The Detroit times., 1914-12-02

Gent or ulOutIu duhdlSt AeS NNANA"NHAo
chapter has never been written. Nel'
Their has vanquished the other Mel
Their has deyiated one jot or title
from the main issue. Both cannot
win, because both aim al the same
thing-England To keep India. Russia
TO wrest IL from her and add II TO heI
own possessions.
Russia has had Constantinople
within her grasp more than once. The
Gear Nicholas !. obtained IN 1888 from
the Sultan Mohammed All the eXclu-
sive right OF way through the Oar
danelles, Great Britain, alarmed
that such short route to India was
10 be closed 10 her and opened be
fore tho Northern Bear, labored fever.
ishly until In lS41 Palmerston could
command Russia 10 relinquish her
prize. The Crimean war, in which
Turkey had the assistance OF England
and France against the car. LETT
Nicholas unsubdued. His brother
Alexander III. quietly extended his
Asiatic frontiers across the Caucausus
without war; then through a sue
cessful war he was able in 1878 to
look forward TO the day when Russia
could once more call Constantinople
her OWE.
1t was q British fleet anchored in
the Dardanelles within sight of the
Russian fleet. and a British fleet an
chored in Finnish waters within sight
OF 81. Petersburg, which once more
thwarted the Russian plans and re-
turned Constantinople again TO the
sultan.
But the Russian bear has been soft,
ly and stealthily moving eastward
even since, eastward toward India.
Profuse with expressions OF friend
ship for Great Britain, politely
acknowledging again and again that
1.-THE Persian Gulf is British lake,
blan6ly conceding, when invited 10 do
so, that circumstances make II
necessary for Great. Britain to have
exclusive control over Afghan affairs,
Afghanistan lying next TO India;
cordially asserting 10 the wisdom or
keeping Thibet on the Indian north
ern frontier, an independent state;
Russia has all the time secured for
herself by bribery and secret pacts
every right she has SO glibly given TO
but by treaty solemnly signed,
sealec and delivered.
1t was only few days after the
declaration OF war between Turkey
and Russia, Nov /, that the Ameer
OF Afghanistan. Habib Ullah Khan.
started TO march against India
with an army 10000 strong. The
has since been made
that the Ameer's object is war,
against Russia as well as Great
Britain. II is inconceivable that
Sir Edward Grey In London and
ord Hardinge, the Viceroy OF India
at Calcutta, should view IL in that
light. Afghanistan, nominally under
the enforced protectorate Of Great
Britain. is in actually as Russian as
he cars gold and the intrigues OF
his emissaries can make II.
II was in 1909, one hundred and five
years ago, that Great Britain, dis
covering the project OF the Car AL
exander 10 invade India through Per-
STA. began her first negotiations with
he then Ameer OF Afghanistan and
erected ii as a buffer state between
Persia and India, 10 be isolated irons
all European influence except the
British. Russia made an official &C
Mt OF her acquiesence
and pledged herself 10 make her own
with the Ameer only
through the British. The historians
had scarcely the time TO record this
TACT before the presence OF Russian
mission at Cabul, the Ameer's capital,
brought about the First Afghan war
IF the British, 1S38-1S42. In 1858 Shir
Ali Khan became Ameer through the
assistance OF the British, and the
general OF India supplied him
with money and ammunition to pro-
.ect his western frontiers against the
Russians. But Russia so openly ruled
1t Catul that the Second Afghan war
Of the British was precipitated in
1878. The Third Afghan war. 1879
1880, was led by Sir Frederick, later
Lord Roberts, and he achieved such a
brilliant victory over the Afghans at
that the name became link
ed for all time with his title.
But in 1880 the Russians succeeded
In persuading the Afghans % elect as
their Ameer. Abdurrahman. whom the
British had driven out OF the coun-
try during the previous war Lord
Dufferin, then encouragement OF
India, made mSsterstroke In Undue
ing Ahdurrahman TO visit him at Cal
cutta. in 1885, and TO accept British
subsidies TO reorganize his army and
improve the civil administration OF
his country This accomplished, the
Ameer haughtily declined further Brit
Ssh advice or British visits, either In
Cabul or Calcutta, although not de-
the allowance still regularly
sent him from the governorgeneraps
treasury.
His son. Habib UIlah Khan, the
present Ameer, cannot be accused OF
Implicitly by the British. He has re-
NAMED coldly Indifferent 10 all their
overtures, thereby probably mourning
the displeasure Of his friend the car,
who at frequent intervals, when in
vited TO do So" glibly acknowledges
Great Britain's right 20 exclusive con-
troll over Afghan affairs. The AmeerNs
reception OF the British mission sent
TO Cabul in 1904, headed by Sir Louis
Dane, foreign secretary at Calcutta.
would furnish material for a roaring
farce. Short, stout and sallow, beard.
ed like the pard, with an active intelll.
gence and vast vanity the Ameer re-
ceived with condescending aloofness
the presents so carefully selected by
Calcutta, a $4,000 motor for his own
use and cinematograph for his
harem among them. his childish de
Hight over the new toys escaping In
spite OF himself The British pre-.
scented the draft of their new treaty
with confidence. X was CURLY de-
clined, and the Ameer offered one OF
IL. a. A A..