The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-05-08 00:00:00

AFFAIRS IN .kFCTAANISTAN.

TEE excitement over the General Election•
tended in some d01.:1.e..: to draw away the at- •
teni,7n of the public from the situation of
afrairs in the lands of the Afghans. We
were too busy in •discussing the merits of
rival candidates and the prospects of politcal
parties to bestow many thoughts on what !
was passing in the great menntainc.us
c:untry -whose frontiers border upon our
Ind'a Empire. It may have been that the
length of time during which the Afghan
question has been briore the country some-
what tended to diminish the inte•-est felt in
its changing phases. In t-'eptember next two I
years will have elapsed sine-) we were first
brought acquainted with the existence of the
difficulty which had arisen with the Ameer,
and this was b. to have boqn sucuss-
tidy term;nat,.-d by the Tr,aty of Gandemak,
aunounced in Parliament in the Royal Ales-
ave prori,guing the Legislatuce on the 15th
o August last. Then ensued, on the 3rd
S ,ptember, the massaore of Sir Lillis Cavag-
nari and the other members of the British
.I.J.gation at Cabal, out of whioh the subse-
quent troubles have arisen. There is, how-
ever, light at last, and ev,ry indication now
pints to the satisfaetr)ry nmelusion that the
anxieties in Afghanistan are almost at an
end.

Macaulay once held np to satire thenack of
interest felt in Eastern p-tlitics by declaring
that a broken head in th ) Tower -Hamlets
crewed mere excitement in London than the
news of a mittinYin Ilenaree. Those, how-
ever, were the dlys when it took a month
for any inteligence from India to reach this
country; and when unless it should be of
supreme importance, its edge was necessarily
blunted by lapse of time. It is different now
when communication with the sterile country
of the Afgnansis a matter of only -a few hours.
.For instance,' the successful and well-con-
tested action of the 19th of April now reads
like aetruggle of old date. so rapidly has the
news come in ot furtherfighting. On the 25th
General Jenkins was attacked at Oharasiab.
one short march south of Cabul, and kept
off the enemy until the arrival .of General
Macpherson rendered it possible to assume
the offensive, when the enemy were driven
off with heavy loss. On the 23rd, some
7,000 tribesmen having assembled near
Ghuznee, General Palliser was sent by.
General Stewart to dislodge them. He
found their positions io strong that he had
to wait
,for. reinforcements. When these
arrived he dispersed his opponents who
lost heavily. About the 26th or 27th
General Ra-te, who had been despatched from
Cabal to stretch out a hand to General
Stewart, was attacked at Sytiabad, but
gained a vietory. It would be premature to
predict that the fighting is all over • but
Gen:Tal Stewart has at least taught the
Afgllan a lesson, and his tact, ability, and
moderation will turn the impression to the
best wivantage.
Looking back over recent affairs in Af-
ghanistan,
there can be no doubt of the r,at-
isfaction which the achievements of General
Stewart have afforded to the whole army,
and of the confidence inspirt.d in the
bublic by the conduct of military aTairs.
When the n%!ws came of the fighting in the
n eighbon :hood of Glitiznee, General giewart's
!arrival at Cabul was not expected until the
3rd or 4th of this month, so that he outstrip-
ped anteipation by some days. He bft
Uandahar on the 31st (%f March, arid it took
! him thirty 'layr s,,cialiplisit his journey,
ovoiteaf:ing 'oppc,,,it(at and capturing
Glinze.,:.e on the way. achievement was
las creditable-to his genera iship as the peace-
-1 fel administration of Calidahar was to his
force of diameter and i skill I )eter-
tamed Laid .11qinate as the; opposit:on to his
a(lvance had Let-11, the isteaainess of
valour was ono more equal te OVereOnling
such difficulties as these. The befiviour of
the Afghans in pitched battle with our troops
offered no exception to the character it had
hitherto borne. . In the recent engagements,
as in those which preceded 'tMin, a fiery im-
pulsive onset was followed by a hasty re-
treat before the storm of shot from discip-
lined ranks. General Stewart's rapid march
with so little loss either in his main body or
I :=, •to ;-,p„•,,.:iite; •at-ties.. is a creditable perform-

ft—nri -w]f ich it lieet-4 aro
; 611 CF. zisl.lo 1.1t111`,03 ft b. iofe long,
roi a rolitical sittuvion Iyhic:ll has been not
[without it anxieties to the people ok this
country.