The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-05 00:00:00

stoarbribgesqber.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1878;

THE AFGHAN QUARREL.

The events of the past few days, and the most I
recent information from the north-west frontier
of India, would appear to leave very little doubt
that we are on the eve of a war with Afghan-
istan. Opinions may vary as to how far the
necessity for such a war might have been
avoided by a different policy ; but as to the
necessity for vindicating the national honour
there can be no variation of view. The pivot
upon which the whole question turns is so easy
and simple to ho understc.,.od by all. Is our
Indian Empire worth presPrving? Upon that
point there will be a very.grneral concurrenco
of reply in the affirma'ive ;. for if it was not
worth the trouble of i)rHservation, it would be
worse than idle to • make war upon Afghanistan

for the sake of strengthening our hold on a
valueless possession. But as a nation the
EngiiFh people are determined to keep the
Empire they have now in tha East, no matter
what the cost may he; and this being so, we
rcannw„ in common prudence acquiesce in any
overi, defiance of our Imperial authority. The
mental calii;re of the vast populations in the 1
East which our own way renders it imperative
that we should not sit down quietly under the
affront offered to us by the Ameer of Cabul.
Bigoted, fanatical, and excitable, they regard
matters from a standpoint very different from
that from which they are viewed by wore
civilized communities. The Moslem and the
Pagan, who worship in their mosques and in
their shrines, often bend most reluctantly to
the rule which we have placed upon them, and
are not without instigators who will prompt
them to throw off that role if an opportunity
offers. It was believed by many of these that
such an opportunity w,is found in 1857, when
England had come out of the war with Rassia.
We then found it necessary to make_ some
terrible examples in vindicating our authority,
, and might have to do so again under similar
circumstances. It is not necessary to believe
that our troubles in India are always fomented
by the Power whio.h is said to be ceaselessly
k , vlvancin towards our posses-ions through
Central 'Asia. The most ignorant and un-
enlightened barbarians, if they have but few
other instincts, possess at least the instincts of
objectina,ito being governed by an alien race
whose seat of empire is thousands of miles
away. The desire for self-government is strong
upon them ; but even without this, the tenets
of their religion, more especially those of the
Mohammedans, are constantly warring against
the idea of being ruled by a people whom they
are taught to regard as dogs and infidels. The
toleration which is the basis of the Christian
religion is totally unknown in such countries.
Fanaticism is with them as powerful as it WfV-
in the days of the Saracens, and if they get a
practical chance of showing it, they do not liliEq3
it. Therefore, with such irfluences un-
ceasingly at work, it is neither just nor p3litic
to ataibute any disc ntent which may exist
in our Indian Empire, whether it he of a
partial, temporary, chronic character, to
the r,stiess intrigues of a professedly friendly

Power.
Upon the principal point now at issue there
ought to be no posaibility of misunderstanding
whatever. he facts are as clear and unmis-
takeable as the presence of the midsummer sun
non. A British envoy, escorted by a British
military force, has been deliberately refused
permission to enter upon the territory of a
bonder State, the ruler of which had just
accorded a favourable reception to a Russian
misaion .of an almost precisely same nature.
With this refusal is associated a consideration
of very great weight in discussing the various
bearings of this subject. The Indian Govern-
ment claims free access for our envo3s to the
Afghan capital as a right and not as a favour,
and the refusal of this claim is a distinct denial
that we possess any authority whatever to inter
vene in any way the effairs of Afghanistan.
The Indian Creve,rnreent have therefore re-
solved to vindicate our supremacy, evcn at the
cost of war. And if war there is to be, there
will not be much eitTerence of opinion as to the
expediency of striking at once if we are to
strike at al. The more prompt are our pre-
parations, the more likely is Shere Ali to accede
to our demands while there is yet time. Al-
ready our armies are advancing towards the
Afghan frontier, and without timely concessions
on the part of the Ameer, our soldiers will very
soon he encamped on Afghan soil. It is with-
out doubt, a most formidable enterprise. It
does net tequire a man to be of a very mature
ago to remember our former disasters in
Afghanistan. The mountain range across
which our treopS will have to fight their way is
one of tie most precipitous and inaccessible in
the known world; the inhabitants of the dis-
trict are warlike tribes, who are skilled in
guerillo figh.ing, the roads are extremely bad,
the winter comes Oa early snl is terribly severe;
while the difficulty of providing supplies for any
large force during it length of time, is almost
insurmountable. In the face of these facts i,
is probable that 130 attempt will be made to
Afgeauistan iteelf b.•fore so,ne months are over.
Ii likelilee.i. the ticol‘s will content them•
f-reu.viO s;rong posi'i,); 4
or the v. 55 and •t re,,gthening their cnramene
cations wll3 India mitt't the hour urrvea
our advance in fore- thin Calm].
Still, with all the ota-troeea ie the way of e
successful attack on Afghanistan, the
prospect of a war witn that Power need not
cause any serious apprehensiou in India if we
were quite certain that we should have to fight
felmeistan alone, unconnected with European
complications. But what consiiiutes the gravity
ui tie., present crisis is uudoubtedly the belief
referred to above, that the Aineer has defied
our authority at the instig tion of Russia, and
nes been encouraged in his Lostility towards
rogiend by the promi4o ot Russian sunventioue
if trot of Russian reinforcements. Whether
this belief be well or ill-founded time atone can
show. It is, at all events, current throughout
India, and the Russian Government would find
it to their interest to give to the world an
official contradiction, it Thia be possible. Yet
his conduct can be accennted for without
attributing to the Government of St. Peters-
burg either the attentioa or the desire of sup•
portieg the Ameer ill a war with Briish
There is no difficulty in suggesting causes
whi,2ll may explain the enmity of Shere Ali to-
wards this county. In coalmen with all the
native potentates whose territories are con-
tiguous to those of our iudian empire, he holds
that the Government at Calcutta has at heart
the annexation of his dominions. The visit of
the Prince of Wales to our eastern possessions,
the dethronement of the Oaikwar of Baroda,
the assumption of the title of Empress of India
by the Queen, and:the despatch of Indian
troops to Malta and Cyprus, were all regarded
by the native princes as indications that we
were about to make ourselves lords of the whele
of tOdia. Moreover Oa establishment of a gar-
riot at Quettth served to show that we were
desirous of extending our frontier north of the
Himalayas; and the necessity of strengthening
our hold upon the Afghan State has been
openly discussed and advocated in the Anglo-
Indian Press. A ruler of theintelleetaal calibre
and training of Shore Ali would not require
Russian instigation to induce him to act as he
has done; but whatever may have prompted him
there can be no question as to the gravity of the
affront, and the necessity for full and prompt
reparation.

ocat (110 so±fitartct 40135,

COMMISSION r.RS' MEETING.

The usual monthly meeting of this body was
held in the Board Room, on Monday; Mr. linghe.
in the chair. There were also present Messrs
Edwards, Pag'ett, Mills, lek, Woolley, Hill, iScott
and Eleoek.
The minutes of the last meeting were read, and
oodirme4'

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