e 329: See Appendix; also Lord Hartington's speeches in the
House of Commons, March 25-6, 1881]

It remained to be seen whether Abdur Rahman could win Candahar and
Herat, and, having won them, keep them. At first Fortune smiled on his
rival, Ayub. That pretender sent a force from Herat southwards against
the Ameer's troops, defeated them, and took Candahar (July 1881). But
Abdur Rahman had learnt to scorn the shifts of the fickle goddess. With
a large force he marched to that city, bought over a part of Ayub's
following, and then utterly defeated the remainder. This defeat was the
end of Ayub's career. Flying back to Herat, he found it in the hands of
the Ameer's supporters, and was fain to seek refuge in Persia. Both of
these successes seem to have been due to the subsidies which the new
Ameer drew from India[330].

[Footnote 330: Abdur Rahman's own account (_op. cit._ ch. ix.) ascribes
his triumph to his own skill and to Ayub's cowardice.]

We may here refer to the last scene in which Ayub played a part before
Englishmen. Foiled of his hopes in Persia, he finally retired to India.
At a later day he appeared as a pensioner on the bounty of that
Government at a review held at Rawal Pindi in the Punjab in honour of
the visit of H.R.H. Prince Victor. The Prince, on being informed of his
presence, rode up to his carriage and saluted the fallen Sirdar. The
incident profoundly touched the Afghans who were present. One of them
said: "It was a noble act. It shows that you English are worthy to be
the rulers of this land[331]."

[Footnote 331: _Eighteen Years in the Khyber Pass (1879-1898)_, by
Colonel Sir R. Warburton, p. 213. The author's father had married a
niece of the Ameer Dost Mohammed.]

The Afghans were accustomed to see the conquered crushed and scorned by
the conqueror. Hence they did not resent the truculent methods resorted
to by Abdur Rahman in the consolidation of his power. In his relentless
grip the Afghan tribes soon acquired something of stability. Certainly
Lord Lytton never made a wiser choice than that of Abdur Rahman for the
Ameership; and, strange to say, that choice obviated the evils which the
Viceroy predicted as certain to accrue from the British withdrawal from
Candahar[332]. Contrasting the action of Great Britain towards himself
with that of Russia towards Shere Ali in his closing days, the new Ameer
could scarcely waver in his choice of an alliance. And while he held the
Indian Government a