The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-05-14
AFGHANlSTAN.
Memories Of Disaster to the English Arms
in Central Asia.

.rous as any in the records of her Indian
empire Her first campaign. directed
70 the destruction of the power of its
then ruler, Dost Mohammed. took place
in 1888, resulting in the prompt occupa-
ton of Cabul, although. throughout
the rest of the country Instruction fol-
lowed instruction, and the British in
vaders were only masters of the ground
dominated by their guns and patrolled
bv the warlike Ghilzais chiefs whom
they dislodged. The British envoy of
that period was Sir W.McNaughten, and
the enormous expenses of the cam
paign. exceeding Fl 800, 0O) per annum,
all drawn from the already overbur-
dened Indian exchequer, induced or
rather forced him to cut down these SUBJ
sides TO about one-fourth their original
amount. These valiant emirs, COM
manding the strongest mountain passes
in the world, the gateways between Ca
| bull and Peshawur, were summoned to
council at the former place, and in
/ formed OF the curtailment of their al
lowances. They made their salaam to
the envoy in apparent resignation,
returned to the mountains, plum
dered caravan, blockaded the
passes. and locked up the English troops
I in their intrenchments. On November
2 the mob attacked the house of the
resident of the East India Company. Sir
/ Alexander Burns, and cut him to pieces.
Major General Ephinstone, an imbecile
and equity old General, was in command
of the environments, and owing to his in
capacity what was at first a simple
emeute ripened swiftly into a revolt,
and within three days the cantOument
with its garrison of five thousand men
was in state of siege, which continued
for forty days. At the expiration of
! that time, on December %, Sir w. Nc
| Naughten, the envoy, was inveigled
! into a conference beyond the limits of
the British lines, and was there treach-
erOuSly slain by the hand of Akbar
Khan, successor of the deposed ruler,
! Dost MOhammed. The garrison was
now reduced to state of starvation
aud under the dictation of the Afghan
chiefs was obliged to commence a retreat
through the great mountain defileS in
the depths of winter. They marched
forth numbering five thousand men at
arms, with twelve thousand l. camp
| followers-men and women-of whom
but single individual, Dr. Brydon,
succeeded in reaching the refuge of the
| British lines at Jellalabad. In their re-
treat, without food or shelter. benumbed
with cold and staggering through the
heavy drifts of the mountain passes.
they were slaughtered without mercy
| by the infuriated highlanders at every
turn. No such shock had ever been
given to the military power of England
since her occupation of india.
and it awakened an instant
emotion of terror and rage
throughout the entire peninsula,
which was felt with equal bitterness by
the entire British people as soon as the
disastrous news could be conveyed to
them. Lord Auckland was then at the
! head of the Indian Government. but he
was quickly succeeded by. Lord Ellen
borough, son of the illustrious Lord
Chancellor, and on his arrival he took
up with energy the duty of restoring
British prestige among the savage
mountaineers, and infiicting on them a
punishment corresponding in severity
with that which they had inflicted upon
their invaders. General Sale was at
Jellalabad with mixed force of En-
glish and Sepoys numbering about
5000 men. General Mott at Candahar.
and General Pollock at the Khyber
pass, commanding, all told,
force OF between $4,000 and 10000
efficient troops. On September ID. OF
the same year in which the fated garri-
son had left its environments upon i re-
treat as appalling and tragical as that
of Napoleon army from the blackened
ruins of Moscow, the British colorS
were again lifted above the walls of the
Bala Hissar, or centrsl fortjfication of
Cabul. The narrative of the liberation
of the captiveS. one of the most roman
tie episodes in the history of British
India, is too well known to need recital
here. They speedily reioined their
cDuntrym9n at Cabul and witnessed
there the act of retribUtion which the
con Herers determined to infiict upon
the city in the destruction of the mar
niiicent bazaar, the nobieSt structure OF
its kind in Central Asia. and in which
the mut;iated remains OF the murdered
envoy had been exposed for days to the
indigntieS and insults OF the populace.
A part of the city was likewise pillaged.
and on October II the armies returned
in triumph to Ind a, having successfully
re-cStab shed from the Hindoo Koosh
to the Parapamisan Mountains, and
from the terrace gardens of Herat to
the sand wastes OF SeistaR. the terror of
the British name and the prestige OF its
arms.
The fate of Sir Alexander Burns and
SirW- McNaughten had nearly befallen
also Major Outram, the Bavard of the
East, at the hands of an insurrectionarv
band of BeloocheS. at Khyrpan, in the
following year, leading among other
important events to the Intervention of
SIR Charles Napier, then on the tkreSh-
old OF h 5 Indian achievements, and to
the annexation to the territory
of the company of the province of
Scinde. announced in a dispatch from
Sir Charles which has the uniGge dis
tinet.on of being briefer than Caesar s.
-'Peecavi, have Scinde."
For many ages these southern noun
tain passes of Afgaanistan had been the
gateway of Ind: invasion. Alexander
poured his Greek phalanxes through
the Khyber pass. AID crossed the Indus
at Attock. carrying his spears and ban
ners to the banks of the Hvdaspes. |
Sultan Mahmoud. of Ghuzni, Zinghis, |
AMI Nadir Shah had ied their invading |
hosts through the same tremendous |
gorges. and launched them upon the
defeuseless valleys beyond. More than
eight hundred years before General