YAKOOB KHAN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 628, 17 February 1879, Page 2

YAKOOB KHAN.

The proclamation of Yakoob Kha^as Ameer of Afghanistan, by the Ghilzaes, is an event of great importance. But m order to understand it we must look at the consitution of society m that country. It is peopled by tribes, each of which is a complete commonwealth within itself, the Khan being its chieftain,' while its subdivisions are governed by a subordinate chief,' called spring hirai, or white beard, the whole of the tribes acknowledging allegiance, paying tribute, and furnishing an armed contingent to the Ameer. All the tribes profess to be descended from the father of King Saul, and the iriost numerous are the Duraui or Western Afghans, a pastoral and nomadic people who look upon the holy city of Oandahar as the centre of all the earth. Next? to these m reputation rank the Ghilzaes, who are divided into eight tribes, and are very impatient of authority exercised outside their own body. When Dost Mahomed, the former ruler of Afghanistan, died, m 1863, he left behind him sixteen sons. The third of these and his favorite, Shere Ali, he appointed as his successor with him ; and m the civil war whioh ensued the other thirteen ranged themselves on what they believed would prove to be the winning side. Mainly by the aid of his seccnd son, Yakoob Khan, Governor of Herat, who exhibited great courage and ability m this emergency, Shere Ali was enabled' after five years of internecine strife, to plant himself firmly on the throne of Afghanistan. No sooner &id he feel himself secure than he made provision for the succession, passing over his eldest son, ungratefully disregarding the inestimable services rendered to him by the second, and adopting as his heir Abdoola, the favorite son of his favorite wife. This son died, we may remind our readers, greatly to the grief of his father, m August last. Fearing the just resentment of Yakoob Khan, Shere Ali endeavoured, to deprive him of his offiice as Governor of Herat ; but the young man rebelled. Owihg to the i intervention of Lord Mayo, something i like a reconciliation took plaoe between ; father aiid son, and the latter vfojjs reinstated at Herat; m 1871. Subsei quently the crafty old Ameer invited i Yakoob Khan to Cabul, for the purpose of discussing family matters with him ) and, havinggot himthere, threw him into prison. After some months spent m confinement, Yakoob Khan procured his liberation by consenting to acknowledge Abdoola as the rightful heir to the throne, and he received the Governorship of Balkah, as a reward for his acquiescence. When Abdoola died it is said that the reconciliation of the Ameer and his aecond son was completely accomplished, and there are reasons for apprehending that Yakoob's nomination to the sovereignty of Afghanistan is the effeot of Russian intrigue. The new Ameer has always been described as a bitter enemy of the English, and as the province he governs is coterminous with the Russian territory, and as the embassy under General Abramoff must have been admitted by Yakoob Khan through Balkh, it looks as though the Russians were putting up this potentate as the most a oapable and warlike ruler of Afghanistan, fl and the best instrument they can use against a power whiah they are going to fight under a mask and domino, just as they fought Turkey during the Servian war. Two years ago, Colonel Valentine, Baker urged upon the Indian Government the occupation of Quettah, the settlement of the Afghan succession, the garrisoning , of the passes leading to India with British troops, the employ ment of British officers with an Afghan or Turkoman frontier force, and the settlement of residents at Cabul, Herat, and Oandahar, as indispensable to the safety of our Indian Empire. It would now appear as if the whole of these precautions will be forced upon us by the logic of > events.