LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
RUSSIAN INTRIGUES AT CABUL.
[TO TRH EDITOR OF THII "SPECTATOR.")
'Sin,—It is said by the organs of the Russophobists that Sir F. Roberts has discovered in Cabul some correspondence between -the Russians and Shere Ali, of so compromising a character that our Government dare not publish it, for fear of a, rupture
with the Russian Government. This plea is absurd, on the face
-of it. The whole foreign policy of the Government for the last -three years has been based on the necessity of safeguarding
British interests against the machinations of Russia ; and part of the case of the Opposition is that British interests have been in no serious danger, during that period, from Russian .aggression; and that the prevention of a peaceful solu- tion of the Eastern Question has been mainly due to the turbulent policy of Lord Beaconsfield, a policy which broke up the European concert, at the various critical turning- points of the controversy. I say nothing at present as to the justice of the Liberal indictment of Ministerial policy. I merely -call attention to it, for the purpose of exposing the puerile absurdity of the suggestion that Lord Beaconsfield is, out of consideration for Russia, withholding from the knowledge of the British public such a justification of his policy as the rumoured discovery at Cabul would furnish. Jingoism must indeed be in its decrepitude, when it can clutch at such a straw as this.
The pretentious discovery at Cabul is evidently a "mare's -nest," and I venture to suggest the following explanation :—
On the death of Lord Mayo, in 1872, the present Minister of Finance in India, Sir John Strachey, gave, in an able minute, -an admirable summary of that lamented nobleman's adminis- tration. One of the great merits claimed by Sir John Strachey for Lord Mayo's Administration is the good understanding -which it established with Russia in respect to Central-Asian politics. "The fruits of this good understanding," says the minute, "have been frequently manifested ; " and the following instances, among others, are given :—
" To Russian influence on Bokhara was due the prompt withdrawal of a party of Bokhara troops, who had crossed the Oxus in the winter
-of 1869. To the restraining hand kept by Russia on the Afghan refugees in Turkistan, is to be attributed the absence of any attempt on their part to shake the throne of the Ameer [Shere Ali]. When the most formidable of those refugees, Abdul Rahman, once openly represented that it would be for the interest of Russia to assist him in conquering the throne of Cabul, General von Kaufmann replied that hospitality had been afforded him in consideration of his destitute ircumstances, and not as an enemy of England, or a pretender to the throne of Cabul. . . . General von Kauffmann himself, in the spring of 1870, commenced a direct correspondence, which has been renewed front time to time, and has conveyed to the Amer assurances -of the neighbourly sentiments entertained by the Russian authorities towards the Afghan Government."
The passage which I have italicised marks the commencement
of the correspondence between the Russian authorities and Shere Ali, and it is important to observe that, so far from having been discouraged, it was cordially encouraged by Lord Mayo. In a letter to Shere Ali, Lord Mayo says that the com- munications of General Kaufmann had given him (Lord Mayo) "unfeigned satisfaction. For in these," he went on to say, "I see a further and an additional security for that which I so much desire, namely, the permanency of your rule, the com- plete establishment of your power, and the maintenance of a just, wise, and merciful administration throughout the whole of Afghanistan." "These letters [from Kaufmann] will doubt- less be, when rightly understood, a source of satisfaction and an addonal ground of confidence to your Highness."
The wise and dignified policy thus begun by Lord Mayo was continued by Lord Northbrook, and for a time even by Lord. Lytton. The occasional correspendence betweeen Shere All and General Kaufmann lasted, with the full knowledge and approval of the Governments of the Viceroy and of the Queen, down to the middle of September, 1876. At that date Lord Lytton objected to the correspondence, for the first time. But at that date also, Lord Lytton began to threaten Shere Ali with our understanding between England and Russia, "which might have the effect of wiping Afghanistan out of the map alto- gether,"—that is, unless the Ameer agreed to the Viceroy's terms, the first of which was the preliminary condition of "the location of British officers upon the Afghan frontier."
And now, I think I can give a better reason than any that has been suggested for the reluctance of the Government to publish the terrible correspondence discovered by Sir F. Roberts at Cabul. The reason is that the Government has published it already, and any of your readers who are curious on the matter will find it at length in the Parliamentary Papers on Central Asia and Afghanistan, published last year. The correspondence is perfectly harmless, and somewhat common-place.
But suppose the facts were otherwise, and that Russia really intrigued against us in Afghanistan, why should the discovery of such a fact be whispered about with bated breath, as if it were a political portent of tremendous significance F 1Ve were intriguing against Russia in Central Asia. After the Russo- Turkish war broke out, it was Lord Beaconsfield's inten- tion to invade Russia in Central Asia (a policy which Sir Henry Rawlinson still recommends. See his article in the Nineteenth Century of last August) :—" A force of 30,000 men, having purchased its way through Afghanistan, thrown rapidly into Samarcand and Bokhara, would have had little difficulty in beating back to the Caspian the scattered Russian troops ; for, coming thus as deliverers, the whole population would have risen in our favour. In the feasibility of such a programme the Russians fully believed." This I quote from the Pioneer, of August 28th, 1878. The Pioneer is the Viceroy's official organ ; but, besides that, the intended campaign through Afghanistan against Russia in Central Asia is now an open secret. And because "the Russians fully believed" in the imminence of this invasion, of which they had accurate know- ledge, they despatched a mission, consisting of a Colonel and sonic score of Cossacks, to counteract our intrigues at Cabul. And not at Cabul only, for Lord Lytton sent two officers, Captains Napier and Butler, to intrigue against the Russians among the Turkomans. Copies of Captain Butler's letters to Turkoman chiefs were sent to the Russian authorities. (See " Central Asian Papers," No.1 [1878], p. 132.) The Russophobists really seem to think that England has a divine right of intrigue. To intrigue against Russia is, in their eyes, a noble and patriotic policy. But if Russia, even in self- defence, ventures on a counter-intrigue, she is denounced as a, perfidious and mendacious Power, in whose pledges it is impos- sible to place any confidence. It is the sickening (I do not say conscious) hypocrisy of this style of controversy which is to me so revolting. I prefer the " pecca fortiter " of Luther, to the morality of Tartuffe.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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