Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎55r] (113/312)

AFFGHANISTAN.
m
lows :—
"Eevolviag eg'-s always biidjj the bitter day homa to
eveiy empire whf n some disagreeable qaas'ion, skelved
frcm time to time, has to be faced at last. They hava
tow brought, whs>i all thcugbtfai mea knew they mast
bring scoBer or later, tbe Affgham Question ; and as
graver ieEues than the mtre barbaric affront offered by a
conceited and vindutive Affghan ruler are involved in
tbat questior, it behovts the nAti^n to face it with a calm
and ucited front, and without ar.y indulgenoa in partiaaa
lews' or untimely crotchets oa one side or the other. It
jwiJl be essentiftl to adhere as closely as possible to tha
inexorable logic of facts. The oharaofceristios, history,
and customs of the people with whom we shall have
to deal, and tbe nature and olimate of tbe couatry
ttey inhabit, are the pdncipal factors in the calculasioa
tf a plan of campaign, political or military; and it is
ejnctly on these points that nine-tsuths of the ptiblio are
: radically Ignorant. It will be as well at the outsat to
tote at-d correct more than one error which passes as
current history among people who have not maie the
Affgban Question a speolal study. Of all the wayj ot
writing history 'the sensational' is the most abomiaabla
and mischievous, and its inherent faults are bat half re
deemed even when some master hand throws the chatctu
and graces of hia style into tha taik. It ia to the socna-
vhat feeble lmi ! ations of this style that we are uuforba-
r-ately indebted for wbai; is generally known of our
former expeditions into Affghanistan, and espaoially
with tbat part of them relating to General Eiphln-
stone's miserable fiasco at Cabal in tha winter of
1 1841-2 and his retreat to Gundamuck. Bab ii will ba
found that a good deal of the phrase-making and high
colouring which have been lavished on taat disaster can
be modified and toned down by tha application of analysis
acd statistics.
"To take that melodramatic statement, which hw baen
repeated in print and conversation ad nauseain wiihin tha
last few days, tbat 4 out of our army one JSagUshmaa,
atd one alone, came back aliva to till the tale,' tha
general public would jump to the conclusion that an
aimy composed of Eoglishmen had osea slaughtarad with
tbe exception of one individual, who retarded, like the
solitary fugitive of Tnermopylse, to tall the tale. Taa
1 itcident, no doubt, is a very dratnaiio one, and affords
a fine temptation for* fine writing. Tne late Dr.
Brydon, attached at the ticae as surgeon to Saab.
Shoojah's force, and whosa saoseqaeufc fata it was,
: cuiicusly enough, to form ooe of tna garrison of the
Lucknow Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , was tha ' i»ue Eagiishman'—or,
ratter, Scotchman—who succaeded in reaching Sir
I Eobert Sale's garrison at JrllaUbid out of tha brigade
tbat bad once formed g -antral El^hiastoae's ootnmaa l;
Ue rest having been killed b, the suemy or by tha cold,
been taken prisoners, or haviuR desattad. The et.eagth
cf the whole brigade—fori« wa» nothiug more—iha'i laft
tbe entrenched cantonmeati bsfore C»bai oa taa moraiai;
of the 6th of January, 1842, numbsrad, as far as could
be ascertained, about 4,500 fighting men, with six harse-
artillery and three mountain-^rain guas. la adJitiou to
the above were about 12,000 camp followers, who from
tbe very first mile proved a terrible clo»{ on tha move
ments of the column, and were the main cause of the mia-
futtunes after the retreat had commenced. Tie blualer
cf permitting such a following must ne/er bo parpetrated
again, eapecially in such a country as Atfghanistaa. The
Europeans in the Cabal brigade numbared a little over
9C0 souls, of whom between 180 and 190 were
n ilitary and civil officers, 12 women, some 24 children,
about 90 of a troop of Bengal Horse Artillery, and nearly
CC0 rank and file of tha 44^, or E^S E^sex Regiment.
Amongst the last were some details of the 13th Foot, who
had been left behind when Sir Robert Sale moved from
Cabul to Jellalabad ia Ootob3r s 1841. Of this Europea i
strength 37 officers, 50 rank and file, 12 women, aad 22
children were released from the clutches of Mohammed
Akbar on Sir George Pollock's arrival at tbe Affgha i
capital. Of the native portion of the brigade it is perhaps
not too much to say that nearly one half escaped dastrua-
tion by desertion to the enemy. T-e mea oi Shah
Shoojah'a cavalry and the mission escort want over
bodily, as did also a great portion of his 6th Infantry and
nearly all the Mohammedans of tbe brigade. la cjnneo-
tion with the estimates, more or lass exaggerated, of the
loss of life daring this retreat, io is wdl So bear in miad
tbat during Pollock's advance the number of akole-
tons found on tbe line of march was very small when
compared with the thousands which were reportad to
have perished.
"Inthe contemplation of the Oabul ca astrophe, the
very fa.y victories gained by our other commanders
curing tbe ftmr jears of Affghan warfare have been well
r igh forgotten. This is also probably due to the very
circumBtance tbat these victories were comparatively
caty; but one would suppose that a more just and leas
panic-stricken estimate of the many successes aad
the one great disaster would enable as t> aicribs bjoh to
their true causer, which were simply the iafarior mili
tary capacity of tbe Affgbaas aud their sirdars Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. la tha
cne case, and tbe total seaile incapacity aid nouhia^
else, for everytbirg else resulted from it—of Gaaeral
ElpbiriStcne, wEose proper place, good and amiable maa
as he wa?, should have been aa armahair ia ' the
Senior,' and not the command of a brigade ia the saows
cf Cabul. Lord Keane's march thruugh the Balan
end Khojuck Passes to Candahar aud Cabal was
almost a military promenade aa f<»r aa Gauzaee.
Here, as he stated in hia despatch to tbe Goveraor-
Ceneral, under date July 24, 1839, 8 The army under my
comn and has succeeded in performiag one of the moat
biilliant acts it hes ever been my lot to witness daring my
service of 45 years in the four quarters of tha globe, in
tbe capture by storm of the strong and important fortress
and citadel of Ghuznee yesterday.' While one strong
End, at the cutset, admirably composed lodo-Britiah bri
gade was drifting hopelessly to destruction fjr want of
competent leaders, two others, and neither of them ai
strong as tbe first, were upholding tbe honour of Englaal
at Candabar and Jellalabad in a manner that some
writers and speakers do not care to dwell upon at presanb.
The first-named place aud the adjacent country war >
held by the 40th Foot and four Bengal Native Infantry
regiments under General Nott and Sir Hanry Rawiinaoa
with a unanimity in council and vigour in the-fiali
tbat afford a striking contrast to the unfortunate diasea-
sicrs between the envoy. Sir William M'Naghten,
and tbe military chiefs, Elphinstone and Shelton, as wall
as the feebleness of the military measures adopted by thi
latter at Cabul and on tbe retreat. At JellaUbad ifca
' illustricus garrison,' to quote Lord Eilenborough'a
pbrateclogy, under Sir Robert Sale, consisting of the 13th
Foct and late 35th Bengal Native Infantry—both subse
quently created 'Light Infantry' regiments for this
seivice—with some details of gunners and native horse,
held the place for six months, despite cf dilapidated
fortifications, earthquakes, rigours of climate, and the
utmost efforts of Mohammed Akbar and bis adherents,
who were soundly thrashed, moreover, in the open field,
more than once. Sir Claude Wade, in July, 1839, with a
column composed of native troops only, forced the 28
miles of the Kbyber Pass with a loss of but 180
men, and marched with little further molestation ta
Cabul. Sir George Pollock, with the forca collected b^
Lord Ellenborough to retrieve our fame aad relieve our
garrison b , forced the whole series of defiles from the
Kbjber to the Khoord Cabal in the teeth of Khybarees,
Obiljies, and Mohammed Akbar's followers, with trifling
less; and, when joined there by General Nott from Cau-
dabar, the whole of Affghanistan lay practically prostrate
at his feet. All these successes are surely some set-off
against one disaster, even such an undoubted disaster at
that which ended in the massacre of Gaudamuck.
' In speaking and writing in exaggerated terms of tha
retreat from Cabul as' the most terrible disaster that ever
cccnned to the British arms,' and so forth, it should not
be forgotten that we have had other retreats and
MiEESEcrea where the loss cf military prestige has been to
tbe full as great as tbat incurred by General Elphia-
gtoct'e incapacity, and that, nevertheless, British prestigs
arid tbe Britith Empire have both managed to survive tha
itock. PreEumably, too, the prsseut generation of
Britcne will not care to call thersiseives dageaerata sons
cf their fathers. In India it is Qnly neceasary to recall
the retreats (f Colonels r&sasoa and Bdilie, and ia
America that of Braddc Jt. Oa tha latter contiueat also
i th e evacuatioB of Fort William Henry by Colonel Mu m
undtT tbe tera.s' P r tho convention with the Ma-quia
vde Montcalm, and th^ subtequeat massacra of tha
troops and camp feilowcM by the French Iroquois
Indianf, bear a strong restmblanoe io tbe evacaa-
ticn of the Cabul cantonmaata by General Elphin-
fctone under tbe ' safe conduct' of Akbir Khaa aid his
fellow sirdars Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. , followed by tbe masaacra of tha best part
of the bugada and cacnp followers by tha irrepressibla
Gbiljies.
" There can ba no doubt whatevar tbat wa shall bi
able to overrun Affghanistin as wa have doue before, bu!;
tbe difficulty will cou.e when the exlgeaoles of oar polio/
require parts cf it to ba more or less permanently ocaa-
pied. In this case the mistake muat not agaiu be made
cf denuding tbe occupied territory too soon, under a
false confidence, of cur iroops, even though we are now
clcser to out base of operations than we were ia 1839-42.
In this we have a decided advantage, which we did nol;
then possef-s for our strat?gy. la the last war we hid
o traverse tbe dominions of Ruajeat Singh from Feroza-
pore to tbe Kbyber, a distance of nearly 300 mile?, aa well
ss tbe territories of tbe Sciade Ameers. The 'Lioa of
Lahore' and tbe KMlsa Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , oa the whola,
were loyp.l allies enough; but, if our troubles had
ccme on us a little latsr, it is pretty certain wa
shculd have h»d the Sikhs as well as the Affghans ou
our hands at the same time. The allianca of the Soiada
Ameers fell considerably short of the benevolent, aud thia
fact, joined with other circumstanoes, led to their sap-
pres^ion by Sir Charles Napier at Meeaneeand Kyderabii
in 1842. To-day we are established oa the Khorassia
f.ide cf the Bolan Pass, aud the Afredees and Shiawaraes
cf tbe Kbyber hare neither power nor the will to iajara
us as much as they had and did in former times. It ia
more than probable that they will have less when tha
coming struggle is over. Notwithstanding tha im
petuous instincts of some advisers, aud all that has
been faid to the contrary, it may be safely predict ad
that the Indian authorities have no intention of moving
en Cabul till next sprirg, in the event of Shere Ali