telegraphed Fortescue asking him to send a squadron of Guards Cavalry to serve this purpose. Anything larger would savour of some sort of invasion force and anything smaller would be inadequate for your safety and your rank.
In summation, my dear Fonthill, I earnestly hope that you will accept this mission. I must confess that the Amir is elderly and frail but is ruthless and as slippery as an eel. There are rumours that he has published a pamphlet describing himself as ‘King of Islam’ and is surreptitiously urging a jihad against the British.
He has denied this and I cannot therefore charge him with these acts in my letter. However, if your negotiations become difficult it would do no harm to say that evidence has emerged proving his involvement and see how he reacts.
The main thing, however, is to explain to the Amir – as discreetly as possible, without playing the bully – that if he throws in his lot with the Pathan rebels across the Border then our governments both in India and at home would have no hesitation whatever in invading Afghanistan.
If necessary, you have my permission to point out that at the time of the Mutiny we had only 16 Queen’s Line infantry battalions based in India. By the time of the Second Afghan War, in which you were involved, there were not that very
many more. Now, however, we have a total of 51 such battalions, out of 141 in the Indian army as a whole. We can, therefore, deploy considerable and highly skilled resources, if we need to.
To repeat, we do not wish to threaten. But it is vital that the Amir does not deploy some of his trained troops over the Border to give the rebels backbone. His restraint in this matter would long be remembered by the British government.
If, as I hope, you are able to accede to my request, then please take every care with your journeys to Kabul and back. You will be travelling through very dangerous territory, I fear. It goes without saying that, should you be in imminent danger of capture, then you must destroy both my letter to the Amir and please destroy this one as soon as you have digested its contents.
Please telegraph your answer to me as soon as possible.
Remember, Fonthill, your Queen-Empress and country need you at this juncture!
With warmest regards,
Yours sincerely,
Elgin
Fonthill sighed and rubbed his forehead.
‘Not bad news, I trust, sir?’ enquired Buckingham.
‘No. not exactly.’ He gave a wry grin. ‘Well, probably, I suppose. But you must excuse me, Duke, for I have another letter to read.’
‘Of course, sir. I shall retire. Call me when you need me.’
Simon unfolded the copy of the letter to the Amir and began toread. It opened with a brief description of the bearer, emphasising that he was a man with a wide experience of warfare and diplomacy (Fonthill raised an eyebrow at this latter reference) throughout the Empire and held the order of the Companionship of the Bath – a high honour bestowed by the Queen-Empress on him for his services to the realm. He had been entrusted with delivering the letter to the Amir because of the importance of its contents. The Viceroy then expanded a well-modulated argument, outlining the treacherous nature of the uprisings that had taken place at Chitral, in the Tochi Valley and at Malakand and of the role of the mullahs in fermenting jihad in the valleys.
The British army in India, he continued, was well capable of putting down the rebellion but it trusted its good friend, the Amir, not to give aid of any sort to the Pathans occupied in fighting the British Raj across the Amir’s border. Such aid could extend the conflict unduly and would, of course, bring the Afghanistan government into a state of open warfare with Great Britain, so undoing the years of amicable friendship that both sides had worked so hard to create.
It ended – to Simon’s surprise – with a reminder that the previous Viceroy had only recently supplied the Amir’s agent in Peshawar with a gift of 5,000
In summation, my dear Fonthill, I earnestly hope that you will accept this mission. I must confess that the Amir is elderly and frail but is ruthless and as slippery as an eel. There are rumours that he has published a pamphlet describing himself as ‘King of Islam’ and is surreptitiously urging a jihad against the British.
He has denied this and I cannot therefore charge him with these acts in my letter. However, if your negotiations become difficult it would do no harm to say that evidence has emerged proving his involvement and see how he reacts.
The main thing, however, is to explain to the Amir – as discreetly as possible, without playing the bully – that if he throws in his lot with the Pathan rebels across the Border then our governments both in India and at home would have no hesitation whatever in invading Afghanistan.
If necessary, you have my permission to point out that at the time of the Mutiny we had only 16 Queen’s Line infantry battalions based in India. By the time of the Second Afghan War, in which you were involved, there were not that very
many more. Now, however, we have a total of 51 such battalions, out of 141 in the Indian army as a whole. We can, therefore, deploy considerable and highly skilled resources, if we need to.
To repeat, we do not wish to threaten. But it is vital that the Amir does not deploy some of his trained troops over the Border to give the rebels backbone. His restraint in this matter would long be remembered by the British government.
If, as I hope, you are able to accede to my request, then please take every care with your journeys to Kabul and back. You will be travelling through very dangerous territory, I fear. It goes without saying that, should you be in imminent danger of capture, then you must destroy both my letter to the Amir and please destroy this one as soon as you have digested its contents.
Please telegraph your answer to me as soon as possible.
Remember, Fonthill, your Queen-Empress and country need you at this juncture!
With warmest regards,
Yours sincerely,
Elgin
Fonthill sighed and rubbed his forehead.
‘Not bad news, I trust, sir?’ enquired Buckingham.
‘No. not exactly.’ He gave a wry grin. ‘Well, probably, I suppose. But you must excuse me, Duke, for I have another letter to read.’
‘Of course, sir. I shall retire. Call me when you need me.’
Simon unfolded the copy of the letter to the Amir and began toread. It opened with a brief description of the bearer, emphasising that he was a man with a wide experience of warfare and diplomacy (Fonthill raised an eyebrow at this latter reference) throughout the Empire and held the order of the Companionship of the Bath – a high honour bestowed by the Queen-Empress on him for his services to the realm. He had been entrusted with delivering the letter to the Amir because of the importance of its contents. The Viceroy then expanded a well-modulated argument, outlining the treacherous nature of the uprisings that had taken place at Chitral, in the Tochi Valley and at Malakand and of the role of the mullahs in fermenting jihad in the valleys.
The British army in India, he continued, was well capable of putting down the rebellion but it trusted its good friend, the Amir, not to give aid of any sort to the Pathans occupied in fighting the British Raj across the Amir’s border. Such aid could extend the conflict unduly and would, of course, bring the Afghanistan government into a state of open warfare with Great Britain, so undoing the years of amicable friendship that both sides had worked so hard to create.
It ended – to Simon’s surprise – with a reminder that the previous Viceroy had only recently supplied the Amir’s agent in Peshawar with a gift of 5,000
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