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Machine transcription
-147-
the man whom they had placed at the throne of Kabul. It has also
been said that Shahshuja himself had a hand in the events then
happening at Kandahar. But this would certainly not be the case, for
when Shahshuja heard that the revolt Kandahar at was being imputed
by some quarters to him he is related to have said that if he could
find the person who promted that lie, he would have the tongue of
such a man torn out from its roots.
As we ourselves know, and the English have mentioned in their
own writings, Vazir Yar Mohamed Khan Dawari had a great share
in opposing the combined rule of the English and Shahshuja. As
we had said in our article entitled YAR MOHAMED KHAN ALKO-
ZI, this man had done a great deal in thwarting the English designs
and those of the Persians and the Russians regarding their desire
to gain ascendency over Herat when he was a minister of Kamran
Shah, and had taken advantage of the money of the English in
order to strengthen his master's position in Herat, and yet had
not yielded to the English in giving any preferential rights in that
locality to English trade or English Politics. It was his efforts which
brough the activities of Pottinger and Stuart and Todd in Herat
to nought. Again it was he, who with the help of the Persians in
Meshad, and the movement set up by Akhtar Khan, and Akram Khan
did everything to protect the Dawar region from English penetration
and their explusion from the areas of Arghandab and the Helmand
basin. These matters are made known in one of his letters which
contains the following points:
(... Every one of you should collect your followers, and betake
yourselves to Dawar and be prepared there. I, too, will reach from
Herat for help, and from Meshad we expect to receive help in the
shape of ten thousand fighting men, and twelve guns and two lakhs
of rupees. I shall come with great speed by the end of Muhharram
at Bukwa. Be sure that none of the Durrani nobles who have been
gathered together do not disperse. I shall be coming for certain. . .)
When at that time, too, Vazir Yar Mohamed Khan, had expelled
Todd from Herat, the English had considered this action of the
Vazir as a great slight upon themselves. Macnaughton in great wrath
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.