Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎115r] (235/312)

AFaSANISTAN,
There seems no doubt that for the present, at any
rate, all intention of an early attack on the Fort of
Ali Musjid has been abandoned—if, indeed, it ever
was contemplated—and that the troops under
Brigadier-General 0. Ross, C.B., are massed
at Jumrood for the purpose of watching
our own frontier, not crossing into that of Cabul,
Considering the nature of the tribes who in
habit the hills skirting the Khyber, the throwing
forward an advanced brigade from Peshawur in the
direction of the Cabul border was a most necessary
precaution. It not only will serve as a check on f
any disposition on the part of the commander of
Ali Musjid to annoy our frontier villages by incur- ;
sions with his own men, but it it will act as an
effective check on marauding parties of Afridis
and Momunds, who, feeling themselves sup- |i
ported by the presence of Shere Ali's troops,
would become emboldened and very soon com
mence raiding on a large scale. The force under
General Ross's command is quite powerful enough
to give a satisfactory account of any body
of men who might venture into the plains, though
it is by no means of sufficient strength to warrant
an advance on such a position as the Afghan fron
tier fort. The Brigade comprises one battery of
horse, one of field, and one of mountain artillery,
the head-quarters of two battalions of Bri- i
tish and of four native infantry regi- ;
ments, with two regiments of native cavalry.
All the troops being picked men. It is, of course,
undesirable to denude Peshawur of its garrison, for i
the city, surrounded with lofty walls of great I
strength, is filled with a fanatical Mahomedan i
population, by far the majority of whom belong to '
the Afghan race, ever ready and willing, should ::
occasion offer, to aid in restoring the town to its t
old Durani owners. The present is by no means
the first occasion on which General Ross has served ^
on the north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. of India. In 1851-62 I
and 1853 he was present at various expeditions under
Sir Colin Campbell ; he commanded^the 14th Sikhs I'
during the Umbeyla Expedition of 1863, when he I
was severely wounded, mentioned in despatches,
and promoted to a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy, |
his latest hill service being the command of the
Peshawur column in the Jowaki-Afridi campaign ;
last winter. In mountain warfare he has had much
experience, and the safety of Peshawur may be
safely intrusted to him. In all probability, should
an advance be made. General Ross will be nomi
nated to the command of a brigade.
The occupation of the Baroghil and Kamarband i
Passes by Cashmere troops is evidently meant as a
step to guard against any attempts on the part of
the Ameer's forces to harass the territories of our
northern feudatory, and seems, together with
the information lately published that Afghan
horsemen have been reported in numbers
between Candahar and Quettah, as if the
Indian Government were prepared for hos
tilities on the part of Shere AH, from Chitral to
Khelat. The nature of the frontier renders it ex
tremely probable that raids will be perpetrated by
small irregular levies all along the line, and
it behoves our military authorities to see that i
these occurrences do not foster a feeling of
alarmj among the more peaceable of our border
clans. As a rule, these men are well able to
take care of themselves and to give as good ;
as they get in these petty skirmishes; but if
Shere Ali organizes a regular system of mountain l
warfare from the northernmost parts of Cashmere !
to Scinde, the occupation of the frontier villages by
well-armed troops will be indispensable.
The above mentioned passes are on the direct road
from Khokand, the latest officially announced Rus
sian acquisition in Central Asia, and our outlying ;
province of Cashmere. Our knowledge of the Baro- |
ghil is derived from the reports of the Moollah em
ployed by Colonel Montgomerie, who travelled ;
Erom Chitral into Badakshan by this route. Cap- \
tain Biddulph, who was attached to Sir Douglas :
Forsyth's mission, visited Sarhad, the town at the
northern extremity of the pass, but as far we are
aware no Englishman has traversed either of the
routes. Khokand, or Ferghana, is separated from
British territory by the Pamir Plateau, and the i
road connecting our lands with those of the Czar is '
by no means one which an army could follow.
Leaving Khokand, ' which stands 1,540ft. above i
eea level, it passes through Marghilan to Uch !
Kurgau (altitude 3,100). These names are familiar ;
as having been the scenes of indiscriminate
slaughter of the Khokandese in the campaign
of January, 3876. Bearing south, the road I
passes through Isfairam, and over the Little Alai ^
Plateau, which stands 12,000ft. above sea
level ; then crossing the Great Alai, at an altitude .
of 14,000ft., it descends into the valley of the
Muk Su, follows a south-easterly course to
Birich ; bending round to the west it strikes the
Oxus at Killa Panjah, the elevation of which is
9,090ft.; then ascending the stream to Sarhad,
which Biddulph determined to be 10,975ft., the
road crosses the Baroghil, 15 miles to the southward,
the altitude being 12,000ft. From this point a road
branches off to Mastoj, and, following the course of
the Kunar stream,passes through Chitral (7,140ft.)
Dirand Pashatto Jellalabad.At Chitral another road
joins this route ; it starts from Samarkand—a
strong Russian position—passes Penjakend, Hissar,
Kolab, Faizabad, and Zebak. The road from
Baroghil into Cashmere is a most difficult find |
mountainous pathway : it touches but few |
villages, the principal being Yassin, in Afghan ter-
m ntory (height 7,770ft.),and crosses the Maharajah's
bo rder at Gaon Kuch. It thenruns through Gilgit I
I Bunji on the Indus,and so through
Skardo, Dras, to Serinuggur. The Karambar Pass
Is merely a subsidiary road to that by the Baroghil. g
£?, ] Leaving Sarhad, it follows a more easterly course, ^
passes by the Karambar lake and joins the main
road at Gaon Kuch on the frontier. This is doubt- -
; less the station selected for the encampment of
; the Cashmere troops.
Another reason probably for this step is that it I
may lead to negotiations being opened with the
,, foiahposh Kafirs, whose lands lie in close proximity
I to Chitral. Yesterday we gave a long and interest-
jing aceount of this tribe, whose animosity to Ma- I
; homedans would lead them to become very valuable
allies in the event of a war with Cabul. Unfortu-
> j nately the overtures made to us by the Kafirs have
never been responded to, and all attempts on the
part of Englishmen to enter their country have
been strictly forbidden by our Government. ^
Not only have officers in the employ of Her '
Majesty been expressly ordered to abstain from
exploring Kafiristan, but the Rev. Mr. Downes, a
clergyman of the Church Missionary Society, was
forcibly brought back from the frontier by officials
acting under Government orders, when he started
from Peshawur a short time since with the inten- i
fcion of working among them.
The Cashmere army, unfortunately, is not a force
on which very much reliance can be placed in any
situation of difficulty, though the loyalty of the
men or of their ruler cannot be called' into ques- i
tion. This is not the first time the Maharajah Run- jl:
bheer Singh has done yeoman's service in our "■
cause. In 1857 he, together with the rulers of Jhind,
Nabha, Puttiala, and Kapoorthala, sent a force
down to Delhi, which under the orders of Colonel
Richard Lawrence did good work during the siege.
In the Umbeyla expedition he detached a force to
watch the Indus Valley near Agrore, and during •;
; the operations on the Black Mountains in 1868 a
brigade of Cashmere troops acted in concert with '
Sir A. Wilde's forces. The men are chiefly Dogras,a |
hill tribe inhabiting the Himalayas. Their religion | i
is a modification of Hindooism. They seldom i
eat meat, refuse water out of leathern ! '
vessels, and, owing to their caste prejudices, are I
• u rather troublesome on service. Many of them are L ■
In the ranks of our native regiments, and have (
earned a good name for willingness, docility, and
gallantry. The want of competent officers is the i
- bane of the Cashmere army, the discipline and drill |
of which leave much to be desired. One of the j |
^ leading spirits in the Maharajah's service is
Colonel Gardiner j we believe he is the only | %
Englishman in it. He is a thorough sol- : >
dier of fortune, whose career has doubt
less been a most extraordinary one ; but, un
fortunately, his history must be accepted with re
serve, while his reports on travel are quite unre-
; liable. He is well known to all English visitors to i ^
the Happy Valley, and perhaps would be more '
^ es ^ e ® I ^® d a® of
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•aaif jo Ajo t? joj pauedosh |
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•6 "lOO 'SIHVJ
•SAia^: KoiaHO.! snoaKv^aosiw
AFGHANISTAN.
There soems no doubt that for the present, at any
rate, all intention of an early attack on the Fort of
Ali Musjid has been abandoned—if, indeed, ifc ever
was contemplated—and that the troops under
Brigadier-General 0. Ross, C.B., are massed
at Jumrood for the purpose of watching
our own frontier, not crossing into that of Cabul,
Considering the nature of the tribes who in- ^
habit the hills skirting the Khyber, the throwing
forward an advanced brigade from Peshawur in the
direction of the Cabul border was a most necessary
precaution. It not only will serve as a check on .
any disposition on the part of the commander of -
Ali Musjid to annoy our frontier villages by incur- .
Bions with his own men, but it it will act as an
effective check on marauding parties of Afridis
and Momunds, who, feeling themselves sup
ported by the presence of Shere Ali's troops,
would become emboldened and very soon com
mence raiding on a large scale. The force under
General Ross's command is quite powerful enough
to give a satisfactory account of any body
of men who might venture into the plains, though
it is by no means of sufficient strength to warrant
an advance on such a position as the Afghan fron
tier fort. The Brigade comprises one battery of |
horse, one of field, and one of mountain artillery,
the head-quarters of two battalions of Bri
tish and of four native infantry regi
ments, with two regiments of native cavalry.
All the troops being picked men. It is, of course,
undesirable to denude Peshawur of its garrison, for
the city, surrounded with lofty walls of great
strength, is filled with a fanatical Mahomedan r
population, by far the majority of whom belong to |«
the Afghan race, ever ready and willing, should
; occasion offer, to aid in restoring the town to its 1:
old Durani owners. The present is by no means
1 the first occasion on which General Ross has served '
| on the north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. of India. In 1851-52 f
and 1853 he was present at various expeditions under |
Sir Colin Campbell ; he commanded^the 14th Sikhs
during the Umbeyla Expedition of 1863, when he |
was severely wounded, mentioned in despatches, 1
and promoted to a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy, |
his latest hill service being the command of the ^
Peshawur column in the Jowaki-Afridi campaign |
last winter. In mountain warfare he has had much
Dxperience, and the safety of Peshawur may be
safely intrusted to him. In all probability, should
an advance be made. General Ross will be nomi
nated to the command of a brigade.
The occupation of the Baroghil and Kamarband
Passes by Cashmere troops is evidently meant as a
step to guard against any attempts on the part of
the Ameer's forces to harass the territories of our
northern feudatory, and seems, together with
the information lately published that Afghan
horsemen have been reported in numbers
between Candahar and Quettah, as if the ■■
Indian Government were prepared for hos
tilities on the part of Shere Ali, from Chitral to
Khelat. The nature of the frontier renders it ex
tremely probable that raids will be perpetrated by
small irregular levies all along the line, and
it behoves our military authorities to see that
these occurrences do not foster a feeling of
alarmj among the more peaceable of our border
clans. As a rule, these men are well able to
take care of themselves and to give as good
as they get in these petty skirmishes; but if
Shere Ali organizes a regular system of mountain
warfare from the northernmost parts of Cashmere
to Scinde, the occupation of the frontier villages by
well armed troops will be indispensable.
The above mentioned passes are on the direct road
from Khokand, the latest officially announced Rus
sian acquisition in Central Asia, and our outlying
province of Cashmere. Our knowledge of the Baro
ghil is derived from the reports of the Moollah em
ployed by Colonel Montgomerie, who travelled
from Chitral into Badakshan by this route. Cap
tain Biddulph, who was attached to Sir Douglas
Forsyth's mission, visited Sarhad, the town at the
northern extremity of the pass, but as far we are
aware no Englishman has traversed either of the
routes. Khokand, or Ferghana, is separated from
British territory by the Pamir Plateau, and the
road connecting our lands with those of the Czar is
by no means one which an army could follow.
Leaving Khokand, ' which stands 1,540ft. above
sea level, it passes through Marghilan to Uch
Kurgau (altitude 3,100). These names are familiar
as having been the scenes of indiscriminate
slaughter of the Khokandese in the campaign
of January, 1876. Bearing south, the road
passes through Isfairam, and over the Little Alai
Plateau, which stands 12,000ft. above sea
level ; then crossing the Great Alai, at an altitude
of 14,000ft., it descends into the valley of the
Muk Su, follows a south-easterly course to
Birich ; bending round to the west it strikes the
Oxus at Killa Panjah, the elevation of which is
9,090ft.; then ascending the stream to Sarhad,
which Biddulph determined to be 10,975ft., the
road crosses the Baroghil,15 miles to the southward,
the altitude being 12,000ft. From this point a road
branches off to Mastoj, and, following the course of
theKunar stream,passes through Chiti-al (7,140ft.)
Dir and Pashatto Jellalabad.At Chitral another road
joins this route ; it starts from Samarkand—a
strong Russian position—passes Penjakend, Hissar,
Kolab, Faizabad, and Zebak. The road from
Baroghil into Cashmere is a most difficult and I
mountainous pathway : it touches but few |
villages, the principal being Yassin, in Afghan ter
ritory (height 7,770ft.),and crosses the Maharajah's
bo rder at Gaon Kuch. It thenruns through Gilgit
(5,270ft.) to Bunji on the Indus,and so through
Skardo, Dras, to Serinuggur. The Karambar Pass
Is merely a subsidiary road to that by the Baroghil.
Leaving Sarhad, it follows a more easterly course,
passes by the Karambar lake and joins the main
road at Gaon Kuch on the frontier. This is doubt
less the station selected for the encampment of
the Cashmere troops.
Another reason probably for this step is that it
may lead to negotiations being opened with the
Siahposh Kafirs, whose lands lie in close proximity
to Chitral. Yesterday we gave a long and interest
ing account of this tribe, whose animosity to Ma-
homedans would lead them to become very valuable
allies in the event of a war with Cabul. Unfortu
nately the overtures made to us by the Kafirs have
never been responded to, and all attempts on the
part of Englishmen _ to enter their country have
been strictly forbidden by our Government.
Not only have officers in the employ of Her
Majesty been expressly ordered to abstain from
exploring Kafiristan, but the Rev. Mr. Downes a
clergyman of the Church Missionary Society, was
forcibly brought back from the frontier by officials
acting under Government orders, when he started
from Peshawur a short time since with the inten
tion of working among them.
The Cashmere army, unfortunately, is not a force
on which very much reliance can be placed in any
situation of difficulty, though the loyalty of the
men or of their ruler cannot be called' into ques
tion. This is not the first time the Maharajah Run-
bheer Singh has done yeoman's service in our
cause. In 1857 he, together with the rulers of Jhind,
Nabha, Puttiala, and Kapoorthala, sent a force
down to Delhi, which under the orders of Colonel
Richard Lawrence did good work during the siege.
In the Umbeyla expedition he detached a force to
watch the Indus Valley near Agrore, and during
the operations on the Black Mountains in 1868 a
brigade of Cashmere troops acted in concert with
Sir A. Wilde's forces. The men are chiefly Dogras,a
hill tribe inhabiting the Himalayas. Their religion
is a modification of Hindooism. They seldom
eat meat, refuse water out of " leathern
vessels, and, owing to their caste prejudices, are
rather troublesome on service. Many of them are
In the ranks of our native regiments, and have
earned a good name for willingness, docility, and
gallantry. The want of competent officers is the
bane of the Cashmere army, the discipline and drill
of which leave much to be desired. One of the j
leading spirits in the Maharajah's service is j
Colonel Gardiner j we believe he is the only I
Englishman in it. He is a thorough sol- !
dier of fortune, whose career has doubt
less been a most extraordinary one : but, un
fortunately, his history must be accepted with re
serve, while his reports on travel are quite unre
liable. He is well known to all English visitors to
the Happy Valley, and perhaps would be more
esteemed as a boon companion than as a leader of
oven a corps of observation. The equipment of the
Maharajah's troops is truly Oriental in its unser-
viceableness ; but since his promotion to the rank
of a General in the British service, large presents
of Enfield rifles have been made to him, which would
place the army more on an equality with the 1
Ameer's freebooters of Chitral.
The Dpgras, though mountaineers, are by no j
means a hardy race, diseases of the lungs being j
verv common among them. In soite of their reli
gions whims, they make good soldiers, are quick at
drill, and, as a rule, excellent shots. If the ex- 1
ample set in the Mutiny is followed now, and
the Maharajah's troops are officered by Englishmen, '
a very favourable diversion could be effected in
the spring by invading Afghanistan with a fourth
column, advancing from Gilgit on Mastoj, and so
j down the Kunar Valley to Jelalabad. A reserve of
j British troops and a few mountain batteries would
[ more than make the Dogra regiments a match
for the Pathans of Chitral and Kunar. The total
strength of the Maharajah of Cashmere's forces is
. under 20,000 men, but unless they are officered by
i Europeans they cannot be considered a very formid
able body of men.
The Indian Commissariat Department appears to
be receiving unmerited blame, in consequence of
the delay in collecting carriage for the transport
of troops and war material to the frontier. It
should be borne in mind, before rashly accusing a
well-tried department of dilatoriness, that wheeled
carriage is absolutely valueless when once the
frontier is crossed • consequently the only means
of transport that will be of any service are pack-
animals—camels and mules. It is well known that
since the introduction of railroads the neces
sity for these beasts in all our large towns has
reatly decreased ; their numbers consequently
ave diminished, and they are much more difficult
^ ' to procure in quantities than they were 10 years
- - ago. It seems to be generally supposed that the
, Commissariat Department should have been pre-
. pared for the outbreak of hostilities and have
collected vast reserves of baggage animals, but the
• funds at the disposal of officers is not suffi-
jgg , cient to enable them to do this. They are
igg. forced to wait until money is supplied to them,and
HHI even then gold will not always procure immediately
mm suitable beasts. It is true that throughout India —
a certain proportion of transport is always kept up
for the troops j for instance, pack carriage is
maintained at every cantonment, so that half the
troops in garrison may move out on field service at
an hour's notice ; but this proportion is calculated
merely for the camp equipage, stores, and 200
rounds of ammunition per man ; no allowance is
made for provisions, the idea being merely to provide
against any sudden internal disorder.
At Peshawur, Rawul Pindee, and the frontier
stations, carriage is maintained for all the troops in
garrison ; again, no allowance is made for provi
sions, which of course necessarily would take up
far more cattle than camp equipage, stores,
and ammunition. The regiments of the Pun
jab Irontier Force have their own carriage
quite independent of the Commissariat Depart
ment, and consequently are able to move at an
hour's notice. To each is permanently attached
40 mules and 55 camels with their drivers, the
whole under the care of the Quartermaster, himself
a ^ combatant officer j they are also provided
with small mule ammunition boxes, ready
packed for service, and by the standing
orders of the Force, drawn up by Sir
Neville Chamberlain when at the head of it,
the commanding officers of regiments are respon
sible that there is always three days' food in the
regimental bazaars. There are many instances on
record of regiments belonging to this force march
ing on field service within three hours of the
warning being received at the orderly room.
It will thus be seen that blame for delay in the
forward movement of troops most certainly
does not rest with the Commissariat Department
of Bengal. It would have been impossible for them
to collect material for transport in anticipation of a
war breaking out on the refusal of the Ameer to
receive the mission ; it would have been unwise of
j the Viceroy to have entered into preparations for the
1 mobilization of an army at the same moment that
he was despatching a peaceful embassy. Blame, if
such attaches to any one, must be laid on the custom
which permits the most vital organs of our military
system to fall into decay in times of peace, and
then expects them suddenly to spring 4 forth again
into full vigour, as if by the magic hand of a con
juror, on the first sound of war.