The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-02 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND AFGHANISTAN.

The Times (in a leader on Monday says it is not yet
absolutely necessary to dismiss the hope that before
the campaigning season of the spring the Ameer, or
the Ameer's very loosely disciplined nobles, may see
that a reasonable submission to a not unreasonable
demand is
.better than certain ruin. As regards
the question raised as to the morality of de-
claring war upon Shere All, The Times admits
that he certainly has a right to be left alone so
long as he does nothing to endanger our power;
but, if we must choose between the safety of the Em-
pire and the toleration of his caprices, we must defend
interests which are a thousand times more important
for the human race as well as for ourselves than the
independence of Afghanistan. The principal question
which we have to determine in this case is not moral,
but military. Shere Ali has peremptorily and,
it would seem, finally refused to let an Eng-
lish envoy enter his territory, while he has
given a welcome to an envoy from Russia. Were
such a decision merely unfriendly, it might be
beneath the notice of a great Power, and we could
afford to wait for some returning gleam of courtesy.
But everybody knows what is meant by the presence
of a Russian envoy in a capital f t the very gates of
India. Russia could not afford to throw away such an
opportunity of gaining power in a country which, in
some crisis of European diplomacy, might enable her
to act with decisive effect. It would be pharisaic
to blame her for making hay while the sun shone.
If subsidies were to find their way into the hands
of the Ameer, if skilled officers were to drill his
troops, if they were to be armed with breechloaders,
and if the outlets of the passes were to be fortified by
all the skill of European science, Russia would only
have done what any of her rivals would do in similar
circumstances. But we have a right to be put in a
position of equal advantage. We must be allowed to
guard our own interests. How they can be most
effectively guarded is an entirely different question,
and it must be answered by the military experts.

The Berlin correspondent of Ths Times writes :

'Particulars respecting the recent advance of the
Russian forces towards the Amu Darya begin to
transpire. The result of the Congress negotiations
being uncertain, orders were sent from St. Petersburg
in May to despatch a strong force from Turkestan to
the Afghan frontier. At the same time the Ameer
of Bokhara was given to understand that his
territory would be crossed by the Imperial troops.
The main force left Tashkend on the 20th of June,
nd marching on the usual road by Samarcand, reached
D jam and Sarikulon, on the Bokhara frontier, on the
Bth of July. There in the neighbouring village of
.Aksai they remained till the close of the Congress,
when, peace being apparently insured, the troops re-
turned home. Some officers, however, were sent on
to Rhodsha Salih, where they crossed the Oxus on
their way to Afghanistan. The Turkestan Militia,
called out two months previously, were disbanded.
The stores and ma2azines established on the frontier
were not removed."

The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday publishes the
following from their Correspondent at Simla:—

"The situation here appears unchanged upon the surface,
but stern decisions are, I believe, on the point of being
arrived at. A constant interchange of counsels is taking
place between the Home and Indian Governments, and there
is reason to think that this is no longer addressed to the
question of war—which events have rendered, it would
seem, unavoidable—but more to the problem of the nature
and exte t of those warlike operations which, if it comes,
ought to be immediately undertaken.
"The repoits which may reach you of deficiency in the
preparations of the army are ill-informed. Military equip-
ment is going forward at all centres with rapidity and
success, and now approaches completion. What was con-
temiplated, and a good deal more, will be in readiness when
the time for action has arrived. The troops for the Quettah
column are being energetically pushed forward towards the
advanced front, battalion by battalion, instead of awaiting a
general rendezvous, as was first intended, at Mooltan. As
each regiment comes to the frontier It is moved upwards at
once with its train and stores, of which large quantities
are being collected at Quettah itself.
"An intense and gratifying enthusiasm prevails among the
native troops, all of whom show the utmost confidence in the
Imperial fortunes, and are eager for service. The warmest
loyalty is also displayed towards her Majesty's mum by the
Indian Princes, as well in distant regions of the Peninsula
as in those border districts where hostility to the Afghan
Is a tradition. Many of the native rulers and great noblemen
are offering their troops and personal aid, along with gifts of
transport cattle, carts, elephants, and stores. The assistance
of some of those nearest the frontier, who may most easily
contribute to the success of the war, has been already ac-
cepted; and our regular forces have thus gained up to the
present time an useful contingent of at least five thousand
men, the greater part perfectly well equipped and put into
toe field witnout any cost to the Supreme Government.
Such important States as Bhawulpore are among those
which have manifested this striking loyalty."