AFGHANISTAN. 



proper, and on the northwestern frontier the 

 Yusufzas, numbering altogether 73,000 fight- 

 ing men ; the Afridis, 20,000 ; and the Wuzeris, 

 30,000. The differences between the Indian 

 Government and the Afridis, a tribe inhabiting 

 the Kohat Pass, was definitely settled in March 

 by the complete subjection of the latter, who 

 furnished thirty hostages for their future good 

 behavior. The Kohat Pass was formally opened 

 on March 24. This was of great importance, 

 as the Indian Government now hold all three 

 passes leading to Afghanistan, the Bolan Pass, 

 the Khyber Pass, and the Kohat Pass, and can 

 at any moment send its troops across the fron- 

 tier. On January 24, Sir Lewis Pelly arrived 

 in Peshawer, as special envoy of the Indian 

 Government, to meet and confer with the spe- 

 cial envoy of the Amir of Cabool, Syyid Wur 

 Mohammed Shah, the 

 prime minister of Ca- 

 bool. The result of the 

 conferences remained 

 a secret. In April, the 

 envoy of the Amir 

 died, and another was 

 appointed in his place. 

 But, before the latter 

 arrived in Peshawer, 

 Sir L. Pelly received 

 orders to embark for 

 Europe, and the con- 

 ference therefore came 

 to an end. H. Vam- 

 bery, in an article in 

 the Augsburg Gazette 

 of May 12, after giving 

 an account of the rela- 

 tions between Afghan- 

 istan and Russia and 

 England, stating that 

 the policy of the pres- 

 ent Amir, Shere AH 

 Khan, had been to re- 

 ceive money and arms from the British, and 

 at the same time negotiate with the Russians, 

 while lately he had committed several acts of 

 discourtesy toward the British, describes the 

 present relations of the Amir to the two pow- 

 ers as follows : 



The British Munslii, accredited at Bula-Hissar, 

 the citadel of Cabool, constantly complained of acts 

 of discourtesy at the hands of the Amir; and, as 

 the border difficulties in the Khyber Pass, together 

 with the ever-increasing reports of Russian mis- 

 sions to Cabool, could no longer fail to interest 

 the British, Lord Lytton in the beginning of this 

 year arranged a conference at Peshawer for the pur- 

 pose of settling all disputed points. The Amir 

 sent one of his oest diplomatists to the Conference, 

 but, as the latter unfortunately died at Peshawer, 

 and, on the other hand, the satisfactory conclusion 

 of the British negotiations with the Khan of Ke- 

 lat had not inclined the Amir to continue the 

 diplomatic negotiations, the report arose of a se- 

 rious breach between Cabool and Calcutta, while at 

 the same time, and in connection with this report, 

 the telegram announcing the outbreak of hostilities 

 between the two countries was sent out, of course 

 from Russian sources. We will not consider here 



the justness of the claims of the Amir on Beloochis- 

 tan, and only remark that Afghanistan has as many, 

 or rather as few, claims on Kelat and Quetta as on 

 Badakhshan and Roshan in the northeast. The trib- 

 utary relations to Cabool of both points were always 

 of a very doubtful character, and it is only due to a 

 British-Russian agreement that Afghan tax-collec- 

 tors are at present established in Fvzabad. In Ke- 

 lat and Quetta, however, Afghan officers have never 

 been tolerated. If Shere All Khan should seriously 

 regret the British successes in Beloochistan, he is 

 acting under the impulse of Russian instigation, but, 

 that the latter should succeed in fanning this dissat- 

 isfaction into a war against India, we are compelled 

 to doubt very strongly. For we must not overlook 

 that, during the past year, such factors have gained 

 prominence in Cabool, India, and the other Moham- 

 medan countries of Central Asia, which make a co- 

 operation with Russia impossible. \V e may ridicule 

 the messages which the sheiks of Constantinople, 

 Mecca, and Bagdad, have sent to their co-religionists 

 in the far East, and may doubt the awakening of Pan- 



Mohammedan ideas, yet it is still difficult to believe 

 that the reports or the danger threatening Islam 

 were entirely disregarded on the shores of the Hel- 

 mund or the valleys of the Hindoo Koosh. and that 

 an alliance with the Czar, the antichrist 01 the Mo- 

 hammedan legend, was possible. I have never had 

 great confidence in the religious zeal of the Afghan 

 warriors, intent only on plunder ; but neither can I 

 see that the Government at Cabool would act on orders 

 received from Tashkend or St. Petersburg, or that 

 it would go to war with the Empress of India, who 

 permits collections to be taken up on the Indus as 

 well as on the Ganges for the soldiers of the Sultan, 

 and who allows enthusiastic speeches for the Caliph 

 to be made in English meetings. 



Emil von Schlagintweit, the well-known 

 German traveler, gives the following descrip- 

 tion of the state of affairs in Afghanistan : " In 

 Afghanistan a disorder is brewing, which will 

 soon be fully equal to that in Kelat before the 

 advent of the British troops ; but in this case 

 a deadly hatred of the Amir against the British 

 is clearly manifest. In May, the English mail 

 was robbed, which, since 1874, had gone to 

 Djellalabad, half-way between Peshawer and 



