THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 153, 27 December 1898, Page 4

THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.

» A cable message of Saturday significantly stated that the European residents of Cabul were complaining of the treatment accorded them by the Ameer. This news is followed up to-day by further details that indicate possible trouble on the everunquiet "Afghan border." The tribes dwelling on the Russo - Afghan frontier are said to have relegated their women and children to the fastnesses of the hills, while their men-folk are busy over fortifications. Precautions of this kind in fighting races like the Pathans are always ominous, and generally portend an outbreak of some kind. We are also informed that anti-Christian demonstrations are feared, and evidently the fanaticism that has been smouldering on the British border has spread to Afghanistan itself. Ever since the first war against Dost Mohammed m 1838 Afghanistan has been a disturbing jlement in Anglo - Indian politics. The country forms a buffer State between the expanding Empires of India and Russia. It is consequently a nest of diplomatic intrigue. It is also a great junction of trading routes, and as such the natural hunting ground of the peripatetic fanatic and the disaffected adventurer. The native population is mixed, and for the most part proud, treacherous, turbulent, and easily fired with Mahommedan frenzy. Taking all these facts into consideration, it i 9 little wonder that the Indian officials should turn an anxious eye to Cabul whenever there are rumours of disaffection, either at the Ameer's court, or among the warlike country-folk. The Russians are alleged to be using their best efforts to allay the excitement, aud to have urged the British to take energetic action, but, much as an AngloRussian entente is to be desired, it cannot be denied that the sinuous ways of Russian agents upon the Indian frontier have created a reasonable distrust in the minds of British officials. It is to be hoped that the two nations — Russia and Great Britain — will act frankly together for the suppression of any disturbance that may arise in the Ameer's dominions. Both of them have many Mahommedan as well as Christian subjects, and neither can wish for any religious* outbreak calculated to create discord between the adherents of the different creeds professed within their bordersj. The sudden risings, ac«

companied by features of unusual atrocity, that have marked the history of Afghan intercourse with Europeans, cause a cer tain amount of anxiety at the receipt of such news as has recently come to hand. The Anglo-Indian cannot but call to mind the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes and the treacherous shooting of Sir William Macnaghten in 1841, the duplicity that left Dr. Brydon the only survivor of the 16,500 souls who marched from Cabul in January, 1842, under a promise of. escort and provisions from Akbar Khan, and the yet more recent massticre of Sir Louis Cavagnari and his staff in 1879. The present agitation may be only a passing phase, but the present condition and past history of Afghanistan make such passing phases fraught with danger and anxiety.