Machine transcription
the faces of those in the streets indicated
plainly that they had no sympathy for him.
He was obliged to call a meeting in which
he fully explained to his audience the causes
that had brought about the revolution. He
admitted that he had committed blunders,
and that in order to put an end to the
bloody civil war, caused by his rash and
misguided steps and owing to the general
hatred of the people for himself and his
regime, he was obliged to abdicate in favour
of his elder brother, Inayatullah Khan. In
the end, he asked them to co-operate with
the Kabul Government in establishing peace
and to send in their allegiance to Inayatullah
Khan. The audience did not promise any-
thing. Some of them rebuked him for his
unwise steps, others were bold enough to tell
him to his face that they could not help him in
any way and that he should seek assistance
from his ignorant and treacherous courtiers,
who were the real cause of this national catas-
trophe. In fact, they were not prepared
to accept Inayatullah Khan or any member
of his family as their king. Nor did they
hold any brief for the Bacha, whom they
knew to be a low-born illiterate person with
60
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.
