Shah Shuja was marked by tyranny and widespread poverty among the Afghan people. Shuja announced that he considered his own people to be "dogs" who needed to be taught to be obedient to their master, and spent his time exacting bloody vengeance on those Afghans who he felt had betrayed him. At the same time, large numbers of British officers, their wives, children, and staff, had relocated to Kabul for the favourable temperatures, having previously been stationed in the hot, dry plains of Hindustan. The British influx brought with it a large number of alien customs such as cricket, skating, and steeplechase. The sudden swelling of the city's population caused prices for food and goods in the bazaars to skyrocket, at the same time as Shujah had greatly increased taxation on the population, leading to a large scale economic depression among the lower class. At the urging of Shah Shuja, the British and Indian troops had agreed to relocate their encampment out of the city walls, setting up a series of cantonments outside the city. Burnes however, chose to remain within the heart of the old city, taking up residence in a walled house with a handful of other senior officers including his brother Lieutenant Charles Burnes, and Major William Broadfoot. On 1 November 1841, Burnes was approached by his former travelling companion Mohan Lal who informed Burnes of a plot to have him killed, urging him to flee the city for the relative safety of the cantonment. As the representative of Britain in Kabul, it was Burnes whom many Afghans considered responsible for the city's financial and religious decay. Confident he could quell any potential trouble, Burnes chose to stay in Kabul against his friend's advice. That night, a small group of men began driving up a mob around the city. The group, originally a small contingent directly opposed to Burnes's presence, managed to swell their numbers by spreading the message that the building adjacent to Burnes' house was used as the garrison treasury, holding pay for the entire British forces in Kabul. By nightfall, a large mob had assembled within the courtyard of Burnes's house. Burnes sent a runner to the cantonments asking for immediate assistance, before stepping out onto his balcony to attempt to reason with the crowd. Reportedly, assistance from the British army was delayed by a series of internal arguments between senior officers there on