repeatedly, and in vain, to recover his throne, whose whole life had
been a tissue of misfortunes and feeblenesses, and who now lived on
the charity of the Company in their own territory. The obvious policy
was to secure the independence of Afghanistan and aid her resources.
How to do this? To embrace the proffered alliance of Dost Mahomed, or
force Shah Soojah upon the country, and prepare for the reception of
the Persians and Russians, by kindling a civil war? The latter was the
course determined on! A league was formed, known in the history of our
time as the Tripartite Treaty--including Runjeet Singh, Shah Soojah,
and the British government. By this document, it was agreed that
certain large portions of the Afghan territory, including Peshawur,
should belong for ever to Runjeet Singh; that the maharajah should
likewise possess the passes both of the Sutlej and the Indus, with
power to bar the way at his pleasure; that the Afghans and Sikhs
should mutually exchange military assistance when required; and that
the friends and enemies of any of the three high contracting parties
should be the friends and enemies of all.

There was not a word in this treaty, it will be seen, of a British war
in Afghanistan; but the Indian government soon came to enlarge its
views, and instead of merely patting Shah Soojah on the back, and
setting him upon his countrymen, it determined to take the field in
such force as would instantaneously settle the whole affair. The
celebrated Simlah manifesto was accordingly drawn up, in which the
governor-general gave 'his most exquisite reasons,' unpolitely
stigmatised by a great portion of the Indian press as a tissue of
falsehoods. With this, however, we have nothing to do; _our_ business
is with the fact, that before this proclamation had obtained general
currency, information had been received that the siege of Herat was
raised, and the Persian army on its retreat. This was awkward. The