[266] The responsibility of this famous manifesto belongs to Lord Auckland, though some of his colleagues in the government at home have declared themselves willing to share it with him. Sir John Hobhouse, in 1850, told the Official Salaries Committee, in reply to a question on the subject of the Afghan war, that he “did it himself;” and so far as the announcement went entirely to acquit the East India Company of taking part in the origination of the war, it is to be accepted as a laudable revelation of the truth; but although Lord Palmerston and Sir John Hobhouse saw the expediency of extricating the British Government from the difficulties into which the conduct of Mahomed Shah had thrown them, by encouraging a demonstration from the side of India, the expenses of which would be thrown upon the Indian exchequer, they are to be regarded rather as accessories after, than before, the fact. The truth is, that Lord Auckland had determined on the course of policy to be pursued, not before the India Board despatches were written, but before they were received. Sir John Hobhouse stated in the House of Commons (June 23, 1842) that Lord Auckland “must not bear the blame of the measure; it was the policy of government; and he might mention that the despatch which he wrote, stating his opinion of the course that ought to be taken in order to meet expected emergencies, and that written by Lord Auckland, informing him that the expedition had already been undertaken, crossed each other on the way.” When the Whig ministry went out of office in the spring of 1839, it was believed that the Peel cabinet would repudiate the Simlah manifesto, and direct a considerable modification of the measures which were to follow the declaration of war. The bedchamber émeute arrested the formation of the Peel ministry; and it was at least surmised, that it was in no small measure to save Lord Auckland, and to escape the disgrace of a public reversal of their Indian policy, that the Whigs again took the reins of government. After this, Sir John Hobhouse never neglected an opportunity of publicly identifying himself with Lord Auckland’s policy, and was not deterred, even by the disastrous termination of the war, from bravely declaring that he was the author of it.
[267] In a despatch from the Court of Directors to the Governor-General, dated September 20, 1837, there occurs this remarkable passage:-“With respect to the states west of the Indus, you have uniformly observed the proper course, which is to have no political connection with any state or party in those regions, to take no part in their quarrels, but to maintain so far as possible a friendly connection with all of them.”
[268] A general assurance had been given to Runjeet Singh, in reply to a difficulty started by himself, that if the allies met with any reverses, the British Government would advance to their aid; but he had failed to elicit from Macnaghten any more specific promise of co-operation.
[269] Shah Soojah himself said that there would be little chance of his becoming popular in Afghanistan, if he returned to the country openly and avowedly supported, not by his own troops, but by those of the Feringhees. Even the less overt assistance of an infidel government was likely to cast discredit upon the undertaking in the eyes of “true believers.” The Shah talked about the bigotry of the Mahomedans; but it was plain that he had his misgivings on the subject. “During a visit,” says Captain Wade, “which I paid to the Shah, the day before yesterday, he informed me that some Mahomedans of Delhi had been writing to him, to inquire how he could reconcile it to his conscience, as a true believer in the Koran, to accept the assistance of a Christian people to recover his kingdom. The Shah said that he contemplated with pity the bigotry of these people, and began to quote a passage of the Koran to prove their ignorance of its doctrines with reference to the subject on which they had presumed to address him. Having a day or two previously received information that the Newab of Bhopal had made a particular request of his Lordship to be permitted to place a party of his kinsmen and retainers at the service of the British Government on the present occasion, from the desire which he had to testify his deep sense of gratitude to it for the manner in which it had watched and protected the interests of their family in every necessitude of their political existence, I mentioned the circumstance to his Majesty, to show the different views that prevailed among the followers of the faith, both with regard to their duty to the state and to their religion.”—[Captain Wade to Mr. Macnaghten, October 5, 1838: MS. Records.]
[270] The meeting was agreed upon before the British Government had determined to cross the Indus; and Runjeet complained of its tardy accomplishment, on the ground of the expense that he was obliged to incur in keeping his troops together.
[271] It is generally acknowledged that nothing could have been more orderly or more creditable both to the regiments and their commanding officers, than the style in which all the components of the “Army of the Indus” made their way to Ferozepore. Captain Havelock, an excellent authority on such points, says: “A force has never been brought together in any country in a manner more creditable and soldier-like than was the Bengal portion of the Army of the Indus.”
[272] Captain Havelock says the 28th—Colonel Fane, the 29th.
[273] Captain Havelock’s Narrative—from which this description has been mainly written. Colonel Fane’s Five Years in India; and Mr. Stocqueler’s Memorials of Afghanistan also contribute some details.
[274] “It is worthy of notice that a strange accident befel the old Maharajah in the tent containing the larger gifts of the British Government. He was not very firm on his legs at any time, but here he had the misfortune to stumble over a pile of shells, and fell prostrate before the British guns.”—[Havelock’s Narrative.] Remembering how the Sikh Empire fell before the British guns at Goojrat, we may at least observe that this was a curious type of the destiny then awaiting the great kingdom founded by Runjeet Singh.
[275] Stocqueler’s Memorials of Afghanistan.