Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎21v] (43/312)

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25.
(By Sttbmabine Telegraph.)
(from our own correspondent.)
FARIS, Tdesdat.
Great fears are entertained here that the com
plications with Afghanistan may bring about a
conflict between England and Russia.
The Temps accurately defines the state of opinion
on this subject. " The gravity of the situation," it
says, " consists in the fact that England, holding
Russia responsible for the behaviour of the Ameer,
might strain the connection which exists between
Anglo-India and the Eastern question in general."
This is a guarded way of implying that England !
might have to fight in Europe to defend her Indian ;
frontier.
(B y S ubmarine T elegraph.)
(from our own correspondent.)
BERLIN, T oesdat.
According to intelligence received here from St.
Petersburg the Russian Government has declared
itself to be incapable of yielding to England's com
plaints respecting the Russian mission to Cabul,
and therefore no reason can be found to give up its
intention to instal a permanent Russian Embassy
at Shere Ali's residence.
(B y S ubmarine T elegraph. )
(from our own correspondent.)
VIENNA, T uesday.
The threatened outbreak of hostilities between
Great Britain and the Ameer of Afghanistan is the
chief topic of discussion here to-day.
i The Presse, in a leading article, expresses the hope
that Russia will be careful not to kindle anew, by
yielding to any passionate inspirations, an Eastern
war which might have results similar to the conflict
which prevailed before the peace of San Stetfano.
The Deutsche Zeitung remarks that Russia is not
; in a position at present to carry on another war,
' and will probably desert her new ally. In the
other event it would happen that the Treaty of
Berlin would be destroyed in Asiatic battlefields,
i The Tagblatt blames England for having rather
j lost sight of the recent evident movement among
the Mahometans of Central Asia, which has almost
| tempted Russia to try to recover in Asia what she
has lost in Europe,
i The Free Presse says that, from Khiva down to
i Afghanistan, Russian policy is one of broken
promises. England, it adds, is bound to protect her
prestige by avenging the offered afiront.
(R kutek's T elegram.)
ST. PETERSBURG, S ept . 24.
With reference to the telegram published yester
day by a London morning paper assuming that an
j understanding existed between Russia and Afghan
istan, it is declared in the best informed quarters
that this supposition is purely imaginary ; and it is
further stated, on the same authority, that no
grounds are known to justify such imputatkma and
conjectures.
The Nord of Monday night, briefly adverting
to the rejection of the Cabul Missi on, says it is
somewhat difficult to reconcile that day's news
from Calcutta with that recently received respect
ing the friendly reception of the emissary sent for
ward by Sir Neville Chamberlain. It was known
that a reply was expected from the Ameer to the
Viceroy's letter announcing the departure of the
Mission ; and if that reply was a favourable one it
is not easy to explain the hostile reception accorded
to the Mission on the frontier of Afghanistan. If
it was unfavourable, it is equally difficult to under
stand how it was that Sir Neville Chamberlain
disregarded it. Perhaps, continues the organ of
the Russian Foreign Office, he pushed on before
receiving the Ameer's reply, and before the autho
rities on the Afghan frontier had received orders to
permit the Mission to proceed. The large military
escort which accompanied it, and which imparted to
it rather the appearance of an army than that of &
pacific Mission, would, moreover, explain th©
refusal of the authorities on the frontier to germit
the Mission, without the formal order of th©
Ameer, to enter the territory of Afghanistan,
We publish to-day further telegrams from India
respecting the position of affairs between England
and Afghanistan. Our Correspondent at Bombay
points to the energetic preparations which have
been made for an advance against Cabul, a large
number of troops being already on the move.
Steps, he adds, have been taken to strengthen the
force at Quetta, and it is considered certain
that from that point an advance will be
made upon Candahar. This information is
corroborated by our telegram from Calcutta.
From Berlin our Correspondent telegraphs that the
Russian Government has refused to yield to the
representations of England, and persists in its
scheme or establishing a permanent Embassy at
Cabul. The possibility of hostilities between
England and the A meer is the general topic of
discussion in all the Continental capitals, but
especially in Vienna, where 1 the leading news
papers have articles on the subject.
The startling news from the North-Western!
Frontier of India has lost none of its significance !
upon reflection. The Cabinet will consider without
delay the measures to be adopted in an emergency
as trying as any of which the present generation of
Englishmen have had experience, and oar telegrams
show this morning that there is no hesitation
with the Indian Government. Meantime there
can be no question as to the feeling of the English
people. There is no reckless passion for military
adventure such as might have been charged, truly
or otherwise, against this country if Russia
had been challenged during her attack upon
Turkey and if war had broken out between
England and the C zar in Armenia, or on the
banks of the Danube. Englishmen have no desire
for conquest in Central Asia ; they understand
perfectly well that there is little glory and no gain
to be derived from a war against S heke A lt . It is ;
the plainest, the most indisputable necessity that
drives us to resent by force of arms the insulting
conduct of the Ameer of C abul . The necessity
is scarcely contested even by the preachelrs of '
" peace at any price; " the representatives of that
party are fain to admit that the British Gcfvern-
ment cannot be expected to remain quiet
after such a slap in the face as the melan
choly monomaniac who rules in the midst of
desolation and terror at Cabul has been prompted i
to hazard. Every one who knows anything of
India is aware that a rebuff like that which has
been deUberately administered to Sir N eville
C hamberlain's Mission cannot be endured with
safety, not to speak of dignity. In every bazaar in
India the disaffected are exulting at this moment
over the humiliation which has fallen upon the
Government of the E mpress- Q ueen . Theirrejoicing,
as the vast majority of the people are con
vinced, will be short-lived. England will assert,
and has already begun to assert, hesr power,
and will compel the Asiatic populations to recog
nise it. This has long been regarded as a part
of the order of nature in Asia, and it would be
indeed disastrous for the British rule in India if
this tradition were to be broken. We have not I
imposed our rule upon Hindustan, and much more
than Hindustan, by sheer weight of numbers, like !
the invaders of earlier ages, but chiefly by force of
character, and more especially by a resolution never
to tolerate insult or disparagement. In the gloomiest
days of British rule in Asia we maintained this
high tradition, and its acceptance, after long
experience, has established that prestige at
which political theorists sneer as a juggle,
but which practical statesmen know to be
a reality. It was prestige which made the Greteks
the masters of their multitudinous Oriental
invaders, and the same dominance of the imagina
tion is at least as important a part of our security in
India as the armies we maintain. What is it that
enables a couple of battalions to keep the peace of a
province inhabited by several millions of unruly
natives ? Nothing but the knowledge that in case
of need the whole power of the British Empire
would be used to enforce the authority even of a
corporal's guard that represented the Government
of Indi^,. During the Mutiny there was a revolt
against this doctrine; but the issue proved that it was
vain to brave the power of England. In those days
no Englishman dreamed of abandoning resistance
because it was too hazardous. Nor is the spirit of
this country now so paralysed by the preaching of
sour fanatics and disappointed demagogues as to
sacrifice a moral ascendancy that is worth more to
us than all the armies of Germany or Russia. To
punish the insolence of S here A li , to conquer the
Afghans, to occupy Cabul may be tasks which the
English people, if they had a choice, would turn