DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0289
CHAP. V.
CHIEF OF CABOOL.
273
expedition of Nadir Shah, we are to remember
that he was accompanied by many Afghan chiefs,
whom he had advanced to favour, and who largely
participated in his spoils.
The political state of Cabool, as a kingdom, be-
comes at all times an object of the deepest import-
ance to India, from the many changes which
constantly take place in that country. Of its four
chiefships, one is subject to the Punjab, and another
to Persia. The chief of Cabool himself is a man of
enlightened views, and may secure a thorough
supremacy over the country, on the death of Bun-
jeet Sing. It would not be difficult for him to
subdue Peshawur, and he might then seize the
provinces on the Indus, and very probably Cash-
mere. He is a man favourably disposed towards the
British, as indeed are the whole chiefs of the king-
dom. They were not in power when the British
mission entered the country in 1809, but our repu-
tation was then established, and the good opinion
of all parties has been acquired by our immediate
withdrawal afterwards. That circumstance, it is
true, was unavoidable ; but it has left impressions
most favourable to our disinterestedness. In Cabool,
therefore, it would not be difficult to form a con-
nexion ; and the chief is certainly worthy of
notice, since his country lies on the great road by
which, the manufactures of Britain are imported,
and which have of late been considerably increased
by his equity and justice. It would require no
great expenditure of the public funds to conciliate
this chief, and it is to be remembered that he is
VOL. III. T
CHIEF OF CABOOL.
273
expedition of Nadir Shah, we are to remember
that he was accompanied by many Afghan chiefs,
whom he had advanced to favour, and who largely
participated in his spoils.
The political state of Cabool, as a kingdom, be-
comes at all times an object of the deepest import-
ance to India, from the many changes which
constantly take place in that country. Of its four
chiefships, one is subject to the Punjab, and another
to Persia. The chief of Cabool himself is a man of
enlightened views, and may secure a thorough
supremacy over the country, on the death of Bun-
jeet Sing. It would not be difficult for him to
subdue Peshawur, and he might then seize the
provinces on the Indus, and very probably Cash-
mere. He is a man favourably disposed towards the
British, as indeed are the whole chiefs of the king-
dom. They were not in power when the British
mission entered the country in 1809, but our repu-
tation was then established, and the good opinion
of all parties has been acquired by our immediate
withdrawal afterwards. That circumstance, it is
true, was unavoidable ; but it has left impressions
most favourable to our disinterestedness. In Cabool,
therefore, it would not be difficult to form a con-
nexion ; and the chief is certainly worthy of
notice, since his country lies on the great road by
which, the manufactures of Britain are imported,
and which have of late been considerably increased
by his equity and justice. It would require no
great expenditure of the public funds to conciliate
this chief, and it is to be remembered that he is
VOL. III. T