AFFAIRS IN AFGHANISTAN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 2 August 1880, Page 2

AFFAIRS IN AFGHANISTAN.

Late papers received by the San Francisco mail give particulars of the state of affaghanistan, which will be read with interest, in the light of the recent disaster to General Burrows' brigade. The correspondent of the London mail, writing from Candahar on June 12fch, says : " There is not much news from Herat, but what there ia appears to indicate a collapse of the threatened attack. The Char Aimak tribes, which furnish the formidable Irregular Cavalry of Herat, have bluntly refused Ayoob's summons to assemble, saying that he is Governor only in name, and has authority neither over the people nor the troops, which would mutiny directly they got outside the city. The parties sent to collect the supplies on the road towards Candahar have been unable to do so. The inflammatory letters sent to the Zemindawar and the other tribes on hip side of the of the frontier as yet, had no effect, and it may be that Ayoob's aim in proclaiming his intention of marching on Candahar was simply to excite the Trans Helmand tribes to rise in his favor against the Wali, whom, it was believed until lately, we were about to leave to his own devices by retiring to Peshin. The however, is now first in the field, and it seems not impossible that the disturbance excited by Ayo'ob may end in his own expulsion soon from the country." A Simla telegram of June 11th also announced that the threatened movement of Ayoob Khan towards Candahar had collapsed. The following extract from a leading article in the Mail of June 14th will tend to show the seriousness of the present situation :—" The English name just now is not loved in Afghanistan. The friendship of England would nc.t, therefore, serve to recommend a ruler to his people. It mii'lit be possible to unite the northern tribes of the country in a policy of hostility to England, or, if this is not possible at the present moment, it is because the strength of our military forces in Afghanistan would render the attempt a hopeless one. It is less easy tp persuade the Afghans to submit ' willingly to the kind ijf ruler we desire for them. But, granting all this to the fullest extent, it shows only what we have known all along-—that smooth relations with Afghanistan can result only from a conviction of our superior strength, When the idea has been driven home to the Afghan mind that where this country insists Afghanistan must of necessity find the means of complying, the business, difficult qr easy, is moi'e than half done. The course of our wars with Afghanistan can have left no doubt as to the point which most needs to be impressed. The people must have felt and recognised their utter powerlessness to resist the will of England. The road for negotiation has thus been prepared in the only way possible, and it has been prepared very effectually. When the Afghans have been given to understand clearly what we want from them, they will vmderstand top that they have no choice but to comply with our very moderate demands. Our troops will be withdrawn from the country when the foundations have been laid for gome forjn of government which promises tci he stable, and, if not friendly, at least such as we can trust for its overt acts, The very independence which the Afghans most fondly cherish can only so be aeoured to them. Afghanistan must always rank as, in a certain sense, one of our protected States. We do not seek to interfere with the details- of its administration, and we shall certainly allow no foreign Power to usurp an authority from which we thus avowedly withdraw, Nor does it seem likely, at the present moment, that any attempt of the kind will be made so as to call for intervention on our part. The restlessness and ambition of the Russian governors in the neighboorhood have had too severe and too recent a check. The Hussion mission to Cabul has not turned out favorably either for Russia or for Afghanistan. It is not likely to be soon repeated, and in any case it is not England which has most reason to be apprehensive of its results."