Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎30v] (61/312)

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neartmess in conviviality is generally found
associated ; but the Afghans, In their boisterous
debauchery, distort the amiable trait into bes- 1
tiality of the vilest description. This is espe-
cially the case among the higher classes ; for
the bulk bf th® people are unable from
! their excessive poverty to indulge their
| tastes. As an evening amusement chess finds
j favour with every grade, but in common -with all
j Orientals the Afghan prefers to listen to a story-
| teller to doing anything else. The interminable
i nature of Eastern tales, which go on from night
to night, branching off from the original narra-
i tive at every opportunity into the adventures of
j other characters that happen to be introduced, i
would be maddening to an European audience,
but the Afghan, patient in this alone, lies on his
sheepskin hour after hour quite content
if some one of the company will only
drone out the involved labyrinth of inde
cent episodes that he calls a tale. The women,
whom we have already said are fair-com-
plexioned, handsome, and of good figure, en-
! hance their charms by all the artifices of cos
metics, dyes, and picturesque dress; and tattooing
with indigo takes the place of the patches once
in vogue in England. The hair, worn in long
plaits, is often adorned with tassels and rough
but effective ornaments of metal and glass; but
| the jealous seclusion in which the better classes
! are kept by their Icfrds .and masters has pre
vented travellers from obtaining details of their
personal appearance. Enough, however, is known
of their lives and habits within the harem to
assure us that the standard \of morality is not
elevated by this compulsory seclusion.
Next to the Afghans, the Tajiks of Persian j
origin are the most numerous class of the !
Ameer's subjects. Physically they rival the
Afghans in graces of person, but differ from 1
them widely in character and habits. As a rule
they are an orderly and law-abiding race ; and
though as ignorant and superstitious as
their neighbours, are less turbulent and
bigoted. In the rural districts they follow
agriculture as a profession, and in towns
occupy themselves in any trade or industry.
A considerable number join the army, in
which they are known as Toorks, and not a
few are to be found serving in the Punjab
branch of the British force. Among the
remaining elements of the population of
Afghanistan, the Kazzilbash Moghul and the
Hazara tribe deserve special notice. The
former are of Turki origin, and wherever they
go enjoy the reputation of being splendid
soldiers. In the Irregular Cavalry of
India, one of the finest arms of any
service, they are marked men, and in
Afghanistan they form the bulk of the cavalry
and artillery forces in the Ameer's service. The
Hazaras are of Tartar descent, as their unpre
possessing features and diminutive stature
abundantly testify. They serve the other races
as menials, and, as such, are looked upon as
faithful and docile. In independence, how
ever, they display a remarkable hatred of the
Afghans, who, owing to the savage daring shown
by these mountaineers, have never been able to
pierce to their strongholds.
Brief as are these sketches of the chief races
of Afghanistan, they suffice to show how the
population contains within itself all the elements
of intestine discord, and none of cohesion in a
common cause. The " Sunni" Afghans at a
word would turn in the name of religion upon
the " Shia " Moghuls; while the Hazaras, and {
besides them the Hindu tribes scattered about
the country, which we have not the space to
specify, would readily, in the hope of plunder, |
fight against both.
LONDON, TH URSDA Y, SE PTEMBER 26.
Our special correspondent at Simla telegraphs
that two despatches, dated August 14 and
August 23, from the Viceroy to the Ameer,
have just been published in the Indian news-
papers. the first potifvlag the fact that it had
been decided to send a mission to Cabul, and
asking for it a safe-conduct and proper recep-
tiop; the second, offering condolences on the
death of the Ameer's heir. To neither of these
desnatches was any answer returned by the i
Afghan Prince.
A n inspired telegram from St. Petersburg,
which appeared yesterday, declares, with refe
rence to the assumption that an understanding
exists between Russia and Afghanistan, that
such a " supposition is purely imaginary." This
statement is made, it avers, " in the best-
informed quarters and on 'the same imposing
but vague authority it adds that " no grounds
are known to justify such imputations and
conjectures." The semi-official message possi
bly indicates what kind of language will be
forthcoming from the Russian Chancellery when
our inevitable question upon the subject is put
to Prince Gortschakoff ; and, so far as it fore
shadows a desire on the part of the Czar's Govern
ment to keep the peace with us, nothing could be
more satisfactory. Nevertheless, such an assur
ance will have to be framed in much clearer and
more categorical words if the just suspicions of
the English nation are to be laid at rest.
"An understanding" may mean anything; an
" imaginary supposition " is a tautological phrase
which merely implies that all suppositions are
ideas until evidence or events convert them
into facts; while, as to the statement that
u no grounds are known" at St. Petersburg
" to justify such imputations and conjectures,"
this too might be quite compatible with the
moot positive collusion between the action
of the Muscovite representative at Cabul and
the conduct of the Ameer. From Afghanis
tan to Livadia or the Baltic is a vast distance
for news to traverse—as it is for commands to
be transmitted—nor do we doiibt that the first!
intelligence of Shere Ali's affront to the British
Government reached Prince Gortschakoff i
by way of London. Yet it might be interesting
to know whether or not these tidings proved
a great surprise in the Russian Foreign Office;
and this depends upon the character of the
Ministerial instructions which the Czar's agent
received when he set out for the Afghan capital.
Prince Gortschakoff is not likely to communi
cate the precise nature of those orders by Baron
Reuter's agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , though it would be more
convincing than any statement volunteered " in 1
the best-informed quarters." The plain and
palpable facts which the Russian Government
will have to explain are these. It had given us
the most positive pledge that Afghanistan " lay
outside the. sphere of Russian actions and in
tentions ;" it had appended to tAt pledge no con
dition or reservation except an unnecessary hope
that Great Britain would keep the Afghan
Ruler from disturbing the peace upon his
northern frontiers, and there has been no such
disturbance ; yet without notice or explanation
the Czar's Government has sent expeditions by
land and water to the Middle and Upper Oxus,
and planted a Russian Resident in Cabul. Of
the progress of those expeditions nothing at
present is publicly known ; according to the
latest advices they were concentrating on the
ferries of the Amu Daria towards Bokhara and
Balkh or Merv. But apparently the first fruit
of the breach of faith involved in the interloping
movement at Cabul is that this petty Prince of
the mountains defies and insults the British
Power before India and all the world in a spirit
wholly incomprehensible except upon the as
sumption that he has been ordered or encouraged
to take such a step by suggestions derived from
a greater power than his own. If such be not
the case, it is one of the most curious coincidences
known to history, and the Russians are much to
be pitied for being the viptims of the singular
accident which made S herb A li affront an
English En voy ju st at the jnomftut when the 1
Czar had an agent at his ear whispering nothing
but good faith and friendship towards us.
Lord Augustus Loftus , our Ambassador at
St., Petersburg, left Berlin on Tuesday night,
journeying towards the Czar's capital; and
no doubt he bears the necessary instruc
tions from his Government to demand the
most explicit elucidation of these mysteries. If,
however, his Excellency has been sufficiently
equipped for the catechism, it is not alone upon
the matter of an " understanding " with Shere
Ali about Sir Neville Chamberlain's Mission
that our Ambassador will ask for information.
The Indian Government is, we believe, in pos
session of documents and authenticated copies
of letters which are said to throw a strong light
upon the recent conduct of the Afghan Ruler.
Some of these draw for the Cabul Court the
outlines of just such a dangerous policy as that
which Shere Ali has initiated, and this,
moreover, in the name of Russia, and by the pen
or the voice of Russian agents. The territory
he would be permitted to annex from British
I India, in case of a successful war, is named in