NARRATIVE OF VARIOUS JOURNEYS IN BALOCHISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, AND THE PANJAB 1826-1838 by Charles Masson
Volume 3 [148 of 332]
CHAPTER IX [11 of 11]
Everything at this particular crisis conspired to favour the designs of the Sīkhs; and the plots devised by the chiefs of Peshāwer to effect the ruin of Dost Māhomed Khān immediately involved their own; and their fate affords an example of evil falling upon those who imagine it. The promptitude of their Kābal brother in the capture of Jelālabād, had broken up the confederacy against him, and they now, in turn, began to be apprehensive lest he should attack them; and in truth they were at his mercy; but while he could easily have expelled them, and have overrun their country, he might not have been competent to have retained it at this time. Their fears, however, induced them to apply to the Sīkhs for assistance, who readily promised it on certain considerations, and Harī Singh gladly crossed the Atak river, which, if they had not played into his game, he might not have done, but would have been content to have watched the course of events in the country east of it. The arrival of Hājī Khān, also in conformity to their plans for the destruction of Dost Māhomed Khān, in which he was intended to have been a main instrument, proved seriously detrimental to the sirdārs. Disappointed in his projects as to Dost Māhomed Khān, but anxious to evince his capability in his character of nāib, he proposed a variety of innovations: amongst them, to reform the army, and to dismiss all the shīas, or infidels. These men, the remnants of the old Ghūlam Khāna of Peshāwer, were yet powerful, if not a very numerous body, and growing incensed at the propositions of Hājī Khān, and fearing the effects of his ascendancy, at once opened a communication with the Sīkhs, as did many others, not shīas, but who could not feel confidence in Hājī Khān. The principal Hindū dīwāns of the country were also in correspondence with Harī Singh; and had he not been furnished with positive orders or discretionary powers, the opportunity was so tempting that he would scarcely have been warranted, in Sīkh policy, to have foregone it. After he had procured from the sirdārs beyond the ordinary complement of tribute, he sent a message to them, that the Shāhzāda Noli Nīhāl Singh, the grandson of Ranjit Singh, who was with the army, desired to see the city, and it would be well that they should evacuate it, and retire to Bāgh Alī Mirdān Khān, when the shāhzāda would ride round it, and then the army would retire towards the Atak. The morning came, when Sultan Māhomed Khān, who had always his spy-glass in hand, descried the Sīkh force in motion. All became panic-struck, and horses were saddled and mounted in a trice. The house was emptied as if by magic, and none remained in it but Abdūl Ghīās Khān, his party, and myself. We ascended the roof, and beheld the Sīkhs moving forward in very respectable style. In the van was the young shāhzāda on an elephant, with Harī Singh and a variety of Sīkh chiefs, attended by a host of cavalry. Behind them followed the battalions of M. Court, advancing in columns at a brisk pace. On reaching the gardens attached to the house we were in the first shots were fired, some Afghāns being concealed among the trees. They were soon cleared out, and the march of the force was not affected by the desultory opposition. Subsequently we heard some smart firing, and learned during the day that the Sīkhs, pressing too close upon Hājī Khān, who covered the retreat of Sūltān Māhomed Khān, the khān lost patience and turned upon them. He handled them severely, and, as admitted by themselves, checked their advance until the battalions came up. Khān Māhomed Khān, the brother of Hājj Khān, was badly wounded in this skirmish, but was borne off the field. Some very splendid instances of individual bravery were exhibited by the Afghāns, and one gallant fellow cut down six of his opponents. The Sīkhs, having completed the circuit of the city, encamped under the Bālla Hissār to the east: the discomfited sirdārs retired to Tākkāl, and then to Shēkhān, at the skirts of the hills. My mīrza in the course of the day went to the Sīkh camp, where he saw Hari Singh, who asked where l had been during the tamāsha, or sport, he replied, that l had witnessed it from the roof. He then asked, jocularly, where the sirdārs had gone. The mīrza said to Tākkāl, to prepare for battle. The sirdār laughed and said, No, no; nasghēr, nasghēr; they have run away, they have run away; some to Kohāt, some to Khaibar. I certainly was amused at the almost ridiculous manner in which the Sīkhs had made themselves master of an important and productive country, and Sultān Māhomed Khān was as much to be laughed at as to be pitied, for in place of adopting any means of defence he had sent away the better part of his troops, and prohibited the citizens and people of the country from defending the city, as they wished. Pīr Māhomed Khān was accustomed to say, that he had three lākhs of rupees, and did not care who knew it; that he had reserved them fur such a crisis as this; that he would assemble the Ghāzīs, and do many wonderful things. Hājī Khān would, when such valorous speeches were made, embrace the sirdār, saying he must kiss the lips from which such words flowed. Pīr Māhomed Khān, however, thought it better to keep his three lākhs of rupees, and hastened to Kohāt to collect what he could from the inhabitants, previously to his departure ultimately from the country. The force with Harī Singh did not exceed nine thousand men; and had a show of serious resistance been made he would at least have been obliged to temporize; also, had the city, although an open one, been put in a condition for defence, and the system of kūcha bandī adopted, he was scarcely competent to have forced it. As it was, with a small force he possessed himself of a country which, some years before, Ranjit Singh in person, with twenty-five thousand men, did not venture to retain. True it is, that since that period the spirit of the Māhomedans had become dejected by repeated defeats, and that there was, as there universally is, treachery in the Dūrānī camps and councils. Abdūl Ghīās Khān had visited the Shāhzāda Noh Nīhāl Singh, and the arrangements for his departure for Lūdīāna had been fixed; I therefore did not see the occasion for my accompanying him, as his forward journey would be safe and easy. His uncles of Peshāwer were very averse to his intended sojourn in India, and might possibly have taken upon themselves to have detained him, considering its object a political one. They reasoned, that the nawāb, his father, and not themselves, would benefit by it. They had, however, given me their hands, and pledged themselves to permit him to proceed, and their abrupt departure, at any rate, deprived them of an opportunity of violating their promises, while Abdūl Ghīās Khān became free to follow up his father’s instructions.