Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎105r] (214/312)

.
THE TIMES, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 187a
THE MOMUNDS.
The reported defection of the Momunds is a step 5
which the Indian Government may have anticipated,
yet it is one showing that the hill tribes are not so
completely in our favour as was hoped ; and
we must be prepared to hear that other
j clans, whose allegiance to the Ameer has
long been doubtful, will throw in their lot
with him in the hope of being able to re
taliate on us for damage inflicted in our numerous
acts of retributive justice. The Momunds, it would
seem, are the first to go, arid a brie? description of
the tribe may not be out of place. They are a large
| and powerful clan, able to put from 15,000 to 20,000
fighting men into the field, men armed for the
| most part with fire-arms, many of these weapons
| being of English manufacture. A small section
of the tribe occupy lands in our territory to the
south of the city of Peshawur, but the main
portion dwell in the hills to the north-west of that
cantonment, between the Kabul and the Swat
rivers ; a remnant has emigrated to Candahar, and
there are many settlers in Ningrahar and Logur.
They are generally considered among the most
savage of all Pathan tribes, which perhaps ac
counts for their disinclination to accept military
service with us. Their principal chieftain is the
head man of Lalpura, who holds his appointment
direct from the Ameer Shore Ali, with whom he is
connected by marriage.
From the earliest days of the annexation of the
Punjab up to the present the Momunds have
given us continual trouble. In 1850 and 1851 they
committed no less than five attacks in force on
British villages. Sir Colin Campbell moved out
from Peshawur with a strong brigade in December,
1851, and inflicted a signal defeat on the
tribe, and under his orders a fortified out
post was erected at Shubkudder, near the
mouth of one of their principal passes. This
for a time overawed them, but in 185-4 they again
commenced to misbehave, when Colonel Boileau
was ordered to chastise them. So little effect had
this, however, that we find in the six succeeding
years they committed as many as 125 raids into
British territory, in which about 350 of our sub
jects were killed or wounded and close on 1,500
I head of cattle cai-ried off. An expedition was or
ganized for their punishment, but the Mo
munds obtained information of the intended
I move and surrendered their chiefs to Major
3 James, the political ofilcer at Peshawur. Compa-
I rative quiet reigned until i'ecember, 1863, when
ithe torch of war, kindled by the Umbeyia Ex
pedition, was lighted on the Mornund hills, and a
i body of about 5,000 men, instigated, it was freely
I whispered, by the Ameer Shere Ali, moved down
i into British territory and threatened an attack on
Shubkudder, the British fortified outpost in their
immediate vicinity. In an engagement that
ensued, Lieutenant Bishop, of the 6th Ben
gal Cavalry, lost his life ; and so defiant was
the attitude of the enemy that Colonel A. Mac-
I Bonnell, of the Rifle Brigade, moved out
with a force consisting of about 1,800 men and
three guns ; a slight skirmish occurred on the 1st
of January, 1864, and the Momunds were consider
ably worsted. For about six years the tribe re
mained very quiet. la 1873, however, a party of
influential Momunds attacked and murdered Major
MacDonald, Commandant of the Michni Fort,
and then decamped into their own terri
tory. Escaping unpunished for this outrage, the
clan grew bolder daily, and on more than one
occasion the expediency of thoroughly coercing
them has been mooted. However, they have
escaped up to the present, and now, as a reward for
our forbearance, they have elected to side with
Shere Ali against us. If this report be well-
founded, the Ameer will derive great benefit
from this last addition to his numbers, while we
shall find the difficulties of forcing the Khyber Pass
proportionately enhanced.
AFGHANISTAN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—When so many reasons are bsing discovered day by 1
day to account for Shere Ali's hostility to us and leaning
, towards Russia, allow me to add cne more straw to the
camel's load, though one would suppose that his back was
a broken long ago.
In the good old times, before the Seistan boundary was
setrled and the Ameer was receiving £10,000 per mensem
i from the Indian Treasury, the English were the Ameer's
very good friends, and a presumbg Russian Envoy who
wished to approach his capital was wall snubbed for his pains.
- But Russian Envoys care little for such trifles, and the one
; in question bided his time and his opportunity, and, not-
wiihstanding the Ameer's anger at the very mention of
Russia, this is how the opportunity at last clfered itself
!, I need not remind your readers that our Government did
M not care to acknowledge the younger son, AbdoclJa Jan,
' who hai just died, when his elder brother, Yakoob Khan,
was still alive, anti that, moreover, the Ameer was remon
strated with on his treatment of that gallant soldier, who
had aided him more than any other in recovering his
throne. But Abdooila Jan has a mother, a clever intriguing
woman of great force of character. It is well known
'I that Afghan women frequently play a very conspicuous
role in politiss, not being kept in seclusion as their sisters
in the plains of Hindostan. Well, this woman had a |
temper, and when thwarted in her wishes made the Ameer I
, extremely uncomfortable, going, indeed, so far sometimes
j as to apply her slipper to his august head. Be that as it
.! may, her sole object w.,s to see her son Abdoolla Jan the ■
acknowledged heir to the throne. When the English were
found rather opposed to this, the opportunity offered. !
Given on cne side a Russian Envoy, on the other Abdoolla !
Jan's mother, the Russian gains a footing in Cabul, and
Abdoolla Jan is the heir to the throne when the Russians
come into power. ' Other events followed which disgusted |
* the Ameer, and ng doubt helped the game of the Russians > ;
j but the thin edge of the wedge was first inserted by
Abdoolla Jan's mother. We little think how often intrigues
in Eastern countries are hatched in the harem. In my
regiment one of the native officers is a Prince of the 1
: I Suddoozaie family and grand nephew of that Shah Soojah |
whom a mistaken policy induced us to place on the throne |
I of Cabul and led to our former disasters there. A woman
direct from the Ameer's harem, probably an old Cabul I
| follower, came to this native officer's wife and told her {
I this and many other stories of the Ameer s inner life. |
Who shall say what effect they may have had on the
: A Ameer's policy ? Yours,
AN OLD IRREOULAR.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—-The great historian of the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. War writes :—
" But I think that promptitude of action is often of
more importance than completeness of preparation, and
| that to show ourselves confident of success is in most cases
to attain it. The British power in India cannot afford to
g be quiescent under insult and outrage. Delay is held to be
la sisn of weakness. It encourages enmity and confirms
vacillation. It is a disaster in itself, more serious often
than any that can arise from insufficient preparation and
il| .'hat great bugbear the inclemency of the season."
Was Sir John Kaye gifted with prophetic foresight to
;■ write words so peculiarly needed in the present emer-
■ gency?
October s. Yours truly, ACER.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Having read with interest, but profound astonish-
meat, the letter of Lord Lawrence which you published on
/: the 2d inst., I venture, without offering any opinion of ray
! own, through The Times, to put a question, tha answer to
which will, I think, have an important bearing on the
case. Has not Lord Lawrence for many, I belive Oi er 20,
i years been the principal advocate of a policy which sug-
■y gested the abandonment of Peshawur and our Trans -Indus
Sj territory upon the ground that the river Indus was our best
1 and most secure frontier ?
If such has been or is Lord Lawrence's opinion, it should
certainly be generally known before accepting his present
■;! views of the Afghanistan problem.
As Colonel Brackenbury points out in The Times of to-
| day, the frontiers of England and Russia must meet some
day ; the vital question is, where? The sooner tkat where
S is determined, the better for India and England, and the
i better for the inhabitants of those future frontiers, if
' not for Russia, will be admitted by many besides
Your obedient servant,
October 5. UBIQUE.