a 



AFGHANISTAN. 



him, the admirable manner in which his or- 

 ders wore- carried out, and the gallantry of his 

 troops. General Phayre did not reach Canda- 

 har in time to take part in the battle. He 

 entered the city on the 7th of September, and 

 found it presenting a desolate appearance. The 

 - were deserted, the shops were shut, and 

 but few of the inhabitants were to be seen 

 about. An extraordinary change, however, 

 took place on the next day. The people re- 

 turned to their homes, the shops were opened, 

 and supplies were brought in from the sur- 

 rounding country where they had been hidden 

 during the siege. Generally the people found 

 their property intact as they had left it, only a 

 few cases of depredations having been brought 

 to notice. It was now evident that Ayoob 

 Khan had altogether failed to induce a general 

 rising in western Afghanistan. His emissaries 

 had traversed the whole country, entreating 

 the people to rise and exterminate the infidels, 

 with only slight success. After the battle be- 

 fore Candahar, Ayoob Khan retired to Herat 

 with a body of horsemen, and was reported 

 early in October to have reached that place, 

 after having left governors at Farah and Sabz- 

 war. Apprehensions were still current that he 

 would be able to foment troubles at Candahar, 

 and the people around that city were still agi- 

 tated, and continued to neglect their crops and 

 their trade in consequence of rumors that he 

 intended to make another attack. The defeat 

 of Ayoob Khan caused great satisfaction to 

 the Ameer, and had a quieting effect at Cabool 

 and in the surrounding country. A body of 

 troops was sent to Maiwaud, the scene of the 

 disaster to General Burrows of Kushk-i-Nak- 

 hub, to bury the bodies which had been left on 

 the field. It found evidence to confirm fully 

 the reports of the magnitude of the Afghan 

 losses in the battle that had taken place there. 

 The evacuation of Cabool was accomplished 

 quietly, and the troops marched back toward 

 the Indian frontier without suffering molesta- 

 tion. Peimar Kotal was evacuated on the 12th 

 of September, when Shalozan became the most 

 advanced post of the British. It was decided 

 to recognize the Turis, a powerful tribe in the 

 Kuram Valley, as independent of the Ameer, 

 and to evacuate the valley. A considerable 

 force was left at Candahar, and it was decided 

 to retain a strong division of troops there for 

 the winter. 



Communication was had during the cam- 

 paign between the different divisions of the 

 army by means of the heliograph, the opera- 

 tion of which was very satisfactory. Mes- 

 - were transmitted by it nearly as quickly 

 as by the electric telegraph, as was shown by 

 the fact that a dispatch from General Stewart 

 announcing the result of an engagement on the 

 22d of April, was received at the India Office, 

 London, on the next day. Since signals may 

 be transmitted by heliograph, if necessary, over 

 the heads of the enemy, to stations which may 

 be few and far between, its operation is not 



dependent upon the keeping open of any route, 

 and can not be interrupted by the appearance 

 of a hostile force between the stations. A he- 

 liograph with a mirror having a diameter of 

 ten inches the ordinary size is capable of re- 

 flecting the sun's rays in the form of a bright 

 spot to a distance of fifty miles, where the sig- 

 nal can be seen without the aid of a glass. To 

 set up the instrument, the operator, having 

 chosen his position on a hill, looks through a 

 spot that has been cleared from his mirror by 

 scraping away the quicksilver, to the station he 

 wishes to signal. He then sets up in front of 

 the mirror a rod bearing a movable stud like 

 the fore-sight of a rifle, so that the stud shall 

 be on a line with the clear spot in the mirror 

 and the distant station. All that is afterward 

 necessary is so to manage the reflections that 

 they shall fall upon the stud, when it is certain 

 that they will reach the station aimed at. 



Sir F. Eoberts in February gave the following 

 explanation of the executions which had taken 

 place at Cabool under his orders in November 

 and December, 1879 : " Before November 12th 

 about seventy-three men were executed ; one, 

 the city kotwal (magistrate), and six other men 

 convicted of dishonoring the bodies of the 

 officers of the embassy, seventeen for attack- 

 ing escorts and having property of the embassy 

 in their possession, and forty-nine for proved 

 murders of camp-followers and implication in 

 attack on the Residency. Since November 

 12th nine were executed on conviction of at- 

 tacking the Residency. Up to December 15th 

 fifteen more were sentenced to death for killing 

 wounded soldiers as well as for implication in 

 attack on the Residency." 



Mr. Lepel Griffin made an address at a dinner 

 given to him at Simla, in which he spoke hope- 

 fully of the settlement that had been made at 

 Cabool, saying that " the Ameer was rapidly- 

 creating a stable administration, and his posi- 

 tion was much strengthened by Ayoob Khan's 

 defeat. The Cabool policy inaugurated by the 

 Conservative Government had been energeti- 

 cally carried to a conclusion by the present 

 Viceroy. He attached no importance to the 

 criticism that the Ameer was a protege of Rus- 

 sia. Shere Ali was ruined through ignorance. 

 Abdurrahman possessed complete knowledge, 

 and those who knew Russia best would like 

 her least. The criticism on the withdrawal 

 from Cabool was as foolish as it was unworthy 

 of Englishmen. Sir Donald Stewart could not 

 have supported General Roberts, and it was 

 well known that General Roberts would meet 

 with no opposition before reaching Ghuznee. 

 To have left an army at Cabool would have 

 made the Ameer unpopular with his subjects. 

 As to the talk about annexation, he could only 

 thank God that the destinies of the country 

 were not yet intrusted to crack-brained enthu- 

 siasts, who fancied it high and imperial policy 

 for the Government to drag its coat through 

 Asia for a barbarian to trample upon." 



The position of Abdurrahman at the close of 



