The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-08-17
THE LATEST BRITISH SCARE.

AfSnanS on the British troops about to With
draw from the country. The British always
; have some bette noi,, some national bugbear
upon whose designs against England they
never tire of descanting. For some time
after the establishment of the Third Empire
they saw in Napoleon III the great enemy
who was to avenge Waterloo and settle with
PeJide albion for all old scores. This scare
gave rise to the enlistment of the volunteer
army, which was held in readiness to repel
the INVASION that meyer came. After Sedan
the Germans took the place of the French as
the willy foes of British peace, and in II the
Battle Of Dorking, a we'll written prophetic
article, infinitely described the German inva-
sion by which Great Britain was to be over
run and conquered about The year rs. But
10 came and passed without aEy appearance
OF the blonde invaders from across the Ger
man Ocean, and recovering from this ground
less fright the English returned to their first
love, Or perhaps their first hate, the Russians,
whom they had always kept III the back
ground within convenient reach in case no
other scarecrow should present itself. If
there is anything resembling fatalism in the
British mind il Is the belief III the struggle
which sooner or later must inevitably take
place between Britain and Russia OH the bat
tie ground of Central Asia. Starting from
the mouth of the Ganges the English have
pushed their conquests northward as far as
the Puniaub, where they are separated only
by the mountainous countries of AfshaniStan
and Turkestan from the Russians, coming
down from the north. Believing that the
latter county was liable to be annexed, or if
not that it could be controlled by the Rus
slams, the British for the past forty odd years
have spared 10 effort to checkmate such a
move of the Gar by extending their own in
fuence over Afghanistan. With a British
Resident at the capital of the Ameer to
give him counsel in case of emergency and
maintain British ascendancy among the
Afghan mountains, all would have been we'll,
and the English could have rested secure in
the enjoyment Of their Indian possessions,
free from the night mare Of a Muscovitc inun
dalton, suddclly pouring down across the
northern frontier. But every attempt made
to establish a resident liz Afyhanistan, or
otherwise to bring that country within The
range Of exclusively British influence has
proved a disastrous failure. In 1912 "a garri-
son., more numerous than Burrows CON-
mand lately ambushed, defeated and driven
what remained Of it, into the citadel OF
C%andahar, was ovcrpowered and so thorough
ly eXterminated that only one man, the regi-
mental surgeon, escaped southwark to carry
to India tidings of the great disaster. A
similar fate threatens Prilnrosc's troops to-
day, if Ayoob Khan can muster force suf-
ticlent to storm and carry the citadel before
the arrival of the reinforcements now march
ing to the relief of the besieged garrison.
The AfShans are an agricultural and pas.
toral people, all trained to arms, every man a
soldier by profession, and living in a noun
famous country very difficult of access. Their
mode of warfare is peculiar, and bears some
resemblance to that of the Sioux Indians.
In the field they have no commissary to
hamper their movements. Their forces are
all mounted, and when they ente. 4 Cali
paign eacl. mar either takes with him ralions
sufficient to last until the intended attack
Will navy otEIl EHilC, OI ciSc tlcy IiSC Oil the
country they pass through. Their attack is a
headlong charge. Victory means the annihi-
lation Of the enemy, but if repuiscd, their
forces fade away at once, dispers;n. in all
directions: each man bc,akil.y himself to lis
home. After requesting The attack of thous-
invasion can marct. frouA ore end
of the country to ,ln other find
ing only small farmers peacefully
filling the soil, Or l%erlsmen tending their
tlocks ON the hillside. To sibduc such a
people, without thoroughly policing the
whole country would he a most difficult
matter; and if there is anything that the
English must surely have learned from their
experience of nearly half a century it is that
tttos" wild, uptaned and untalnabie noun
tall:cl> will never bow their necks 10 a for
eign yoke. When their country is occupied
by All army of invasion, they make a virtue
Of necessity aud submit but no sooner is
that army Withdrawn than the Afghans are
up in arms against the Resident or other rep
resnn'siiye of foreign power, that may have
been left behind, as we'll as against those Of
their W leaders who have consented to any
such arrangement. This has been the i'm
varying experience OF tie British sill. with
all the lessons Of the past, their national
p c~ulia,i'y of always having some bug bear
to scare at leads them to imagine that the
lntrsctaoie Afghans are 10 be as putty in the
hands Of the Gar. Gladstone, more rational.
proposed deviation from the Beaconsfield pol
icy and favored an entire withdrawal Of British
forces from Afghanistan, trusting to the natu-
raj Instincts of the people to furnish the best