having come from the pockets of the people. 'My father was
_Padishah_,' he said; 'there was no distinction between public and
private money. However,' he went on, 'I have given up the crown, and I
am not going to dispute about rupees. You may take all I have, down to
my clothes; but the money was my father's, and is mine by right.'

I replied that it was necessary that all money in his possession
should be given up, but that his private effects should not be
touched; that he would be given a receipt for the money, and that, if
the Government of India decided it to be his personal property, it
should be returned to him.

This Yakub Khan at first declined to accept, with some show of temper.
Eventually he came round, and said, 'Yes, give me a receipt, so that
no one may say hereafter that I carried off State money to which I
had no right. It can be easily made sure that I have no money when I
go.'[7]

Spite of all his shortcomings, I could not help feeling sorry for the
self-deposed Ruler, and before leaving him I explained that he would
be treated with the same consideration that had always been accorded
to him, that Nawab Sir Ghulam Hussein Khan[8] should have a tent next
to his, and that it should be the Nawab's care to look after his
comfort in every way, and that I should be glad to see him whenever he
wished for an interview. That same day, under instructions, I issued
the following further manifesto:

'In my Proclamation of yesterday I announced that His Highness the
Amir had of his own free will abdicated, and that for the present
the government of Afghanistan would be carried on under my
supervision. I now proclaim that, in order to provide for the cost
of administration, I have taken possession of the State treasury,
and that, until the British Government shall declare its will
as to the permanent arrangements to be made for the future good
government of the country, the collection of revenue and the
expenditure of public money will be regulated by me. All persons
concerned are hereby informed that they must obey without dispute
or delay such orders as may be issued by me in regard to the
payment of taxes and other connected matters; and I give plain
warning that anyone resisting or obstructing the execution of such
orders will be treated with the utmost severity as an enemy to the
British Government.'

[Footnote 1: In Pushtu the word _tarbur_ s