INDIAN DIFFICULTIES.

Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 3926, 21 February 1878, Page 3

INDIAN DIFFICULTIES.

In India there has been a petty border war with the Jowakis, a predatory mountain tribe On the North-West frontier. In the early part of the year, on the invitation of the Khan of Khelat, an English officer with a considerable escort was sent to reside at Quettab, and perhaps the measure may have caused irritation and'alarm among the neighbouring tribes. At the date of the latest accounts the operations of the English forces had been successful, but the objects of the expedition had not been fully .attained. The gorgeous ceremony attending the proclamation at Delhi of the Queen's assumption of the title of Empress of. India produced no political effect. 'Indian statesmen were even at the time preoccupied by the anticipation of the famine' which has since extended with frightful severity over a great part of the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras, and over some of the adjacent states. The efforts of the Supreme and Local Governments to relieve the wants of the people have been unceasing; but the deaths from the direct or indirect consequences of want of food are estimated at hundreds of thousands; and the health of many of the survivors must have been permanently affected. A subscription in England for the relief of Indian distress amounted to nearly half a million, and the liberality of tbe contributOre was not exhausted when the Indian authorities announced that the necessity for aid no longer existed. Copious autumn rains removed all apprehension of a second season of famine; and the pressure on the resources of the Government rapidly diminishes. Two celebrated Eastern potentates have died within the year. Jung Bahadoor, nominally Minister and really Sovereign of Nepaul, had long since attained his position by unscrupulous vigour in removing rivals from his path. While he exoluded Europeans from his country, be pursued a friendly policy to the English Government, and during the Mutiny he rendered useful service. At the time of his death he was preparing for a second visit to England. Little is xnown of the character of his brother, who has succeeded to his power. The: death of Yakoob Beg of Kashgar may probably be followed by dynastic and territorial changes in the r remote East. Like many Eastern potentates, Yakoob had been a soldier of fortune before he superseded the chief whom he had served. Alone among the Mahomedan rulers, of provinces formerly belonging to China/Yakoob Beg," otherwise known as the Atalik Ghazi, had maintained an independence which was threatened both from the east and the west- He bad during his reign avoided collision with his Russian neighbours in Central Asia; but it is doubtful whether he would have ; been able permanently to resist the steady progress of great Chinese armies, whioh will probably restore the former frontiers of the Empire, The inheritance of Yakoob Beg has already caused broils and revolutions among the claimants of the succession, and the kingdom which ho formed is not likely to endure. • r -