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 CHAPTER V

The Eve of War

Lord Auckland's Ultimatum provoked an outburst of angry merriment in Dost Muhammad's darbár. The Amír, said one Sirdár, 'has often written to the British Government about his affairs, and they have answered him by writing about their own.' Another remarked that the Governor-General 'asked much from Dost Muhammad, but granted nothing in return.' Jabar Khán, a brother of the Amír and a well-wisher to the English, said that the latter 'appeared to value their offers at a very high rate, since they expected in return that the Afgháns would desist from all intercourse with Persia, Russia, and Turkistán.' Were the Afgháns, he asked, 'to make all those powers hostile through their adherence to the English, and receive no protection against such enmity in return?' Lord Auckland's offer to restrain the Sikh ruler from attacking the Amír was greeted with general laughter. In point of fact, said Jabar Khán, 'the Mahárájá had never sought to attack Kábul, while hitherto all the aggression had been not on his part, but on that of the Amír.'