The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1879-12-23 00:00:00

THE AFGHAN WAR.

BOMBAY, Dec. 14.
Acorin to information published here from
Caudahar to the let instant, General Stewart has been
oniered to .end a marienger to Herat to Intimate to
Ayub Khan that if he will not agree to hold Herat on
account of the British Government, he will not long
remain in polaession of the place. This step Is inter-
preted here as indicating that a British advance will
be made upon Herat should Ayub Khan refuse coin.
pliance.

.
' RUSSIA AND THE -IVICERS.—Some weeks 140 the
Pismirer hinted at the discovery at Cebul of papers
throwing light On the relations between Shere All and
Russia. The Pv,seer now asserts that an immenee
MA.o of corrwpondenee has been found and laid before
the Government, including in,tructions from the
Russian Government to its agents in Central Asia,
marking out the course they were to follow with
Shere Ali. These papers are and to show that Ittweian
intrigues against Afghanistan were active as far back
as ISM, and to afford conclusive proof of the falsity of
the excuse given for the Ru.sman MiglSinn to Cabul
last year. It adds that fifteen months ago the Russian,
assured Shere All that no English army could possibly
reach Cabul in less than two years. Yakoob Khan
I arrived at Lahore on Monday and proceeds at once to
Meerut, where he will be detained for the present.
The other State prisoners—namely, Yahiya Khan,
Zaharia Khan, Yahiya's brother. and the Wieser Shah
34..hamed—have pawed Jellalabad, their destination,
it is believed, being Lahore Fort. Yakonb, it is said,
has displayed great unconcern throughout the journey.
He is relerrted to have said on one occasion that he
looked forward to the day when he ehould arrive in
England and live like Ithuleep Singh, as he was very
owl .4 shooting and riding.
VEN4MANCIS AT Caset.---On November 10, eleven
sepoys were hanged, six released; 11th, 214 hanged, 19
released ; 13th, ten banged, 13 released, two were kept
11.4 informers. The men executed belonged to the Herat
regiments. They were either at Cabral when the out-
break occurred, or returned later to fight against us,
the muster-rolls now in our hands enabling us to
identify them without much trouble. They did not
attempt to give false names, and their iseUicks were
warned that they themselves might incur further
punishment if they screened sepoys belonging to their
villages. Such as could not give a clear account of
their movements were condemned to death, and they
submitted to their fate with the usual quiet resigna-
tion of Nlussulmans. Many were of the worst type of
Afghans, and their callousness when waiting their turn
at the foot of the scaffold (ten men were hanged at a
time) was remarkable. Their fanaticism is equal to all
fortunes. Our ;meat regret is that, while we are send-
ing the rank anti file to the gallows, the ringleaders
are still at large. The Bala Hisser is rapidly being
gutted of all that can be made useful, such as doors,
window frames, de. The excavations at the Residency
have been eminently unreatisfacto:l, revealing only
harrowing details of the nutssacre. The absence of the
discovery of accompanimente of civilised life—such ac
plater, dishes. &c.—shows that the place must have
been thoroughly looted by the populace before it was
burned. The quantities of gunpowder still stored in
the Bala Hiesar will be destroyed and the garrison
withdrawn. The walls will then be levelled, and the
Royal citadel of Cabul, so fraught with incidents of
horror awl sorrow to the British, will be a mare mass
of laud ruins, crowned by the ghastly framework of
the gibbet upon which the most prominent •Aii•Silla
have already paid the forfeit of their crime on its very
scene—monumente that will suffice for many • day to
prove that there is a point beyond which even long-
suffering England will not permit hermit to be wronged
without putting forth her strength in just retribution.

Ina EOLIsII POIRMON.
Sherpur lies two miles from Cabul. It consists of a
number f low stone buildings along the side of the
road for a mile in length. These buildings were
erected as barracks for the regular Afghan troops, and
it was said that the Ameer intended to build a palace
there, and to remove to it the seat of Government.
The troops have no doubt a lar,.:e etore of artillery ready
to hand, as the greater portion of the Afghan artillery
was captured at Sherpur, and the guns taken at Bala
Hilmar awl at other places have probably been
removes! there. Avery short time will suffice for so
large a force to throw up field works and shelter
trenches, and with plenty of guns to place in position
they should be able without difficulty to defy the
efforts of any force whatever which the Afghans can
bring against them. Fortunately, provisions for the
troops for the whole winter have been collected, and
no uneasineea need be felt on this head. Even should
the relieving columns (nun Jellalabad and Gandamak
fail to reads Sherpur, there will be no causejor any
reel anxiety as to the ability of the belagnered
garrl•on to hold out until the arrival of spring and a
large rellevbez army. The ,me article of which the
force would, should the blockade last, run short of is,
forage.
Her Majesty has telezraphed to General Roberts her
approval of the behaviour of the troops, and sympathy
for the wounded.

General Hobert; reports that during the Fghting on
Sunday one mountain ion Iva. lost. He estimates the
number f the enemy at 30,000, and odds that abeir
fire was Revere.