Captain Burnes used language such as has been quoted, Lord Auckland must have felt that very little doubt could be entertained as to the reception which Sháh Shujá, if reinstated in Kábul, would meet with.
With the withdrawal of Captain Burnes from Kábul in April, 1838, the combination which Lord Auckland, in 1837, had hoped for, fell finally to the ground. He had not only failed to draw Dost Muhammad into an alliance with Great Britain, but had left him in the arms of Russia and Persia. Witkewitsch had arrived in Kábul after Captain Burnes, but remained an honoured guest when the British Agent had been compelled to leave it. The Russian Minister was pressing the siege of Herát; Russian volunteers were engaged in it. On May 6 it seemed 'scarcely within hope Herát could escape.' Major Leech, the English Agent, had been made to leave Kandahár. All India was expectant; the English Cabinet watchful. McNeill was beside himself with apprehension. The despatch of June 25 was burning the Governor-General's pocket. What had been the result of his 'immediate and most earnest attention' as to the measures to be taken 'to prevent the extension of Persian dominion in that quarter, or to raise a timely barrier against the encroachments of Russian influence'? Since that date nearly two years had passed, and the present state of affairs was infinitely more critical than any which prevailed when these instructions had been received by him. Not only had the desired barrier
