The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-01


outta that the Afghans should not be
suffered to ~subjugate the Afridis and other
hill tribes, but the question remained for a
time undetermined whether these should
remain Independent or should be taken into
the service of the Anglo.Indian Govern
ment. Eventually the views Of Lord LAW
RENEE and Gen. Lord ROBERTS prevailed
and the scientific frontier" was resolved
upon, the aim of which was to fortify all
the passes leading from Afghanistan to
India and to garrison the forts with soldiers
recruited from the hill tribes. whose fidelity
was to be further assured by subsidies.
Up tothe present co%njuncture the scheme
seems to have worked we'll enough, al
though there nave been occasional quar-.
rels over the distribution Of the subsidies
among the tribesmen. The present uprising
should be undoubtedly regarded as an out
break Of Mohammedan fanaticism, Tor
which reason, and because the assailants
were their own kinsmen, it may be doubted
whether the Pathan levies composing the
garrisons of the captured forts offered any
very strenuous resistance. The sudden and
complete loss of both the Khyber and the
Kohat passes has undoubtedly given a
deathblow to the defensive system hitherto
followed by the Calcutta Government on
the northwest frontier Evidently those
passes must, hereafter, be garrisoned by
Trustworthy troops not drawn from the sur
rounding tribes, or else the attempt to hold
them must be altogether renowned and de-
fensive measures be confined, as was former
ly the case, to the foothills which form the
natural boundary Of the Punjab.
It'll really. then, a frontier trouble, and by
no means an intestine difficulty, with which
the British in India at present have to con-
tend. No one questions the ability Of the
force now in process of collection at Pesha-
war to punish the insurrectionary tribcsmen
and to quell any sympathetic disturbances
that may arise In Beluchistan Should 1t
turn out, indeed, that The Afridis have
been prompted to rebel by ABDURRHAMAN,
an invasion of Afghanistan might be nee
essary, and hat would Of course require a
much larger body Of soldiers. or such IN
exigency, however, there is, as we have
said, no clear indication. and even an
Afghan war, except in the improbable
event Of its proving disastrous for the Brit
ish arms, would not shake British rule
III u plppSls Liz oLil lib6 thioS
would seriously alarm the Calcutta Gov
eminent short of a Russian advance
from Central Asia would be another
widespread mutiny on the part Of
the native soldiers in it's employ. There
are several reasons why such a contingency
Is improbable. In the first place, the
Anglo-Indian Army has been thoroughly re-
organized since 1857. The number of Brit
ish troops is much larger, and the number
of native troops much smaller, than was
the case at the former epoch. Again, while
in 1857 the great majority Of the native
soldiers were Mohammedans, now a large
proportion of them are drawn from the
Sikhs, the Gurkhas and from the non-Mo-
hammedan natives of R~ajahputana. Still
another precaution has been taken the ar
tillery, more than two hundred batteries of
which were manned in 1857 by Moham-
medans, is now concentrated almost wholly
in the hands of British soldiers. Under
the circumstances, it is almost impossible
that a mutiny should occur, and, IL it did,
1t could be easily put down.
We repeat that the kilograms, vaguely
describing the disturbances on the north.
western frontier as outbreaks in India
are misleading. Not a single outbreak has
occurred in India proper, and the only
troubles that lave taken place are due tc
the unwillingness of the Pathan borderers
who are fanatical Mohammedans, to accept
the pay and garrison the forts of Christians
any longer.