Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎16v] (33/312)

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. f
Fnil confirmation has been received of the in- 1
'elligence that the Mission of Sir Neville Cham- !
fcefkiin to Cabul has been stopped by the ye-
fusal of the Ameer of Afghanistan to receive it.
! The progress of the English Mission was brought
to a close at Ali Musjid by an officer of tha
Ameer's, who refused to allow it to advance
further. After an interview o f th ree hours'
duration with the officer, and a warning given j
him that his act would be regarded as that of I
fehere Ali himself, Major Cavagnari and his
escort returned to Jumrood, and the Mission
was withdrawn to Pesftiawu r.
C onsidering the latest development of j
Oriental intrigue, it may be assumed that the !
Secretary of State for India, who is now on I
duty at Balmoral, will promptly return to Lon-'
don, and that the Cabinet will immediately as
semble to deliberate and act on the ^rave news
from the Indus frontier. The public learned
yesterday morning that the Ameer !3 heee A li
had abruptly arrested the Mission to his Court
with which Sir N eville C hamberlain was
entrusted, and that the envoy and his escort
had returned to Peshawur. Ali Musjid, the
second station towards the Khyber Pass, was
the scene of this extraordinary piroceeding, and
the accessories were arranged apparently with
the express intention of adding force to :
the insult. Major C a V agnaei , in advance of his
chief, met the Ameer's agents at Ali Musjid,
while the Mission and escort halted at Jumrood,
a few miles outside Peshawur. The Major
was instructed to request a safe passage, but,
on reaching the spot, he found the heights
crowned with troops, and he was Itold that any
! attempt to proceed would encountiDr instant re
sistance. He parleyed long with the Cabulees,
and we may be sure that no argument likely
| to prove effective would be neglected by so ex-1
| perienced an officer. Nothing, however, availed
i to shake the resolution of men' who had plainly
: come prepared to execute the Ameer's resolves.
1 and inflict on the Indian Government the
most , flagrant affront it has had to endure
for many years. It should be remem
bered that S heee A li is under great obliga
tions to successive Viceroys, that he had been
the guest of one, that his frontier had been de-
1 fined by the same Governor-General^ that he has
i received money, arms and ammunition, and,
j finally, that when his agents stoutly refused to
open the pass, threatening violence if the Mis-
| sion persevered, a Russian General was actually
established in Cabul, welcomed -and caressed by
the Ameer. No Indian Government can put up
with conduct like that and live. It is not a
' courteous defiance ; it is a wilful blow artfully
designed and delivered with pomp and circum
stance, not merely before the two Indian princes
who rode beside Major C avagnari , but before
all our feudatories, and, indeed, the whole world.
A thrill of excitement and expectation mustihave
shot through the peninsula from end to> end
when the news was published, and we may de-
' pend upon it that every native court and every
bazaar is already watching with Oriental keenness
to discover whether the insult will be borne
meekly or answered by a display of irresistible
power. Nor is it India alone which will respond
j to the awakening touch. The frontier tribes,
the distant Turcomans, the people of the Cesntral
Asian Khanates, the Persian and the Arab—
even the Chinese themselves—will feel the
shock, and form their estimate of English teinper
and Indian resolution strictly in accordance
with thfe course which the British Cabinefcmay
adopt.- They will all see in the blow struck by
S uerb A li , not the hand of the Ameer, but
the arm of Russia ; and they will measure our
j strength exactly by the promptitude and ade-
; quacy of the answering thrust, as they would our
weakness by tame submission. They will know
' that it was not the Afghan but the Russian who
spoke out defiance in the Khyber Pass; and
discern clearly, if we do not, that the event
marks the growth of that Northern Power be
fore whom, as they will believe, England has
i faltered and quailed.
Would it were possible to say that the Orien tal
nations and tribes are wholly without excuse for
any opinion they may form derogatory to Eng
lish power and determination I S hire A li
himself, seated at a point of vantage for ob-
serv ation^ has been enlightened, moreover, by a
sedulous study of English newspapers. "What hag
he seen and heard during the past twelve years ?
Little, we are bound to say, which might not load
him to believe that England had broken with her
old traditions, and was only anxious to be let
alone. He is aware that the friends of Russia
are not unlikely to be the friends of the Afghan j
and that his cause as a tool of Russia will com-
[ mand their apologies and receive their warm
support. He has seen with his own eyes the
conquering march of Muscovite armies. He
knows how they swept up the valley of the
Jaxartes, crossed the mountains into the Oxua
basin, reduced the Aineer of B okhara to a tribu
tary vassal, penetrated the desert, subdued the
Khan of K hiva , and monopolised the great
river, and how, turning on Khokand, they were
equally successful. He is fully aware that they
are supreme on the Caspian, that they encroach
yearly up the Attrek, and meditate the annexa--
j tion of Merv. But, above all, S here A li has
i witnessed the overthrow of the Sultan, the en
campment of a Russian host within sight
of Stamboul, the capture and retention
of Kars, Ardahan, and Batoum, with the di
rect encouragement, applause, and approval of
English statesmen and English parties. And
when Russia marched her brigades towards tho
Middle Oxns, and boldly sent a General across
the Hindoo Kosh to Cabul, it is not unnatural
that he should have thought the time had come
to defy the British Power, and yield to the in
sidious pleadings of his new friend. In the East,
cosmopolitanism, defined by a clamorous Liberal
as the best patriotism, is not understood, and
the noble rage for 'advancing other countries
to the detriment of our own is wholly unintel
ligible. S here A li may well believe, on tho
evidence afforded by the last three years, to go
no further back, that Russia is the rising sun,
the growing irresistible Power in Asia, and that
if he affronted and defied the Q ueen's repre
sentative the new school of English patriots would
cheer him on his way. To such a result we have
been brought by " masterly inactivity," con
tempt for "trumpery British interests," and a dis
regard of the condition by which empires are
upheld. Words cannot exaggerate the momen
tous character of an incident mainly the fruit
| of that unhappy perversion of feeling which
| has steadily supported the encroaching policy of
Russia, and has now seated her agents within
the principal frontier State on the Indus. What
were the words which rose to every lip when the
sinister news from India was read ? " Russia ia
going to wage unofficial war in Afghanistan."
That sentence is the most eloquent commentary
on a situation, the product of neglected warn
ings blazoned forth emphatically over long years,
of blindness to the actual glaring facts, and of
that false humanity which, counterfeiting the
true, works such dire evils to mankind.
We have dwelt on the dark shadows of tho
picture, but it is not without brighter hues.
This touch of fctern reality, this revelation of
fact in a visible, concrete shape, may bring home
to thousands the real issues, and convince even
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| LONDON, TUESDA F, SEPTEMBER 24.
Foil confirmation has been received of th® in
telligence that the Mission of Sir Neville Claam-
befkin to Cabul has been stopped by the re
fusal of the Ameer of Afghanistan to receive it.
The progress of the English Mission was brought
to a close at Ali Musjid by an officer, of tha
Ameer's, who refused to allow it to advance
further. After an interyisw of thre e honra',
duration -with the officer, and a -warning given j
him that his act would be regarded as that of |
fehere Ali himself, Major Cavagnari and his
escort returned to Jumrood, and the Mission
was withdrawn to Pe^tawur.
C onsidering the latest development of
Oriental intrigue, it may be assumed that the
Secretary of State for India, who is now on
duty at Balmoral, will promptly ret'urn to Lon
don, and that the Cabinet will immediately as
semble to deliberate and act on the grave news
from the Indus frontier. The public learned
yesterday morning that the Ameer IS heke A li
had abruptly arrested the Mission to his Court
with which Sir N eville C hamberlain was
entrusted, and that the envoy and his escort
had returned to Peshawur. Ali Musjid, the
second station towards the Khyber Pass, was
the scene of this extraordinary ptroceeding, and
the accessories were arranged apparently with
the express intention of adding force to
the insult. Major C a V agnari , in advance of his
chief, met the Ameer's agents at Ali Musjid,
while the Mission and escort halted at Jumrood,
a few miles outside Peshawur. The Major
was instructed to request a safe passage, but,
on reaching the spot, he found the heights
crowned with troops, and he was Itold that any
attempt to proceed would encounttsr instant re
sistance. He parleyed long with the Cabulees,
and we may be sure that no argument likely
to prove effective would be neglected by so ex
perienced an officer. Nothing, however, availed
to shake the resolution of men'who had plainly
come prepared to execute the Ameeir's resolves^
and inflict on the Indian Government the
most ( flagrant affront it has had to endure
for many years. It should be remem
bered that S here A li is under great obliga-'
tions to successive Viceroys, that he had been
the guest of one, that his frontier had been de
fined by the same Governor-General^ that he has
received money, arms and ammunition, and,
finally, that when his agents stoutly refused to
open the pass, threatening violence if the Mis
sion persevered, a Russian General was actually
established in Cabul, welcomed "and caressed by
the Ameer. No Indian Government can put up
with conduct like that and live. It is not a
courteous defiance ; it is a wilful blow artfully
designed and delivered with pomp and circum
stance, not merely before the two Indian princes
who rode beside Major C avagnari , but before
all our feudatories, and, indeed, the whole world.
A thrill of excitement and expectation mustihave
shot through the peninsula from end to end
when the news was published, and we may de
pend upon it that every , native court and every
bazaar is already watching with Oriental keenness
to discover whether the insult will be borne
meekly or answered by a display of irresistible
power. Nor is it India alone which will respond
to the awakening touch. The frontier tribes,
the distant Turcomans, the people of the Cesntral
Asian Khanates, the Persian and the Arab—
even the Chinese themselves—will feel the
shock, and form their estimate of English temper
and Indian resolution strictly in accordance
with the course which the British Cabinet may
adopt. , They will all see in the blow struck by
S uerb A li , not the hand of the Ameer, but
the arm of Russia ; and they will measure our
strength exactly by the promptitude and ade
quacy of the answering thrust, as they would our
weakness by tame submission. They will know
that it was not the Afghan but the Russian who
spoke out defiance in the Khyber Pass; and
discern clearly, if we do not, that the event
marks the growth of that Northern Power be
fore whom, aa they will believe, England has
faltered and quailed.
Would it were possible to say that the Oriental
nations and tribes are wholly without excuse for
any opinion they may form derogatory to Eng
lish power and determination ! S iibre A li
himself, seated at a point of vantage for ob-
servation, has been enlightened, moreover, by a
sedulous study of English newspapers. What has
he seen and heard during the past twelve years ?
Little, we are bound to say, which might not load
him to believe that England had broken with her
old traditions, and was only anxious to be let
alone. He is aware that the friends of Russia
are not unlikely to be the friends of the Afghan^
and that his cause as a tool of Russia will com
mand their apologies and receive their warm
support. He has seen with his own eyes the
conquering march of Muscovite armies. He
knows how they swept up the valley of the
Jaxartes, crossed the mountains into the Oxus
basin, reduced the Ahieer of B okhara to a tribu
tary vassal, penetrated the desert, subdued the
Khan of K hiva , and monopolised the great
river, and how, turning on Khokand, they were
equally successful. He is fully aware that they '
are supreme on the Caspian, that they encroach ■
yearly up the Attrek, and meditate the annexa
tion of Merv. But, above all, S here A li has
witnessed the overthrow of the Sultan, the en
campment of a Russian host within sight
of Stamboul, the capture and retention l
of Kars, Ardahan, and Batoum, with the di- 1
rect encouragement, applause, and approval of
English statesmen and English parties. And ^
when Russia marched her brigades towards the
Middle Oxns, and boldly sent a General across
the Hindoo Kosh to Cabul, it is not unnatural :
that he should have thought the time had come
to defy the British Power, and yield to the in
sidious pleadings of his new friend. In the East, "
cosmopolitanism, defined by a clamorous Liberal
as the best patriotism, is nof understood, and
the noble rage for 'advancing other countries ^
to the detriment of our own is wholly unintel- :
ligible. S here A li may well believe, on tha
evidence afforded by the last three years, to go
no further back, that Russia is the rising sun,
the growing irresistible Power in Asia, and that
if he affronted and defied the Q ueen's repre
sentative the new school of English patriots would
cheer him on his way. To such a result" we have
been brought by "masterly inactivity," con
tempt for "trumpery British interests," and a dis
regard of the condition by which empires are
upheld. Words cannot exaggerate the momen
tous character of an incident mainly the fruit
of that unhappy perversion of feeling which
has steadily supported the encroaching policy of
Russia, and has now seated her agents within
the principal frontier State on the Indus. What
were the words which rose to every lip when th©
sinister news from India was read ? " Russia is
going to wage unofficial war in Afghanistan."
That sentence is the most eloquent commentary
on a situation, the product of neglected warn
ings blazoned forth emphatically over long years,
of blindness to the actual glaring facts, and of
that false humanity which, counterfeiting the
true, works such dire evils to mankind.
We have dwelt on the dark shadows of the
picture, but it is not without brighter hues.
This touch of fctern reality, this revelation ol
fact in a visible, concrete shape, may bring homo
to thousands the real issues, and convince even
the indifferent that, with extended empire,
beset by envious foes, we must accept and act
on extended responsibilities. For years we
have insisted that Russia's main object in going
put of her way to approach India was the acqui
sition of such a valuable point as that she has
now gained. Whatwasthe answer? That Russia is
a civilising Power, intent on doing good ; that she
had no hostile aims, but merely wished to
benefit the human race ; and that it would be a
happy day when " the Cossack and the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank.
stood sentries on opposite banks of the Indus."
The incident in the Khyber Pass may help to
awake the dreamers from such pernicious de
lusions, and rouse England—once more, let us
hope, united—to the high duty of vindicating her
honour and preserving her threatened Empire.
It behoves the Government to act with delibe
rate circumspection, no doubt, but with un
faltering firmness. The challenge must be
answered in such a way as to preclude its
repetition. Were S here A li alone concerned,
were h^ not backed up and instigated by
a great Power, it might be possible to tem
porize and negotiate ; but ail Asia and
Europe also know who dictated the language
used at Ali Musjid, and, therefore, we are
bound to act. The main disposable military
strength of the Indian Government stands in
the space between Delhi, Mooltan, ancf Pe
shawur, and should be at once available. Nor
are we without auxiliaries on the border. Tha
British are now popular at Quettah, and can draw
a plenteous supply of recruits from the Beloochis.
There is good reason to believe that the
mountain tribes who were to be dashed on the
Punjab like a "blast of fire *—even the Khyber-
rees and Affreedees whom we have been obliged
to coerce—prefer English to Afghan service.
In addition, therefore, to the established army,
and the limitless recruiting reservoirs of British
India, we can obtain men from beyond the
frontier, if we want them. The prospect of a
war in Afghanistan is distasteful, yet it is
none of our seeking, and is forced on us not
merely by interest but by honour. What steps
the Government may take will be revealed in
time ; but nothing short of the occupation of
Candahar and Jellalabad, or some decisive point
in the Khyber Pass, will suffice to meet the
emergency. The season of the year, un
doubtedly, in not propitious for military opera
tions, and perhaps the stress of winter entered
into S here A li's calculations when he suc
cumbed to Muscovite influence. But the climate
above the Bolan and in the Khyber, though
severe, is not sufficiently so to frustrate tha
march of armies, and there is no solid cause
why an expeditionary force should not become
promptly master of Candahar and the Kurrum
valley. If that did not bring the Ameer to rea
son we should have to proceed further, though
it should also be remembered that he might
fly or fall before a popular insurrection. The
insult he has offered is without provocation,
for he had consented to the occupation of
Quettah, and had never solicited the recognition
of A bdulla J an . We must place his audacity
to the proper account, and recognise it as the
handiwork of Russia, who, by prohibiting tha
passage of a British envoy to Cabul, has won a
political victory greater than any military suc
cess obtained during the late conflict.