The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-12-20 00:00:00

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DZBILITY AND NERVOUSNESS.
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inady, 152 pages, by post to all parts of the World,
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phig WARNINIi VOICE; OR, DEBILI-
.L. TATING AND NERVOUS DISEASES : THE
USES, &IMPIOUS, CONSEQUENCE, AND
TE:AITMENT of certain forms of I/C.BIM rY, result-
Loss of Nerve Power By ',.-TENRY
nr.,tlr of Medicine of the University of Jena.
,L d L.."; IS A c,..W MEDICAL WORK on the Nature,
7-;r. atocent, and Core of Nervous, Mental, and Physical
3 Lowness of Spirits, Indigestion, Dimness of
Want of Energy, Deafness, Epilepy, Piles, Prt-
ral,iire Decay. Headache, &c., resulting from Loss
Werra Pnwer, the remults of Intemperance, Late Hours,
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gzatetitiPatient.A, with means of cure used in each case.
D. RitINKY SMITH, 8, BURTON CRESCENT TINDON
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THE season which ought to come to people
of the earth laden with good wishes, makes
its appearance this time somewhat shorn of
the reality with which in times of peace it
is associated. There is not universal peace,
and by no means universal goodwill. And
yet, looking back not very far into the past,
the position has been worse, whatever the
prospect. Carrying the recollection back
only two years, Europe and Asia were being
desolated by one of the worst wars. one of
the most sanguinary, and which had caused
more misery and devastation than any since
the time of the Dark Ages. Then Russia
and Turkey were grappling with each other
on two Continents; Plevna had just sur-
rendered and its gallant defender Osman
Pasha had been carried into captivity. It
was not long after that the power of the
Turk to meet the Muscovite was broken
down ;but the struggle has left a legacy of
debt and difficulty to Russia, which com-
bined with the unsettled social condition of
that vast empire, threatens to break in pieces
that heterogeneous Power, and to leave it a
pray to the anarchic forces of disorder and
revolution.
The war between the Turks and the
Russians led indirectly to the troubles which
two Ch-istmas tides in succession, we have
been called upon to face in Afghanistan.
The surrender of Plevna two years ago was
followed by negotiations for peace, which
resulted in the Treaty of San Stefano, and
to some of the provisions in this instrument
Great Britain strongly objected. So
strained did the relations between the two
Powers become, that England prepared for
war. The clangour of preparation was
heard in dockyard and arsenal; several
millions of money were voted; the reserves
were called out ; and lastly came the serious
step of summoning Indian troops to Malta,
to help us to fight our possible battles in
Europe. This was last April twelve months
a very good time of the year to bring our
dusky warriors to Malta. But stippos'ng
we had actually gone to war with Russia,
and had had to face one, two or three cam-
paigns, as when we were last engaged with
the great Colossus of the North, these Indian
troops would have been of very little service
to us in such a winter as that of 1855 in
the trenches before Sebastopol. What
effect the summoning of these forces from
our Eastern Empire had upon Russia—
whether she was by this induced to lay the
San Stefno Treaty, as demanded by us,
before the assembled Powers—cannot br?.
known. But immediately thereafter Russia
resolved upon a step which, whether intended
or not, had the effect of keeping our Indian
troops at home. Only two months after the
Sepoys had been summoned to Malta, in
order to show the magnitude and resources
of our Empire, Russia sent a mission to
Cabul. Our Government "decided that, as
a set-off to this move, we must do the same.
The Ameer refused to receive our envoy;
war was made upon him ;he fled from his
, kingdom ; and died a fugitive and an exile
'in a foreign land. His son took an insecure
place upon the Afghan throne; the Russian
mission withdrew; the British envcy was re-
ceived ; ard all apparently was going well,
when on the morning of the 3rd September,
some mutinous regiments massacred the
members of our embassy, and threw their
bodies, like the carcases of so many dogs,
into the market-place of Cabul. That of
course had to be avenged ; and thus it comes
to pass that, while last Christmas we were
fighting against the forces of Shere Ali,
this time we are engaged in a guerilla war-
fare with the:turbulent hillmen, our troops
occupying a hostile capital, and surrounded
by a fierce and fanatical population. It is
thus as true to-day as it was a very low,'
time ago, that the beginning of strife is like
the letting out of water.
In another direction in which we have
witnessed some trouble during the year, the
situation is of a more satisfactory character.
The war in South Africa has been brought
to an end, and the military organisation of
the Zulus, which was such a terror to the
colonists of Natal, is broken up. From that
quarter we need anticipate no further
anxiety. At present our chief trouble is
upon the Continent which may be described
as the morning land of Christianity. The
wishes for peace and goodwill were first
breathed there ; and in the seven churches
of Asia was the light of the gospel first seen
a flicker, but the flame of its illumination
has since spread to the uttermost parts of
the sea. While Christian lands are cele-
brating the Nativity, the British army is
engaged with a ruthless enemy in a country
the size of France and more mountainous
than Switzerland. Afghanistan is really
the most barren wilderness in the world ;
but, lying as it does on the confines of our
Indian Empire, it is essential that British
influence should be respected by its rulers
and inhabitants; and therefore it is to be
hoped that the success of our arms will
result in establishing beyond question our
authority and power, and that another
Christmas will witness peace in Afghanis-
tan as well as in all other lands, Christian
or Pagan.