Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎116v] (238/312)

BUSSIA AND AFGHANISTAN.
BERLIN,,Oct. 9.
The Afghan excitement being on the increase,
even the most pacific portion of the Russian Press
is enchanted with the delightful prospect of settling
England definitively. The St. Petersburg Bourse
Gazette, a paper which was steadily opposed to the
Turkish war, now insists upon measures to esta
blish Russian control over the passes of the
Hindoo Koosh. We are told :—
" If the passes forming the only road from
Russia to India are under Russian control, Russian
snd English power is equally balanced in the East.
Afghanistan is the one point where the entire
might and influence of England may be effectually
resisted and paralyzed by Russia. Suppose these
passes—the strategical pivot of the Oriental
question—become English property, there will be
no end to English pretensions. Afghanistan is to
be conquered by one of those coups which have
made India an English dependency. Headed by
The Times newspaper, the English Press is hound
ing public opinion against the defenceless Ameor.
Russia should make the Ameer's cause her own,
and by the despatch of a sufficient force render
Afghanistan invincible. A small Russian corps
would suffice to force England to stake her Asiatic
position on the issue of the struggle. For Russia
to defend the Ameer is to vindicate her own Im
perial interest, an office altogether different from
the Quixotic defence of the Slav."
OUB INDIAN TROOPS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES,
Sir,—As it is by no means unlikely that the campaign in
Afghanistan may entail very severe work, it is well the
Horse Guards and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. authorities should hear in
mind that there is positively no Reserve of British officers for
the Native Army whatever, and that vacancies as they occur |
could not, as at present, be filled up with benefit or safety by
being drawn solely from the officers of British regiments
in India only.
There is, however, a simple, economical, and judicious
way of at once obtaining a Reserve, which is by throwing
open the Staff Corps to captains and subalterns of two
years' service of British regiments in England and the
Colonies. Many are only too anxious to go—indeed, it is
strange this plan did not long ago obtain ; and if a reduc
tion of officers in corps at home is, as it is said to be, con
templated, it would be an advantage to home regiments
and a ready way of forming a Reserve of young officers
ready to take up their duties at once. An officer on service
would learn as much of the language and habits of his
men in a week as he would in cantonments in a twelve*
month. Yours faithfully,
STAFF CORPS.
COLONEL STANLEY, M.P., ON FOREIGN
AFFAIRS.
(bt
BLACKPOOL, Wkdbtesdat Night.
Colonel Stanley, the Secretary of State for W; ar,
was present this afternoon at a series of gatherings held in
celebration of the opening of a Conservative Club in this
town. In the afternoon a banqraet was bald in the club
itself, the President, Mr. W, BL Cocker, mayor of tha
borough, occupying the cbair.
Colonel Stai-ovet, M.P., in responding to the toast of
"Our Legislators and Defenders" (which was proposed by
Mr. Edmund Birley),said thia'countryand the whole world
had ratified the policy which the present Government had
upheld, and which two members of the Government did
so much to forward in the Berlin Congress. That policy
was lopked upon at home and abroad as one which was
strongly flavoured with every element of succesB. He did
not wish to put the matter too strongly, because there
were plenty of people around them who would
take an early opportunity of pointing out
that all the pornta of the Berlin Treaty
had not been at once crowned with entire success ; but in
this as in all other matters of business they must bear in
mind the virtues of patience and common sense. They
could not expect as with the magic wand of an enchanter
to sweep away all difficulties of race and creed, that
all animosity and even worse passions should at once
disappear, and that the millennium of nriiversal peace
should immediately arise. What they would confidently
expect was the basis of a peace durahlo and sound
and beneficial to the whole world. Mr. Birley had re
minded them that it was only a few years ago that one
branch of,the Legislature^was spoken of if not with abso
lute scorn, at least not with proper respect; but he
thought that when fhey looked back upon the past year
and saw what the power of that House was in debate,
and what power individual members of that Hous* had
exercised, not only at home but abroad, in sustaining the
honour and welfare of the country, they would hesitate
even more than the prophetic three times before they took
any steps j for the abolition of the House of Lords.
(Cheers.) _ With regard io the House of Commons, as to
which their friends told them that it adjusted itself from
time to time, and even now there were many who were
anxious to make some further alteration, the present
system made that House fairly representative of the
country. It was said in 1868, when their party was in its
darkest period of depression, and the prospect of seeing
their principles prevail appeared to be remote, what Lan
cashire thought to-day England would think to-morrow.
(Cheers.) That to-morrow came in 1874 ; it had lasted
until now, he hoped it was full of promise for the
future ; and judging from the fact that when he accepted
office he was not forced to a contest, he thought he mi^ht
say that that constitnency had not changed its political
views. (Cheers.) They heard a good deal about the
defences of the country—a good deal that was true, and,
on certain occasions, a good deal that was untrue. As to the
army, it was placed in a special position of difficulty. It had
climatic as well as bodily foes, and whether it be in the
presence of disease or under the discomforts of 'traversing
the pathless wilds, of Africa or the snows of Canada, the
army had always redeemed its pledges. (Cheers.) As to
the navy, he looked upon it as the strongest link in the
chain which bound the Empire together, and with regard
to the home defences, he hoped they might long be pre
served in their present state of efficiency. It was the
strength of our defences this year whi-.-h enabled us to
speak with power in matters of legislation. In this as in
other matters the country was respected which
respected itself, and its voice would be listened to when
it was felt that it was not a voice alone. (Cheers.)
Colonel Stanley concluded by proposing the toast of
" Success of the Club," to which the chairman responded.
Colonel Stanley, in some subsequent observations, said
it was a great consolation to any Minister, whoever he
might be, in the troubles and difficulties through which
finy Government must pass, to find when he went amongst
his friends that there were those who were willing to put
a charitable construction upon his acts and to look with a
friendly eye upon what his Government had done. If
everything flourished as well as that institution, we
should have a happy world, because he understood that
there had not only "been no falling off in the number of
members, but that there bad been a very considerable
increase in the finances. It was this which had emboldened
them to take the actionof that day. He felt sure that the
energetic gentlemen who had been connected with the
! institution from the first would carry it on in the future,
and he trusted that tbey had inaugurated a fresh period
of prosparity for th« club. He ventured to say that after
all the hard words which had been used towards the
Government, after all the unfriendly statements that had
been made, after all th« various suspicions which had been
evinced at different times respecting the action of the
Government this year, they had given him no reason to
believe that they were ashamed of either the
| Government or of its representatives. (Cheers.)
He had no wish to take a retrospect which must neces
sarily h«*a rather long one ; but, be the causes as they
might, the fact remained that during the years the pre
sent Government had been in office thay had to steer their
way through very troubled waters. There was, ha
thought, only one mark which, when they navigated those ,
seas, could really keopj them etraipht ; it was a deter- |
mination to do as far as in them lay that which they be
lieved to be their duty as individuals and to their country.
(Cheers, i Ho felt sure they all recognised in their hearts
the fact that any line of action founded upon principles
other than those, successful as it might be for the
moment, would bring with it its own retribution
i in the end. Their lines had fallen in rather
troublous times; those times had necessita,ted the
increase and the ntilisation in some cases of the de
fences of this country, and necessarily thoso de
fences were not put in motion without expense. They
had been kept up, it was true, at a cost—a cost which
some people woutd have them believe was to be con
sidered above ail things—but it was a cost which he felt
sura those who were most able to balance the affairs of
this world would conaider to be fully justified in the
present position of the country. (Cheers.) With regard
to the action which the English Government had ta ken in
the past year, he would repeat what he had said before.
It was his firm belief that unless they had proved by
action that they were sincere and anxious to carry to its
end the part which they had undertaken in the Con-
forenco, their mere sending of the representatives,
; even if a congress could have been called,
i would have been without effect, and would not have led
| to the conclusion which they were happy to thinlr it had.
(Cheers.) A part of the treaty, and the part which was
the most attacked perhaps in Parliament and in the Press
by thoso who opposed them, was the agreement whereby
they entered into a convention with, 1 urkey by which this
country, for the,time being, was to administer one of her
provinces, that had the means of affording us such help
as in certain contingencies we might require. He was not
claiming infallibility for any member of the Govern
ment, but he felt sure that Unless the country at times
prepared to run some riek, even with its eyes open, they
, would not carry people with them or convince them of
their sincerity. They must be prepared at some time to
! encounter those difficulties and to make up their minds
among those disturbing causes which fell to the lot of any
man who had to steer the ship through the troublesome
waters of this world. (Cheers.) So far as his personal
belief went, ho eaw no reason, despite the desponding
views which were taken of it, to be otherwise than satis
fied with that part of the convention under which we ad
ministered the island of Cyprus. There were very valid
reasons, both of a civil and a military character, which
rendered that step advisable. (Cheers.), A great deal had
been said about illness and suffering on the island, and
almost every day they had seen in the columns of tho
press various alarming statements, and not a few reflect
ing upon the judgment and even upon the conscience
of those who had provided such an unhealthy sta
tion. No one holding the position which he had
tho honour to fill would regard with anything but
the deepest care and apprehension anvthing which
concerned the troops at our disposal. "But, on the
other hand, those troops existed for a purpose, and if they
had to be sent to a foreign part, which it was necessary
for us to occupy for military reasons, then it was distinctly
the duty of those in office not to hazard the particular
risks which might fall upon them. (Cheers.) lie could
conscientiously say that, although there had been illness
i which they must all deplore, authorities who were best'
: qualified to judge continued to assure him that there was
nothing in the permanent occupation of the island t©
render it more deadly to the forces than those islands of
Greece which we formerly occupied. A great many
people had questioned the wisdom of the conven
tion with Turkey altogether, and if it had been a
convention for the maintenance of Turkey with all
thoso defects which we recomised and deplored,
there would have been a good deal of foroe in their argu
ment. But the convention was not with Turkey as she
was, but with a Turkey which had promised reforms, and
they had no reason to doubt tho sincerity of those who
promised thoso reforms. With regard to matters
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RUSSIA AND AFGHANISTAN.
BERLIN„O ot. 9.
The Afghan excitement being on the increase,
even the most pacific portion of the Russian Press
is enchanted with the delightful prospect of settling
England definitively. The St. Petersburg Bourse
Gazette, a paper which was steadily opposed to the
Turkish war, now insists upon measures to esta
blish Russian control over the passes of the
Hindoo Koosh. We are told :—
" If the passes forming the only road from
Russia to India are under Russian control, Russian
and English power is equally balanced in the East.
Afghanistan is the one point where the entire
might and influence of England may be effectually
resisted and paralyzed by Russia. Suppose these
passes—the strategical pivot of the Oriental
question—become English property, there will be
no end to English pretensions. Afghanistan is to
be conquered by one of those coups which have
made India an English dependency. Headed by
The Times newspaper, the English Press is hound
ing public opinion against the defenceless Ameer.
Russia should make the Ameer's cause her own,
and by the despatch of a sufficient force render
Afghanistan invincible. A small Russian corps
would suffice to force England to stake her Asiatic
position on the issue of the struggle. For Russia
to defend the Ameer is to vindicate her own Im
perial interest, an office altogether different from
the Quixotic defence of the Slav."
OUR INDIAN TROOPS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—As it is by no means unlikely that the campaign in
Afghanistan may entail very severe work, it is well the
Horse Guards and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. authorities should bear in
mind that there is positively no Reserve of British officers for
i the Native Army whatever, and that vacancies as they occur ,
could not, as at present, be filled up with benefit or safety by
being drawn solely from the officers of British regiments
in India only.
There is, however, a simple, economical, and judicious
way of at once obtaining a Reserve, which is by throwing
open the Staff Corps to captains and subalterns of two
years' service of British regiments in England and the
Colonies. Many are only too anxious to go—indeed, it is
strange this plan did not long ago obtain ; and if a reduc
tion of officers in corps at home is, as it is said to be, con
templated, it would be an advantage to home regiments
and a ready way of forming a Reserve of young officers
ready to take up their duties at ouce. An officer on service
would learn as much of the language and habits of his
men in a week as he would in cantonments in a twelve*
month. Yours faithfully,
STAFF C ORPS. [
I COLONEL STANLEY, M.P., ON FOEEIGN
AFFAIRS,
(bt
BLACKPOOL, W editesdat N ight.
Colonel Stanley, the Secretary of State for "War,
was present this afternoon at a series of gatherings held in
celebration of the opening of a Conservative Club in this
town. In the afternoon a banquet was held in the club
itself, the President, Mr. W. iL Cocker, mayocr of the
borough, occupying the chair.
Colonel S tanuet, M.P., in responding to the toast of
"Our Legislators and Defenders" (which was proposed by
Mr. Edmund Birley),saidthis>;countryand the whole, world i
had ratified the poficy which the present Government had i
upheld, and which two members of the Government did
so much to forward in the Berlin Congress. That policy ;
was looked upon at home and abroad as one which was
strongly flavoured with every element of success. He did
not wish to put the matter too strongly, because there
were plenty of people around them who would
take an early opportunity of pointing out
that all the points of the Berlin Treaty
had not been at once crowned with entire success ; but in
this as in all other matters of business they must bear in
mind the virtues of patience and common sense. They |
could not expect as with the magic wand of an enchanter
to sweep away all difficulties of race and creed, that
all animosity and even worse passions should at once i
disappear, and that the millennium of universal peace
should immediately arise. What they would confidently j
expect was the basis of a peace durable and sound i
and beneficial to the whole world. Mr. Birley had re
minded thera that it was only a few years ago that one
branch of,the Legislature^was spoken of if not with abso
lute scorn, at least not with proper respect; but he
thought that when they looked back upon the past year
and saw what the power of that House was in debate,
and what power individual members of that Hons* had
exercised, not only at home but abroad, in sustaining the
honoux and welfare of the country, they would hesitate
even mora than the prophetic three times before they took
any steps, for the abolition of the House of Lords.
(Cheers.) With regard to the House of Commons, as to
which their friends told them that it adjusted itself from :
time to time, and even now there were many who were |
anxious to make some further alteration, the present i
system made that House fairly representative of the i
country. It was said in 1868, when their party was in its |
darkest period of depression, and the prospect of seeing
their principles prevail appeared to be remote, what Lan
cashire thought to-day England would think to- niorrow.
(Cheers.) That to-morrow came in 1874 ; it had lasted
until now, he hoped it was full of promise for the
future ; and judging from the fact that when he accepted
office he was not forced to a contest, he thought he mi^ht
say that that oonstitnency had not changed its political
views. (Cheers.) They heard a good deal about the
defences of the country—a good dsal that was true, and,
on certain occasions, a good deal that was untrue. As to the
army, it was placed in a special position of difficulty. Ithad j
climatic as well as bodily foes, and whether it be in the
presence of disease or under the discomforts of ttraversing
the pathless wilds, of Africa or the snows of Canada, the
army had always redeemed its pledges. (Cheers.) As to
the navy, he locked upon it as the strongest link in the
chain which bound the Empire together, and with regard
to the home defences, he hoped they might long be pre
served in their , present state of efficiency. It was the
strength of our defences this vear Whi-.-h enabled us to
speak with power in matters of legislation. In this as in
other matters the country was respected which
respected itself, and its voice would be listened to when
it was felt that it was not a voice alone. (Cheers.)
Colonel Stanley concluded hy proposing the toast of
" Success of the Club," to which the chairman responded.
Colonel Stanley, in some subsequent observations, said
it was a great consolation to any Minister, whoever he
might be, in the troubles and difficulties through which
any Government must pass, to find when he went amongst
bis friends that there were those who were willing to put
a charitable construction upon his acts and to look with a
friendly eye upon what his Government ha.d done. If
everything fiouriihed as well as that institution, we
ehould have a happy world, because ho understood that
there had not only been no falling off in the number of
members, but that there had been a very considerable
increase in the finances. It was this which had emboldened
them to take the action of that day. He felt sure that the
energetic gentlemen who had been connected with the
i institution from the first would carry it on in the future,
j and he trusted that tboy had. inauRnrated a fresh period
j of prosperity for the club. He ventured to say that after
all the hard words which had been used towards the
Government, after all the unfriendly statements that had
been made, after all the various suspicions which had been
evinced at different times respecting the action of the
i Government this year, they had given him no reason to
I believe that they were ashamed of either the
I Government _ or of its repreEcntatives. (Cheers.)
- He had no wish to take a retrospect which must neces
sarily b«*a rather long one ; but, be the causes as they
might, the fact remained that during the years the pre
sent GovemmeDt had been in office they had to steer their
way through vary troubled waters. There was, he
thought, only one mark which, when they navigated those ,
seas, could really keopj them straight ; it was a deter- !
mination to do as far as in thera lay that which they be
lieved to ba their duty as individuals and to their country.
(Cheers, i He felt sure they all recognised in their hearts
the fact that any line of action founded upon prindples
other than those, successful as it might be for thfl
moment, would bring with it its own retribution
in the end. Their lines had fallen in rather
troublous times; those times had necessitated the
increase and the utilisation in some cases of the de
fences of this country, and necessarily those de
fences were not put in motion without expense. They
had been kept up, it was true, at a cost—a cost which
some people woutd have them believe was to be con
sidered above all things—but it was a cost which ho felt
sure those who wore most able to balance the affairs of
this world would consider to be fully justified in the
present position of the country. (Cheers.) With regard
to the action which the English Government had taken in
the past year, he would repeat what he had said before.
It was his firm belief that unless they had. proved by
action that they were sincere and anxious to carry to its
end the part which they had undertaken in the Con-
forenco, their mere sending of the representatives,
j even if a congress could have been called,
j would have been without effect, and would not have led
I to the conclusion which they were happy to think it had.
(Cheers.) A part of the treaty, and the part which was
the most attacked perhaps in Parliament and in the Press
by those who opposed them, was the agreement whereby
they entered into a convention with. 1 urkey by which this
country, for the,time being, was to administer one of her
provinces, that had the means of affording us such help
as in certain contingencias we might require. He was not
claiming infallibility for any member of the Govern
ment, but he felt sure that Unless the country at times
prepared to run some nek, even with its eyes open, they
would not carry people with them or convince them of
| their einoerity. They must be prepared at some time to
encounter those difficulties and to make up their minds
among those disturbing causes which fell to the lot of any
man who had to steer the ship through the troublesome
waters of this world. (Cheers.) So far as his personal
belief went, ho saw no reason, despite the desponding
views which were taken of it, to be otherwise than satis
fied wii h that part of the convention under which we ad
ministered the island of Cyprus. There were very valid
reasons, both of a civil and a military character, which
rendered that step advisable. CCheers.), A great deal had
been said about illnesa and suffering on the island, and
almost every day they had seen in the columns of the
press various alarming statements, and not a few reflect
ing upon the judgment and even upon the conscience
of those who had provided such an unhealthy sta
tion. No one holding the position which he had
the honour to fill would regard with anything but
the deepest care and apprehension anything "which
concerned the troops at our disposal. 'But, on the
other hand, those troops existed for a purpose, and if they
liad to be sent to a foreign part, which it was necessary
for us to occupy for military reasons, then it was distinotly
the duty of those in office not to hazard the particular
risks which might fall upon them. (Cheers.) He could
conscientiously say that, although there had been illness
i which they must all deplore, authorities who wers best'
qualified to judge continued to assure him that there was
nothing in the permanent occupation of the island t©
render it more deadly to the forces than those islands of
Greece which we formerly occupied. A great many
people had questioned the wisdom of the conven
tion with Turkey altogether, and if it had been a
convention for the maintenance of Turkey with all
those defects which we recognised and deplored,
there would have been a good deal of foroe in their argu
ment. But the convention was not with Turkey as she
was, but with a Turkey which had promised reforms, and
they had no reason to doubt the sincerity of those who
promised those reforms. With regard to matters
still further East he spoke individually and with the
greatest caution, not with a wish to conceal or extenuate
anything, but because we had only very meagre informa
tion to found an opinion upon. What we did know
was that our relations with Afghanistan had always been
of a somewhat mixed and sometimes of a troublous
nature, but we were, perhaps, hardly prepared for such
distinct evidence, or apparent evidence, of unfriendlimeas
on the part of the ruler of that empire as that of which
the telegraph bad brought us news. As far as
he could see we had no right at this moment to
complain of the action of the Government. We bad
satiafaction in feohng that the best possible sentiments
had been evidenced by the native army in India—(hear,
hear) and if this country waa to put forth her strength
he trusted that we might look confidently for the same
result as had attended her efforts upon former occasions.
We had no wish for aggresaion or conquest. We wanted
to go our way peacefully amongst nations and untram-
laelled, and with the power ot carrying out our own
business in our own way—(cheers) ; and though wo could
not object to our neighbour keeping the kev of his own
door, it did seem to some poisons that we had a right to
see how we stood it it appeared likely that that neighbour
would hand over the kay to another person, (Cheers.)