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BURNES, SIR ALEXANDER.—This
distinguished officer, whose varied talents were so available to the
administration of the British government in India, and whose premature and
violent death was so deeply deplored, was born in the town of Montrose, on
the 16th of May, l805. His father, a magistrate of Forfarshire, was highly
esteemed in that county, and had held the chief official situations of the
borough of Montrose, while his grandfather was brother to William Burnes,
the parent of our illustrious national poet. It is well known to the
readers of the life of Robert Burns, that the family name had always been
spelled Burnes, and that his father was the first who dropped the letter e
in its signature. Alexander was educated at Montrose Academy, and there
his proficiency gave full promise of his future excellence. Having
obtained a cadetship when he left school at the age of sixteen, he set
sail for India, and arrived at Bombay on October 31, 1821. So earnest and
successful had been his studies for his new sphere of active duty, that at
the close of the year after that of his arrival in India, Alexander Burnes
was appointed interpreter in Hindostanee to the first extra battalion at
Surat. His proficiency in the Persian tongue had also been so rapid as to
secure the confidence of the judges of the Sudder Adawiut, so that he was
appointed translator of the Persian documents of that court, without any
solicitation of his own. His talents for civil occupation were soon so
conspicuous as to secure him rapid promotion in that Indo-British
government, whose very existence depends upon the superiority of intellect
alone, and where the encouragement of merit, independently of birth or
fortune, is a matter of absolute necessity. Accordingly, Alexander Burnes,
after having filled the offices of ensign and quarter-master of brigade,
was confirmed in the office of deputy-assistant quarter-master general at
the age of twenty-one, at which period, also, he drew up an elaborate
report on the statistics of Wagur, a paper for which he received the
thanks of the governor and members of the council of Bombay. In 1828, he
was honoured by a similar testimony for a memoir on the eastern mouth of
the Indus; and in September, 1829, he was appointed assistant to the
political agent in Cutch, for the purpose of effecting a survey of the
north-west border of that province. Burnes, who had been there four years
previous, as ensign of the 21st Bombay Native Infantry, during the
disturbances of that quarter, returned in his new capacity, and discharged
his task with his wonted ability and success. His account of this survey
is contained in the "Transactions of the Royal Geographical Society for
1834."
The talents of Burnes as an
oriental linguist and statist having thus been tested, instead of being
allowed to rest, were summoned to higher exertion. In the growth of our
Indo-British empire, it was necessary that the Indus, whose approaches had
hitherto been so carefully shut up to British mercantile enterprise,
should be thrown open to our ships, but, at the same time, without
exciting the jealousy of those wild tribes who regarded the river as the
pledge of their national freedom. To disarm suspicion, therefore, it was
resolved that this object should be covertly accomplished, by means of a
political mission ostensibly directed to a different purpose. A present of
five large and splendid horses, accompanied by a letter from the sovereign
of Great Britain, were to be consigned to Runjeet Singh, the celebrated
Maharajah of the Punjaub; and on the way to Lahore for that purpose,
Lieutenant Burnes, by whom the mission was to be conducted, was to travel
by the circuitous route of Scinde. He was provided with letters addressed
to the chieftains of the province, and to conceal the real purpose of his
journey, and facilitate his progress, he enlisted in his service a guard
of wild Beeloochees, instead of taking with him a troop of British
soldiers, whose appearance would have awakened the jealousy of the
natives. Thus provided, Burnes commenced his journey, and reached the
mouth of the Indus on the 28th of January, 1831. He had now a difficult
diplomatic task to perform, for the Ameers of Scinde had taken the alarm,
and every delay which they could devise was thrown in the way of his
further progress. This, however, was nothing more than what he wished;
for, during the delay occasioned by their feigned negotiations, he had
made a complete survey of the mouths of the river, and constructed a map
of the lower part of its course; he also obtained their full permission to
continue his journey on the Indus, instead of travelling by land, and
their assent that thenceforth it should be left open to the transit of
British merchandise. Proceeding along the river by water, and visiting
every place of interest upon his way, he at length reached Lahore on the
18th of July. As the real and most important part of his journey was
already accomplished, all that remained was little more than a mere
political visit of ceremony, graced with all the showy forms of an
oriental embassy, and an amusing account of which he has given us in the
third volume of his "Travels in Bokhara." Splendid retinues, with
abundance of trumpeting and cannonading, welcomed him into the capital of
the modern Timour; and on entering the palace, and putting off his shoes
on the threshold, according to the Asiatic rule of etiquette, Burnes
suddenly found himself locked in the embrace of a diminutive old man, who
was no other than Runjeet Singh himself, eager to do him honour, and who
had come out thus far to welcome him. After sojourning till the middle of
August at the court of Runjeet Singh, by whom he was treated with the
utmost kindness, Burnes left Lahore, and having crossed the Sutledge, he
proceeded to Loodiana, where he became acquainted with Shah Zeman and Shah
Soojah, who had formerly been kings of Cabool, but were now discrowned,
and living under British protection. He then continued his journey, and
arrived at Simla, where he met Lord William Bentinck, the
governor-general, who forthwith proceeded to avail himself of Burnes’
mission, by negotiations for opening the navigation of the Indus.
After this successful
expedition, Burnes proposed to Lord Bentinck to undertake an exploratory
journey into Central Asia, to which the latter eagerly acceded. The Indian
government having sanctioned his Lordship’s permission, Burnes commenced
this new and adventurous journey in January, 1832. As yet, much of the
interior of our vast Indian empire was but little known, and even the
charts of many districts that had been penetrated by British travellers
were still incorrect or defective. One important advantage of this journey
of Burnes was an addition to the map of Arrowsmith, the most valuable of
our Indian charts, to which he supplied some of its best improvements. As
it was necessary to pass through Scinde in his route, he had previously
sought and obtained permission to that effect from his powerful friend,
the Maharajah. He therefore once more entered Lahore, at which he arrived
on the 17th of January, and was cordially welcomed by Runjeet Singh; and
after a stay there till the 11th of February, he crossed the Ravee, and
having halted one night in a house beside the monument of Jehangur, he
prepared for the dangerous part of his journey. It was necessary for this
purpose that he should be completely disguised, and therefore he assumed
the dress and habits, and as much as possible the appearance, of an
Afghan. He had for the companion of his journey, Mr. James Gerard, surgeon
of the Bengal army, who clothed himself with a similar costume; and, after
leaving behind them every article of their luggage that might indicate
their country or purpose, the travellers commenced their pilgrimage of
peril, escorted by a body of troops provided by the Maharajah. They were
thus accompanied to the frontier of Runjeet’s dominions, a short distance
on the further side of the Attock, where they met the Afghans, by whom
they were escorted to Acora. They afterwards successively reached Peshawur,
Jellalabad, and Cabool; scaled the lofty passes of Oonna and Hageegak, on
the latter of which, 12,400 feet in height at its highest point, the frost
was so intense that the snow bore the weight of their horses, and the
thermometer fell to 4 degrees of Fahrenheit. On attempting
subsequently to surmount the pass of Kalao, which is a thousand feet
higher, they found it so blocked up with snow as to be impassable, and
were compelled to choose another route, by which they reached Ghoolgoola,
that city, or rather valley of ruins, famed for its two colossal statues,
the largest of which is 120 feet in height, and for the hills that enclose
the valley, which are absolutely honey-combed with excavations. They then
crossed the pass of Acrobat; and descending from the mountains of the
Indian Caucasus, they entered the vast plains of Tartary. At Khooloom, the
frontier town of Morad Beg, chief of Khoondooz, the bold travellers were
met by a startling message from that potentate, requiring Burnes to wait
upon him at Kaumabad, a village about fifty miles off. Obedience was
unavoidable; and therefore, leaving Mr. Gerard at Khooloom, Burnes
repaired to Kaumabad, and presented himself before the chief in tattered
and threadbare garments, under the character of a poor Armenian watchmaker
travelling from Lucknow to Bokhara. A moment’s timidity on his part, or
suspicion on that of the Asiatic lord, might have cost the traveller his
life; but, fortunately, his statement was believed, so that he received a
safe conduct to continue his journey, and he left Kaumabad in the company
of a small caravan of nine or ten tea-merchants.
This danger being thus
happily got over, Barnes rejoined Mr. Gerard at Khooloom. Their route was
continued, and they arrived at Balkh, that wondrous city of history and
romance, with which our childhood and youth were made so familiar. Now a
heap of ruins in the midst of a glory that has passed away, but still
covering an extent of twenty miles with its fragments, it is a fitting
monument of the many empires to which it has belonged; for here the Greek,
Persian, Arabian, Tartar, and Afghan, have successively ruled. Strange,
therefore, have been the changes it has witnessed since the time that it
was the Bactra of Alexander the Great! After halting for three days in
this interesting compend of ancient and modern history, Burnes and Gerard
entered the desert on the 14th of June, and, two days after, they reached
the banks of the Oxus, that most important of Asiatic rivers, which
bounded the conquests of Cyrus, and all but terminated those of Alexander.
At that part which our travellers crossed, the river was about 800 yards
wide, and twenty feet deep, where the transit was made in boats neither
impelled by sail nor oar, but drawn by a couple of stout horses that swam
across. Continuing their course, they reached on the 27th of June the city
of Bokhara, the capital of the country of that name, a city whose
remaining colleges still justify its ancient renown for learning and
civilization, and the high encomiums which eastern poets heaped upon it.
After waiting in the neighbourhood of the city of Kara-kool till the 16th
of August, Burnes and Gerard resumed their journey in the company of a
caravan consisting of 150 persons and 80 camels, the former travelling in
very simple fashion, some on horses, some on asses, and several in
panniers slung across the backs of camels. With this escort our travellers
passed the great desert by Merve, and on the 17th of September reached the
strong fortress of Koochan, where they parted, Gerard intending to proceed
to Herat and Candahar, and afterwards return to Cabool. Burnes continued
his journey in the company of 300 persons, chiefly Khoords, Persians, and
Turcomans—three of the eleven races with which the province of Bokhara is
peopled—until he had passed Boojnoord, when he continued his journey alone
to the town of Astrabad. He then crossed an arm of the Caspian, and
proceeded to Teheran, the modern capital of Persia, where he had the
honour of being presented to the Shah. Such is a brief outline of one of
the perilous and laborious journeys in which a chivalrous love of science
enables the modern traveller to dare and endure the utmost that
knight-errantry has recorded of its ancient votaries.
The object of this
expedition having been successfully attained, Burnes was eager to return
by the shortest and safest route to head-quarters, and report his
proceedings. He therefore embarked at Bushire for Bombay, which he reached
on the 18th of January, after a year’s absence. The information he had
gathered during this adventurous journey, and which he hastened to lay
before the government, was so valuable in the statistical and geographical
history of these countries with which India is so closely connected, that
he received the especial thanks of the governor-general, and was honoured
besides with the commission of carrying his own despatches to England. He
accordingly set sail for London, where his services were so highly
appreciated, that he not only met with the most flattering reception at
the India House, but was honoured with the especial thanks of his
sovereign. Fresh distinctions crowded upon him as soon as the results of
his labours were known to the public. The narrative of his journey was
immediately translated into French and German; he was elected a member of
the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Royal Geographical Society; and
presented with the gold medal, and royal premium of fifty guineas, for
"The Navigation of the Indus, and a Journey by Balkh and Bokhara across
Central Asia." Nor were these acknowledgments of his services in behalf of
science, literature, and humanity, confined to his own country; for, on
paying a short visit to Paris, he was welcomed with general enthusiasm as
one of the most talented and adventurous of modern travellers, and
presented with the silver medal of the French Geographical Society.
The stay of Burnes at home
after so long a residence in India, and so much travel, was comparatively
brief, extending to only eighteen months, after which he left England on
April 5, 1885, and proceeding by the south of France, Egypt, and the Red
Sea, he reached Bombay on the 1st of June, and joined Colonel Pottinger,
the British Resident at Cutch, as his assistant. Only a few months after,
he was sent upon a mission to Hyderabad, to prevent the necessity of a war
with Scinde, in which he was successful. While thus occupied in that
country, a more important duty was intrusted to him; this was, to
negotiate a commercial treaty with Dost Mohammed, sovereign of
Afghanistan, and also with the Indian chiefs of the western provinces. He
reached Cabool on the 20th of September, 1837. Here, however, he found
that his mission was useless, from the danger that menaced our Indian
empire through the movements and intrigues of Persia and Russia, and the
likelihood of their uniting with the Afghans, while Dost Mohammed,
instigated by the Russian agent at his court, gave Burnes an order of
dismissal. On his return to head-quarters, it was resolved by the Indian
government to replace their pensionary, Shah Soojah, upon the throne of
Cabool, as a more peaceable or compliant ally than Dost Mohammed; and
Burnes was sent to the army to make arrangements in the commissariat
department, preparatory to the invasion of Afghanistan. While thus
occupied, he was gratified to learn that his valuable services had not
been forgotten at home, for at Shikarpoor he received a copy of the
"London Gazette," announcing his promotion to the honour of knighthood and
the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Before the commencement of military
operations, Sir Alexander Burnes was sent on a political mission from
Scinde to Beeloochistan, that failed, upon which he regained the British
invading army, that had already advanced, through many difficulties, as
far as the fertile valley of Quettah. Here he saw hard military service in
the shape of a toilsome march, accompanied with danger and privation of
every kind, as well as in the storming of Ghuznee, which was only wrested
from the Afghans after a close and desperate hand-to-hand fight of three
hours. After this important city was won, Hyder Khan, its governor, one of
the sons of Dost Mohammed, who had surrendered himself to the British, was
placed under the care of Sir Alexander Burnes. Soon after, Dost Mohammed
fled from the kingdom, Shah Soojah was replaced in the sovereignty, and
such was the appearance of submission on the part of the Afghans, that Sir
William M’Naughten was left as British envoy at the court of Cabool, with
Sir Alexander Burnes for his assistant. But, unfortunately, this season of
calm was soon overcast. The impatient Afghans resumed their
insurrectionary spirit, and on several occasions broke forth into revolts
that were suppressed with difficulty. Still, however, neither M’Naughten
nor Burnes seem to have anticipated any immediate danger, notwithstanding
the warnings of Major Pottinger, for 14,000 British soldiers were
stationed in Afghanistan, independent of the troops of the new Shah. But,
on the 2nd November, 1841, the storm suddenly burst out. At nine o’clock
in the morning, the house of Burnes in Cabool was attacked and set on fire
by the insurgent multitude, and himself, his brother Lieutenant Charles
Burnes, Lieutenant Broadfoot, and every man, woman, and child in the
building were murdered. It was the commencement of a fearful tragedy, of
which a disastrous retreat, and the destruction of twenty-six thousand
individuals by exhaustion and the sabres of the pursuing Afghans were the
mournful termination.
Our immortal national poet
Burns, half-despondingly half-playfully, has sometimes expressed his
regret, more especially when the pressure of poverty was at the worst,
that he had not repaired in his youth to India, as so many of his
countrymen had done, and become a thriving merchant, instead of a
penniless bard. But little did he think of the destiny that awaited two of
his nephews there—and last of all his grandson! Sir Alexander was never
married, and was survived by his parents and three brothers. Besides his
"Travels into Bokhara," and several papers in the "Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society of London," he was author of a work, entitled,
"Cabool; being a Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in that City, in
the Years 1836-7-8," which was published after his death. |
