The incident is the blackest of the many discreditable
transactions which chequer the inner political history of this melancholy
chapter of our annals. It is unfortunately certain that Lieutenant John
Conolly, Macnaghten's kinsman and his confidential representative with
Shah Soojah, authorised Mohun Lal, in writing, to compass the taking off
of prominent Afghan leaders. In a letter to Mohun Lal, of 5th November,
Conolly wrote: 'I promise 10,000 rupees for the head of each rebel
chief.' Again, on the 11th, he wrote: 'There is a man called Hadji Ali,
who might be induced by a bribe to try and bring in the heads of one or
two of the Mufsids. Endeavour to let him know that 10,000 rupees will be
given for each head, or even 15,000 rupees.' Two chiefs certainly did die
under suspicious circumstances, and in each case the blood-money was
claimed. It was refused by Mohun Lal on the plea that the stipulation
that the heads of the dead Afghans should be brought in was not
fulfilled.
Whether Macnaghten inspired those nefarious machinations, whether indeed
he was actively aware of them, are questions which, in the absence of
conclusive evidence, may judiciously be left unanswered. There is extant
a letter from him to Mohun Lal, written December 1st, which has the
following passage: 'I am sorry to find from your letter of last night
that you should have supposed it was ever my object to encourage
assassination.
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