The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-22
He Is Said to BE the AbIest and Most
Enlightened of All MosIem
POtentates.
A BRAVE, PATRIOTIC PRINCE
HOW HE QUELLED A MUTINY AND
WON HIGH HONOR AS A JUDGE.
Is Carrying His Country Forward to
Be n Civilized NatiOn-His Mag
nanimity to His Rival.

1EVERAL years ago an English
| physician rode up to the entrance
of the Ameer of Afghanistan's
IET@ESj palace in Kabul. He had been en-
- gagged to act as court surgeon to
the Amer Abdur Rahman, and had called
to pay his respects to that potentate on ar
irving in his capital.
The Ameer was away, suppressins an in
ruler of the turbulent Afghans-but the doc
tor was told that his eldest son, Prince
Habibullah Khan, would receive him.
He had never met an Oriental prince. and
he expected to see a stout. indolent. ignor-
ant, bejeweled creature reclining on cush-
ions and sleepily smoking an opium pipe
He wondered whether he would be expected
to grovel on the floor. and mentally resolved
that he wouldn't.
When he entered the reception room a
dark-skinned, clear-eyed, athletic young
man,. dressed in an European-looking mill
tary uniform, stepped forward and shook
him heartily by the hand.
How do you do, doctor?' he said in excel
lent English. I'm awfully glad to see you.
Hope you had a good journey. I've been
looking for you anxiously. I'm in a fix, and
you can help me out. Do you know anything
about the water supply of London and other
big cities? 1 want to provide good water
supply for Kabul, and I've been reading up
on the subject, but there are some points I
can't understand"
This was not the kind of Oriental prince
the doctor had expected, but as soon as he
had recovered from his establishment, he
discussed the subject and was surprised to
discover how much Habibullah knew about
1t, and about a thousand other points OF
Western science and polity.
However did you manage to learn SO
much?'' the doctor finally asked in amaze
ment. You never studied abroad. did your"
NO. replied the prince, but L learned
what 1 could from my father. and from
Europeans who came here, and 1 read a
great many books and newspapers. 1t is my
duty to work and to study. night and day,
to tit myself to rule my people and make
them a great nation. That is what my
father has taught me since L was a child.
and he teaches the other princes the same"
THE LATE ABDUR RAHMAN.
Abdur Rahman Khan, the Ameer of At
ghanistan, in whose stead Habibullah now
reigns, was one of the worlds few great
men. Competent judges ranked him with
such supreme statesmen as Prince Bis
marck Cavour, and the present Emperor of
Austria. He found the Afghans a turbulent
horde of barbarian tribes; he left them a
strong, united nation, for whose alliance
Russia and England eagerly compete. Out
of chaos he created law, order, justice and
the beginnings of civilization. And Habi-
bullah, who now carries on his great work.
was his right-hand man.
Europeans called Abdur a barbarous ty-
rant, and certainly his methods seemed
cruel and merciless. He ruled with an iron
hand, but he had to rule an iron people.
Travellers who entered his kingdom
through the Khyber pass saw, swinging a
hundred feet above their heads, from pre-
cipitous rock, an iron cage containing a
who had robbed and murdered wayfarers in
that pass. Abdur Rahman caught him, put
him in the cage, and swung him over the
rock to die miserably of hunger and thirst.
Cruel, no doubt, but after that his section
of the Khyber pass became as safe as Fifth
avenue, New York.
In such a spirit he and his son Habibullah
administered the law until they tanned the
Afghans, suppressing a hundred rebellions
in the process. Then they able to
make the laws milder, and introduce educa-
ton, civilization and Western arts and in
dustries. until to-day Afghanistan is far
and away the most progressive and en-