The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-27
NDlA'S HARD CAMPAIGN.
rH6 FIGBT MUST 60 ON NEXT
sPRINa Against TEE NAT1VEs.

She savage p1suntaiueers Are Vet Far rren
neinE Conauersd-Whits Omccrs Are Their
Raverite Targets, and They save KILLED
n1sny OF Tbes-The native Boys Trainea
Rattle Gurkhas ana the sturdy sikh Fighters
JhNRUp, Dec. 2o.-Not only has this war
IN Tirah tried severely the endurance and
soldierly qualities Of the force engaged in 1t,
but II has also proved to be an excessive drain
on the Indian exchequer. 1t is costing the In.
dian Government over R15,O00 per day, and yet
the enemy is by no means conquered. The war
like Taker Kohls have not surrendered a single
rife, and the Afridis are still out in force. The
only way to compel tho cunning inhabitants
OF this dosolato country TO come to terms Is to
keep up q prolonged warfare against them and
destroy their crops in spring as well as au-
tumns They never meet the English In fair
fight, but a party Of fifty good marksmon can,
from some secure cliff, harass a whole brigade
In q terrible manner.
When detachments arc sent to dislodgo the
"snipers," the latter disappear under cover.
for they never place themselves in a position
whence there is no loophole of escape. AS
soon as their pursuers have given up the game
and returned to their column, the bloodthirsty
Pathans creep on again from their rocky re-
treats, like ~panthers from their lairs, and the
rear guards Of tho English see Death with his
scythe above them grinning over his sue
cesses. The whole way from Bagh to Swat
kot Sir William Lockhart's forces kept up q
continual rear guard action, and 1t Is impossi-
bic for any one who was not with them on the
14th of this month to realize the hardships
thoy were obliged to undergo.
Their casualties amount to many more than
havo been reported 30 far in the papers. Sixty
10 tho number given by other correspondents
except myself, and in my last letter l said that
400 dead and wounded had been carried past
me, but 1t appears that this last number may
almost be doubled. This brings up the total
score of casualties on the English side during
the whole campaign to considerably over 1900,
and of this number one in every thirteen has
been an English officer.
The proportion Of officers killed has been
much greater than in any preceding war, ow-
ing to the fact that tho native troops must be
led, not driven, and the English officer feels
that in order to keep the prestige which he
has 90 deservedly gained he must exhibit even
reckless pluck. Men have been blamed as
foolhardy at times, but the logical answers
have been that the officers must expose them
selves, and 1t was necessary for them to show
their own contempt for death by risking ex.
posures of their persons. Again, the venomou
Pathan would rather kill q "sahib,' or gentle
man, than q dozen privates, and the showers Of
bullets that have consequently fallen about the
leaders of this campaign have not made their
Lives the pleasantest on earth.
Scarcely q single officer in Gen. Lockhart's
brigade has escaped the fate Of having some bit
Of. his accoutrements touched by the enemies
bullets, or a part of his person injured. Never
in my life have I seen such a terribly worn and
suffering body Of men as those that Gen.
Hammond met beyond Swaikot over a week
ago, although they were still full of grit. They
had not. cowed their enemy-onlykilled about4OO,
and destroyed their crops. There is tho Bazaar
Valley and the Khyber region to be laid waste
aud perhaps the country Of the B~unnerwalls,
and after that operations must be suspended I'M
til the spring. If the spring crops are not de-
troyed and the enemy brought to terms through
starvation, success will be with the Afridis
rather than with the English, and the results
will not be commensurate with the sufferings
endured. But the precious white blood that
has been spilled, together with the worthy black
blood, will not have been wasted, since the
Ovaxais and a: number of other tribes have
complied with the terms offered them. The
war once begun must be pushed to the end. and
since England's strength lies in her colonies
IL 10 only right that the mother country should
come to the financial aid of India In this strup-
gle. England's soldiers get a training in cam
paigns like the ono in question such as no other
country can afford.
Then there In the prestige of her own tom.
mics" to uphold, and 1t is far from just that she
should throw the whole burden of expense for
doing this on the native of India. who is already
taxed as heavily as those who know his condi-
tion deem advisable.
] have been much struck by the benevolent
feelings that exist among the officials, both
military and political. who have had long resi-.
denco in the country, toward the natives of In
dia. They are midas truest friends. and they
2re doing all in their power to support the ma
tiyeS and at the same time keep them loyal to
the Queen. But there are many politicians in
England who. purely for their own selfish in
terests, or else to help, for the day. the manu-
fa,turers Of Manchester, are proclaiming aloud
against all colonial expenditures and who
would allow their subjects in India to be
squeezed" to q degree they could no longer
bear. Statements have recently been made in
English newspapers to the effect that We Amer
loans were bigoted and unpatriotic because we
allow INSCRIPTIONS politicians to occasionally
got the upper hand in our affairs, but 1 am sure
that our wire prllers" would not allow such sell
fish utterances to escape them when 1t can,e to a
question of our nations integrity, as do come of
the embers OF Parliament, who would permit
England's possessions to go to ruin.
To revert now to the present campaign, 1t
seems almost a certainty that this will be
pushed forward again in the spring. Gen.
Hammond's column, together with most of Gen.
Lockhart's forces. have moved from Swaikot
70 Fort Jamrud, which lies near the mouth of
tho Khyber Pass. In a day or two columns will
move up the latter pass and up the Bazaar Val
Icy, and there will probably be a good deal Of
fighting, but 1t Is doubtful II the enemy will
change their tactics and fight in tho open. The
Bazaar Valley is the great home of the Afridis
and the Taker Kehls. 1t is full of villages.
Most Of the enemy's wives, children and cattle
arc there and it is supposed that there Is an
enormou fighting force ready to oppose our ad-
vance. Those that go up either the Khyber or
the Bazaar will suffer a good deal In all proba-
bility. but the enemy win make good their es.
cape when they find themselves too hard