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

Fifty-two deaths from yellow fever occurred on Sunday
at New Orleans, thirty-two at Memphis, and nine at Vicks-
burg.

A despatch of the 12th of September, from
Washington, states that two of the physicians and
one of the nurses who had been recently sent from
Washington to the assistance of the yellow fever
sufferers at Memphis had returned, having been
sent back by the Howard Association because
they never, had the fever. D. Pease, one of
the physicians who returned, states that the
horrors of the pestilence are beyond description. The
wealthy have almost entirely fled from Memphis,
leaving the poor to shift as they may for themselves,
and to the horrors of the plague are added those of a
condition approaching to famine. The provision
, stores are all closed, and the only way to' obtain sup.
plies from them is to break them open, which is some-
times done. Even the drug stores are all closed,'ex-
, cept three, and it is difficultto get medicine, even when
medical attendance has been had and prescriptions
written. The banks are open but one hour a day.
The commissary depots established by the Howard
Association are besieged by throngs of negroes,
many.-Of whom come in froth the 'surrounding country,
risking the pestilence in circler to get free provisions.
No vehicles are seen in the streets except the dead
carts and the doctors' buggies, with an occasional
hearse conveying the remains of some wealthier victim.
At night the streets are here and there lit.up with the
baleful gleam of the heath fires that burn in front of
each house that contains a corpse. Not of each home
either, for many a victim lies alone after suffering
unattended, and there is no one to put out the
customary signal. Persons taken sick in the streets •
crawl into unoccupied tenements, and their corpses are-
afterwards discovered by the smell of their decomposing
flesh. Many are ,found dead in the public parks or
under the fences. Corpses accumulate for want of
adequate burial force, and trenches are then dug, in
which great rows of coffins are deposited side by Bide,
and one row on the top of another. Dr. Pease states
that the peculiar smell of the great pest house, which
the city is, can be detected at a distance of three
miles. There is a ereat deficiency of competent
nurses. Out of 1,100 employed, Dr. Langstaff in-
formed Dr. Pease that only about 75 proved really
efficient.

LORD LAWRENCE ON ENGLAND'S
RELATIONS WITH AFGHANISTAN.
On the above subject, The Times of Wednesday pub-
lished the following letter from Lord Lawrence :

"Sir,—The news from l'eshawur which appeared in The
Times of the 23rd inst., telling us alai the Ameer of Cahill
had refused to receive the proposed Mission on its way to his
capital, and had forced Major Cavagnari to turn back from
All Musjid, is no doubt a serious rebuff to the Government
of India, more particularly as the Mission had actually
started. It seems to me to have been a serious mistake
organising a Mission to Cahill before we had ascertained
whether Ameer Shere AU was prepared to receive our over-
tures or not, and a still greater mistake despatching the Mission
until we had received his consent to our doing so. Had
these precautions been observed, the affront which we have
met with would not have appeared to be so flagrant as it now
does. But, however vexatious is the Ameer 's conduct in
this matter, it ought not to lead us to force out Mission on
him, still less should it induce us to declare war against him.
it appears to me to be contrary to sound policy that we
Should resent our disappointment by force of arms; for by
doing BO we play the enemy's game, and force the Afghans
Into a union with tile Russians.
"We ought not, indeed, to be surprised that the Ameer has
acted as he has done. From the time of the Treaty of 1857
• the lata Ameer Dust Mahomed Khan refused to allow us to
haves mission at Csibui, or even to . send, one there as a
temporary arrangement, solemnly assuring us that such a
step would lead to mischief, and not to peaceful relations
ehde
rtthceo
ms aimn
hezectes p.eohniedivire
hasyo. f
hat .IWae he
va
et ery eere
nme ae
ay l
eb
witli the Afghans. We accepted his excuses. In 1869 the
occurred 6
betweenat theth e
Ameer's agent and Sir
,afnandrms
smeeting in
from us his
pvefeswbaswuonrtt6hvvisaidelbtj
-.r Lewis
Polly has not actually tran-
tipisresoewnnt Afamaleetrs
spired; but I believe that our wishes on the subject of a
Aision.to Cabnl were at that time reiterated, though in
vain.. •
was to bear with the Afghans as far as we
•'l"7l6"id Pacy
. d
and- to endeavour by ki
n ness and
could rearnably- do' so,
conciliation to bring about.frlefllYreiations, gradually lead-
ing them to see that their interests and ours did not conflict
Of late, however, we
have seemed to think that we under-
stood the interests of the Afghans
better than they did them.
we can in shut, force our
We appear to think that ,
, selves. Conduct.
policy on them without their &Aing offence at such

"What are we to gain by going to war with the Ameer ?
Can we dethrone him without turning the mass of his
countrymen against us? Can we follow the pelioy of 1838-89
without, in all probability, incurring-similar results? If we
succeed in driving Shere All out of Cabnl, who can we put in
his place? End how are we to insure the maintenance of
our own creature on the throne, except by occupying the
country? And when is such an occupation to terminate?
"I have no doubt that we can clear the defiles and valleys of
Afghanistan from end to end of their defenders. and<that no
force of Afghans could stand against our troops when pro-
perly brought to bear against them. The country, however,
consists of mountain ranges, for the most part broken up
into rugged and difficult plateaux, where brave men stand-
ing on the defensive have considerable Advantages ; and
when we force such positions we cannot continue to hold
them.

"The cost of invading such a country will prove very great,
and the means for so doing must be drawn from elsewhere.
The country held by the Ameer can afford neither the money
nor the transport, nor even the subsistence in adequate
quantity for the support of the invading army. It is impos-
sible to forsee the end of such a war, and in the meantime
its prosecution would utterly ruin the finances of India.
"Such are the political and military considerations which
lead me to raise my voice against the prosent policy towards
Ameer Shere All. Are not moral considerations also very
strong against such a war? Have not the Afghans a right
to resist our forcing a Mission on them, bearing in mind to
what such Missions often lead, and what Burns's Mission in
1836 did actually bring upon them?
"I have heard it contended that no nation has aright to
isolate itself in this way and refuse to have intercourse with
its neighbours. This may be a reasonable objection among
civilized nations, but ought not to apply, I submit, between
civilized Governments on the one hand and barbarous
peoples on the other.
"No doubt, Ameer Shere Alt has aggravated his offence by
the mode in which he has resisted our overtures, more par-
ticularly in the threat of his Mir Akhor at Ali Musjid to
shoot Maj ir Cavagnari if he did not turn back. But we
should not bear too hardly on the Ameer on this account. I
have no doubt that if we promise to give up forcing a Mission
on him he would make any apology that we could reason-
ably call for. I urge that we were wrong in the outset in our
policy towards the Ameer in many instances which could be
pointed out, and therefore ought not to be over hard on him
in accepting his excuses. I insist that there will be no real
dishonour to us in coming to terms with him; whereas, by
pressing on him our own policy, we may incur most serious
difficulties, and even disasters.

"The last telegrams from India are that three considerable
bodies of troops are to be concentrated, one at Quetta, one
at Thal', on the river Koorum, and the third in reserve at
Mooltan, as what are called 'precautionary measures.' I
should call them very offensive measures. The same im-
pulses which have brought us into the present complications
and troubles will almost certainly lead us to still more decisive
movements unless very speedily checked by the people of
England.—Yours faithfully, " LAWRUNCE.
"Stone-house, St. Peter's, Isle of Thanet, Sept. 27."

In a leader commenting upon the above letter The
Times remarks :

• • • • "No nation which-respects itself will undertake
a war 'with a light heart. But if it has confidence in the
substantial justice of its cause, it will not be deterred from
defending this cause by the difficulties which stand in its
way. The successful invasion of such a country as Ai-
ghanistan would certainly be a difficult task, and its per-
manent occupation might be even more difficult still.
It is not yet certain, however, that either will be
necessary. Shere All may change his tone when he
finds that our patience is exhausted and that our for-
bearance is at an end. Meanwhile, we must make him
feel that we do not mean to be trifled with. We are
still ready to respect his independence se long as he
remains on friendly terms with us and keeps clear
of Russian intrigues. At present he seems disposed to do
neither, He rejects our advances, he entertains a Russian
Envoy, and he recommends a Russian alliance to the Sultan.
In such a case Lord Lawrence's plea for the right of bar-
barous nations to isolate themselves and refuse intercourse
with their neighbours is clearly out of court. Shere Ali does
not isolate himself except from ourselves. His rejection of
our proffered Mission is an act, not of independence, but of
hostility. It is a challenge which we cannot decline; and,
as he will not listen to us In a friendly way as we wished
and intended, we must force him to listen to us in the only
way that is open to us. We quite admit that, as Lord
Lawrence says, there will be no real dishonour to us in
coming to terms with him. We will go even further and
say that that is what we wish to do. But the terms, in view
of the insult we have received, must now be of our own
choosing, not of his; and if he will not grant them, save
under the pressure of force, there remains no alternative but
to extort them by force. Nor again, can we be deterred
from the task imposed on us by the fear of difficulties, or
even of possible disasters. We must do our best to sur-
mount the one and to avert the other; but if we are to
submit to insult through fear of the consequence of
resenting it, we shall be disgraced both in our
own eyes and in the eyes of all our Indian sub-
jects. What military measures may be necessary
in order to effect our object it is at present impossible to
say: that is a question which will have to be determined
by Lord Lytton and his responsible military advisers.
Whether an invasion of Afghanistan in force would be either
possible or expedient in face of the coming winter may
be open to doubt. But we have sufficient forces assem-
bled or about to assemble at Thal and Quettah re-
spectively to enable us to seize upon the Koorum
Valley and to march upon Kandahar. These operations
could be effected without serious difficulty before the winter
sets in, and they would probably be sufficient to effect
our purpose; but, if not, they would place us in a
commanding position for carrying out more important and
decisive measures in the spring. Such a demonstration, how-
ever, if prompfly made, might serve to convince Shere Ali
that we are in earnest, and that our enmity, if further pro-
voked, is likely to prove far more injurious to him than
the friendship he has so imprudently rejected. In that case
we shall have no difficulty in coming to terms with him, as
Lord Lawrence urges that we should do, without that perma-
nent conquest of all Afghardstan which Lord Lawrence seems
to contemplate. But it is necessary to convince the Ameer
first, that we are not to be trifled with, and that we will not
tamely submit to insult." . . .