afghanistan
This was an extraordinary decision, for Macnaghten had no military or
diplomatic experience but was a former High Court judge and specialist in
Islamic and Hindu law. He was also an archetypal bureaucrat: punctilious,
officious, a stickler for protocols, and a man who enjoyed dabbling in petty
intrigues. He was not well liked by his contemporaries and many believed
he should never have been entrusted with being in effect the Governor
General’s righthand man. Macnaghten’s wife, Frances, was even more
difficult. A member of a minor AngloIrish aristocratic family, she had
gone to India by her own admission to climb the social ladder, an ambition
she achieved by the simple expedient of ‘marrying ’igher and ’igher and
’igher.’ 55 Her first husband, an officer in the Bombay Infantry, had died a
few years after their marriage; shortly after his demise Frances accepted
Macnaghten’s proposal. Following his death, she returned to England
where she married Thomas Taylour, 2nd Marquess of Headfort, in 1853.
Ambitious, haughty, arrogant, condescending and on occasion downright
offensive, she was Calcutta’s answer to Barchester’s Mrs Proudie.
Wade and Burnes were ordered to join Macnaghten’s mission to
Ranjit Singh, but Masson was not invited to join the party and remained
in Peshawar. Shortly after Burnes arrived in Kabul, Masson had tendered
his resignation but Auckland rejected his request and told Masson to stay
on and assist Burnes. Over the following six months Masson developed
a decided dislike for Burnes and his proceedings, and became increas
ingly critical of government policy. Now that Burnes’s mission had ended,
Masson once more submitted his resignation and this time it was accepted.
But though Auckland assured him his services had been appreciated,
Masson was not offered any new appointment. Released from his ‘thral
dom’, Masson headed into the Yusufzai country, where he documented
what turned out to be fourteen edicts of the Mauryan king, Ashoka
(r. 272–235 bce), carved into rock at Shahbazgarhi, near Mardan.
Masson anyway was recovering from a serious illness and years of
arduous travel and living in Afghanistan had left him exhausted and
depressed. He was also in debt and living on a pittance, for his claim for
field allowance for his time in Kabul had been rejected. His disillusion
ment with British policy had deepened to the point of cynicism as over six
months he watched from the sidelines as Burnes, Wade, Macnaghten and
Auckland combined to destroy the trust and confidence he had built up
with the Durrani court over the previous five years. His sense of grievance
was exacerbated by having been ordered to leave the country he loved,
while many of his Afghan friends no longer wanted to associate with him
for fear of reprisals.
nandana
(Nandana)
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