fect, a vassal of Persia. The Barukzye brothers were
left to dispose of his dominions at pleasure, and they determined on
recalling Shoojah to the throne, who after many perilous adventures had
fallen into the hands of Runjeet Sing at Lahore. Shoojah escaped from
Lahore; but the Barukzye brothers having taken offence at his arrogant
treatment of one of their friends, transferred their support to his
brother, Gyooh: the trappings of royalty were given to him, while
they retained to themselves the power and revenues of the kingdom. The
dismemberment of the Affghan empire, however, from this time proceeded
more rapidly. Runjeet Sing seized some of its finest provinces,
including Cashmere; Shere Dil Khan established himself at Candahar as an
independent prince; Dost Mohammed made himself master of Cabool; Sirdar
Sooltan Mohammed Khan became tributary governor of Peshawar; Balkh w-as
annexed to the kingdom of Bokhara; and the Ameers of Scinde declared
themselves independent. Gyooh fled to Lahore; and the only province of
the kingdom which remained in the hands of a descendant of the royal
family was Herat. The prince who governed Herat was Kamrau, who had
directed that the eyes of his lather's vizier, Futteh Khan, should
be put out. Without directly acknowledging the sovereignty of Persia,
Prince Kamrau had been for some years in the practice of rendering an
occasional tribute to the shah, as often as the governor of the Persian
province of Khorassan was strong enough to extort it from him. At
this time, however, the prince of Herat refused to perform any such
engagement; and he even permitted his vizier to pass through Siestan
into Khorassan, where he compelled the chiefs of Khiva and Khafin to
pay tribute to his master, and carried away twelve thousand persons, and
sold them as slaves. This conduct of Kamrau furnished Mohammed Shah, the
Persian monarch--who had recently ascended the throne by tire
assistance of British officers, and supplies of money from the English
treasury--with a pretext for endeavouring to make himself master of
Herat. There was an existing treaty between England and Persia, which
stipulated "that if war should ensue between the Persian and Affghan
governments, the English government should take no part in it; nor
should give assistance to either party, except as a mediator, at the
solicitation of both parties, for the purpose of producing peace." Had
the Persian monarch limited his views to an attack u