Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎55v] (114/312)

lemajciDg rfcalcltrarit. The statements that have bssa
ma/c bj some writers, that snow does not appear
anywhere in Affghanistan till December, aad that
Sir George Pollock marched to Cabal in Septamber, ara
ne t correct. Snow does not appear in tbe pawes batwaan
Jellalfibad and Cabul long before December, aal S.r
George Pollock did not commence his march through the
Khjber till the beginning of April. Cibul might cer-
taicly be leached before the defiles are completelf
blocked with snow, but there remain the questLoaa of
supply and communications to be considered. It will,
howtver, be advisable—nay, absolutely necessary—as
far f.s the moral effect on our subject populations is con
cerned, to se'ze the passes and move, at all eveatu, oa
CandabRr, Ali Mcsjeed can and ought to ba captured at
once with the help of the Kbyberees, aud an adpauca
msde to Lalpoora or Ali Bogban. The above msasursa
are both possible and expedient; an immecliate march to
Cabolis n tither."
ENGLAND A.JSD RUSSIA. h
' " • / ^-■
to t&smsa^itor of the morning post.
Sib ,—Surely, at length, Englishman who hare the
slightest claim to the title of patriots, and who have ia
their hearts one spark of national sentiment, mu»t ba
alive to the designs of Russia, and painfully seasibla of
the fact that England has hitherto been overreached or
be'.reyed. Are we again about to allow onnelves to be
cozened end circumvented ? Are we again to enter into
private arrangements with Russia and make still baser
feciificea than we have already made? I have writtea
much and freely on the Eistern Question during these
last three humiliating years. I have called attention
again and again to the deplorable policy to which
we were committed from the first, I beg yoa to
allow ny feeble voice to sound once more through
your columns tie note of warning and of alarm.
If a vigorous policy was needed and miserably absent
'upon every one of the critical occasions which have suc
cessively presented themselves—from tba Canferenca of
Constantinople to the Congress of Berlin—let us now at
length—now, when the continued absence of vigour will
be tantamount to an acknowledgment of national
insignificance—let us, I say, now at length, in
unmistakable accents, protest against any more weakoess,
any mere waveiing, any more wretched, cowardly oom-
piomise and concurrence with robbery and injustica. A
general election cannot be far off. Now is the
time to let the voice of the nation make itself heard.
Let that voice proclaim that what has been called
"Peace with honour " is not sufficient, is not what Bag-
land demands. What Ecgland demands is that her em-
jire shall be maintained and thoroughly protected, what
ever the cost. And what England wants is a Ministry
to vfhem the nation feels that it can confide this all-iia-
pcrtant duly. Are there to be found, in this our day, statas-
men who are really competent for the task, statasmen who
®re capable tf agreement in a vigorous policy? Are
statesaen still to be found who will not be forced by
timidity and discord to have recourse to a miserable
policy cf inactivity and condonation of insult and of
violated faitb ? If such there be, they are the mea that
are wanted. The nation most undoubtedly saes in Russia
a most unsciupulous and insidious foe. That is a faoS
which must be recognised in Downing-streat. His it
been recognised ?—I am, sir, &0,,
ROBERT PHELPS. .
Sidney Sussex College, Cam bridge.
E xjssia a'nd A ffghanistan .—It appears to bfc
! generally considered by those whose special knowledge oni
the subject renders their opinion of value that the Rus
sians have committed an error in reference to the Cabul
difficulty. There la no doubt but that the Russian troops
j in Central Asia have been pushed on with the idea of
seizing Balkh and the passages across the Oxus, and |
the mission forwarded as a sort of oxtreme advance
guard. But by their recent policy the Russiaa Govern- |
ment have exposed their hand, and even the peace
party now can judge of what value are the constant
^icmises "on honour" of Gortschakoff and Sshou-
valcff. If Russia is to have a Resident in the Affghaa
capital, it is the more necessary that wa should have
one too; for we have everything to lose, whilst they
bave everything to gain. We may guard the mouths
of the defiles into India, bub unless we know some-
ibing of what is going cn beyond them we cannot
make arrangements to meet the foe at the mouSh of
tte particular defile he might at any moment select, and
if we allow tbe further ends to be closed to us we may ba
suddenly attacked at the most inopportune moment. It
is to such acotber opportunity as the mutiny that tha
Russians are looking forward. Tha disastsrsof Cabul are
■5 eiy apt torecur to our memories at the present crisis. They j
stand out as the prominent part of the whole picture
because it has been so rare for us to suffer disaster; ba'i
if the story of the campaign be carefully real it musi
le seen that theee disasters occurred only through
fatuous idiccy oa our part, and it is only nacossary
to mentif-n that the "honour" cf an Affghau chief
was considered worthy of reliance to explain in & faw
woids the whole case. Tbe fact should not be lost sight
of that wben a enpall ampunt of military science was
brought to bear we were able to walk over Affghanistui
without difficulty, and ultimately to leave behind ui an
officer commandiog the British forces at Banaiaa, We
are now far stronger in arm*, in troops, ia intelligeace—ia^
fact, in everything.— Army and Navy Gazette,
TEE PVNJAUB*
■Situated in the extreme north-west of our
Anglo-Indian Empire, the Punjaub holds aa
important place among our possessions m tho
East. Those, also, who have watched the course
of recent events entertain a strong conviction
that, at no distant period, this importance will be
materially increased ; it behoves us therefore to
conduct the affairs of the province with all pos
sible vigilance and circumspection. Nothing will
further this end so much as a thorough knowledge
of the country, its inhabitants and sarroundinga,
and this volume, which supplies much useful
.information on each branch of the subject in
a compact form, comes most opportunely for oar
enlightenment. The author, "An Old Pau-
jaubee," has derived many of his facts from well-
authenticated sources and State documents, com
bined with his own personal opportunities for obser
vation, extending over ten or twelve years. Hd
:first describes tbe boundaries and geographies
features of "the land of the live rivers, or
Punjaub proper," a wide tract lying batwoan
the Butlej and the Indus rivers, between which
flow also the B^&s, the Ravee, the Chenaub, and
the Jhelum. To the south of the Sutlej, likewise,
a large territory, including the Ferozapore, Loo-
dianah, and Umballah districts, has always been
considered to form part of the province, and
later on, for convenience of loc^l admiaibtration
after the Mutiny, the Delhi and Hissar divisions
were removed from tho domination of the
Agra Government and added to the Punjaub, while
to the north-west the tract of country lying
between the Indus and theAffghan mountains,
which had been occupied by the Sikhs under
Jlurjeet Singh, was included as part of the British
province of the Punjaub at the annexation of the
•country in 1849. Thus u the northern aud
western boundaries of the province are formed by
the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, frotn
Simla on the north-east to thej Suleimani range,
whose spurs reach the Scindo frontier to the
westward. The twenty-eighth degree of north
latitude represents nearly the southern and the
seventy-eighth degree of east longitude the
eastern boundary." The most remarkable geo
graphical feature of the country is a large barren
waste called the B4r, which runs down the
centre of each Dovab, or delta, of the several
rivers. Formerly these waters were left almost
entirely to the nomadic breeders of camels, cattle,
&c,, and furnished also a safe refuge for cattle-
stealers, whose depredations were totally un
checked during the Sikh occupation, and scarcely
less ao for some time under our own more en
lightened rule. Civilisation, however, has been
attended here, as everywhere else, with its usual
results. Increase of cultivation and growth of
population are gradually reducing the limits ©f
the waste, and, aided by a better system
of police administration, the complete sup
pression of these "reivers of the wilder
ness" may be ere long anticipated. The
area of the Punjaub is estimated at 95,763
square miles, with a population of 17,500,000,
comprising peoples of widely differing character
istics as regards physique, habits, and religion.
The inhabitants when classified by religions con
sist of Sikhs, Hindoos, including several sections
of that creed, Mohammedans of the Punjaub,
Mohammedans of the frontier, and, ia compara
tively small numbers, Buddhists, who ara found
only in the hill regions. The Brahmins here, as
in Hindostan, hold the first place, and " Raj
poots" are to be found principally among the
tribes inhabiting the lower hills to the north
east, several of the petty Rajahs of that
quarter being of that tribe. Ail the classes
thus indicated, with their subdivisions, are briefly
brought under notice, and it will bo seen that the
Mohammedans of tbe Punjaub proper form the
majority of the population. The history of the
Sikhs has been so much discussed of late years
that comparatively very little is here said of thetn.
It is merely related that they came into existence
as a sect about a.d . 1510, Nanuk being the first
prophet, and Gooroo Govind in 1700 the first re
ligious leader ; and it is shown by various sta
tistics that the tribe is rapidly decreasing ia
number. This may be, the author considers, a
fortunate circumstance for tho stability of
our rule in the Punjaub, for there can
be little doubt that tbe Sikhs were the
most formidable enemies tha British troops
ever encountered in the field in India, aud that,
too, when they bad lost the cohesion which made
them so powerful under Runjeet Singh. It
is also stated that the Sikhs are excellent agricul
turists, though hardly equal in this respect to some
of the less warlike races, and that their religion
holds somewhat the same relation to the Hindoo
faith as the Wahabea schism does to the creel of
the Mohammedans. A few details are related
concerning a branch of the tribe known as
Kookas, who gave a great deal of trouble in 1871
and the causes are shortly explained which led to
the invasion of British India in 1845, and entailed
the occupation and subsequent annexation of
the Punjaub. In connection with this part of
the subject a short resume is added of