History of the War in Afghanistan, Vol. 3 (of 3) / Third Edition

by Sir John William Kaye

[209] The men formerly in Dr. Gerrard’s service, enslaved fifteen years ago, whom I had ransomed at Khiva by order of Government. A. C.

[210] MS. Correspondence.—Arthur Conolly was painfully anxious to remove from the minds of his friends the impression which might have been produced upon them by his letter of the 11th of March. Again he wrote in his journal-letter: “I take this opportunity of explaining that my letter of the 11th of March was written when I was very ill with fever. Thinking that he might forcibly be sent away from me on the departure of the Russians (as they brought a request for his dismissal), or that we might be otherwise separated, Stoddart had begged me to give him a memorandum of my opinions regarding the policy to be pursued towards these states; and I wrote off a hasty summary of these notions, which were running in my head, with many things that I was anxious to say about my unfortunate servants, and to my friends, when under excitement, which must have made my expressions very wild and incoherent. I hoped that the paper containing them remained in the hands of Long Joseph; but he, misunderstanding our instructions, instead of keeping it, gave it to Eusofee-i-Roomee (Augustin), who, apparently, went off at once with it to Caubul. When I got better I drew up for Stoddart the memorandum which he had asked for, and which he now decides on forwarding. It is written in a more calm and less indignant tone than the letter aforesaid, but allowance must be made for the brevity and freedom of the propositions, for we were so liable to be interrupted and discovered, that I could only pen my opinions by snatches, and paper is a scarce article with us.”—[Arthur Conolly’s MS. Journal.]

[211] General Pollock exerted himself to obtain an adjustment of the claims of Captain Conolly’s servants; and he succeeded. The letter which was written in reply to Pollock’s application shows in what light Lord Ellenborough regarded Conolly’s mission: “With reference,” wrote the Chief Secretary, “to your letter of the 23rd ultimo, on the subject of the remuneration applied for, on behalf of the servants attached to the mission of Lieutenant A. Conolly to Kokund, I am directed to inform you that the Governor-General has no knowledge of Lieutenant A. Conolly’s mission to Kokund having been authorised. On the contrary, his Lordship was informed, by the late President of the Board of Control, that Lieutenant A. Conolly was expressly instructed by him not to go to Kokund; and, in all probability, he owes all his misfortunes to his direct transgression of that instruction. The servants entertained by him, however, are not responsible for the indiscretion of their master. They were in the service of an officer apparently employed on a public mission by his government, and the Governor-General is prepared to consider their position favourably. His Lordship, therefore, authorises the disbursement of the sums stated in the papers attached to your letter, under reply to be due to these several persons; but the sums so paid on account of wages accruing to these several persons, after they left Khiva (after deducting therefrom the amount of wages which would have become due during a direct march to Caubul) will be made a charge against Lieutenant A. Conolly, who will be required to refund the amount, as well as all sums which may have been drawn on account of such an unauthorised extension of his mission.”—[Mr. Maddock to General Pollock: Simlah, Nov. 3, 1842. MS. Records.]

[212] An abstract of this letter was forwarded by another route, and it reached John Conolly at Caubul on the 4th of July. In this letter, Stoddart reports the success of the Ameer at Kokund. “The Ameer,” he wrote, “entered Kokund on the 11th of May, and gave it up to pillage—destroyed its rulers—unpeopled its capital, and is now on his return, having distributed the different governments among his own Bokharan chiefs. He is become master of immense treasure, and will now probably march against Khiva, which, unless saved by some demonstration from Persia or Afghanistan, must fall in August or September, after a short campaign.” With reference to the efforts of the Russian Mission, he says: “The Russian Mission left this towards the end of April. I feel convinced that Colonel Boutenoff’s kind desire to procure our release failed solely in consequence of the unreasonableness of the Ameer.”—[MS. Correspondence.]

[213] General Pollock officially reported Captain Conolly’s death from Caubul, in a letter dated September 30; but he added: “The only authority for the death of this very intelligent officer is conveyed in a Persian letter from a native of Caubul, who writes from Bokhara to Moollah Ahmed Khan, of this city, saying, ‘Tell Moostafah (Captain A. C.’s servant) that his uncle, whom he left here sick, saying he was a great traveller and had visited Kokund, was taken very ill, and though we gave him medicine and did all in our power, it was of no avail. It was the will of God that he should die.’ Moostafah and Moollah Ahmed Khan are both of opinion that Captain A. Conolly is the person alluded to, and as the letter proceeds to say that the effects of the deceased are at Bokhara, and can be sent when required; and as Moostafah had no uncle, to whom could the description apply? I fear there can be no reason to doubt the death of the above-named officer. Colonel Stoddart is, from native report, said to be alive, and still in confinement.”—[MS. Records.] This is mere conjecture; and by no means tallies with the more credible account of the execution of the two prisoners. On the 3rd of November, 1842, the Supreme Government assumed that Conolly was still alive. But the home authorities adopted Saleh Mahomed’s story, and struck Stoddart’s name out of the army list, from the 17th of June, 1842. I believe this really to have been the date of their deaths. Major Rawlinson, on the morning of the 16th of September, 1842, met one of Stoddart’s servants near Caubul, and the man whom he knew, informed him that he had come direct from Bokhara, having started immediately after the execution of his master.—[MS. Notes.] The reader may consult the works of Captain Grover and Dr. Wolff.

[214] See the Edinburgh Review, July, 1845, for an account of these efforts. The paper derives additional value from the assignment of its authorship to Sir John M’Neill.

[215] Colonel Stoddart to Major Rawlinson: Bokhara, July 7, 1841. MS. Correspondence. It may be gathered from this letter that Stoddart had no intention of awaiting Conolly’s arrival at Bokhara; and that Conolly proceeded thither under orders from Caubul, and an invitation from the Ameer. An attempt has been made to control, in some measure, the flood of sympathy which sets in so strongly towards Arthur Conolly, by asserting that he was not authorised to proceed even as far as Kokund, and that he therefore brought his misfortunes down upon his own head. But I have before me the strongest proof that Conolly was authorised by the Supreme Government to proceed to Kokund, and to use his best endeavours to obtain the liberation of Colonel Stoddart. In a letter, an official copy of which is now before me, the Chief Secretary writes to the Envoy and Minister: “As in the present aspect of affairs it does not seem necessary to continue the restriction which had at first been imposed, his Lordship in Council authorises you to permit Captain Conolly to proceed from Khiva to Kokund, if he should think it expedient, and if he finds that he can do so without exciting serious distrust and jealousy at the former place. In his personal intercourse with the Khan of Kokund, he will be guided by the instructions which have been issued, prescribing the purport of his written communications. Captain Conolly may, in such a journey, find increased means of using an useful influence at Bokhara for the release of Colonel Stoddart; and his Lordship in Council need not add, that he would wish every such means to be employed with the utmost earnestness and diligence for that purpose.”—[Mr. Maddock to Sir W. Macnaghten: Dec. 28, 1840. MS. Records.]

[216] Two other notes were written by the prisoners on the back of this paper: one to Miss Stoddart at Norwich, and the other to John Conolly at Caubul. “Don’t believe all you hear or may hear,” wrote Stoddart. “Keep all friends informed of my health, and don’t let them be disturbed by rumours,” wrote Conolly.

[217] MS. Correspondence.

[218] MS. Records.