The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-11 00:00:00

'ENGLAND AND AFGHANISTAN.

,WHILE the festival of Christmas and the
welcome to the N3W year has been duly
oelebrated in this country, and good fires and
cheerfullaces have been the accompaniments
of many a domestic hearth at home, our
- brave soldiers, led" by skilful commanders,
have been pursuing their work -amid the
mountains of Afghanistan in a way which
must commend itself to the heart of every
patriot, who lives under Queen Victoria's
away. Withent having any decided opinion
respecting the policy or impolicy of the war,
we can always admire gallant deeds, whether -
in Abyssinia, Ashantee, or Afghanistan, ad
the deeds of our soldiers amid the sterile re-
- gions ruled by the Ameer are worthy to be
placed alongside those which told of the
march to Magdala or the capture of Coomas-
sie. Of Sheer Al's movements amongst the
wilds of Turketitan there can be little defi-
nite information. That wild and almost in-
accessible land mast be as badly off for means
of internal communication as England was
in the days of
,the Ancient Britons; and
whilst the Ameer is wandering there, we
must be content with scant intelligence re-
specting his precise whereabouts. It is diffi-
cult to understand a man in his senses acting
in the way the Ameer has done from first to
.last. Knowing the jealousy which existed
between England and Russia regarding their
Indian frontiers, he ostentatiously welcomes
a mission frona St. Petersburg whilst declin-
ing to receive one from Calcutta. The latter
is turned back from Afghan territory by an
official of high rank, believed to be acting
under the Amer's orders, and under cir-
cumstances which the British Government
construed into an affront. In an ultimatum
sent to the Ameer demanding an answer by
a •specified day,- he delays his reply to a
date when his answer cannot possibly reach
Calcutta by the time :fixed, and when our
forces are put in motion they find the
Afghans totally unprepared for resistance.
They abandon difficult passes where they
might have held the British at bay, and the
Ameer finds himself compelled to .withdraw
before the advancing armies_ of a Power
whom he might easily have conciliated by a
little timely concession. Shere Ali has not
played one good-card from first to last. He
must have known, if he possesses that saga-
city with which he is credited, that Great
Britain would resent thu intrusion of Russia
into Cabnl after her engagement not to come
there ; he mast have known that the turning
back of the Calcutta Mission would be equally
resented ; and he should likewise have fore-
seen that his delay in answering the ultima-
tum was & most dangerous course to pursue.
Yet he does pursue it, and we have seen the
result .of his flight from his capital, and the
practically unopposed march of the British
soldiers thtoukh his territory.
Whatever may be the disposition of the
Afghan mind and it would seem that a
considerable portion of the A.meer's subjects
are entirely opposed to the idea of an uncon-
ditional surrender the fact of the English
success is undeniable. The immediate sequel
of that success, and the responsibilities
which it may entail upon us, are not equally
clear. At home, while the mass of the popu-
lation may tale but little interest in this
Indian frontier question, it is one which has
greatly exercised the minds of military men.
As the object of the war is to obtain a scien-
tile frostier, it has Wen contended by some
gallant officers that we ought to advance our
posts to Casdahar, while others advocate the
*elm.* and holding of Afghanistan itself.
That it is in our power, to subdue the country
there is no doubt; but as to our being able
to retain possession of such a mountainous
oountry against the will of its people, opin-
ions may be well divided. In recent annex-
ations; inch as the Fiji • islands and the
Transvaal, the acquisition of new territory
was strictly in accordance with the wishes
of the people, but this would scarcely be the
case with Afghanistan. It has not been the
oostom a this country to annex the territory
of every savage mon arch whom she may be
called upon to chastise. We did not annex
Abyssinia nor Ashantee, and it is hardly pro-
bable that we shall add- Afghanistan to oar
dominions. Of coarse the lands of neither
King Theodore nor King Koffee lay between
At and the empire of Russia, which in the
estimation of many of our politicians, is
oonstantly mediatin.e designs against the
safety of our Indian Empire. But the oc-
cupation of Afghanistan would add im-
mensely to the growing burdens of that Em-
pire. Undoubtedly a splendid jewel in the
crown of England, "the land of Ormua and
of " has quite enough to do to pay its
way already without incurring additional
responsibilities.. It is scarcely possible to
conceive a barren country like Afghanistan
paying anything like its expenses. It would
require a strong military force to keep the
people in subjection, and this would add to
the cost of governing our Eastern dominions.
The strength of Russia has by no ratans in-
creased in a degree commensurate with the
progress of her annexations. We are often
hearing of her acquiring this or that territory
in Central Asia; but Imperial Rome found
at blot that hor widely-stretching, domains
contributed to her ruin. Her forces, instead
of being oosoontrated at home for the de_
tease of her capital, were scattered here,
there, and oiorywhore over the known world
aina hoz empire at last fell to pieces from its
own iMtinsie weight. We do not wish to
havol in Afghanistan such a difficulty to deal
with as Russian found in Cireassia ; and at
the close of the war, which it is not prams.

ture now to anticipate, the statesman-like
policy will be to conclude a Treaty of Peace
with the ruler of the Afghans, whoever he
may be; and having settled our scientific
frontier, leave those savage tribes to be go-
verned in their own way and after their own
fashion.