Sherpur, 7th November.
The Commission which is inquiring into the massacre of Sir Louis Cavagnari and his escort may be said to have reached the first stage of its work—the examination of nearly 100 witnesses, who have spoken as to what occurred at the Bala Hissar and in Cabul afterwards, having been completed. This has furnished materials, so to say, for the brief against the Amir, who, from the 5th, may he considered to have been on his trial. Explanations will, of course, be required of him of such suspicious circumstances as point to something beyond mere helplessness and vacillation, and his statements will be weighed against those already in the hands of the Commission. In the present stage of the inquiry great reticence is observed as to what evidence has been taken, and it would be idle to indulge in too free conjectures. This much may be taken as certain, that not the least respect of persons will be shown in the decisions arrived at by the Commissioners. The hanging of such wretches as the Kotwal of Cabul and the chowkidar of Mundai was an example to such small fry as those who make up the rabble population of Cabul; but higher game may be flown at, as the faithlessness of chiefs and influential leaders must be punished. The Mustaufi and the other Ministers under arrest have yet to be dealt with; and if their complicity in the treachery which we are punishing is established, they will have short shrift.
Yesterday General Roberts, taking his usual personal escort and a troop of the 9th Lancers, rode into the Chardeh Valley with General Baker. The position of the enemy on the Asmai Heights on the 8th of October was explained by General Baker, and also the disposition for the attack. The Cabul gorge was passed through, the river crossed, and the road at the foot of the hills blocking Chardeh from Charasia followed. Walled homesteads and richly-cultivated fields alternated with orchards, on the right; and as the road gradually ascended, a beautiful view of the whole valley was obtained. Even so late in the year as now it will answer the description given of it by a member of the Embassy: “a mass of vegetation.” Rows of willow-trees rise from the sides of every irrigation channel, and orchards innumerable are scattered on all sides. The walled enclosures, with their small towers, are dotted here and there, breaking the even monotony of the view, and whichever way one may turn, the steep hills which run out from the Pughman Range shut in this fertile valley. We followed the path from the gorge to the village of Indikee, and halted on the plain immediately in rear of the heights which the 72nd Highlanders and 5th Ghoorkas stormed on October 6th. It was across this plain that the enemy fled; and, seeing how clear it is of all obstacles, one can well understand General Baker’s regret that he had not cavalry ready at hand to cut up the retreating Afghans. If the nature of the ground had been better known to us, the loss of Nek Mahomed’s force would have been much heavier. Turning back from Indikee, we retraced our steps through the narrow, winding streets of the village, perched on the steep hillside with a roaring brook running through it, and struck the Bamian Road. This was followed for three miles into the heart of the valley, where nothing but wheat-fields and irrigated plots under water, or lying fallow for the plough, was seen. Then a bee-line was taken to the break in the hills to the east, and after a good gallop the northern suburbs of Cabul were reached, and the road to Sherpur followed until Camp was gained. Such villagers as we had seen were quiet enough: and if any sepoys were hidden away, they did not think it worth while to risk a shot at the General. Fanaticism seems at present incapable of producing a Ghazi equal to the fear of meeting certain death.
The dismantlement of the Bala Hissar has made such rapid progress, that within the walls the houses are now in ruins, all the beams and wooden supports, as well as every scrap of timber of every kind, being in course of removal to Sherpur. We are looking forward to a severe winter; and, however snug our quarters may be in the long ranges of barracks built here by Shere Ali, there will be much discomfort, not to say sickness, if firewood runs short. There are no forests from which large supplies can be drawn: the hillsides all around being bare rock or shingly deposit on which no vegetation can grow.
Some of the large houses in the Bala Hissar, though now deserted and partially demolished, show signs of luxury and comfort which speak highly of the pains taken by rich sirdars to enjoy life in their own rude way. The palace in which Yakub Khan lived was furnished luxuriously, no doubt, in his estimation; thick Persian carpets, bright-coloured rugs and dhurries covering the floors; while English-made tables, sideboards, and chairs were ranged side by side with the usual Eastern pillows, cushions, and rezais, which are the delight of indolent loungers. In one small room the ceiling was so closely hung with glass chandeliers that to move about was to risk a small shower of pendants falling; while the shades for the candles were of such brilliancy in light green and pink that the effect in the bright sunshine was quite dazzling. “Pearls and barbaric gold” there were none to be seen,—they had been removed for safe-keeping to his father-in-law’s house in the city, where the ladies of the harem were also lodged,—but such gimcracks as usually light up the houses of the poorest classes in England were not wanting. Cheap pictures in common gilded frames, the kind turned out by the thousand in Germany, all gaudy colours and painfully real, were hanging on the walls; while a few well-executed portraits of Russian officers, in full uniform and bedecked with orders, were found scattered about. These were all neatly framed in wood, and were so well got up that most probably they had been presents to Shere Ali from the Embassy, whose stay in Cabul gave rise to such serious results. One small picture was discovered, which is certainly a great curiosity. It is plainly the work of an Afghan artist, and carries us back to the disasters of 1841-42, when for a time our arms suffered so serious a reverse. The subject of the drawing is an Afghan on horseback, in full splendour of gold-braided coat of many colours, enormous black Astrakan hat with its characteristic cone shape, small black boots peeping out of the white drapery of his wide-flowing trouser, and the silver scabbard of his sword dangling at his side. His saddle is gorgeous in red and gold, while the trappings of his charger are bright with elaborate gilding. The horse is, in the language of heraldry, rampant, while his rider sits proudly in the saddle, staring out over the wide, wide world with an expression of haughty contempt, which is almost awe-inspiring. On the green foreground, which represents the grassy sward of the Cabul plain, a dog, abnormally developed in some particulars, gambols along, barking joyously (if the protrusion of a crimson tongue as big as his head means anything), and thoroughly enjoying his master’s triumph. What that triumph is has yet to be told! On the flank of the horse, and so close as to be in danger of its heels, is the figure of a British officer, clad in the old Pandy uniform, with a musket at the trail in his hand, and crouching in the most abject terror. His face, that of a boy subaltern, is turned upwards; while his eye, full of fear and respect, is watching his Afghan conqueror with great intentness. He is at the double, to keep up with the horse, and the artist has cleverly depicted in figure and expression the humiliation he is undergoing. Nothing could be finer than the contrast between the black-bearded Afghan, with his enormous pouting lips of a purple tinge, and staring eyes, and the smooth boyish face, full of timidity, of the unlucky Briton he is leading captive. We can afford to laugh at the picture, for “the wheel has come full circle,” and the subject now for an artist to draw would be an English Lancer, perfect in his array as a lily of the field, leading captive at his stirrup a typical Afghan (say Yakub Khan, for example) with a halter round his neck and clad in all the simplicity of a dhotie. The picture I have described is a standing curiosity in Camp, and is to be the nucleus of a future Cabul Picture Gallery.
In Cabul the better class of houses all present the same appearance outside: that of high brown mud walls, with one or two small doorways. Nothing can be more uninviting than these sun-baked walls, which, from the Mediterranean eastwards, always mark the residence of a Mussulman population. But within them there is much to atone for their forbidding exterior. Entering one of these large houses in the Bala Hissar some days ago, I found myself in an inner courtyard full 20 yards square. At either end were sets of rooms with open verandahs in front, built of a framework of wood fitted in with bricks, and then carefully plastered over. The lower rooms were four or five feet above the level of the courtyard, and broad flights of steps led up to them. Every bit of wood used as supports or for partition walls had been carved and fretted with great skill, while the inner rooms were cut off from the glare outside by carved wooden screens, some of the patterns being extremely pretty. But the greatest wealth of ornamentation had been lavished above, in what were the quarters of the women. A handsome wooden staircase, broad enough for four persons to walk abreast, led up to these; and once on the higher level the change from the dull brown below was quite refreshing. There was the same repetition of carved woodwork and open screens; but the inner walls were gay with frescoes in every colour, the plaster being covered with native designs of scroll-work, filled in with birds of startling plumage and flowers of hues to shame the rainbow. The ceilings and cornices were similarly adorned, the latter being set with mirrors in long narrow strips of various sizes. The recesses for lamps and the lintels of the doors had all shared in the general ornamentation, and to its inmates the zenana must have seemed a triumph of artistic skill. All was deserted now, not even a door remaining on its hinges. The carved work was smashed as if some reckless soldier had thrust his rifle stock through it; the bits of mirror were starred with stray blows, and the plaster had been broken from the walls as the woodwork had been torn away. The wood from the staircases leading to the roof, the favourite evening gossiping place of the sirdars, ladies, and attendants, had all been carried away, and the gaping holes through which the sunlight poured were eloquent of desolation. And it is a desolation well deserved, for it was in just such a house, with courtyard and pleasant upper rooms (perhaps not so elaborately decorated, the whitewash covering the beauties of the frescoes) that Cavagnari was lodged. The Bala Hissar may at last meet with the fate which it deserved, and narrowly escaped, when Pollock was master of Cabul in 1842: and soon not one mud wall may remain to stare its neighbour out of countenance. The large godowns in the Upper Fortress are still full of powder—nearly a million pounds; but, with this exception, the place has been cleared of all its warlike stores. The excavations at the Residency are still carried on, but the remains of our officers have not been found. Two English watches were unearthed a few days ago: one had stopped at 2.45 P.M., and the other at 8.15 P.M.
9th November.
There seems to be an impression gaining ground outside that the army here has been rather tardy in its work of vengeance, and has not fulfilled its mission in so bloodthirsty a way as might have been expected. Much, however, has had to be done in the clearing of the Shutargardan, laying in stores for the winter, and making inquiry quietly into the probable intention of the scattered regiments. It would not have been advisable to alarm such of the Afghan sepoys as had left their homes in Cabul and the villages near, and we have, therefore, hitherto only picked out a few of the worst characters and hanged them as an “encouragement to the others.” Seeing that no general action was taken in thoroughly searching such villages as were close at hand, the disbanded soldiers have returned in many instances to their homes, and now that we have some of the muster-rolls of the regiments in our possession, we have suddenly begun to sweep into the net of the Military Commission every one against whom suspicion exists. Flying parties of cavalry are sent out, some with sealed orders, to bring in such men as have been marked down by informers eager to earn the rewards offered for the apprehension of guilty persons, and yesterday a swoop was made into the Chardeh Valley, only two or three miles from Camp. The village of Indikee and its neighbours sent out most of their armed men to fight against us, and for the last month they have been revelling in fancied security, in the belief that their misdeeds were unknown. They have just been rudely awakened from their pleasant dream. On Friday evening the 3rd Sikhs, 5th Punjab Cavalry, and two mountain guns of the Kohat Battery were warned for service with General Baker for the morrow, but their destination was kept a secret. There are so many channels by which information may leak out that if it had been stated whither they were bound, some kind friends of the Afghans, who are favourably received in Camp, might have given warning to the men whose lives were in danger. General Baker formed up the troops outside the walls of the cantonments at daybreak yesterday morning, and at once moved off through the suburbs of Cabul to the gorge through which the rivers enters the city. The road to the left was taken after Dehmazung village had been passed just beyond the gorge, and the cavalry pushing on formed a cordon round Indikee. In my last letter I described the village, which General Roberts visited three days ago. It is commanded from several points on the hillside, and at one of these the two guns were posted ready to open fire if resistance were offered. There was, however, no thought of fighting: the village was taken quite by surprise, and the headmen came out in fear and trembling as General Baker and the 3rd Sikhs marched up. The headmen were briefly told that all sepoys belonging to the Afghan army must be brought out and surrendered. They were given five minutes to produce the men, the threat of a forcible search, with, perhaps, worse to follow, giving point to the request. In a very few minutes they brought forward thirty men, unarmed, and with no uniform on their backs, and these were at once made prisoners. The General had a list in which the names of certain sepoys known to be in Indikee were entered; and, upon calling this over, several were found to be missing. The maliks explained that twenty-two sepoys were absent in various directions, and promised faithfully to bring them into Sherpur when they should return. This promise was accepted, and the disarmament of the village then began. The orders were that all arms, even to the knives so commonly worn by Afghans, should be laid at the door of every house before our sepoys entered. This was done, the whole place being divided into three parts: two companies of Sikhs were sent to each section to collect the weapons. Wherever the arms were not before the doors the houses were searched, and in such a manner that but few weapons could remain hidden. Indikee having made itself so particularly obnoxious, was further punished by a fine of 1,300 maunds of grain and 800 loads of bhoosa being levied upon it. This quantity of grain and forage was ordered to be delivered in Sherpur within a week, and two headmen were taken as hostages for the due fulfilment of the bargain. In case of their failing to carry out the order, the village will be burnt to the ground. Other villages which had shared in the guilt of Indikee were then visited, and eighteen more Afghan soldiers taken. Many of these belong to the Herat regiments, and answered to their names when called upon. They fell into rank at the word of command; and, when “right about face” was called out, preparatory to marching back to Sherpur, obeyed with alacrity. All the arms taken were humbly carried into camp by the villagers, escorted by our sepoys and sowars, much to the edification of such Cabulis as were met upon the road. The raid was altogether a very successful one: and if all the towers in the Chardeh Valley are blown up as a pendant to the excursion, the villagers will have been taught a severe lesson. To-day the maliks, true to their word, brought in between twenty and thirty sepoys, many of the latter marching quietly in, and surrendering themselves as calmly as if they were our own soldiers who had overstayed their leave and expected a slight punishment. What their fate is likely to be, appears from the result of the sitting of the Military Commission to-day. Sixteen prisoners were brought up, and eleven of these will be hanged to-morrow morning. Five poor wretches, khalassies belonging to the Artillery, were released, as there was nothing to inculpate them. We seem at last to have got hold of certain sepoys who were concerned in the first outbreak in the Bala Hissar. They do not attempt to conceal their names, or those of the regiments to which they belong, and hear their sentence of death as stoically as if each man were a Spartan. It makes one exasperated to see the rank and file of these wretches being marched off to execution, while their leaders are still at large, and but few of the Cabul rabble have been brought to account. One grows sick of hanging ten common men a day; and there is already a talk of an amnesty being shortly proclaimed—only ringleaders and certain marked men being excepted. There will be no difficulty, I imagine, in the future in capturing a few score sepoys if the executions have to be begun over again, as the muster-rolls give very fully the names and residences of the sepoys. The rolls are framed somewhat on the Indian pattern, and are fairly complete. One is the crack regiment, called the “Asnider Regiment,” and these men are still at large with good rifles in their hands. Perhaps they may have courage enough to die as soldiers, fighting openly, rather than come to an end on the scaffold.
We are unhappy in our minds as to our winter line of communications, our hopes of the road to Gundamak being secured by the meeting of General Macpherson’s and General Charles Gough’s forces having suddenly dropped below zero. It is difficult to understand what has occurred: but the most important step in our recent operations has certainly been neutralized in some way. Whether it is divided authority,—General Roberts on the Cabul side being unable to give orders to General Bright on the Gundamak line so long as the latter remains senior in army rank,—or some local exigency, is not at all clear; but this much is only too plainly evident, that the force under General Charles Gough, after joining hands with our brigade at Kata Sung, four miles west of Jugdulluck, has fallen back upon Jugdulluck, while General Macpherson has marched down the Tezin river to the Lughman country. Consequently we have been cut off again from the Khyber Force for several days. We are most anxious to ensure the safety of our postal and telegraphic line through the belt of mountains which shuts us off from our reinforcements if we chance to need them. Besides, we are anxious to send our sick and wounded back to India before the full rigour of winter comes upon them here; and, with snow likely to fall early in December, there is not much time to spare. General Macpherson, on his part, has crossed the Cabul river at a point where, it is said, a pile-bridge could be easily built, and has explored the Lughman Valley at its western end. Shortness of supplies is given as his reason for leaving Kata Sung. He has found a good road running for 30 or 40 miles over nearly a hill country; but whether it will be of service is quite another matter, which may be dealt with when we have one route open. The troops with him are needed here, as one or two local punitive expeditions have to be sent out; and he has therefore been recalled. The Luttabund route is to be adopted as the one best calculated to be followed to Jugdulluck, and the Pioneers will be left behind to make it practicable. Blasting powder is being sent up to the Kotal, and the work will, it is thought, soon be accomplished. In the meantime, General Hugh Gough has left Sherpur to arrange for all the posts between Luttabund and Jugdulluck being held. There was no opposition to the advance from Gundamak beyond a few shots fired by a knot of men near Jugdulluck; the only damage they inflicted was the wounding of one of the Guides’ horses.
12th November.