Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎7r] (14/312)

The Chinese are not ixTlthe most conciliatory!
of moods in Central Asia just at present, ay
may he judged from a telegram we published
on Wednesday. Russian trade has been con
siderably damaged there, through the recent
semi-hostile policy of China; and acts of violence
oil Russian merchants and caravans appear to
be far from uncommon. The burden of China's
demands is 4 ' Res*ore Hi," and then we shall be
good friends ; retain it, and we shall be deadly
toes. ' Any one who knows anything of
the Chinese character and history is aware that
their most extraordinary feature is persistency, JBy
sheer persistency they have emerged with nndimmed
lustre from more cycles of national disaster than
I any other people under the sun. By sheer per-
sistency they have overthrown Islam when it
seemed on the point of achieving complete success ; '
and by sheer persistency they may yet recover Hi.'
Hiither they wiB tire Russian patience out by per- :
sistent negotiation, or they will conceal their
resolve to resort to force until Russia is engaged ?
elsewhere ; but the object before them will ever be
the same—the recovery of Hi. Englishmen must
perceive that this very difficulty over the fate of |
Hi tends to their advantage. The Chinese have
become a factor, if an unknown one as yet, in all
questions appertaining to Central Asia.
We have received the following telegrams through i
Renter's Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. :—
THE CABUL MISSION.
^ , tt . bombay. s ept. 18.
Crholam Hussein Khan, the Envoy of the Indian Govern
ment, arrived at Cabul on September 10, and has been hos-
I pitably received. At a private anditnce of Sbere Ali he
delivered to the Ameer the letters with which he was in-
I trusted from the Viceroy of India. Mir Akbor, who is
HB believed to be the bearer of despatches from the Ameer re-
| specting the mission, is expected hourly at Alimusjid. The
Mission in the meantime remains at Peshawur, awaiting
Mir Akhor's communication. A headman of the Khyberi
has arrived at Peshawur, in accordance wi h the arrange
ments concluded for the safe conduct of the Mission
Wt throug h the K hyber Pass.
' ftuU hcUC
THE INDIAN FRONTIER^ m
The Daily News, discussing the rumoured extension of the Indian
ui Af g han i stan ' ask s where the process is to end.
When the Hindoo Koosh has been secured, we shall doubtless have other
strategists prophesying utter ruin and combustion if our defensive forces
are not secured against flanking movements from Persia or Kashgar or
through obscure passes in the Hindoo Koosh available for troops marching
m light array. If we pass from strategical to political considerations
there is equally little prospect of finality. What should induce the
native princes or populations to remain loyal or passive when we were
fighting the Russians on the northern borders of Afghanistan that would
not be an equally strong motive when we were fighting them in the
passes of the Suleiman ? They would have, in fact, a fresh temptation
to rise, in the prospect of cutting off our forces from what must always
be their main base of supplies, the country south of the Indus. There
is a pedantic and mathematical fineness about these calculations con
cerning the loyalty of the natives that inspires the reverse of con
fidence in their soundness. Another of the calculations is that if we
remain stationary while Russia is advancing we shall be regarded in India
as the weaker Power. We seem somehow to be unable to get over the
idea that the Hindoos are children, who will be imposed upon by any
argument, the fallacy of which would be at once detected by a European.
Certainly, the cry that is raised about the alarming power of Russia is "not
likely to confirm them in an impression of our strength. An uneasy
shilting of frontier does not look like self-confidence. There is little
reason to believe that an advance into Afghanistan would strengthen our
hold upon the respect of the natives. If this theory of the importance
of forward movement is true, it seems to condemn us to perpetual motion.
Must we drive the Russians out of Central Asia before the natives are
convinced of our superiority ?
A report has been received at Simla, which, however, is not yet authenticated,- that
Yakoob Khan escaped during the confusion following on the death of Abdullah Jan, and
fled in the direction of Ghazni. A year ago, however, it was reported and believed that
i Yakoob had been partially reconciled to his father, who had as a token given him the
Governorship of the Province of Balkh. There appears every reason to suppose that
Abdulla Jan died of fever, since, according to a native newsletter from Cabul received
just before the announcement of his death—which announcement arrived by express—he
[ was suffe ring from fever at the date of its despatch.