THE CABUL MISSION.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3032, 2 November 1878, Page 4

THE CABUL MISSION.

We extract the following items in reference to the British mission "to Afghanistan from the Indian papers received by the mail :—

Sir Neville Chamberlain and staff, including the Maharajah of Jeypore's brother and another native prince, with an escort of 300 men, left Simla for Peshawur on Bth September. Nawab Gholam HooseinKhan, C.5.1., Native Commta« dant 15th Bengal Cavalry, is the native ♦nvoy sent forward as the bearer of a letter to Shere Ali. announcing the coming of, the mission, and the courteous and hospitable reception he met with as far as Dakka, beyond the Khyber Pass, was conjectured to be due to inspiration from Cabul. He had been hospitably entertained by General Gholam Haidar, who gives him escort. The Times of India sa y 3 selecting His Excellency Sir Neville Chamberlain for the mission to Cabul, the Government of India have done a wise thing. A soldier not a diplomatist, is required for the business. Sir Neville, who knows Afghanistan of old, will see with a soldier's eye the present capacities of the Afghans for war, and will learn from personal observation what troops and what train witt.be wanted to encounter them,, if, which we trust may not prove the case, the Afghans should profer the enmity of England to her friendship. If ,the Ameer should be either restive or impertinent he can speedily be brought to his senses. Those who talk of the last Afghan war in comparison with the war that possibly threatens draw an absurd parallel. In the last war we knew little or nothing of the Ameer's country. The seat of English, power and the base of warlike operations was far away at Calcutta. There were no railroads to carry troops and supplies to the frontier. There were no arms of precision to render such, disasters as that of the Khyber Pass almost impossible. Time has changed all that. The Afghan's former strength— that of inaccessibility—no longer exists, and we venture to say that a British general would experience as littledifficulty now in marching on Cabul as on Canton. Unless the ruler of Afghanistan was supported by large Russian armies— in which event the war would resolve itself into a conflict between Russia and England-—which, as we say, is at present impossible—the conquest of Afghanistan is simply an affair of time and troops ; so many weeks of the first, so many thousands of the latter. To secure a position which would really dominate Cabul, a force should be moved into the, valley qf the Kuram River without losa of time. The military advantages of an occupation of this post is notorious to all acquainted with the topography of the frohtiar. The valley is extensive, fertile, highly cultivated, and capable of supplying a large force. It is inhabited principally bj^tfie Turi tribe of the Shiah sect, who are extremely well disposed towards the British, hating their Suni rulers at Cabul."

The Lahore Gazette, in support of protecting the mission to Cabul, states :— "We should give tUI Ameer distinctly and clearly to understand that we come forward, not in a hostile spirit, but with a determination to be recognised as the paramount power in insisting on a certain line of action.. To do this we must display force in order that we may not have to employ it. For this essential purpose we would not only occupy the Kuram "Valley, but we would reinforce largely the outpost of Quettah, and we would increase the escort of the envoy by a battery of mountain artillery, a regiment of Gborkhas, and the wing of a British regiment of infantry. The firing of a single shot ia anger would be the signal for" the advance of three columns—one for the support of the escort, another from Quettah on Khandahar, and the third from the Kuram direct 1 oh Cabul. Then we might trust our mission to attain its end and defeat Russian intrigue, but not otherwise." . ■'

The authorities had refused permission to the Times of India to allow a special representative to accompany the mission, and a similar refusal had been given to the London Times.