THE SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7272, 10 March 1885, Page 5

THE SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

On the 3rd of this month Earl Granville, in the House of Lords, notified that he had received information that the Russians had occupied the Gulfikar Pass of the Hindu Kush mountains, and were advancing towards Panj-Deh, a town in Afghanistan, and that Sir Peter Lumsden, Commissioner of the Frontier Boundary Commission, had advised the Afghans to resist, and that the action of the British Commissioner was approved of by him. On the sth of March Mr. Gladstone, in the House of Commons, stated that a question of the greateat delicacy was now pending between England and Russia, and that he deprecated any enquiries on the subject. To understand the gravity of the position, and how delicate our relations are with Russia in this matter, we must realise that a treaty exists between England and Afghanistan, which in the event of the Afghans repelling the Russian encroachments by arms, must lead eventually to war between England and Russia. Again, to show, how we are bound to the Afghans in this controversy, the following extract from Earl Ripon'a letter to the Ameer of Afghanistan may be quoted. The Governor - General writes thus to the Ameer :—" As regards matters of external policy, your Highness was informed, in a communication from the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, dated 20th July, ISSO, and again in my letter of the 22nd February, 18S3, that if any foreign Power should attempt to interfere in Afghanistan, and if such interference should lead to an unprovoked aggression on the dominions of your Highness, in that event the British Government would be prepared to aid you to such extent and in such manner as might appear to the British Government necessary in repelling it, provided that your Highness follows uureservedly the advice of the British Government in regard to your external relations." To this was appended a subsidy of 12 lakhs of rupees yearly, payable monthly. Nor is this all. When the Russians advanced from Merv and occupied Sarakhs, which place they obtained by treaty from the Persians, various vague rumours were set afl>at as to the ultimate designs of Russia. That these rumours caused great uneasiness to the Ameer is self-evident from " the fact that he again addressed the Gover-nor-General of India on the subject, and elioited on the 24th February, ISSI, the following reply. The letter, after referring to the one above quoted, finishes thus :— "Under these circumstances your Highness need be under no apprehension, but may rest in secure reliance that the British Government has both the 'will and the power' to make good all its engagements with your Highness." If the English language can convey the meaning of its words to an Asiatic, the same as it does to an Englishman, there can be no misunderstanding of our relations with the Ameer, Abdurrahman Khan, viz., that in ; the event of Afghanistan being invaded, -vre 1 are to make his cause ours, and we are bound to assist him in repelling any unprovoked aggression. The difficulty of understanding exactly what are tbe boundaries of Afghanistan has been apparent for many years past, as they have never been laid down on any map, the country never having been surveyed for that purpose; but in the year 1873 the British Government with Russia determined what wa« Afghan territory between the Oxus and Heri-Eud. And Koi was to be the extreme north-west Afghan frontier, and the internal Afghan districts of Akcha, Sis-i-Pal, Maimen*, and Shibergan, were to be bounded on the north by the desert. Beyond the desert all belonged to the independent Tnrcoman tribes ; therefore, so to speak, an imaginary line was drawn from the Hari-Rud to KhojaSaleh, the frontier town of Afghanistan on the Oxus. That this imaginary line was highly unsatisfactory ie apparent, and to obviate future difficulties, the Russian Government proposed last year that a joint commission of Englishmen and Russians should proceed to the frontier and delineate the exact boundaries. In all good faith the British Government accepted the proposal, and called upon the Ameer of Afghanistan to render all assistance. li« expressed the greatest sympathy with the object in view, promised to make all necessary arrangements for the eupply of provisions at ttiu various stagea or halting places of the Commission, and further, offered (which was accepted) to hold in readiness men acquainted with the various tracts of their country. These men would attend solely on the British Commissioner,, and help him with their local knowledge. Every step taken by the Indian Government gave fair prospect of success. The Commission was placed under the orders of Sir Peter Lumsden, with Lieutenant Colonel Ridgeway as Assistant Commissioner, the attache's being Captains Durand, Yate, and I'eLassol; naturalist, Surgeon-Major Aitchison ; geologist, Dr. Griesbach ; survey officers, Major Hill, Captains Gore aud Talbot; intelligence officers, Captains Maitland and Peacocke; escort oificers, Major Bax, Captain Heath, and Lieutenant Drummond. Eight Ressaidare and Subahdar majors of the Indian army were attaehed to it, and the escort consisted of 300 sabres of the 11th Bengal Lancers and 200 bayonets of the 20th Punjabees. It started from Quettah about the 12th of September, marched along the whole of the northern frontier of Beluchiatan, via Mushki, crossed the Desert at Bulu, and struck the Helmund as Rnd-B»r. From thence they proceeded by the right bank of the river to Herat, and they were on the 27th December at Bala Murghab, ou the river Murghab, about 30 miles from Panj-Deh, on the same river towards which the Russians according to our late telegrams were ad-

vancing. The Russian portion of the Commission was to meet the English at Sarakhe about the end of November last, and we know how well they have kept their engagements, one of tho Commission being still at Tiflis iu Caucasia, andanother at Constantinople. The Times' Paris correspondent w»s the first to draw England'*) attention to the bad faith of Kussia in the matter. Even as far back as two months ago, whilst the Commission was proceeding with its labours, Russia laid claim to all the country occupied by the Salor and Aliali Turkomans—in fact Afghan Turkestan. They did not stop here, but actually have occupied Pul-i-Khatun, in defiance of the Ameer. Pul i-Khatun lies ou the river Hari-Rud, and forms the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan. At this distance from the scene of action it is impossible to aay what may not take place. The Afghans, advised by the British Commissioner to resist invasion ; an English escort within 30 miles of the Russian advanced guard, guarding the Pass across the Parapomisus, by which route the Russians would have to travel to pass on to Herat, certainly gives the appearance of Russia beiug determined to take advantage of our present difficulties in other parts of the globe, to press upon us the necessity of giving way to her will in these matters. There remains, however, this consolation, that whatever nation brings Afghanistan under its control is greatly weakened, as the Afghans will most assuredly be their bitterest foes. Nor can we feign indifference to the position now occupied by Russia, for it can be with no friendly object that they are pushing forward their advance posts towards India. For years past Russian officers have persistently followed all tracks and roads which lead to cur Indian Empire. Their most experienced General, whose book has lately been republished, avowed openly that the invasion of India is not only feasible, but he details how it can be successfully accomplished. The very appearance of General skobelofi's letter was no doubt intended to frighten us intocompliance with their designs. We do not, therefore, feel in the least sur■prietd that Mr. Gladstone should deprecate any enquiries into the Afghan question. It certainly is a question-of the greatest " delicacy." Neither are we surprised that tho Marquis of Hartington should confirm the statement that Government intended to increase the standing army. Certainly, th; number of additional troops must be left for the present undecided; for, should war eventuate, England will have to depend on herself—all the Great Powers of Europe would only be too glad to see us embroiled with Russia. With the Egyptian complications aad the Soudaneae war on our hand, it would be a godsend to France. An ultimatum as regards our tenure in Sgypt, together with the liquidation of the debt, would be pressed on us in peremptory and authoritative language. ■ Germany and Austria would only be too glad to see the Russian armies moved frpm the confines of their states to the distant East, well knowing the exhaustive nature of the war ; and besides, this would giro them the looKed-for opportunity

of carrying out the adaptation of their plans in Bulgaria. Nor need we speculate on the tone of future despatches relative to German colonisation in Africa and New Guinea. •' If the nation is to be preserved from war, it will be only by the bold, defiant front exhibited by Englishmen all over the globe, who would rather sacrifice their interests than allow the honour of their country to bo tarnished by a pusillanimous policy such as has been displayed of late years. Nor can we wonder, then, at the profound aensation created in Berlin when the telegrams announced that Canada and Australia had offered thousands of volunteers to meet the difficulties which now beset their countrymen at home. Fphinx. [The above was written before the arrival of the latest cablegrams on the subject in this day's issue. 1