THE AFFGHAN WAR. (Hansard, 3 March 1843)

§ Lord Palmerston
said, I wish to ask House to do that is irregular, but as to say relates to a matter of personal feeling and personal character, I persuade myself that the House, with its usual indulgence, will permit me to offer a very few observations. 1 see the hon. and learned Member for Bath (Mr. Roebuck) in his place. What I am about to state is in the way of explanation connected with circumstances to which that hon. and learned Member adverted at the close of his reply on Wednesday evening. The hon. and learned Member has been made aware of my intention to make this statement. The hon. and learned Member, in his reply the other evening, charged, no doubt, from misapprehension, the late Governor-general of India with having made, in his proclamation dated from Simla, 1st October, 1838, a false statement. That false statement I understood him to say was to be found in the assertion that Shah Soojah had entered the Affghan territories surrounded by his own troops; and the hon. and learned Member rested his denial of the accuracy of that assumed statement upon the ground of a letter which he quoted from Colonel Dennie, written at a much later period, in which the colonel said that the troops under his command, as Shah Soojah's guard, were not Affghans, but troops raised in Hindostan. Now, in the first place, the hon. and learned Member mistook the passage which he quoted from the proclamation dated at Simla, the 1st October, 1838. The passage was not an assertion as to anything that had 252 then happened, but was the declaration of an intention with regard to the future—a statement in anticipation of what would happen. This was the passage: His Majesty Shah Soojah-ool-Moolk will enter Affghanistan, surrounded by his own troops, and will be supported against foreign interference and factious opposition by a British army. It will be seen that the whole of this passage has reference to the future, not to the past; and even if the anticipations thus expressed in the proclamation had not been fulfilled—if,when Shah Soojah entered Affghanistan, nearly six months after the date of the proclamation, the course of events had altered the arrangements connected with his entrance into his kingdom—I am sure the House will see that that would be no impeachment of the veracity of the Governor-general. It would only have shown that an arrangement intended and contemplated in October, 1838, was not executed in May, 1839, in a manner conformable with the Governor-general's previous intentions. Therefore,even upon this assumption, there is no ground whatever for the charge of falsification which was thrown out by the hon. and learned Member the other evening. But it so happened that the facts as they occurred were in no degree inconsistent with the intentions so expressed, but,on the contrary,completely tallied with them. Shah Soojah, before he entered the Affghan territory, raised five regiments of Hindostanees to form his force, and when he came to Shikarpore, he was met by a great number of Affghans residing in and about that neighbourhood, who tendered their services to him. It was quite clear that he was not likely to raise an Affghan force in Hindostan, and that he could not expect any great number of Affghans to enter his service until he came to the country where the Affghans lived. He found a certain number of them about Shikarpore, and as many were engaged in his service as it was convenient to enlist at a moment when provisions were scarce, the means of transport not abundant, and when it was not thought useful or desirable much to increase the number of persons about him. But when Shah Soojah arrived at the Khojak-pass, and when that pass had been forced, a large number of Afghans, who had been in the service of the Ameers of Candahar, came over to Shah Soojah, and 253 enlisted under his banner. Shah Soojah entered Candahar, accompanied by his own troops, consisting partly of the Hindostanee force, which I have mentioned, and partly of Affghans, a day before the British troops entered, accompanied, however, as a mark of respect and as an indication of British protection, by a certain number of British officers. The force with which he entered Candahar was, strictly speaking, his own; consisting, as I have said, partly of Hindoos, partly of Affghans; and the manner of his reception is mentioned in a general order from the officer commanding our troops. Sir John Keane in a general order, dated "Head Quarters, Camp Candahar, 4th May, 1839," says— His Excellency shares in the satisfaction, which the troops must feel, at knowing the enthusiasm with which the population of Candahar have received and welcomed the return of their lawful sovereign, Shah Soojah-ool-Moolk to the throne of his ancestors in Affghanistan. There was also a letter addressed by Sir Alexander Burnes to Lord Auckland, which appeared in the papers at the time, expressing in very glowing terms the enthusiastic reception which Shah Soojah had met with from the population and chiefs of Candahar. I stated the other evening that which also appears from the despatch of Sir John Keane, with respect to Shah Soojahs entrance into Cabul. Sir John Keane, writing from Head-Quarters, Camp Cabul, Aug. 8, 1839, says:— It appears that a great part of his army," that is, of Dost Mahomed's army,"which was hourly becoming disorganized refused to stand by him in position to receive our attack, and soon became in a state of dissolution. The great bulk immediately came over to Shah Soojah, tendering their allegiance; and I believe his Majesty will take most of them into his pay. I contend, therefore, that the proclamation, dated Simla, October 1st, 1838, being prospective, and the entrance of Shah Soojah into Afghanistan not having taken place until six months afterwards, namely, in May, 1839, even if there bad been the discrepancy which the hon. and learned Member believed there was between the anticipation and the event, it would afford no ground whatever for the charge which the hon. and learned Member has levelled against Lord Auckland. But I have shown, from the statement I have made, and the extracts I have 254 read, that the event turned out precisely as it had been anticipated; and that Shah Soojah, if he did not pass the frontier of Affghanistan accompanied by an Affghan force, did, in fact, enter Candahar, the first capital of his kingdom, at tended by a large body of Affghan troops, and that he was joined by a still larger body before he entered the second capital of his country, Cabul.

§ Mr. Roebuck
said: It is clear to me, from the defence made by the noble Lord, that he and I entertain very different feelings respecting the obligations of truth upon the governors of mankind. Truth, invincible in its naked simplicity, needs no diplomatic defence; and I shall be able to show the noble Lord himself that if he has kept "the word of promise'' even "to the ear," he cannot have satisfied the understanding of the House nor his own. The noble Lord read but a part of the passage to which I alluded in the proclamation of the 1st October, 1838. I will read the whole. It runs thus:— His Majesty Shah Soojah-ool-Moolk will enter Affghanistan surrounded by his own troops, and will be supported against foreign interference and factious opposition by a British army. The Governor-general confidently hopes that the Shah will be speedily replaced on his throne by his own subjects and adherents; and when once he shall be secured in power, and the independence and integrity of Affghanistan established, the British army will be withdrawn. Now my charge against this state paper was, that it was drawn up for the purpose of delusion; that the Governor-general knew full well that Shah Soojah would enter Affghanistan not surrounded by his own troops, but would depend upon the arms of England for forcing him upon the people of his country. Further, I say he did not enter Affghanistan surrounded by his own troops. Now comes the diplomatic defence. "The proclamation," says the noble Lord, "was dated the 1st of October, 1838; six months afterwards, Soojah arrived at Shikarpore, and it was then that the Affghans surrounded him." Now "Shikarpore, 9th of March, 1839," is the date of a letter written by Colonel Dennie, and addressed to Lieutenant-colonel Macdonald, the military secretary to the Governor-general. This letter, there fore, may be regarded almost as an official communication. I am about to read it. It is as follows:— 255 Shikarpore, 9th of March, 1839.—My dear Sir—I have endeavoured, to the best of my ability, to give every effect to the commander-in-chief's instructions. I will not disguise that it has been a painful duty, but I trust not the less conscientiously and zealously performed. I cannot but lament, in common, I have no doubt, with his excellency and the members of his whole force, that two regular and disciplined armies brought together from so great a distance, and at so much difficulty and cost, should, at the very moment of united action, be thus maimed and dismembered, merely for the purpose of keeping together a mass of raw levies, like the Shah's contingent, whose carriage and supplies would suffice for the Bengal or Bombay divisions, and who would again be much better employed if left here for formation and instruction; whereas, in their present state, they must prove worse than worthless in advance. Can this be done in the vain hope of giving plausibility to the fiction of the ' Shah entering his dominions surrounded by his own troops?' when the fact is too notorious to escape detection and exposure, that he has not a single subject or Affghan amongst them! his army being composed of camp followers from the company's military stations. This is conclusive; but one word more. Writing from Shikarpore, on the 9th of March, 1839, Colonel Dennie says that Shah Soojah has not a single subject or Affghan amongst his contingent. What did I say the other evening? I said that the Governor-general had stated that Shah Soojah was about to enter Affghanistan surrounded by his own troops. [" No, no"]. Did I not say that? Have I not read the Governor-general's words? "Will enter Affghanistan surrounded by his own troops!" Are not those the very words of the proclamation? What, then, is the meaning of the interruption, with which my statement is received. Well, Shikar pore was the place mentioned by the noble Lord as that at which Shah Soojah first met with any of the Affghans. In reply to that statement of the noble Lord's, I quote an official letter from Colonel Dennie, dated Shikarpore, and saying that Shah Soojah had not a single Affghan amongst his troops. I must now be allowed to put a question to the noble Lord. Was not Shah Soojah's army officered by British officers? Was it not paid by the money of the East India Company? And was not that the meaning of the phrase in the proclamation, ' that he was called to the throne by the voice of his country men?" That was the meaning of the phrase, and what I said the other evening; 256 and what I still maintain is, that that is a statement not in accordance with the truth, and therefore that it ought not to have entered the proclamation made by a man who represented the great and honest community of this country. I say it was a false pretence; and I want to have that assertion disproved. I am not accusing Lord Auckland of being in his own private capacity wrong; but I accuse the system of politics—the system of political morality which allows a public man, in a public document of this sort, to put his hand to that which as a private man he would be ashamed to acknowledge. I claim for the public that kind of morality which we all acknowledge and follow in private, and I say that in private the passage from the proclamation to which I have referred will be stamped with the designation which I have given to it—namely, that it was a false declaration, holding out false pretences, and was unworthy the representative of this great people. That was my charge—a charge not in the slightest degree answered by the noble Lord, not in the slightest degree quarrelled with for its truth; and I say that I am justified when I stand up for the observance of that high and pure morality in public affairs which my countrymen are accustomed to adhere to in their own private relations.

§ Lord Palmerston
As the hon. and learned Member has put a question to me, perhaps the House will allow me to answer it. The hon. and learned Member asks whether the native troops, which accompanied Shah Soojah into Affghanistan, were not officered by British officers, and paid by the East India Company? Officered by British officers, undoubtedly they were; else Shah Soojah could not, in so short a space of time, have brought them into a state of discipline. They were paid by Shah Soojah. [Mr. Roebuck. Oh.] I am not going to make a quibble. I say that the money came from Shah Soojah's treasury, and that the troops owed allegiance to him; but I know perfectly well, and do not pretend to conceal it from the House, that the means, the resources, from which Shah Soojah was enabled, at that time, to pay any troops at all, consisted of supplies furnished as a subsidy from the East India Company. The British Government in India avowedly supported Shah Soojah, not only by pecuniary means, but by the aid and protection of a British army, as the Governor-general said, to defend 257 him not merely against foreign interference, but against factious opposition at home. I think the hon. and learned Gentleman seemed to misunderstand what I said about Shikarpore. What I said was, that until Shah Soojah arrived at Shikarpore, it was impossible that be could raise any Affghan troops, and that it was not possible for him to raise any great number of such troops until he had got into Affghanistan itself, but that at Shikar pore he was joined by some chiefs and others, who were in the neighbourhood of the place; and, notwithstanding the pas sage which the hon. and learned Gentle man has read from Colonel Dennie's letter, I repeat and affirm that assertion, speaking as I do from information derived from a quarter which I cannot doubt.