OUR SENTINEL IN KABUL

Hokitika Guardian, 13 March 1929, Page 6

OUR SENTINEL IN KABUL

(By Lilli PEP/JlPAli PHILLIPS, Daily Mail special correspondent who accompanied "eil-King Amanullali and Sir Francis Humphry's from India to Europe.)

In all the turmoil and lioodslied ol revolution that now pervades Afghanistan the one commanding:figure is Sir Francis Humphry's,. British Minister at Kabul. Other personalities, even that of the ex-King Amanullali him Self, sink into significance in comparison with this suave, forcefuldiplomat who is also a soldier, an airman and an administrator of pecular ability. He stands alone. He is the symbol of British prestige in Asia. V> ith Kabul in a state of complete chaos, with the wild troops of the latest dictator probably pillaging in their characteristic Afghan v.av, lie remained in his shattered Legation—quiet cheerful, and steadfast. an example of courage to the other members of the little British colony shelte.ing there. The full story of Sir Fran, is Humph rys’s part in the Afghani.- an revolution has yet to be told, lb will never toll it himself—of that you- 1 / ! V he certain. Hejis the type, pi Biitis. official who does his job unadvertised and without one eye on the public.--But lie bad not been overlooked by the Foreign Office. It was not mere chance that sent him to Kabul as the first British envoy, some six years ago. at a time when British ‘influence was of no value and the Afghans, but lately recovered from an unwise frontier war still looked with sullen suspicion on our bid for friendship.

i Nor was it mere chance that brought I him in a comparatively short time in- | to the confidence of Amanullali. I hat monarch, who was no man’s tool whatever his shortcomings as a king may have been, had profound respect for Sir Francis Huniphrys’s opinions. 'I * ; Russians accused him of being the i dupe of British diplomacy. The truth is | the ex-King found our minister always , sincere, even brutally frank when-ask-ed for advice. A. good deal of it was ! unpalatable. i Tact, patience, and profmul knowledge of the Eastern mind—these were the real key to Sir Francis HumI nil rys’s success, a success which Moscow realised was a distinct defeat o! . their own subversive policy in that corner of Asia. The ex-King had to | walk warily with his’Northern noiglii hour. Ho showed a friendly face to ■ the watchful agents of Moscow, but at 1 heart he loathed and distrusted the Soviet, for had he no illusions as to its 1 ultimate design on his kingdom.

When the 'British Legation was destroyed by fire several years ago, the Russian Minister paid Sir Francis Humphrey the' compliment of wishing that he had been burned to death with it.

To Sir Francis Humplirys was due i" large part the success of Amanullah’s European tour. I believe that if the former had had his way the ex-King would have advanced with greater caution.

j When the debacle came Sir Francis •Humphrys showed all the qualities that stamp him as a really great man. Ho gathered his country men together within the uncertain protection of the Legation compound. More Chan that, he became the Friend of all the I Nations. Women and children, irres- | peciive of country, were made welcome to the hospitality of. his house. When the Legation became a target between opposing lines of fire, food and fuel ran short, and the motley 1 crowd of refugees found themselves ! subjected to real privations in the dead of winter Sir Francis Humphrys continued to be a tower of strength for thalt bewildered and apprehensive colony. He was commander-in-chief without •m army; a polished diplomat who went into the freezing night to parley ; in his cheerful way with the leaders of the revolution; an airmail (wit»h a fine war record) who ran the Kabul end of the aerial taxi service that brought the women and children safely at last to Peshawar, j One can picture him there, sitting in his ruined Legation, cut off from Britain, and surrounded by jsavage tribesmen holding his post at the front of a war that recognises none of the laws of civilised warfare, and holding it steadily and without emotion, j He is a tall man, a soldier in appearance, with hair tinged with grey; pleai ant, steady eyes, a strong handsome face and a smile that brings friends from all walks of life. His courtsev is a permanent thing. He has a keen sense of humour, and a habit of working beyond office hours which is extremely disconcerting to the desk-bound bureaucrat. Ho speaks the languages and dialects of all the peoples that live near the North-Must Frontier; he knows all their little ways and their virtues as well as their vices. 1 recall another such man, who sat as quietly and resolutely through another crisis in which British lives and prestige were seriously involved. It. was two years ago at this time, and the place was Hankow. M T e had lost the British Concession in a manner that will not bear thinking about, and the men of the British community were assembled in a large office building on the Yangtese front under the guns of the puny river craft moored alongside. The name of this man was Huinphrys. (He died with tragic suddenness in Shanghai a few weeks later.) Like Sir Francis Humphrys, he was quiet, resolute, resourceful, undeniably a leader of men. In personality he was curiously like him. He was his brother.