The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-10-13

sege, Dost Mohamed died, and was sno
ceeded by his son, Ali Shere, who had ali
he could do to hold his throne against riv,I
pretenders, brothers and nephews. In IsSe
he only held Balkh and Herat, but tbsn
fortune changed and in the fall of 1865 he
was firmly seated on the throne at CsbnI
having scattered all his enemies. nAnrii'
| 1869, the Earl of Mayo received him splen'
didly at Umballa, when friendly relations
were confirmed and he was given snhs
stantial present of money, guns and arms,
| Late in 1872 a correspondence between
Russia and England ended in decaratio.
by the former power that Afghanistan woa
beyond the field of Russian Influence. sos
that the Oxus, from it's source in LaLa
Strik oil to the western limit of Balkh. was
to be regarded as the Afghan frontier.
On the 18th of August, Ali Shere's favor.
Benjamin, born in his old age of a yonnc
wife, favorite who had obtained absolnfs
dominion over the Ameer. Some vears
ago Abdoola's mother secured his recopn;'
ton as heir presumptive to the exclusion
of the warlike eldest son, Yakoob X N
who revolted and seized Herat. Ali Sbers
invited his son to visit Cabul, and therS
seized him and threw him into prison
After keeping him in close confinement fo,
many months his father induced Yakoob
to accept the situation and acknoyledce
Abdoola Jan as heir, giving him the gov.
ernorship of Balkh. Abdoola's death rem.
dered genuine reconciliation between
the Ameer and Yakoob Khan possible
healing a feud and securing to the latter
the succession. Yakoob is bitter enemy
of the English, and his province of Balkb
next adjoins the Russian acquisitions 10
Central Asia hence the English were
startled to find that Afghanistan was uni.
ted under two pro- Russian leaders. On
the % I'd of July, General Abramoff, a
Russian envoy, with brilliant escort.
arrived at Cabul, where he met with fat
held in his honor. AS Yakoob Khan must
have admitted the embassy through Bslkb
this reused angry aud suspicious feelings
The presence of the Russian envoys was
regarded as a breech of the convention of
1872, and as the Ameer had steadily
refused to have an English ambassador
stationed at Cabul an understanding be.
tween him and the Gear was conjectured.
Sir Neville Cham berlain was at once hur.
rled forward with an imposing retinue,
but be found the passes closed against hin.
Russia, as matter of course, denied that
the Ameer acted upon her advice, and fur.
ther declared that she would stand neutral
If England and Afgbanistan went to war.
That they will go to war there seems
hardly any ground for doubt, as the insult
of leaving Lord Lytton's letters unanswer-
ed and closing the passes to his envoy
while the messenger of rival power was
welcomed Is too grave an insult to be
overlooked. There is not much likelihood
of active operations on large scale before
spring, and ae the Indian tributaries be-
hind are not little sore, and it would
take but spark to set the whole hill
frontier in blaze of hostility, the situation
must be admitted to be a delicate one If,
however, the Ameer undertakes to wreak
vengeance, on!the khyberees for encourag-
ing the English advance, be may enlist
those readily enlisted tribes against him
self to Lord ILytton's immense advantage.
The English position ia that "to protect
India England must possess itself, directly
or indirectly, of supreme authority in all
the countries bordering on the northwest
frontier; must exchange the boundary of
the Suleiman for the boundary of the
the triangle formed by Jellalabad, Ghus-
nee and Cabul;' must be represented at
Herat must be felt at Bslkh must reign
in Candahar, and N ust stretch it's influence
from Candahar southwark to the Arabian
Sea-" In measure the situation is like
that between Germany and France, to
which Alsace and Lorraine, also table
land, stood as Afghanstan stands to Eng
land and Russia. Whichever of the two
powers possessed the plateau could choose :
Its own time for attack, while it could not
be assaiIed without great difficulty and
ample notice. India, with Afghanistan
in hostile or coldly neutral hands, ia nde-
fensible, whereas if England held Afghan.
istan, to make hostile attempt on her
Indian possessions from the plains of the
Oxus and Jaxartes would be an almest
desperate undertaking. Hence Englanda as
a matter of expediency, it not being
question of morals, must take Afghanistan
precisely as Germany has taken Alsace
and Lorraine. 1t is unfortunate for her
that Lord Lytton, after formally serving
notice on Ali Shere that England would
not bother herself about the Ameer in
hurry, should have made such an elsb'
crate preparation for the Chamberlain
which could only fatter Afghan
pride and inspire the thought that England
feared Russia. But the past is past, and
vigorous display of force is all that remains
to the English.