The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-20 00:00:00

SATURDAY, Stn. 2A, 1879:

THE REVOLT AT CABUL.

The yy„„„ a„
Its Calm"— u" aumaaY published a lengthy telegram from
tta we M correspondent, under date Sept. 14, from which
ake the following extract :
News
horn Cabul has been coming in by small in-
egoannents during the past week, but we are still far
rilhe7ing a full and connected account either of the
even, ts of the 3rd or of the state of affairs in the
LaPitel of Afghanistan preceding the outbreak. So
however, as can be judged from such portions of
the Gore Joe Cavagnari's reports as have been published by
rnment and from letters of the correspondents
r_ various Indian papers, everything seems to have
utreell quiet till about the 13th of August, when the
:Is
ra regiments arrived at the capital. Coming from
!!laaffected district where the Treaty of Gandamak had
been popular and impatient at the long-deferred
!,eltlereeet of arrears of pay, these regiments when
r 3, marched into Cabul were ripe for mutiny. It is
f_ol3,orted that one of their first steps was to go in a
racy to the Ameer and tell him that he ought not to
emviseomrtsadweitpheace with the Kafirs, adding that he who
Refire must himself be a Kafir. Yakoob
Kdohaell_ tried to quiet them by promising pay and en, ;
Tn2cred to persuade them to march to Afghan
tireetarli but the Heratees refused to leave Cabul
epieft2eara were settled. Then came cholera, an
'rale which was especially severe among the troops
RT.! doubtless intensified their exasperation. The first
elif,ll°f open hostility to the British appeared on the 0c-
;.7.1°11 of some quarrels and fights in the Bazaar between
es'ut, Axeeer's troops and some soldiers of the Envoy's
In these fights the city mob took part against our
should here be mentioned that the pure Afghan
element is in a minority in Cabul, more than half of the
Porlation of the city consisting of Kaalbash Persians
wan lieguls. There is nothing to shoW whether it
T" natives or foreigners who joined the Heratees.
street fights do not, however, appear to have
Lab any anxiety to Major Cavagnari or his Staff.
Paper, it is true, has published a letter trom
br ILative correspondent at Cabul, dated before the out.which he says that the Ameer had displayed
o'ailtrjed coolness towards the Envoy and warned him
age aPproaching danger, but this statement does not
with letters of members of the Mission, nor
contrthe Envoy's reports to the Government. On the
1104 arY, so far as can be gathered from the two
go",tier Bources, life at the Residency seems to have
e 011 in the ordinary way, without any apprehen-
ize• ttla,,of danger, till the eve of the mutiny. The Envoy
• el-tsneer frequently. The Envoy and his Staff
the habit of riding freely about the city and
3•▪ ."12a, and one of the Mission, in a letter to the
*Meer dated the 31st of August, describes how when
tvr,thg theY often met Yakoob Khan exercising the
he Arab presented to him at Gandamak, and how
Al.„) uall :. all joined in military sports with the Guides and
dg troopers. Dr. Kelly, surgeon to the Red.
had opened a dispensary, which was crowded
mai, •
_Patients and which bade fair to do more than any-
di-14 elae to popularize the Mission. Indeed, so quiet
eey
atta , rything appear up to a few hours before the
• that on the evening of the 2nd Major Cavagnari
Wired to
the Government that all was well.
th e 'sale Rim; the citadel of Cabul, is situated in
,lighaeuth-east angle of the city, on a ridge about 150
wsite, and surrounded by a moat and a stone wall
L
„.„--• hewers
and fortifications, which, however, were
httto fall into disrepair during Shere All's reign.
alh, the enceinte are the Royal Palace and the
spathe's allotted to the Mission. On two aides of a
his 'nee courtyard rose the houses of the Envoy and
on te--sflne of two stories the other of four. Here
the-I,e morning of Wednesday, the 3rd, were collected
Je°Y. Sir Louis Cavagnari, his assistant, Mr.
cori„ Lieutenant Hamilton, commanding the es-
-ur. Kelly, the Residency surgeon, and some 65
hairYl and troopers of the Guides. Seven troopers
duA„acnae out to protect grasscutters and were absent
fte,---q the affray. It is not yet known whether they
be—Ped. Nawab Sir Gholam Hussein Khan, who had
itert ordered from Candahar to join the Missicn, had
arrived, but was expected at Cabul on the 7th.
corafete ie also uncertain. How the Arnim came to
eat mit the blunder of permitting mutinous troops to
tcl3,r the Citadel is not dear. All that is as yet known
• !4 early on the morning of the 3rd several regi-
tr'es their number being variously stated at from six
pe,,we„„l'le. assembled in the Bala Hisser demanding
tuiquie't lath e Ameer and officers appear to have tried to
em, but their efforts in this direction were
broliT. The troops, finding pay not forthcoming,
atta e into open mutiny, stoned their officers and
whi:eked the Residency. The accounts of the fight
u ensued are meagre and derived from
Tigous sources, but they agree in the main points.
2t,arat news was, as you know, brought by a Ghilzai
4t-Cn IZer, who arrived at Ali-khel on the night of the
NT, The next day came letters from the Ameer.
'ire° then there have arrived a confidential servant of
410100 b Khan charged to make his excuses, an Afghan
pi,a,eaYs he saw the fight, a Kahar belonging to the
and uitBB3,, who was outside when the attack occurred,
e.a man named Imam Buz, an employe in the
:I:alder:lCY office, who was present during the affair
• •who hid in a drain and escaped at night.
na much is certain, that Sir Louis Cavag-
-1431 and his little band made the most gal-
✓ t resistance and sold their lives dearly. They
.11,e_eived the first attack with a fire which drove
hautineers back. The troops, however, Boon re-
mob to the charge, their numbers swelled by a city
• All this must have been visible to the Ameer,
"ee Palace adjoins the Residency. He sent, he
ttiao7a, his Commander-in-Chief, General Daoud Shah,
br restrain the soldiers, and when the General was
.?cght back mortally wounded by the rioters the
.-meer sent his own son and his father-in-law, the Ge-
InnerzlA ,e‘r of Cabul. The efforts of the two latter failed,
" ia reported that the Ameer's son was killed.
itPallwhile the defence continued. The garrison,
ti le rumoured, had only eight rounds of ammuni-
a. However this may be, they kept the assailants
th,.`era eight o'clock till about noon, when the gate of
to:hrtyard was burst open. Then followed a hand-
ii hat. The British officers and the Guides
ho- light,
and bayonet held their place for some
• I°llgee—one account says till late in the evening.
the enemies set fire to the house, and the defen-
mcra,s driven out by flames' charged on the mutineers
that Mob and, it is believed, perished to a man. There
es:81 Lt is true a rumour that three Europeans had
,
in d:1243°, but all probabilities point the other way, and
at °he e
saw 8
of the messengers who arrived at Ali-khel
e"ve that h the bodies of Sir Louis Cavagnari
t.
to st. Suite. There is, therefore, only too much reason
ueileVe that Imam Bux is the only one of those Min
Residency that day who survives, The loss of the
4"lthare • &lns 3ls variously estimated at 100, 210, and
•. . ,
Isi,thoutitart ogpa
prdelaintiehn7 been occupied by General Massy
h_tmmediately the occupation of Shutargardan had
174 effected, the laying of the telegraph thence to
""14'14hel Was
. commenced and is being expeditiously
/omen],
th:"„, pe,h Nawab Gholam Hussein Khan has arrived at
utargardan
h Khojak tribes show a friendly disposition and
isiZe resolved to serve the British Government, The
coetn.._°l Khelat lute placed the resources of his
at the disposal of the British Government.
h:Avheral Roberts hopes to make terms with the
~vaclis of the neighbouring tribes, in order to secure
y o
tile safetf the road through the 4.488. Bhutargarden
kien t,is believed that the presence of the British troops
nv hgth in the Shutargarden Pass is likely to win
ig,tile tribes beyond.
Itn%uere are no symptoms that the tribes in the
---eM and Khyber -districts. will adopt a hostile
attitade.

boA
Zuni, s'Y of the mutinous Afghan troops have gone to
the at, a district to east of Ghuzni, hoping to incite
•Iribea in that locality to attack the flank of the
Luisa
the trooPs in the Shutargarden Pass. Although
12.2.1,11Utineers have declared their desire to fight the
lah f
out orcoa, they are wholly unorganized and with-
Leaders.

the other three officers of the Guides were burnt to
death near the Residency.

"Another sowar, who had escaped, was in Cabul,
but was prevented from leaving. He told Taimur
that the grass-cutters were in safety, that he had
helped Dr. Kelly when wounded, and that Mr.
Jenkyns had written a second time to the Ameer,
stating that Sir Louis Cavagnari was wounded.
The bearer of the letter was cat to nieces by the
mutineers. Taimur then started, but was dis-
armed and placed in confinement. He succeeded
however, in escaping, and at daybreak of the 4th
September, he visited the Residency and saw the body
of Lieutenant Hamilton lying across a mountain gun,
stripped of his jacket, but not dishonoured. Mr.
Jenkyns was with Yahyah Khan.
" Taimur saw no troops on the road from Cabul to
Jellalabad and Dakka, and, as far as he knew, none
were coming."