While Dôst Mahomed was on the throne it was allowable in Kabul to revile and curse the British openly, and although as a successful Warrior, with bluff, hearty manners, and a free accessibility to his people, he was a popular Monarch, nevertheless, there was not a single act he did which in any way increased the material prosperity of his people. To use the words of a skilled and indefatigable observer of facts, Dr. Bellew, of whom one still hears much in Kabul—“Dôst Mahomed, during his long reign, did nothing to improve the condition or advance the domestic welfare of his people, nor did he introduce a single measure of general benefit to his country. He kept it a close borough of Islam, stationary in the ignorance of the Middle Ages, and pervaded with the religious bigotry of that period, and, to the close of his life he defended that policy as the only one whereby to maintain the independence of the country. His great merit is that he had the sense to perceive his own interest in the British alliance, and he reaped the fruits of his good judgment in the ultimate consolidation of his kingdom. But he was a barbarian, nevertheless.”
Abdurrahman and Dôst Mahomed.
Attention has been drawn to a certain resemblance existing between Amîr Abdurrahman and Dôst Mahomed.
The Hon. G. N. Curzon, speaking at the Society of Arts, remarked that the Amîr seemed to possess some of the strongest characteristics of his grandfather, Dôst Mahomed. Without doubt this is so; and one may add that to the strong character of Dôst Mahomed, Abdurrahman unites a high degree of education and considerable stores of information—scientific, artistic, and general—acquired from books, from conversation, and from observation during his travels. To the simple manners and free hospitality of Dôst Mahomed, he adds a dignity and kindly courtesy of manner most remarkable in a man of his strong passions, and in one who is constantly surrounded with adulation and flattery. He is readily accessible to his people: and even when suffering from the pangs of gout will listen patiently to the petitions of the poorest of his subjects, and give rapid though just judgments in the cases brought before him.
From my narrative may have been gathered some idea of the steps that the Amîr has taken to civilize his people and advance them in prosperity. Highway robbery and murder are no longer common in the country; nor is murder or theft in the town. Englishmen—Feringhis—have been, for the last six or seven years, travelling constantly between Kabul and Peshawur, and never has there been the slightest attempt to injure or annoy them. Indeed, for myself I may say that at every halting-place when the villagers brought their sick for me to attend to, I went among them freely, unarmed and unguarded.
That the Amîr should have used drastic measures to bring the diseased state of the country into a condition nearer approaching health, was without doubt a necessity; mild measures would have been misunderstood and completely disregarded. The savage tribes who haunted certain parts of the highway and gave rise to such by-words as “the valley of death,” were either killed by the Amîr’s troops, captured and executed, or dispersed.
On the other hand, should a Kabuli wish to start business for himself, he has but to apply to the Amîr, who will, for a certain number of years, lend him a sum sufficient for his purposes, and this without interest.
I have related in my narrative how that the Amîr was educating, not merely the Court Pages and the boy soldiers of his Mahomedan regiment, but many others, the sons of gentlemen, whom he was intending for officers in his army.
The Teaching of Handicrafts.