amir’s wives were installed in Arak. It was then publicly announced that the Amir was dead, and all offices, works, and shops were closed, and it was also announced that the funeral would take place that day. In view of possible emergencies the guard of seven men with each European was doubled the day the Amir lay dying by another guard from the Ardeel regiment, from whom are drawn the outer guards for the royal palaces and harems, and who are looked upon as reliable men.