DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34827#0390
374 Zz/g' 4/ cn. xix.
toCandahar (as we hear is intended), and can feed them, I
have no doubt you will take Candahar and Caubul, and set up
Soojah; but for maintaining him in a poor, cold, strong, and
remote country, among a turbulent people like the Affghans, I
own it seems to me to be hopeless. If you succeed, I fear you
will weaken the position against Russia. The Affghans were
neutral, and would have received your aid against invaders with
gratitude: they will now be disaffected, and glad to join any
invader to drive you cut. I never knew a close alliance
between a civilised and an uncivilised state that did not end
in mutual hatred in three years. If the restraint of a close
connection with us were not enough to make us unpopular, the
connection with Runjeet, and our guarantee of his conquests,
must make us detested. These opinions, formed at a distance,
may seem absurd on the spot; but I still retain them, notwith-
standing all I have yet heard/
I may add, as a sequel to this, the opinion he expressed to
his friend Metcalfe on the conquest of Sind. I quote from a
letter that was published in Kaye's Life. 'I do not know if
you have time to think of India. Sind was a sad scene of
insolence and oppression. Coming after Affghanistan, it put
one in mind of a bully who had been kicked in the streets, and
went home to beat his wife in revenge. It was not so much
Lord Ellenborough's act, however, as his General's. Gwalior, as
far as we know (for our acquaintance with the origin of the
dispute is very imperfect), seems a compensation for our mis-
conduct in Sind. We seem to have interfered with propriety,
fought a battle that reminds one of old times, and used our
victory with moderation. The heavy loss must have all been
from the guns, for I see Sindia's once celebrated infantry now
hght with tulwars, like the barbarians of Meeanee.' ^
The only recorded opinion, written during these events,
that I find among his papers is a memorandum on the case of
his relative, General Elphinstone, in reply to the strictures on
his conduct in Lieutenant Eyre's narrative of the events which
ended in the destruction of the British force. The memo-
s Zuas i. 301.
toCandahar (as we hear is intended), and can feed them, I
have no doubt you will take Candahar and Caubul, and set up
Soojah; but for maintaining him in a poor, cold, strong, and
remote country, among a turbulent people like the Affghans, I
own it seems to me to be hopeless. If you succeed, I fear you
will weaken the position against Russia. The Affghans were
neutral, and would have received your aid against invaders with
gratitude: they will now be disaffected, and glad to join any
invader to drive you cut. I never knew a close alliance
between a civilised and an uncivilised state that did not end
in mutual hatred in three years. If the restraint of a close
connection with us were not enough to make us unpopular, the
connection with Runjeet, and our guarantee of his conquests,
must make us detested. These opinions, formed at a distance,
may seem absurd on the spot; but I still retain them, notwith-
standing all I have yet heard/
I may add, as a sequel to this, the opinion he expressed to
his friend Metcalfe on the conquest of Sind. I quote from a
letter that was published in Kaye's Life. 'I do not know if
you have time to think of India. Sind was a sad scene of
insolence and oppression. Coming after Affghanistan, it put
one in mind of a bully who had been kicked in the streets, and
went home to beat his wife in revenge. It was not so much
Lord Ellenborough's act, however, as his General's. Gwalior, as
far as we know (for our acquaintance with the origin of the
dispute is very imperfect), seems a compensation for our mis-
conduct in Sind. We seem to have interfered with propriety,
fought a battle that reminds one of old times, and used our
victory with moderation. The heavy loss must have all been
from the guns, for I see Sindia's once celebrated infantry now
hght with tulwars, like the barbarians of Meeanee.' ^
The only recorded opinion, written during these events,
that I find among his papers is a memorandum on the case of
his relative, General Elphinstone, in reply to the strictures on
his conduct in Lieutenant Eyre's narrative of the events which
ended in the destruction of the British force. The memo-
s Zuas i. 301.