' His hatred of Shere Ali, his family, and
supporters, was intelligible and natural enough, but why he should have
entertained a bitter grudge against the English is not very apparent; and
there has been no overt manifestation of its existence since he became
Ameer. To Mr Eugene Schuyler, who had an interview with him at Tashkend,
he expressed his conviction that with L50,000 wherewith to raise and
equip an army he could attain his legitimate position as Ameer of
Afghanistan. Resolutely bent on an effort to accomplish this purpose, he
was living penuriously and saving the greater part of his pension, and he
hinted that he might have Russian assistance in the prosecution of his
endeavour. The selection of a man of such antecedents and associations as
the ruler of a 'buffer' state in friendly relations with British India
was perhaps the greatest leap in the dark on record. Abdurrahman came
straight from the position of a Russian pensionary; in moving on
Afghanistan he obeyed Russian instructions; his Tashkend patrons had
furnished him with a modest equipment of arms and money, the value of
which he undertook to repay if successful. It is of course possible that
those functionaries of a notoriously simple and ingenuous government
started and equipped him in pure friendly good nature, although they had
previously consistently deterred him.
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