Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎37v] (75/312)

LONDON, FRI DAY, S EPTEMBER 27.
Our special correspondent at Simla telegraphs
the composition and distribiition of the troops
ordered for active service against the Ameer of
Cabal.
It is stated, in a telegram of yesterday's date
from Simla, that, notwithstanding the prompt
military action taken by the Indian authorities,
, it ia believed t hat the Goy ern mept intend to
await the course of events and to observe the
attitude adopted by the Ameer before under- i
taking the actual invasion of Afghanistan. At
Seistan, on the frontier of Persia and Afghanis- j
tan, a serious outbreak has occur red. i
Our Simla despatch this morning communi
cates precise details of the military force which
has been ordered upon active service in conse
quence of the course pursued by the Apieer of
Afghanistan. The column from Kohat.. which
! will be concentrated at Thull, the entrance to the
I Kurrum Valley, is to comprise two regiments of
: cavalry and five of infantry, with one of pioneers
and sappers, and two batteries of artillery. Our
advanced station of Quettah is to be reinforced
by two batteries of artillery and three regiments of
cavalry, with eight of infantry and one of
pioneers and sappers. Besides these, a reserve j
is to be immediately assembled at Sukkur
j upon the Indus, consisting of seven batteries, a
train of siege guns, two regiments of sappers, two
of horse, and eight battalions of foot. These de
tails give us the numbers of a stronger force than
any hitherto mentioned in Indian telegrams.
There will be gathered some six thousand troops
under General Roberts from Kohat at Thull;
nine or ten thousand will be marched into
and around Quettah ; while the reserve at
Sukkur represents another eight or nine thou
sand, besides heavy and light artillery. What
proportion of these will be European troops
is not stated, but the Bengal Army will
probably furnish the command of General
Roberts , and that of Bombay the contingents
for the Scinde frontier and the Bolan. The
Khyber Pass will, no doubt, be also closed—if not
entered—by a sufficient British division; and the
preparations all round are such, we think, as
military judges will consider adequate for any
present emergencies. General Roberts , in
command at the important point of the Kurrum
Valley, is an officer of the highest distinction
and largest experience, having served actively
from the time of the siege of Delhi, where he
gained the Victoria Cross, through the Umbeyla
and Looshaye expeditions and the Abyssinian
war, and having been "mentioned"indespatches
no fewer than twenty-three times. For the
present, however, our Simla telegram states,
no immediate hostilities are intended. It is
probable that commanding positions will be
quietly and swiftly taken up, and every prepara
tion completed for decisive action, while notice
of our movements is finding its way to the Ameer.
Nevertheless there can be little room for parley or
delay with the Afghan Prince, if it be true, as is
reported, that the commandant of the fort at Ali
Musjid actually told Major Cavagnaki that
his instructions warranted him in shooting
down the British representative upon approach,
and that but for old friendship between them he
would have done so. Such a statement leaves
little room for doubt as to the nature of the
orders sent forward from Cabul by the Ameer's
Master of the Horse. For whatever object, or
with whatever hidden support, the debauched and
cruel Ruler of Afghanistan had obviously made
up his mind beyond all retractation to defy us;
and this will be so clear to every inhabitant of
India that it is absolutely necessary for no shadow
of hesitation to be seen in our action. Consi
derations neither of diplomacy nor of physical
difficulties ought to, delay our instant answer to
the insult which has been offered us, so far as re
gards the seizure of the passes, and the advance
to Candahar. It may or may not be judged de-
j sirable to go beyond these measures before the
I winter—that is a matter of transport, com
missariat, and political information—but, the
winter must certainly not arrive without all
India plainly understanding that the gates of
the Frontier will never again be shut in the
! face of her Majesty's representative at the
whisper of a Russian agent in Cabul, and by
the caprice of its barbarous Ruler,
j The lingering spokesmen of that pro-Russian : :
' agitation which wrought so much mischief during ;
; the recent war couple their reluctant admissions
; that energetic action is necessary with accusa-'
lions against Lord Lytton's policy, which they i
pretend has Deen direcfed towards a rupture like
that which has arisen. As to the totally un
founded charge thus made, our Simla Corre-
spondent telegraphed yesterday that the Ameer
had, with a rudeness of the gravest kiad, left
the courteous and repeated letters of the Viceroy
unanswered: and th e text of these coguaximic* -
tions, which has since been transmitted to this
country, shows how studiously amicable was the
language of Lord Lytton . The interests of India
and Afghanistan are spoken of in his Excellency's
letter as identical ; the caiises of solicitude are
stated with friendly frankness, and a safe-con
duct for the British Mission is requested with
almost excessive politeness, considering the
dignity of the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. and the grave reasons for
direct intercourse. This preliminary despatch
was followed by a most kindly letter of condolence
upon the demise of the Prince Abdoollah Jan,
deferring the Mission until the days of mourning
should be expired ; and whoever knows the
etiquette of the East will be aware that to
have received these Khurreetas from the Viceroy
of India and to have vouchsafed no word of
reply was in itself an affront of the grossest
character. It is evident from evenis, and
from the fact that Sir Neville Chamber
lain's note to the Ameer's commandant was
also treated with insulting silence, that this was a
course deliberately adopted at Cabul; and the
way in which the Russian journals seize upon
the point inclines us to the belief that it formed
an arranged item in the Russo-Afghan pro
gramme of quarrel. The Nord comes eagerly
to the aid of the English organs which are assail
ing Lord Lytton for not awaiting a reply,
and for sending an armed escort with the
British Envoy. " The Embassy," it says, " was
to await Shere Ali's reply before proceeding
towards Cabul. Has Sir Neville Chamberlain
done so ? He had a large military following,
considerably exceeding the customary and legit
imate proportions of an escort. It is doubtful
whether the Russian Mission, of which so much
has been said during the past few weeks, went
to Afghanistan surrounded by a military para
phernalia so unusual for an Embassy. It is
not absolutely impossible that Shere Ali, i
whilst showing a disposition to give the Viceroy
of India's Envoy the best of receptions, should
have begged him to leave behind a portion at
least of the corps d'armee forming his escort. If
such were the case it would be difficult to attri
bute all the fault to the Ameer." This—if the
facts did not now utterly belie such arguments—
might really have appeared in our own Rus
sian press. The same Muscovite organ goes on to
say that the Czar's agent was merely sent to
Cabul to obtain those securities for peace whi«h
England would not give as regards the policy of
Afghanistan towards Khokand and the border
States. A day or two since the same paper offered
a totally different explanation, frankly de
scribing the mission of Abramoff and the Oxus
expeditions as hostile counter-strokes. But after
Khiva, the Livadian pledges, and the advance
from Adrianople, he who expects veracity from
Russian sources would look for figs on thistles !
The brutal frankness of the Golos and of thq St.
Petersburg News is far preferable to these equi
vocations. The former, alluding to Afghanistan
and the troubles in the South-East, observes,
" Probably no rational mind in Europe supposes
that Russia ought not to take advantage of these
complications as she may think fit." The latter
remarks, " An alliance between Afghanistan and
Russia is indispensable to Shere Ali , who de
sires to feel secure as regards Russia in his war
with England. Such an alliance need not compro
mise the relations between Russia and England.
Great Britain found it possible morally to sup
port Turkey in her recent war against Russia.
It would be an unnatural and thoroughly sense
less piece of disinterestedness not to take ad
vantage of such an occasion for the purpose of
giving Eastern affairs a turn, and paralysing the
anti-Russian clauses introduced into the Berlin
Treaty by Count ANDRASSYand Lord Beacons-
field ." The Novoe Vremya takes the same
complacent view of the situation, saying that,
" In any case the situation of India removes
every probability of Great Britain's interference
with the results of the Berlin Conference."
Meanwhile our Simla telegram sheds inci
dental light on the further development of this
long-planned diversion. Disturbances are re
ported, it states, in Seistan, the country under
arbitration in 1872-73. What this would appear
to point at is the old-established policy of Russia
to set Persia movinsr wheneyer Afghanistan is