nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47contemporaries, while his archaeological explorations were groundbreak
ing. Masson almost singlehandedly discovered and documented the
virtually unknown Gandharan Buddhist civilization, transcribed dozens
of ancient inscriptions, drew detailed sketches of a host of major monu
ments, including the Bamiyan Buddhas, and accumulated a vast collection
of ancient coins, which have only just been catalogued in full by the British
Museum. Today his pioneering work has rightly earned Masson the title
of Father of Afghan Archaeology.
The Tripartite Treaty and the Simla DeclarationWhile Masson took no part in the military preparations against Dost
Muhammad Khan, Burnes saw the invitation to join Macnaghten’s mission
to Ranjit Singh as a sign that he was not to be punished for his actions
in Kabul. Despite admitting privately that he ‘differed entirely with the
Governor General’ over Afghanistan, and even privately accused Auckland
of ‘mismanagement’ of the mission, 58 Burnes endorsed the decision to place
Shah Shuja‘ on throne when it was clear his advocacy for Dost Muhammad
Khan was no longer politically acceptable. His political rehabilitation raised
Burnes’s expectations that the forthcoming military campaign would lead
to his appointment as envoy in Kabul. He was to ‘be chief ’, he boasted in
a private letter to his brother, ‘it is “aut Caesar aut nullus” (either Caesar
or nothing), and if I get not what I have a right to, you will soon see me
en route to England’. 59
Burnes, however, had misjudged his own importance. In July 1838
Auckland informed him that Macnaghten was to be the envoy, yet Burnes
did not carry out his threat to leave India and accepted the subordinate post
of political officer after receiving a vague promise that he would succeed
Macnaghten. Burnes’s consolation was that Auckland informed him that
London had endorsed his decision to offer assistance to the Kandahar
sardars: ‘The Home Government has pronounced me right and His
Lordship wrong’, he wrote exultantly, ‘this is the greatest hit I have made
in my life.’ This was not all: Auckland’s letter was addressed to Lieutenant
Colonel Sir Alexander Burnes, Kt – Burnes had not only been promoted,
he had been knighted as well. Wade, too, became Sir Claude Wade and
the following year Macnaghten received his knighthood. Such were the
rewards of failure. Needless to say there was no such honour bestowed
on Masson.
Macnaghten’s mission to Ranjit Singh was designed to formulate a
plan for the invasion of Afghanistan, an invasion that Auckland hoped