an official from Kabul has recently visited you at
Ali Masjid, and he has doubtless instructed you in accordance with
His Highness the Amir's commands. As, however, information has
now been received that you have summoned from Peshawar the Khyber
headmen with whom we were making arrangements for the safe conduct
of the British Mission through the Khyber Pass, I therefore write
to inquire from you whether, in accordance with the instructions
you have received, you are prepared to guarantee the safety of the
British Mission to Daka or not; and I request that a clear reply
to this inquiry may be speedily communicated by the hand of
the bearer of this letter, as I cannot delay my departure from
Peshawar. It is well known that the Khyber tribes are in receipt
of allowances from the Kabul Government, and also, like other
independent tribes on this frontier, have relations with the
British Government. It may be well to let you know that when the
present negotiations were opened with the Khyber tribes, it was
solely with the object of arranging with them for the safe conduct
of the British Mission through the Khyber Pass, in the same manner
as was done in regard to the despatch of our Agent, the Nawab
Ghulam Hussein Khan; and the tribes were given clearly to
understand that these negotiations were in no way intended to
prejudice their relations with His Highness the Amir, as it was
well known that the object of the British Mission was altogether
of a friendly character to His Highness the Amir and the people of
Afghanistan.

'I trust that, in accordance with the instructions you have
received from His Highness the Amir, your reply to this letter
will be satisfactory, and that it will contain the required
assurances that the Mission will be safely conducted to Daka. I
shall expect to receive your reply to this letter not later than
the 18th instant, so please understand that the matter is most
urgent.

'But at the same time, it is my duty to inform you, in a frank and
friendly manner, that if your answer is not what I trust it will
be, or if you delay to send an early reply, I shall have no
alternative but to make whatever arrangements may seem to me best
for carrying out the instructions I have received from my own
Government.']

[Footnote 5: In a letter to Lord Lytton reporting