the rebuff the
Mission had encountered, General Chamberlain wrote: 'No man was ever
more anxious than I to preserve peace and secure friendly solution,
and it was only when I plainly saw the Amir's fixed intention to drive
us into a corner that I told you we must either sink into a position
of merely obeying his behests on all points or stand on our rights
and risk rupture. Nothing could have been more distinct, nothing more
humiliating to the dignity of the British Crown and nation; and I
believe that but for the decision and tact of Cavagnari at one period
of the interview, the lives of the British officers and the Native
following were in considerable danger.']

[Footnote 6: The approximate strength of the three columns was as
follows:

_Officers._ _Men._ _Guns._

I. The Kandahar Field Force 265 12,599 78

II. The Kuram Field Force 116 6,549 18

III. The Peshawar Valley Field Force 325 15,854 48
----- ------ ---
706 35,002 144]

[Footnote 7:

'KABUL,
'_6th October, 1878._

(After compliments.) 'Your Excellency's despatch regarding the
sending of a friendly Mission has been received through Nawab
Gholam Hussein Khan; I understand its purport, but the Nawab had
not yet an audience, nor had your Excellency's letters been seen
by me when a communication was received to the address of my
servant, Mirza Habibulla Khan, from the Commissioner of Peshawar,
and was read. I am astonished and dismayed by this letter,
written threateningly to a well-intentioned friend, replete with
contentions, and yet nominally regarding a friendly Mission.
Coming thus by force, what result, or profit, or fruit, could come
of it? Following this, three other letters from above-mentioned
source, in the very same strain, addressed to my officials, have
been perused by me. Thus, during a period of a few days several
letters from that quarter have all been before me, and none
of them have been free from harsh expressions and hard words,
repugnant to courtesy and politeness, and in tone contrary to the
ways of friendship and intercourse. Looking to the fact that I
am at this time assaulted by affliction and grief at the hand of
fate, and that great trouble has possessed m