تمرد محمد يعقوب خان [ظ‎‎٢‎١‎٤] (١٧٤/١١٨)

160
YACOOIi —His PREVIOUS HISTORY-
[ 1868 .
592. Diary of 18th May 1871
“ One Kudeev, a draper, having become bankrupt,
" This has been done as a warning to others,
593. Diary of 22nd May—
«Yesterday, a woman and whh s" and.lnSrdln^
^’s—^r—tnr Z ^ May m.0
Section VI. — Yacoob’s Rebellion.
k nr Interesting information about this Prince is given in demi-official letters
r wti nr Montgomerie dated 4th and 26th June, sending on particulars given
fiom Maj - b Survey Department who had been employed for two years,
IffiTsetl to tShVi and hfs elder brother, Ibrahim, English.
He is the Meerza says, not well educated, but can read and write Persian
f '.1 H He made great progress in English while under the Meerza; his keenness
• aU % 1 ■ ,, the language being in a great measure due to a wish to learn the
Engtsfsystem of drifl. Before he had got on very far, he was (owing to some
Dngiisn system i rnt i 1pr \ sent t o Herat as the titular Governor with
jealousy on t e pai ) gave up the study of both languages,
rnrahf mig elcuriait the AlaLns ahl Char Aimak tribes, who
were at that time constantly plundering m the Herat Province, especially a ong
the road to Meshed.
He appears to have been successful in bringing these tribes into order and at
the same time to have made himself popular with them. Two years aftei waids
he married a daughter of Khan Agha, Jumsheedee, one of the most influential
Chiefs of the Aimaks, and exchanged turbans with several of the refractory Alaman
Chiefs Men of both tribes as well as the Heratees were willing to follow him and
it was owing to his skilful treatment of them and his cleverness generally that he
was able with their assistance to repair the losses which his father Sheie Ah had
suffered from three successive defeats, and finally made his father s army stiong
enough to effect its successful march on Candahar, which was captured owing o
his rapid advance.
In 1868 the Meerza met Yacoob at Candahar, was most kindly treated by, and
had long and apparently most unreserved conversation with, him. He was then
about 20. By his mother's side he is connected with the Afghan tribe of Lalpoora,
and is very popular with the Afghan Momunds of Jellalabad and .Lalpoora, w o
number some 40 or 50,000 families, and could produce well armed irregulars m
o-reat numbers. Yacoob, however, prefers regular troops and does not think muc i
of the irregulars. His complexion, the Meerza says, is fair, though it was tanne
from exposure when the Meerza saw him. He has an open face and is of shoi
stature. He is haughty and revengeful, but brave, liberal, and enterprising, and is
more sensible and intelligent than most princes of his country, dhe Meerza aske
him about his visit to the Shah. He said that the whole affair was accidental anc
that his father’s hope of aid was entirely from the British Government, and that bis
visit should not be understood to be a matter of double-dealing. He said he ha
given the same answer to the British ambassador at Teheran when he enquired as
to the actual cause of his visiting Meshed. Nevertheless, he keeps up a communi
cation with the Persian minister in a style of perfect friendliness, and showed the
Meerza some letters which were sent by the minister on the successful taking o
Candahar.
In his nightly talks at Candahar his conversation was chiefly in praise of
either Russians or Persians, and, whenever asked about the British, he said wit i
an offended air that instead of giving aid to his father, they had befriende