Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎107v] (220/312)

ENGLAND, russia, AND AFGHANISTAN.
The Morning Post says the policy of Russia with reference to the
Asiatic " diversion " she has so skilfully contrived appears, so far as can be
iudged at the present moment, singularly like the policy of Russia in pre
paring for strife with the Ottoman empire. Afghanistan is meant to be
our Servia. The threat of " unofficial " war has been made in the case of
Afghanistan as of Servia, and we are menaced with an open declaration
also, for if we presume to make an end once for all of Shere Ah and his
hostile dynasty, we shall be sure to be confronted by Russia m order to
exact securities against our further progress. But all the while Prince
Dondoukoff and his compeers will be at work in Turkey. A false step
now means incalculable complications and perhaps disasters in the future
It is clear that we must regulate our position definitely with the Czar a
well as with the Ameer. It is no use procrastinating. _ What we shrink
from to-day must be dealt with under more difficult conditions to-morrow
We have got plainly and distinctly the cue to the Muscovite design. _ We
are to be embarrassed in Asia in order to divert us from effective supervision
in Europe, and we are to be out-manoeuvred in Europe as part of the
general plan for the establishment of Russian dominion on the Bosphoru
and Russian domination throughout the entire East.
The Times, remarking upon the observations of the Russian journal?
on the prpbable result of the Afghan difficulty, observes that England
would gladly see Afghanistan remain independent, provided that its
independence were real and its friendship to ourselves even decently well
assured. But the Russian journals may profitably consider the fact that
their own Government has done far more than the Ameer himself to
convince us of the necessity of new safeguards for the protection of our
Indian frontier. Although the Treaty of Berlin has cleared away the clouds,
it would be absurd to suppose that so astute a Power has not attempted to
make provision for future dangers ] and she cannot be surprised at the
supposition that the Ameer would not have dared to defy the Indian
Government if he had not drawn hope from the presence of the Russian
Mission at Cabul. It is quite true that we have no cause of quarrel with
Russia, and it would be undignified to complain because she has been able
to reach the ear of an ignorant Asiatic Prince. But she will have equally
little reason to complain of any consequences that may come from the
Ameer's folly. Russians may fancy, perhaps, that the position of England
would be weakened if she were compelled to keep order in Afghanistan,
because her conquests would then meet those of Russia. We certainly do
not court such a junction, and it is not we who shall bear the chief responsi
bility if it should come about; but at the same time we have no dread of
it. When a Russian statesman predicted that the Cossack and the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank.
would meet on the banks of the Oxus, an English statesman replied that
it was not the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. who had reason to fear such a result; and that retort
was no empty vaunt. Russia would be at an immense distance from her
base of supplies, for her line of railway ends at Orenburg, and between
that frontier town and even Tashkend lies a mighty desert, which it takes
her troops months .to cross. England, having all the resources of the
Indian empire at her back, would be on the spot. Hence Russian soldiers
make a grave miscalculation by thinking that they would gain if the
dominions of the Czar were to be separated from those of the Queen by
a mere river, a mountain chain, or a little strip of desert. Perhaps the
consideration of that fact may in time induce them to give good advice to
a ruler who must at present be the victim of bad counsel.
sir henry havelgck and lord lawrence.
Some of Sir Henry Havelock's constituents having objected to the views
he has expressed on the Afghan question, Sir Henry writes to a Sunderland
paper as follows :—
I should not feel justified in assuming the position that I have, in presence of the
most solemn responsibility that can rest upon a public man—the possibility of that
terrible scourge, war—if ^1 were not fully convinced that the maintenance of our
position in India, and consequently of our exclusive or predominant influence in
Afghanistan, is not only unavoidable, but defensible on every ground of justice,
morality, and right. No man living has a higher respect than I have for Lord
Lawrence, but there are two fallacies running through his whole argument, which, in
my humble opinion, entirely] vitiate it. Lord Lawrence says, in effect—"Accept
the Ameers apology, and do not force a mission upon him, and you will avert war."
Undoubtedly we should for the present. But how would that course get rid of the Russian
influence, permanently established for all future time at the Court of Cabul : that is,
at our very doors ? Would it not leave it there unmolested, admitted, and acknowledged,
while we were permanently excluded ? Would Lord Lawrence himself undertake to govern
India under such conditions as these, with the political frontier of Russia brought to
our very gates ? I am sure that he could not, and that only his earnest desire
to avert war, in which I entirely agree with him, if it only be possible, could have
caused him to overlook this consideration. That he has overlooked it is obvious,
for he makes no suggestion whatever as to how Russian influence is to be
removed from Cabul. Even the recall of Lord Lytton would not do that. Secondly,
to talk of Shere Ah being an independent prince, in the sense that Belgium is inde
pendent of-and therefore nothing to-Germany is to lose sight of the geographical facts
of the case. He is truly independent of us, and has, therefore, in that sense, the right
to do as he pleases, as long as his acts do not affect our safety. But we are not indepen
dent of him, m the sense that he undoubtedly holds the keys of our house-India-and that
he has no right to transfer them to anotherJPower. This gives us the moral right to control
his actions m that one respect. This no man of common sense can deny. And it
L T P T V S ? mitted 1 in Lord Lawrence's argument. Lastly, let
me say that I have not advocated war, except as a last and unavoidable
K rt *^S n th if r^r 17 ' 0n th . e 2 ^ h of September, when the London preTs of
^be held with Shere " a H that no furtIler Parley should
^ .ere All, I came forward alone, and said that h=for^ t.™
ceeding to extremities another chance ought to be given him and that he nno-T^ tr. i?
three (or further refflonstranfe and to fecIsX hi ^sition. Thope S
the Indian Government have acted upon this. I believe they have, and that if thev
determine to resort at last to arms it will be onlv when Shere All w f - , y
refused, as he has done for the last two years, taS ^
desire for a friendly alliance with him personally bf messenger. Pp0rtUmty of statm S our ,