Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎62r] (127/312)

il Cd^ IfWtAjL ^ fcjJSi Jo C
SUMMARY OF THIS MORNING'S NEWS.
are'befiS^/lT fu 5, ther details of the military preparations which
Lahore y f Go X erninent ' who . " ^ announced, will make
Nev?ie rCn!}t1 qUa f th o e - W : inter ' and wil1 not return t0 Calcutta. Sir
at Calcutta T-?* u ^ j 0 , n Sa ^ urd ay- The Times correspondent
the headcmarfers nf r 15 h f ie J ed J h ^ ^neral Abramoff has returned to
still remam at r^K i a" 61 ? 1 Ka ^^ nn > but that two Russian officers
states thaT til i despatch from Simla in the Daily Telegraph \
in praii ° f 1 North ern India is nearly unanimous
*»mrO of the Viceroys Cabul policy, and specially approves the
employment of native nobles in the Cabul mission. The Russian papers
beenTekiranhP^ 53 Afgha " affairs ' and a semi-official statement which has
£ asserts that there is no ground for the assumption that the
?S an Government had any part in the decision of Shere Ali to reject the
int!or!n^ 1SS1C l n -" v ^ conjectures, it is added, are merely the outcome of the
ant ago n i s mw h ichexi s ted between England and Russia during the late war.
On Saturday the T'degraph, obviously acting on official inspiration (for
bo sane journalist would say as much out of his own head), told the public
that Shere Ah s defiance and the war which it will probably force on us
are really matters on which we should congratulate ourselves. It is a stroke
ot luck, m fact. To-day the taller and more solemn ministerial flunkey
(recently engaged) repeats the same assurance. " War, if war we are to
have, will be a troublesome and a costly affair. It promises, neverthe-
T a ? t i be wel1 worth its cost in the end. We may even be
glad at the ^opportunity now granted us of settling our relations with
Aighamstan. It will probably cost some fifteen millions sterling (the last
war cost thirteen), and if in the end we break up Afghanistan, we shall
find ourselves face to face with Russia, with the whole border in the
condition of some of the European provinces of Turkey. Nevertheless
we are fortunate in being compelled to bring about that most promising
tWVc " wV 1 Ru , ssia has so com Pelled us, let us give to her our
thanks. Whether the insolent conduct of Shere Ali has or has not
been instigated by Russia is more than we can say certainly. We will
orgive her freely if she has rendered us this service, whatever may have
been the motive that has prompted her to it."
GENERAL CHAMBERLAIN.
L ieutenant- G eneral Crawford Chamberlain, of the Bengal army, who is
mentioned by the Indian papers as the probable commander of any force
destined for service in Afghanistan, is the younger brother of Sir Neville
Chamberlain, the present Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, and
the envoy depute whose mission to Cabul has been cut short so prematurely.
General Crawford Chamberlain has seen a good deal of service in his
younger days, including the Afghan war, but nothing like so much
as his distinguished brother. The latter's military career began also
with the Afghan war, when he was almost a boy, and during it he
gained a high reputation for personal gallantry, being wounded no fewer
than six times, on several occasions in single combat. Soon afterwards
made commandant of a regiment of irregular cavalry, Sir Neville
Chamberlain rose, by what was in those days very rapid promotion,
to the command of the Punjaub frontier force, with the local rank
of brigadier, he being still^ a regimental captain and brevet lieutenant-
colonel. This force, which numbered nearly eleven regiments of
cavalry and infantry, guarded, and still guards, the line of the North
west frontier, and is independent of the control of the army head
quarters, the commandant being immediately under the orders of the
Government of the Punjaub, and virtually a commander-in-chief. For '
many years after our first occupation of the Punjaub, and on first coming
into contact with the wild frontier tribes beyond the frontier—who from
the time of Alexander the Great downwards have never acknowledged a
master—the " Punjaub Irregular Force," as it was called, was engaged in
almost constant warfare with the enemy; and the brigadier commanded in
person in numerous actions against these gallant foes, characterized in
many cases by very hard hand-to-hand fighting. The outbreak of the
Mutiny found Brigadier Chamberlain still in command on the frontier,
Jbut on the death of Colonel Chester, the Adjutant-General of the Army, .
who was killed in the first action before Delhi, Brigadier Chamberlain
was summoned to replace him. Shortly after reaching the camp he was
severely wounded while leading in person an attack on the enemy in one
of the numerous actions fought before the walls of the city; and for the
rest of the siege the current duties of the Adjutant-General's office were
performed by Lieutenant (now Lieutenant-General) Sir Henry Norman, the
Assistant Adjutant-General of the Army. On the fall of Delhi Brigadier
Chamberlain resigned his post, returning to the command of the Punjaub
frontier force, and while still in that capacity was selected to command
the troops which undertook the Umbeyla campaign of 1863. The hard
•fighting this force went through, and the anxiety which the severe check ;
it received at first caused in England, leading to the despatch in haste of
Sir John Lawrence to India as Governor-General, will still be remembered.
Here, again, General Chamberlain was severely wounded, we believe for
the eighth time, and the successful completion of the campaign fell to be
carried out by Sir John Garvock. This was Sir Neville Chamberlain's last
active employment—unless the dignified retirement of his present position
as Commander in-Chief of the Madras Army can be so designated —
until he was summoned to undertake the abortive mission to Cabul. Sir .
Neville Chamberlain entered the service young, and although some
what crippled by his numerous wounds, his forty years of service sit ^
lightly upon him. Few men of his age are so active and young-looking,
and, from his long and distinguished service on the border, probably no
English name is better known or more respected throughout Afghanistan ;
and if the choice of the right person for envoy could have secured its
success the late mission might have had a different issue.