Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎128r] (263/312)

THE ATTITUDE OF EUSSIA.
The Daily Telegraph considors thab the ' peace !
witli honour' which was brougiit back hither from j
Berlin had better lose its first than its last characteristic, I
and it were better that the f state of war' with which i
Prince Lobanoff menaces the Sultan should be roundly
recognised than that Great Britain should look on while
the provisions enforced upon Eussia at Berlin are
openly set at naught. The intimate connection between
Russia's breach of her pledge as regards Afghanistan,
and her cont empt for international faith as regards the
evacuation of Turkish territory, is no longer matter of
doubt. No temporising or tentative stjps will therefore
serve to uphold the security and credit of Great Britain,
: cajoled and defied, as she is, along the whole line of her
1 Oriental interest from the Bosphorus to the Khyber .
Pass. The Czar's Government must be compelled
to observe its contract to the letter in all dates
and details of the evacuation of European Turkey, just
as surely as his agents must be made to withdraw from
Afghanistan, never again to re-enter it, except with
British permission. In five years' time this programme
of resolute right and wise insistance might indeed
become difficult of execution, but the case is not so now,
when Eussia is labouring under financial embarrass
ment and internal disaffection, and carries on her two
fold plot in the trust that she may obtain by audacity
what she has not sfcrensth enousrii left to snatch by
force. To a firm front opposed by Turkey, with the
support of England, Prince Gortschakolf will most pro
bably at once yield. But the language empl yod by |
the Queen's Ministers must in any case be unmistak
able, and the retreat of Russia from ber aggression
through Cabul and from ber present attempt upon the I.
validity of the Berlin Treaty oug'at to be made as
public "as bar sstaalt uooa our neace in India and her
machinations against our honour and interests at Con
stantinople."
The Week believes that "no timid patching-up will
ever ' settle ' the Eastern Question. "What do we behold
now ? Eussia has all at once countermanded the retreat
of her troops towards Adrianople, and once mor j they
are under the walls of Constantinople. This movement
has been carefully timed with the blow aimed at us in
Afghanistan. "With contemptuous indifference to English
opinion on the subject, the Eussian Press is permitted to
explain the whole position to our muddy understandings:
' England may, by an Afgnan war, have her action
diverted from Asia Minor and the Balkans to Cabul.'
The same pre ext under which Eussia began the late
war can be used again—alleged outrages upon Chris
tians. Mr. Gladstone and his followers will take up the
cry as they did in 1876. From Eusda's point of view, ,
why should she withdraw her armies ? Why give up |
the prey when it is in her clutch ? If we were Eussia.ns
we should consider it little short of insanity for her to
do so, considering how events are shay ing out her course
for her, and looking at the condition in which parties
are at the present moment in England."
The Morning Post says" As information continues
to accumulate upon the manner in which Eussia under
stands her obligations under the Treaty of Berlin, it is
not to be wondered at that the feeling of distrust goes
on increasing among the observers of her crooked and
menacing policy. Wherever we turn there is some
thing to warn us of the work which is goinsr on. It
j may be in Asia that we shall feel the first touch of that
collision which has been so long and so often predicted.
But it is in Europe, as we have so repeatedly insisted,
that the present and immediate object of Eussian gre d
is to be descried. As the Golos observes, the haxass-
ing of British interests in India may be expected to
1 create a diversion on the Balkans and the Danube. We
I are forewarned, and we ought to be forearmed. It we
can still mistake the drift ot our rival's policy, then, in. j
, deed, history and contemporary fact will have alike 1
i preached their lesson in vain."
SPECTATOR. October 12, 1878.
THE Standard of Thursday published a telegram from Simla an
nouncing that General Ross had passed Ali Musjeed, and
marched on the Valley of Dakka, at the Afghan end of the Khyber
Tass, being shown the way there by some Khyberees. The story was
improbable, as General Ross would have to carry provisions and
ammunition and powder on men's backs, and it is still uncon
firmed. The more vraisemblant account is that he is still at
Jumrood, that the Government is slowly accumulating force
opposite the Bolan, the Koorum, and the Khyber Passes, and that
the decision as to a winter campaign, beginning on November
11th, or a spring campaign, beginning in April, is not yet finally
made. It is asserted on good authority that the Ameer has sent
6,000 regulars and a hill clan, the Momunds, to defend the Khyber,
that he has advanced 15,000 men to guard the Koorum, and that
be has sent a force, possibly in command of his son,
Yakoob, to threaten Quettah. What is certain is that we are
preparing for a campaign, that the Bengal Army is being
slowly pushed northward, and that orders have been issued
to all officers employed north of Delhi to join their
posts forthwith. No reinforcements are under orders, but every
regiment is being brought up by drafts to its full strength. The
weak place will probably be found to be European cavalry.