Mission entered Kabul, Stolietoff
received a despatch from General Kauffmann giving him the heads of the
Berlin Treaty, with the following commentary in the handwriting of
the Governor-General himself: 'If the news be true, it is indeed
melancholy;' adding, however, that the Congress had finished its
sittings, and that, therefore, the Envoy in his negotiations with
the Amir had better refrain from arranging any distinct measures, or
making any positive promises, and '_not go generally as far as would
have been advisable if war with England had been threatened_.'
Evidently these instructions greatly modified the basis of
Stolietoff's negotiations with Sher Ali; for, although the Russians
deny that an offensive and defensive alliance with the Afghan Ruler
was contemplated, it seems probable, from the tone of Kauffmann's
despatch, that the Envoy's instructions were elastic enough to admit
of such an arrangement had the circumstances of the case made it
desirable--_e.g._, had the Berlin Congress failed to establish peace
in Europe.

In telegraphing to the Secretary of State an account of these
proceedings at Kabul, the Viceroy requested explicit instructions from
Her Majesty's Government as to whether this conduct on the part of
Russia and Afghanistan was to be left to the Government of India to
deal with as a matter between it and the Amir, or whether, having
regard to Russia's formal promises, it would be treated as an Imperial
question. 'In the former case,' he concluded, 'I shall propose, with
your approval, to insist on an immediate suitable reception of a
British Mission.'

Lord Lytton's proposition was approved of by Her Majesty's Ministers,
and a letter[2] was at once written by the Viceroy to the Amir,
announcing that a Mission would shortly be despatched to Kabul with
General Sir Neville Chamberlain, at that time Commander-in-Chief in
Madras, as its responsible head.

Major Cavagnari was at the same time directed to inform the
authorities at Kabul that the object of the Mission was altogether
friendly, and that a refusal to grant it a free passage and safe
conduct, such as had been accorded to the Russian Envoy, would be
considered as an act of open hostility. Intimation of the Viceroy's
intentions reached Kabul on the 17th August, the day on which the
Amir's favourite son, Abdulla Jan, died. This untoward event was taken
advantage of to delay answering the Viceroy's letter, but it was not
allowed in any way