Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎66r] (135/312)

repetition of Servian, tactics will be endured by
her Majesty's Government; and that our enemies
will have to declare themselves openly, whoever
and wherever they may be.
By this time it is possible enough that the
head of the Russian Mission has already been
withdrawn from Cabul. There are indications
that such may be the case, and that only subor
dinate agents remain at present in the Ameer's
capital; so that before our demand is made
for the recall of the interloping A bramoff or
S toletoff —for the very name of the Czar's,
emissary appears dubious—we may be met with
the answer that he has left Cabul in the regular
course. This is the response which the Nord fore
shadows in writing as follows : " If the Russian
Envoy withdraws, which we will not yet take upon
ourselves to affirm, it will evidently be under the !
regular conditions of the return of these kinds'
of embassies when once their mission is accom-
! plished, and not at the summons of England.
There is at present no Afghan question at St.
Petersburg, and it would be gratuitous clum
siness and imprudence of English policy to i
create one. Russia, at peace with England, is}
in no way desirous of attacking or disquieting i
British rule in India." But it was the same!
Muscovite organ which recently confessed that I
1 the expedition of K auffman and the errand
of the Cabul Envoy were both conceived to
" disquiet" British India in the expectation of
war, and would still prove useful during peace,
as diverting attention from Russian proceedings
in Bulgaria and Kurdistan. It is such palpable
prevarications as these—and those yet more
painful examples of ill-faith in higher circles
which have been furnished by Khiva, Livadia,
and the last broken pledge of Prince G ort-
SCHAkoff regarding Afghanistan—which de
grade the journalism and diplomacy of Russia
to the moral level of Pathans, and forbid
Europe to rank her among really civilised
Powers. To speak in one breath about the
educating influence of England in Asia, and that
of the Czar's Generals, is to compare the nine
teenth century with the Dark Ages, or G enghis
K han with A kbar . If the Russians them
selves provoke such a contrast, it will be their
own fault when it is put to proof by the logic
of events.
THE AFGHAN AT HOME.
Amongst his own people, says a 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. who
knows the country well, the Afghan chief knows
no restraints Nothing is safe from his shame
ful cupidity, and, indeed, were it not for their
love of country, wild independence, and pride,
nothing would keep the Afghans together as
a nation. " They know this and lament it,
for they say that if they were only united
they would be the conquerors of the*- world.
Yet they pride themselves on their turbulent
independence and anarchical life." The Afghan
bates control, and would much rather suffer
wrongs at the hands of those stronger than
himself and live in the hope of being some day
able to exercise the same power over those j
who are weaker, than submit to a regular
government, with equality of rights and codes
of laws. Twice during the few months that
a British mission spent at Candahar, in 1857-68,
rumours reached the city that civil war had
broken out at Cabul, but in both cases the re
ports resolved themselves into eruptions of old
feuds between the chiefs. On one occasion the
belligerents were near relatives of the Ameer
himself, and by their armed bands daily fight
ing, plundering, and murdering, all the ap
proaches to the capital, as well as the suburbs,
were thrown into desperate alarm, and all
traffic ceased. The authorities could do nothing,
for it was understood that where there were two
parties in a quarrel the whole city—civil, reli
gious, military, and industrial—would be split
into two factions, and half range itself
on either side. An^ for suppressing a
formidable emeute the Ameer has no adequate
forces. The private feud, therefore, is allowed
to run its course, the public interests to suffer
by the total interruption of trade and the
plunder and murder of citizens. Dr. Bellew,
referring to an event of this kind, declares
such incidents to be of daily occurrence among
all classes. The anger or revenge of the Afghan
once aroused, murder can alone allay the passion,
" for mercy they know not, and forgiveness
would be considered a shameful weakness." The
necessity of seeking revenge is instilled into
them from their mother's arms, and as soon as
they are of an age to do so they patiently and
I perseveringly hunt up the enemies of their
1 houso, travelling with religious ardour from
place to place, and year to year, in the one
hope of some day taking their adversary un
awares.
An incident of Candahar life will illustrate
the actual authority possessed by the 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.
within the limits they are supposed to ad
minister, and also the elements, of mischief and
local disturbance which are always at hand in
the cities of Cabul. As it is at Candahar, so is
it at Ghuzni, at Herat, at Khilat-i-Ghilzai; so in
miniature is it at every minor town and village ;
till even in the hamlet of a hundred people we
find the military sentry exercising absolutely
despotic powers. A Hindu boy had been seized
by force by some Mohammedans who intended
to make a convert of him, but the lad's co-re
ligionists, mustering in force, besieged the chief
with petitions for his intervention. The chief,
who was also the heir-apparent to the Cabul
throne, consented at last to listen to the case,
and on receiving a bribe permitted the boy
to escape from his jailers. The Mohammedans
were furious, and when the heir-apparent next
appeared in public he was grossly insulted by
the religious chiefs, the Mollahs. In punish
ment for this all the religious and legal precep
tors of Candahar were banished en masse from
the city ; and the order went forth that they
were not on any account to be admitted for a
week. The very next day, however, the holy
men appeared in a body at the gate of the city
and demanded entrance. The troops on guard
at once fraternised with them, and the Mol
lahs entered in triumph. Once inside the gate,
the mob lost all control over itself, and amidst
cries of " Death to all infidels!" surged through
the streets in quest of aj victim, the chief magis
trate being the first. His house was thoroughly
reduced to ruins and the lives of the Europeans
then in the city were placed in danger, until
the heir-apparent's body guard cleared the
rabble from the streets. That chief him
self dared do nothing, for though a few of his
soldiers were sufficiently under command to
charge an unarmed mob at his orders, the bulk
of the troops, he knew, as well as all the popu
lation, would certainly side with tho priests
against him. He accordingly waited for pro
posals from the offended doctors of the law,
and agreed to them as soon as they were
made.
Not less remarkable than this want of real
power is the shocking exercise of force. Ava
rice is a natural vice with the Afghan, and
to obtain another's goods at the least possible
cost, or at none at all, is the constant
aim of those in authority. Whatever they
require they take at their own price, some
times even without any pretence at conceal
ment of the tyranny. At other times a farce of
justice is played off upon the unhappy owners
of the wares in question, who, beside being
robbed, are therefore also befooled. If, for in
stance, a consignment of horses passes within
the immediate jurisdiction of a Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. , the whole
I drove is brought in for his inspection. Selecting
j those he prefers, he has them placed on one
{side ; and, after expatiating in a loud voice
-upon their defects and general worthlessness,
asks a courtier what he thinks would be
a fair price for the lot. The courtier,
after much hesitation and critical digression,
suggests about a tenth of the real valufe, adding,
however, that as the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. is famous from one
end of the earth to the other for his liberality to
traders, it is just possible he may condescend to
give a few shillings more. Others reply in the
same strain, some raising the sum by trifling
amounts, others in the same way lowering it, so
that the invariable outcome of all the opinions
is that a tenth of the animal's value is given as
a fair price. With this opinion the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. him
self at last' agrees, and the wretched horse
dealers retire from the great man's presence with
a smile of thanks on their faces, but hearts full
of curses.
A frequent artifice is to declare the currency
to be depreciated, to call it in at half its
former worth, and then immediately afterwards
to issue it at its original value. In a single year,
if the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. has expensive«tastes, or there is an
extraordinary demand on the public funds, this
will happen once a month. Monopolies are esta
blished of any article .that may be found to be
temporarily in large consumption. The exces
sive prices asked at once bring down the demand,
and the trade is strangled. As soon as it is
found to be unremunerative, the monopoly is
abandoned for another, and so in turn every
j branch of trade and manufacture suffers from
| the grasping avarice of the temporary chief. An