The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-02-14 00:00:00

AFFAIRS IN AFGHANISTAN.

STATEMENT OF YAKOOB KHAN.

A Blue Book has been issued containing various
despatches respecting affairs in Afghanistan. Among
the despatches is one from General Roberts, reporting
tne substance of a conversation he had with Yakoob
Khan respecting the alleged Russian intrigues in Cabul.
The interview was a private and informal one, and
General Roberts says he was careful to avoid any
expression of his own views in order that he might
if possible, obtain from the Ameer a perfectly spon-
taneous and truthful account of the circumstances
which led to Shere Ali's estrangement from Great
Britain and rapprochement to Russia. " Yakoob
Khan spoke readily and freely of all that had passed,
and needed no question or suggestion from me," adds
General Roberts, "to declare his conviction regarding
the cause of his father's unfriendly attitude towards us
during the past few years." After the Ameer had
come into the British camp, General Roberts writes
(October 30, 1879) :

"His Highness the Ameer remains in my camp. In my
letter of the 16th inst. I remarked that his Highness seemed
much broken in spirit and unfit to resume his position and
responsibilities. He is now more cheerful, and has been of
considerable assistance to ma in obtaining information and
supplies. Bat he appears to have been crushed by his long
imprisonment, and to have lost all strength and energy.
have in vain tried to persuade him to leave his tent and ride
with me. His answer is that all exercise has become a
burden to him, and that he cares for nothing but rest and
quiet. He seems to take little interest in what passes round
bin\ and even to feel no desire for the society of his children,
whom he rarely sees. Altogether I consider him hopelessly
incapacitated for a life of action and responsibility, and I am
certain that no reliance could be placed on him for the
future were he to remain here as Ameer."

The substance of the Ameer's statement to General
Roberts is thus reported in a letter by the latter, dated
Cabul, November 22 :
"In 1889 my father was tally prepared to throw in his
lot with you. He had suffered many reverses before
making himself secure on the Throne of Afghanistan, and
he had come to the conclusion that his best chance of
holding what he had won lay in an allame with the British
Government. He did:llot receive from Lord Mayo as large
a supply of arms and amunition as he had hoped, but,
nevertheless, he returned to Cabul fairly satisfied, and so
he remained until the visit of Nur Muhammad Shah
to India in 1873. This visit brought matters to a head.
The diaries received from Nur Muhammud Shah daring
his stay in India, and the report which be brought
back on his return, convinced my father that he could no
longr hope to obtain from the Britiab Government all the
aid that he wanted, and from suet time be began to turn his
attention to the thoughts of a Basilan Alliance. You know
how this ended.

"When my father received from the Government of India
the letter informing him that a British Mission was about to
proceed to Cebu'. he read it out in Durbar. The members
of the Russian Embassy were present. After the reading
was finished, Colonel Stolietoff rose, saluted the Ameer, and
asked permission to leave Cabni. If permitted, he said, he
would travel without delay to Tashkend, and report the
state of affairs to General Kauffmann, who would inform
the Czar, and flu* bring pressure to bear on England. He
promised to return in six weeks or two months, and urged
the Ameer to do everything in his power meanwhile to pre-
vent the British Mission from reaching Cabal.

"Colonel Stolletoff never returned to Cabul., He lost no
time in reaching Tashkend, where he remained for a few
weeks and he then started for Bust&
"The Afghan official, Mlrza Muhammud Hassan hen,
generally known as the `Dabir-ul-Mulk,' who had travelled
with Colonel Stolietoff from the Oxus to Cabul, accompanied
him on his return Journey to Tashkend. Here the Mina
was detained, under the pretence that orders would
shortly be received from the Emperor, until the news of
my father's flight from Cabul Peached General Kauffmann.
He was then permitted to leave. Two aides-de-camp were
sent with him, one an Earopeao, the other a native of
Bokhara.

"My father was strongly urged by General Kauffmann not
to leave Cabul. At the same time, the members of the
Embassy were ordered to return to Tashkend, the doctor
being permitted to remain with my father U his services
were required.

"Throughout the Russian Embassy was treated with
great honor, and at all stations between Mazar-i-Sharift
and Cabul orders were given for the troops to turn out,
and for a salute to be fired on their arrival and departure."

Sir F. Roberts continues
"It would be superfluous to advance any proof of the fact
that for one reason or another Shore All dosing the latter
part of his reign fall away from us and incline towards an
alliance with Russia. But I think the closeness of the
connexion between Russia and Cabul and the extent of the
Ameer'e hospitality towards ourselves have not hitherto
been fully recognized. Yakoob Khan's statements throw
some light upon this question, and they are confirmed by
various circumstances which have lately come to my know-
ledge. The prevalence of Russian coin and wares in Cabal
and the extensive military preparations made by Shere All
of late years appear to me to afford an instructive comment
upon Yakoob Khan's assertions. Our recent rupture with
Share Ali has, in fact, been the means of unmasking and
checking a very serious conspiracy against the peace and
security of oar Indian Empire.
"The magnitude of Share All's military preparations
IS, in my opin!on, a fact of peculiar significance. I
have already touched upon this point in a foriller letter, but
I shall perhaps be excused for noticing it again. Before tbe
outbreak of hostilities last year the Ameer had raised and
equipped with arms of precision 68 regiments of infantry
and 16 of cavalry. The Afghan artillery amounted to near
300 gunr. Numbers of skilled artisans were constantly
employed in the manufacture of rifled cannon and breach-
loading small arms. More than a million pounds of
powder, and I believe several million rounds at home-made
Snider ammunition, were in the Bala Hissar at the time of
the late explosion. Swords, helmets uniforms, and other
articles of military equipment were stored in proportionate
quantities. Finally, Sherd All had expended upon the
construction of the Sherpur cantonments an astonishing
amount of labour and money. The extent and cost of the
work may be judged of from the fact that the whole of
the troops under my command will find cover during the
winter within the cantonment and its outlying buildings,
and the bulk of them in the main line of rampart itself,
which extends to a length of nearly two miles under
the southern and western slopes of the Bemaru hills. Share
All's original design was apparently to carry the wall
P r
wnerethalrehaidilyLlactiflitotra'Coniside7able";Cctignkoi
t: All the military preparations were quite wa-
oiri untae
length.al v uno
necessary except as a provision for contemplated hostilities
with ourselves, and it is difficult to understand how their
entire cost could have been met from the Afghan Treasury,
the gross revenue of the country amounting only to about
80 lacs of rupees per annum.
"I have referred to the prevalence of Russian coin and
wares in Cabal as evidence of the growing connexion be-
tween Rauh' and Afghanistan. I am unable to find proof
that the Czar's coin was introduced in other way than by
the usual channels of trade. It is quite possible that the
bulk of it, It not the whole, came in gradually by this means,
the accumulation of foreign gold in particular being consider-
able in this county, where little gold is coined. Nevertheless,
It seems to me a curious fact that the amount of Russian
money in circulation should be so large. No less than 13,000
gold pieces were found among the Ameer's treasure
alone; similar coins are exceedingly common in the city
bazaar; and great numbers of them are known to be in
possession of the Birders. Of course, English goods of all
kinds are plentiful here—that is inevitable, particularly
with a considerable body of Hindoo merchants settled in the
city, but Russian goods also abound. Glass, crockery,
silks, tea, and many other things which would seem to be
far more easily procurable from India than from Russian
territory are to be found in great quantities. A habit, too,
seems to bava been growing up among the Birders and other
of wearing uniforms of Russian cut, Russian buttons,
Russian boots, and the like. Russian goods and Russian
ways seem, in fact, to have become the fashion in Af-
ghanistan."