1 Lays siege to
2 Kandahar.
3 Dost Muhammad
4 niarches to meet him.
5 Sympathy expressed
6 for the Shah through-
7 out the country ;
8 Nevertheless, Dost
9 Muhammad is sanguine
10 of his own success.
11 The Shah’s irresolu-
12 tion.
13 And pusillanimity.
14 462 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB,
15 desiring him to send him five lakhs of rupees, ten horses, and a number of
16 camels, The Khan sent him a lakh, four horses and twenty camels,
17 Bahadur Khan Kékar, chief of Salkhaneh, near Hyderabdd, also joined him,
18 with a lakh of rupees, five horses and twenty camels. Having now reached
19 Kahdahdr at the head of several thousand fighting men, the Shah laid
20 close siege to the town. An attempt to carry the place by assault failed,
21 Dost Muhammad Khan, leaving his brother, Amir Muhammad Khan, in
22 charge of Kabul, marched to assist his brothers at Kandahdr in repelling
23 Shah Shujdé. Everything seemed now to favour the Shah’s projects,
24 He had command of a strong army and was the possessor of a large trea-
25 sure and immense military stores, purchased by himself and contributed
26 by different-reigning chiefs. He had also the sympathy and good-will of
27 the people of Kdbul. The Ghuldm Khana leaders had already declared
28 in favour of the Shah, and resolved to secure the person of Amir Muhammad
29 Khan. Gulistén Khan, the Hazdérd chief of Kard Bagh, south of Ghazni,
30 had rebelled against the authority of the Kabul Amir and boldly engaged
31 and defeated the Ghazni troops that had been sent against him. The
32 Shah was also in correspondence with Nawab Jabbar Khan, a brother of
33 the Dost, who believed that the Shah’s operations against Kandahdr were
34 not without the indirect sanction of the British Government. The influence
35 of the Nawdb secured a strong party in favour of the Shah, Nawdbs Muham-
36 mad Zamdn Khdo and Muhammad Usmdén Khan having bound themselves
37 in regard to the Shah strictly as they might be directed by Jabbar Khan,
38 The understanding between the parties was as follows:—Nawdb Jabbar
39 Khan was to get the chieftainship of the Ghilzais, of which Dost Muhammad
40 Khan had deprived him, and Nawdb Muhammad Zamdo Khan was to
41 receive Jallalabad, while Muhammad Usman Khan was to be reinstated in his
42 jagirs. So sanguine was the aged Jabbar Khan of the Shah’s victory, that,
43 at Ghazni, he entreated the Dost to permit him to repair to the Shah at Kan-
44 dahdr, in order to settle terms with him. To these entreaties of his brother
45 the insidious chief replied “Zdlé!/” (a term of affection) “ it will be time
46 enough to consider that when we are defeated.” In the meantime, he wrote a
47 letter to Shah Shujd, stating ironically that his brothers of Kandahar were
48 unscrupulous men, unfamiliar with the rules of decorum and decency to be
49 observed on the visit of His Majesty; that he, fully knowing the respect’ due
50 tv the imperial diginty, was now on his way to do honour to the ‘Asylum
51 of the Poor’ and to escort him, with due respect, to Kabul. So the
52 Dost arrived by rapid marches in the neighbourhood of Kandahdr, at the
53 head of twenty thousand horse, five thousand foot and about 18 guns,
54 The Shah had hitherto entrenched himself in a position resting upon the -
55 old town of Kandahar, built by Nadir Shah; and, had he continued in the
56 same position, no effort would have been needed on his part to effect the
57 complete ruin of his enemy. As it happened, however, the reverse was the
58 case. Rejecting the counsels of his general, Samandar Khan, and other chiefs,
59 and in spite of their warnings, he abandoned the entrenchments as soon
60 as the Kébul army arrived, falling back to the northern extremity of
61 the hill, and occupying the gardens at the base of the old town of Husain
62 Khan. This was a disastrous move, the object of the pusillanimous monarch
63 being to keep open his rear for flight; for it was well known that, what-
64 ever the chances of battle, the Shah always regarded his personal safety
65 more than victory. The following morning, Dost Muhammad Khan arrived
66 at Kandahar, and the next day his son, Muhammad Akbar Khan, came out
67 of the town with 12,000 cavalry and four guns, On the arrival of this
68 a Ou, the ara
69 si Satoh eae Sn reg me BREE SABRE Set 2