1878
Object of the first Afghan war
--Excitement caused by Russia's advances
Before continuing my story, it will, I think, be as well to recall to
the minds of my readers the train of events which led to England
and Russia becoming at the same moment solicitous for the Amir's
friendship, for it was this rivalry which was the immediate cause of
the second Afghan war.
Less than two hundred years ago the British Empire in the East and
Russia were separated from each other by a distance of 4,000 miles.
Russia's most advanced posts were at Orenburg and Petropaulovsk, while
England had obtained but an uncertain footing on the seaboard of
southern India. The French were our only European rivals in India, and
the advance of Russia towards the Oxus was as little anticipated as
was England's advance towards the Indus.
Thirty years later Russia began to absorb the hordes of the Kirghiz
steppes, which gave her occupation for more than a hundred years,
during which time England was far from idle. Bengal was conquered, or
ceded to us, the Madras Presidency established, and Bombay had become
an important settlement, with the result that, in the early part of
this century, the distance between the Russian and English possessions
had been diminished to less than 2,000 miles.
Our progress was now more rapid. While Russia was laboriously
crossing a barren desert, the North-West Provinces, the Carnatic, the
territories of the Peshwa, Sind, and the Punjab, successively came
under our rule, and by 1850 we had extended our dominions to the foot
of the mountains beyond the Indus.
Russia by this time, having overcome the difficulties of the desert,
had established herself at Aralsk, near the junction of the Syr Daria
with the waters of Lake Aral; so that in fifty years the distance
between the outposts of the two advancing Powers in Asia had been
reduced to about 1,000 miles.
Repeated successful wars with Persia, and our desertion of that Power
owing to the conviction that we could no longer defend her against
the Russians, had practically placed her at their mercy, and they had
induced Persia, in 1837, to undertake the siege of Herat. At the
same time, the Russian Ambassador at Teheran had despatched Captain
Vitkievitch to Kabul with letters from himself and from the Czar
to the Amir, in the hope of getting Dost Mahomed Khan to join the
Russians and Persians in their alliance against the English.
Vitkievitch's arrival at Kabul towards the end of 1837 had been
anticipated by Captain (afterwards Sir Alexander) Burnes, who had been
sent three months before by Lord Auckland on a Mission to the Amir,
ostensibly to improve our commercial relations with the Afghans, but
in reality to prevent them from joining the Russo-Persian alliance.
Burnes had been most cordially received by Dost Mahomed, who hoped,
with the help of the Indian Government, to recover the district of
Peshawar, which had been wrested from him by the Sikhs. Vitkievitch's
reception was proportionately discouraging, and for some weeks he
could not obtain an interview with the Amir.
The Dost's hopes, however, were not fulfilled. We declined to give him
any assistance towards regaining possession of Peshawar or defending
his dominions, should his refusal to join with Persia and Russia draw
down upon him the enmity of those Powers.
Vitkievitch, who had been patiently biding his time, was now taken
into favour by the Amir, who accorded him a reception which fully
compensated for the neglect with which he had previously been treated.
Burnes remained at Kabul until the spring of 1838, and then returned
to India to report that Dost Mahomed had thrown himself heart and soul
into the Russo-Persian alliance.
Under pressure from the English Ministry the Governor-General of India
determined to take the extreme measure of deposing an Amir who had
shown himself so hostilely inclined, and of placing on the throne
of Kabul a Ruler who, it was hoped, would feel that it was to his
interest to keep on good terms with us. It was for this object that
the first Afghan war[1] was undertaken, which ended in the murder of
our nominee, Shah Shuja, and the triumphant return of Dost Mahomed.
The disastrous failure of our action in this matter taught the British
Government that our frontier on the Sutlej was too far removed for us
to think of exercising any real influence in Afghanistan, and that the
time had not arrived to warrant our interfering in Afghan affairs.
After this came our war with the Sikhs, resulting in our conquest
of the Punjab, and our frontier becoming conterminous with that of
Afghanistan on the banks of the Indus.
There was a lull in the movements of Russia in Central Asia until
after the Crimean War of 1854-56, which, while temporarily checking
the designs of Russia in Europe, seems to have stimulated her progress
in the East. After the passage of the great desert, Russia found
herself in the midst of fertile and settled countries, whose provinces
fell under her control as rapidly as those of India had fallen under
ours, until in 1864 Chimkent was occupied, the point beyond which
Prince Gortchakoff stated that there was no intention on the part of
Russia to make further advances.
Notwithstanding these assurances, Tashkent was captured on the
29th June of the following year. In 1866 Khojent was successfully
assaulted. Tisakh fell on the 30th October; and in the spring of
1867 the fort of Yani-Kargan in the Nurata mountains was seized and
occupied.
Bokhara alone remained unconquered, but the Ruler of that State, after
vainly endeavouring to gain assistance from Afghanistan and to enlist
the sympathies of the Indian Government, was compelled to sue for
peace.
Important as these acquisitions were, they attracted but little
attention in England, owing partly to the policy of non-interference
which had been adopted as regards Central Asian affairs, and partly to
the British public being absorbed in European politics, until 1868,
when the occupation of Samarkand by Russia caused considerable
excitement, not to say consternation, amongst the authorities in
England.
Conferences took place in the spring of 1870 between Lord Clarendon,
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Baron Brunow, the
Russian Ambassador, with the object of determining a neutral zone,
which should be the limit of the possessions of England and Russia in
Central Asia. For nearly three years, Russia was persistent in her
endeavours to have Afghanistan placed outside the pale of British
influence; but the Indian Government were equally persistent in
pointing out the danger of agreeing to such an arrangement, and it was
not until the 31st January, 1873, that the boundary, which neither
England nor Russia might cross, was finally agreed upon.
Six months later the conquest of Khiva by Russia was effected. It
was at first given out that the expedition was to punish acts of
brigandage, and to rescue fifty Russian prisoners, but was on no
account to lead to a prolonged occupancy of the Khanate. Count
Schouvaloff, the Russian Statesman who was deputed to communicate the
object of the expedition to the British Government, declared that a
positive promise to this effect might be given to the British public,
as a proof of the friendly and pacific intentions of his master the
Czar; but, notwithstanding these assurances, the Russians never left
Khiva, and it has been a Russian possession from that time.
Thus, in a little more than twenty years, Russia had made a stride of
600 miles towards India, leaving but 400 miles between her outposts
and those of Great Britain. Russia's southern boundary was now, in
fact, almost conterminous with the northern boundary of Afghanistan,
near enough to cause the Ruler of that country considerable anxiety,
and make him feel that Russia had become a dreaded neighbour, and that
the integrity of his kingdom could not be maintained save by the
aid of one of the two great Powers between whose fire he now found
himself.
I have endeavoured to show how it was that Sher Ali, notwithstanding
his soreness and disappointment at the many rebuffs he had received
from us in the earlier part of his career, gratefully remembered
the timely aid afforded him by Sir John Lawrence, and the princely
reception accorded to him by Lord Mayo, and was still quite prepared
in 1873 to enter into friendly relations with us, provided we would
recognize his favourite son as his heir, and give a direct promise of
aid in the event of Russian aggression. Our refusal to accede to these
terms, added to our adverse decision in regard to the Sistan boundary,
turned Sher Ali from a friend into an enemy, and he decided, as his
father had done forty years before, to throw in his lot with Russia.
[Footnote 1: It is instructive to note how remarkably similar were the
circumstances which brought about the first and second Afghan wars,
viz., the presence of Russian officers at Kabul.]
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