Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎133r] (273/312)

plains and Leh crosses the Himalayan range by [
a very remarkable depression of only eleven '
thousand three hundred feet, and none of the
passes on it exceed one thousand three hundred
feet in height, and they are, moreover, open for
at least seven or eight months in the year, and
could be crossed at any season in fine weather."
j It should, however, be remembered that no army
has yet ever invaded India from Eastern Turkes- |
tan—at least no record or tradition of any such ;
movement exists. We are perfectly aware that j
no Power more strongly o- nised than China
has ever held sway in the vast tracts beyond the i
Himalayas ; and Russia, for the first time in his
tory, brings European science into near neigh-
i bourhood to a highland barrier still deemed ,
impregnable.
Nevertheless, with regard to the inaccessibility
of these vast mountain-masses, Mr. F orsyth 1
wrote, in reference to commerce, " A word, too, i
may be said on the subject of the great bar- 1
rier which a mountain, seventeen thousand
feet high, is supposed to offer to trade. Such a
j remark can only be made by a person wholly un-
i acquainted with the Himalayas. All who have
travelled in these regions know that, with the
exception of the Rotang, the lowest pass of all,
the other passes are approached by long, easy j
inclines; over the Rotang a mule road has, !
been made, and may be still further improved as
the increase of traffic shall demand it." Where j
trade can pass, it is argued, ambition or hostility '
might find a way, and it may be a mistaken !
notion, therefore, to regard this mountain wall,
at the foot of which Russia appears at last to
have arrived, as unscalable. Moreover, we had a
trade, and China had political interests, in these
regions, which are both thrust aside by the pre
sent advance, th'e confirmatioif of which will
throw not a little light upon the order recently |
conveyed to guard the passes leading into Cash
mere. In the project for a band of neutral or
semi-independent States, discussed between Lord
C larendon and Prince G ortschakoff at
Heidelberg, in 1869,. Afghanistan, Khelat, and j
Yarkand were named as regions where English
influence should naturally be paramount. Now \
we see a Russian agent at Cabul, and a Russian
army, apparently, at Yarkand; for this invasion
of the Indian frontiers steals al/ng like' an in-
coming tide, and its creeping waters have already
washed in two places the feet of the hills hang- l ; '
' ing over India. It is the rumour of it inside, P
however, whiph must bo looked upon as the chief
danger, for, justly says an historian of our Indian J*
Empire, " imbecile or traitorous would be that
'■ Government which slumbers when Russia is $
approaching the border of any of its provinces, ||
even though the approach be slow, and the dis- ft
tance between the invader and the object of his ^
desire as yet be great." It is now forty years .
since Sir J ohn M c N eill gave warning of an
advance which has, during the interval, achieved ■
more extensive designs than he anticipated ; and
nothing save the most hardened incredulity can
remain proof against the serried array of facts
which mark each stage of Russia's movements i
towards India. rT ^^ r5T :
EN GLAND AND AFGHANISTAN.
DEPAETUEE OF THE YICEEOI'S
EMISSAET;
(BY EASTEEN TELEGRAPH.)
(pbom our special correspondent.)
SIMLA, StmriAT.
A letter from the Viceroy's emissary, dated
the 6th, has been received.
He was permitted to depart on that day* He
brings replies to the Viceroy's letters.
The Ameer treated him with consideration and
regard.
O xtr Correspondent at Simla, whose informa
tion has hitherto been so important and so trust
worthy, telegraphs to us that a letter from the
V iceroy's emissary to Cabul has been received,
j and that the emissary himself is on his way home
ward. The letter from him was dated the 6th,
I and on that day he was to be permitted to depart.
He is to bring to Simla replies to the V iceroy's j
letters, and the amtcfr appears to have treated
him with consideration as regards his journey. It
may be that the replies of the alfeer wul afford
j the V iceroy some good ground for believing that
' S here A li has no real desire to break with the
English Government. The letters may be apolo
getic in substance or in tone, or they may show the
temper of a man who, not seeking a quarrel, j
fancies a quarrel is to be forced upon him, who, [
not inclined to give offence, conceives that he has '
himself been offended. If it should appear that
the A meer's conduct has arisen out of any mis
understanding of this kind, we trust that every
opportunity may be given for the setting right of
the misconception. There is not, on the part of
the English public, the faintest inclination to
force a quarrel on the A meer . We should be glad
i to believe that no euoh inclination exists in the
mind of any one here or in India. Any move- i
ment to be made against S here A li ought to be
made in reference solely to a feeling of duty and
of necessity, as something which a due regard for
our own credit, and for the stability of
our influence in India, would not allow
us to avoid. If the A meer gives any evi
dence of an anxiety to save us from this neces
sity, we ought to be magnanimous enough to
welcome it. To refuse to S here A li any oppor
tunity of explanation and arrangement now
would only be to justify Ihe suspicion which there
is too much reason to believe occupied his mind
from the first—the suspicion that his doom had
been resolved upon. There is not, we presume,
any longer a possibility that if the A meer's
letters should prove to be uncompromising and j
defiant, that rapid and decisive movement forward i
could be made, which we lately showed to be then i
practicable and politic. Prompt action, we urged
many days ago, would be desirable, be
cause " ili being immediate," it might be
" limited in extent and duration." " It is," as
we then wrote " to prevent a corrective measure
" becoming a measure of occupation and annexa-
" tion in Afghanistan, and giving occasion to ;
" internal disturbance in our Indian dominions, j
" that we deprecate delay." Still later we cautioned
the public that " the wish for delay which seems
" to possess so many is probably, in some cases at
4 ' least, the result of a conviction that the longer
"decisive measures are postponed the more com-
" prehensive they must be in the end." Promp
titude, wp said then, and say now, would be the
best guarantee against that policy of occupation
and annexation which we fear has an almost
irresistible attraction for the minds of some of
our statesmen, and which many suspect to have been
the secret inspiration of the recent movements
made by the Indian Government.
Let the A meer's reply be what it will that rapidity
of movement seems to be now out of the question.
The telegram from our Simla Correspondent
which we published on Saturday describes the
policy resolved upon by our Indian authorities as
one of delay, with a view to what is called com
pleteness. It will be hard indeed to make the
world in general believe that this completeness is
not designed to be something much more serious
than a mere punishment of the A meer's rudeness,
should his letters to the V iceroy show that he
meant to be rude, and that he continues in that
temper. Lord L ytton possibly has been contem
plating all along some policy as thorough, and at
the same time as theatric, as that which turned
Algeria into a French possession because the
Dey of A lgiers flourished his fan offensively
in the face of a French official. If any such pur
pose as this is in the mind of the V iceroy or any
of his advisers, it certainly is not likely to find j
favour with the English public. It was C yrtjs , if j
we remember rightly, who, becoming exasperated
against a river which had swept away some of his
horses, declared he would reduce it to such
shallowness that women might walk across it
without raising their skirts, and actually did
set to work with draining, digging, and canal-
making until he had run off the water from its
original bed and fulfilled his vow of vengeance.