‘A collection of treaties, engagements and sanads relating to India and neighbouring countries’ [‎207] (224/578)

' AFGHANISTAN. 207
enemies of the British Government should be the friends and enemies
of Kabul.
After the treaty had been concluded and signed, Ghulam Haidar
Khan intimated that it was the intention of his father’s government to
send troops to occupy Dawar in the Tochi. This valley, together with
other lands, cis and trans-Indus, had been relinquished by Shah Shuja
to the Sikh Government; and, after the annexation of the Punjab, the
British Government had a right to such tracts. But the right had
never been asserted, and the Governor-General consented to the Amir’s
occupying Dawar on his own behalf. This, however, was never done.
Saiyid Muhammad Khan of Herat was deposed in 1855 by Muham
mad Yusaf, grandnephew of Shah Zaman, Shah Shuja and Shah
Mahmud. Thus the Sadozai family w T as once more restored at Herat.
At this time Dost Muhammad, having quarrelled with his brothers,
took possession of Kalat-i-Ghilzai, and soon afterwards, in January 1856,
of Kandahar. His ambition, however, was directed to the reduction of
Herat, which he had always considered to be an integral part of the Afghan
dominions. Dreading the advance of Dost Muhammad, Muhammad
Yusaf threw himself on the support of Persia, declared himself to be a
vassal of the Shah, and offered to issue coin and have prayers read in the
Shah’s name. He invited the assistance of a Persian army; but, when
it advanced, found himself threatened both from east and west with the
loss of his independence. Accordingly he hoisted the British flag at
Herat and declared himself a subject of the British Government. This
proceeding was repudiated by Lord Canning in the name of the Queen’s
Government, as a presumptuous and dishonest act. Muhammad \ usaf
was soon after deposed by a faction in Herat headed by Isa Khan, and
sent a prisoner to the Persian camp. The aggression of Persia on Herat,
coupled with the insults which had been offered to the British mission
at Tehran, led to the declaration of war between England and Persia
in 1856. Measures were immediately taken to subsidise Dost Muham
mad, who had consulted the British Government, and to encourage him
to advance against the Persians. The result was the conclusion of an
Agreement (No. Y) in January 1857, confirming the treaty of 1855.
Stipulations were made for the payment of a subsidy by the British
Government to the Amir to enable him to strengthen his frontier, and
for the deputation of British officers to Kandahar during the contin
uance of the Persian war, to see that the subsidy was appropriated to
the object in view, as well as for the residence at Kabul and Peshawai
respectively of a native envoy of the British and Kabul Governments.
Assistance in money was also sent to Isa Khan at Herat; but, befoie
it reached him, he had been compelled to surrender to the Persians, who
took possession of the city in October 1856 and created him W ozir or
the Province on behalf of the Shah. He was murdered within a few
weeks by a party of Persian soldiers,
T 2