nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47
Masson was also disgusted with the personal conduct of Burnes and
the other British officers during their time in Kabul, claiming that the Amir,
as part of his attempt to ingratiate himself with the mission, had provided
them with as many pretty women and nauch girls as they wanted. Burnes’s
many hagiographers have dismissed Masson’s allegations as coming from
an embittered man, but the sexual exploits of Burnes and his circle were
an open secret not only to the Afghan court but to their fellow officers. 56
Indeed, Burnes’s dalliance with highranking Afghan women during the
occupation of Kabul contributed significantly to his bloody death.
After returning from his archaeological expedition and with no news
of a new posting, Masson travelled to Firozpur, where an invasion force,
grandiosely named the Army of the Indus, was being assembled, but delib
erately avoided all contact with the ‘politicals’. In Masson’s view going
to war with Dost Muhammad Khan was ‘useless’ and he mischievously
claimed Auckland’s decision had been due to pressure applied to him by
‘the assaults of certain females, aidesdecamp and secretaries’. 57 For the
next eighteen months Masson concentrated on writing his memoirs. In
the summer of 1840 he was sent to Kalat, which had been sacked by the
Army of the Indus the previous year, where he faced further humiliation at
the hands of ‘politicals’. When he paid his respects to Lieutenant Loveday,
the sadistic agent in charge of the Bolan Pass, he sat on the only chair in
the room and forced Masson to squat on the floor like a native. Loveday
then studiously ignored him when he tried to point out the many blun
ders made by the Army of the Indus. Masson was even more disgusted
when he took a tour of Kalat and found that this once thriving commercial
centre was in ruins and his friends impoverished. Macnaghten’s land and
taxation reforms, designed to raise more income for Shah Shuja‘ alMulk’s
treasury, also created deep resentment and eventually led to a revolt. When
the rebels stormed Kalat, Loveday, Masson and other British officers were
taken prisoner. Masson, who lost many of his notebooks and manuscripts
during the revolt, was eventually freed and sent to negotiate a prisoner
exchange. The British political officer in Quetta, however, accused him of
unauthorized travel in a military zone and of being a Russian spy. Masson
was placed under house arrest and it was several months before he was
finally released without charge.
Unable to secure redress for his imprisonment from official sources,
Masson wrote a bitter account of his treatment in the Indian papers, claim
ing that Macnaghten was behind the persecution. Further disappointment
followed. He heard that no ‘respectable’ publisher in England was prepared
to publish his journals because they were critical of British officials and
nandana
(Nandana)
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