“I am very glad to meet you here to-day, especially those who through the good offices of the Mustaufi have been induced to come into Cabul to make their wishes known to me. I trust this Durbar is the beginning of the end, and that it will now be possible for us to enter into such an arrangement with the people of Afghanistan as will ensure an honourable peace and lasting friendship between them and the British. Some of you, I understand, hesitated to accompany the Mustaufi, fearing your treatment and reception by us might not be such as we had promised you, and that some evil might befall you. You need never have any such fear when your safety has been assured on the word of a British officer. The British do not say one thing and mean another. You who have come in have been honourably treated, and after this Durbar you are all at liberty to depart. I trust, when you leave Cabul, you will carry away with you a more friendly feeling towards us than some of you hitherto entertained; and that those of your party who are still holding aloof will be wise enough to follow the good example you have set them, and will accept our invitation to come into Cabul. Mr. Lepel Griffin, Chief Political Officer in North and Eastern Afghanistan, with whom you have already become acquainted, will now, on the part of the Government of India, answer the request you have made.”
This speech having been translated into Persian, Mr. Lepel Griffin addressed the chiefs. His speech, delivered in Persian, was to the following effect:—
“It has been my wish, for some time past, to meet you all in Durbar, and to explain to you collectively and publicly, as I have already done privately, the intentions of the British Government with regard to the settlement of Afghanistan. This is a favourable opportunity, when replies have been given to the request of certain chiefs and _maliks_ in the neighbourhood of Ghazni who have been long hostile, but who have, at last, listened to the advice of the Mustaufi whom Sir Frederick Roberts sent to reassure them, and have deputed many of their number to place their requests respectfully before the Government. It is to be regretted that the more important of the leaders have not come in person. When the Government promised them a safe-conduct, there was no reason for even those who had been most opposed to it, to fear for their lives, or their liberty. The British Government bears no ill-will to those who have fought fairly against it, and those of the representatives who have come to Cabul are free to leave when they wish; during their stay they will be treated as friends and guests. But those chiefs who have remained behind at Maidan, must not think their signatures on the paper of requests will be considered as equivalent to their presence; the more so as we know that the reason why some of them have not come is that they have secretly abandoned the cause they profess to support, and have made promises to others. When you return to Maidan, ask Generals Gholam Hyder and Mahomed Jan when they are going to desert you.