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    1188 ®t>t &£&&*?? [SAtUIibAY ,

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    THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. History of the W...

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    The Martyrs Of Freedom. Footsteps Of Our...

    THE OLD SXOKY ! « St . Eloy gave the following advice to his parishioners : — ' Redeem your souls from destruction while you have the means in your power—offer presents and titles to churchmen ; come more frequently to church ; humbly implore the patronage of the saints ; for if you do these things , you may come with security in the day of retribution to the tribunal of the Eternal Judge , and say , Give to tis , O Lord , for we have given to Thee . ' " What a naive translation of ecclesiastic polity ! We could not suppress a smile when we read of the horror created in orthodox minds by the publication of Wiclif's translation of the Bible : — TWE OLD CRY I

    " The excitement which followed the issuing of this edition of the Scriptures was intense . A bill was brought into Parliament to suppress the whole work , under the plea that it would prove ruinous to all religion . The friends of Wiclif argued that , as the translation of the Scriptures into Latin had been followed by no less than sixty different heretical opinions , though none of those heresies had been charged on that translation , there could be no argument against the English Bible , which did not hold against the Latin one . The bill for the suppression was thrown out by a large majority . " Our space is so limited we can only afford room for one more extract : —

    NOW AND THEN . " What would not a historian and antiquarian of the present day sacrifice , to know the details of a journey from Lutterworth to London , 500 years ago , or to look upon the picture of the metropolis at that date ! Instead of the well-adjusted towns and quiet homesteads Avhich the traveller now passes on his way to the great city , the route would then be marked by the presence of castles of strength , whilst the few inhabitants were fain to place cottages or other property beneath their gigantic protection . Extensive forests yet stretched themselves across the

    country , the haunts of the successors of Robin Hood and his associates ; and such a man as the reformer would be only safe with a military escort to protect him , not only from such marauders , but from open and avowed enemies . Except castles , nothing more distinguished the period than the churches which were springing up in all the larger towns , marked by the features of a true , though then somewhat modern , Btyle of architecture . Arrived in London , possibly to make his ' hostelrie ' at the Tabard Inn , in South - wark , the traveller from Leicestershire would gaze with unconcealed eagerness upon a metropolis then

    rarely visited . The old , ugly , but venerable bridge , now supplanted , was then the only one which spanned the river , the stream at ebb tide flowing down its arches almost with the force of a cataract . Though on this bridge the church of St . Thomas was conspicuous , yet it was as yet unincumbered with the numerous buildings afterwards attaching themselves to it , like limpets ; and chivalry , then the prevailing fashion , held occasional joustings on its narrow urea . The order of the Templars had been recently suppressed ; but that of the Knights of St . John survived , and maintained its splendours in a building adjacent to the ancient gate yet standing . ' The pomp and circumstance of glorious war' was witnessed everywhere . Mingling with the crowd in the streets , less

    dense than that of 1851 , the spectator might discern the mailed baron with his armed retinue of bowmen and lancers , or the gay ludy wearing the embroidered jacket , not much unlike the ' polka' of a more modern day , though . sometimes accompanied by the long . strips of linen which dangled from her elbows , or fluttered like pennons in the breeze , whilst her head was enveloped in an inilated but not ungraceful head-tire , and surmounted by a woollen cap . Ecclesiastics of high rank were then little distinguishable from the military barons ; the man of peace was not to be found amidst those mounted and armed retainers . Sometimes , amidst the crowd , who were dressed in sober , and often wretched habits , might be discerned the 1111 : 11 of some of the less strict orders ,

    or the monk with his buhl tonsure , ami olLen jolly form ; ami , nol . uniiequently , the eye might rest upon the bare head , brown coat , and long rosary oi the Franciscan friar , or tlie solemn , black-hooded statcliiicss of the Dominican . The civic honours of London were then in their infancy , and were guarded by the citizens with a jealousy pertaining to semibarbamus times ; whilst t . hc people wen ; at all times ripe for conflict ., or even for revolt ,. A peculiar feature of l-hc period was , that the city was then beginning to he remark . ible for its opaque and dense atmosphere , derived from the use of coals , then retinThames

    cently introduced . The sides of ; wen ; not then , as now , crowded with houses of merchandise ; stately palaces , well fortified , stood 011 the HVand side of the river , among which the Savoy , tlie c ; i | t ^ ll ! U * iM residence of the Duke of Lancaster , wan very ^ f ; ourt > icuous . A large Dominican friary stood itt i ^ WttfriarH ; another of equal pretensions near to tMf ^ BHiwrfile , belonged to the Carmelites , and wus . « HlWMWQju « ifriarH ; the Franciscans had 1111 edifice in . foeflffills ^ ftUcct . ; whilst a fourth , in the vicinity of ¦ , , v ^ Jft * ¦ t'iV-Scd /

    what is now the Bank , was devoted to the Austins or Augustines . The plague , which had recently desolated Europe , had been extremely fatal in London , and had caused considerable improvements in the city . But it was close , ill-ventilated , and inconvenient ; and the inhabitant of Chester can well understand , from certain parts of his own city , what was its general appearance . " The Church of England under the Stuarts is the

    continuation of a history formerly published in this series , The Church under the Tudors . It narrates the story of what Religious Liberty attempted and suffered under James I ., Charles I ., Cromwell , Charles II ., and James II .: a story which should be kept green in our memory , not simply that it may warn us of danger , but also that we may feel some reverence and gratitude for those who fought the good fight in times gone by .

    1188 ®T>T &£&&*?? [Satuiibay ,

    1188 ® t > t & £ &&*?? [ SAtUIibAY ,

    The War In Afghanistan. History Of The W...

    THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN . History of the War in Afghanistan . From unpublished Letters and Journals of Political and Military Officers employed in Afghanistan , throughout tlie Entire Period of British Connection with that Country . By John William Kaye . In 2 vols . Bentley . The Red Indians have their hunting grounds ; England has its fighting ground : the East . There our soldiers learn the art of warfare , and enlarge their livers . There we rear Wellingtons and get rid of younger sons . It is is the market for our bellicose material and unmarriasreable women .

    Such are the mam answers to those who look askance upon the morally indefensible " conquest of India , " and our incessant aggressions there . These failing to silence the objectors , another battery is opened—the spread of Christianity ! Think of the millions ignorant of Christianity : is it not right we should conquer them , if only to convert them ? We will not moot these vexed questions here . Simply to point to our gigantic possessions in India is enough to indicate the large public such a work as this War in Afghanistan must necessarily interest : Had it been written by the dullest of pens , it nmild not but have arrested the attention of

    military men , and of those civilians who have relatives in India . Written by one of the adroitest and most agreeable of pens , it turns out captivating even to the " general reader . " We approached the two bulky volumes with something of misgiving . Two volumes of some seven hundred pages upon a war , or series of wars , in India , are formidable to a man who has literally no leisure . But see the effect of style and skilful arrangement ! Instead of a labour , the reading was a delight ! It kept us from our beds . We Orientalized our minds for the nonce . We lived in India , fought in India , philosophized in India . And now we tell you to go and do likewise .

    The History of the War in Afghanistan commences with an Introduction of one hundred and sixty pages , which details the history of our connection with the Afghans from the commencement of the present century till the year 1837- Mr . Kaye apologizes , and properly , for the confusion necessarily created in the European reader by the repetition of incidents greatly resembling each other , of conquest and rcconquest , of treachery and countertreachery , of rebellions raiscn ^ and . suppressed , and also by the profusion of Oriental names . Hut

    amidst the confusion there arc broad clear spaces ; and we are reminded , by incidental touches , of the distant , epoch spoken of—a distance measured on the road of . Progress rather than of Time—a . // . when the British envoy succeeds in persuading tlie Shah to issue a vindictive firman , in which the governors of provinces arc exhorted " to expel nrnl extirpate the French , : ind never allow them to obtain a footing in any place" ; adding , " you arc at full liberty to disgrace ; and slay the intruders "—a liberty they no doubt mercilessly practised . On this Mr . Kaye remarks : —

    " Mut those were- days when , even in India , men ' s minds wen ; unhinged and unsettled , and their ide . au of right and wrong confounded by the monstrosities of the French revolution . - Revolutionary I'Venchnieii wen ; looked upon as animals to he slain and exterminated with an little ceremony and as little compunction as venemous reptiles or savage beasts . " liiMle room as we have for extract , we must quote t . hi . s picturesque description of

    ; DOURANHi ; KMI'IKK . "Tin * Dourancc Umpire , which lian ninee been shorn of hoiiic of its fairest , provinces , then consisted of Afghanistan , part , of Khoiassan , Cashmere , and the Derajat . The Sikh nation had not , Uien acquired the strength which a lew yearn later enabled it , under the jinlitary directorship of Runjeet { Singh , to curb

    the pretensions and to mutilate the emtirTTT ^ dominant nelghbour . That empire extended f Herat in the west , to Cashmere in the e & 8 ! . P ° northern Balkh to southern Shikarpoor » ' TS on the north and east by immense mountain ™« d and on the south and west by vast tracts of sana ^ ' sert , it opposed to external hostility natural defLo ! : of a formidable character . The general amSTS the country was wud and forbidding ; in th / hLf nation of the people haunted with goules and geni ? : but not unvaried by spots of gentler beauty § 1 the valleys and on the plains , where the fields we re smiling with cultivation , and the husbandman micht be seen busy at his work . 5 " Few and far between as were the towns , the kingdom was thinly populated . The people were a race—or a group of races—of hardy , vigorous mountaineers . The physical character of the country had

    stamped itself on the moral conformation of its inhabitants . Brave , independent , but of a turbulent vindictive character , their very existence seemed to depend upon a constant succession of internal feuds . The wisest among them would probably have shaken then- heads in negation of the adage—* Happy the country whose annals are a blank . ' They knew no happiness in anything but strife . It was their delight to live in a state of chronic warfare . Among such a people civil war has a natural tendency to perpetuate itself . Blood is always crying aloud for blood . Revenge was a virtue among them ; the heritage of retribution passed from father to son ; and murder

    became a solemn duty . Living under a dry , clear , bracing climate , but one subject to considerable alternations of heat and cold , the people were strong and active ; and as navigable rivers were wanting , and the precipitous nature of the country forbade the use of wheeled carriages , they were for the most part good horsemen , and lived much in the saddle . Early trained to the use of arms , compelled constantly to wear and often to use them in the ordinary intercourse of life , every man was more or less a soldier or a bandit . Their very shepherds were men of strife . The pastoral and the predatory character were strangely blended ; and the tented cantonments of the sheep-drivers often bristled into camps of war .

    "But there was a brighter side to the picture . Of a cheerful , lively disposition , seemingly but little in accordance with the outward gravity of their long beards and sober garments , they might be seen in their villages , at evening tide , playing or dancing like children in their village squares ; or , assembling in the Fakir ' s gardens , to smoke and talk , retailing the news gathered in the shops , reciting stories , and singing their simple Afghan ballads , often expressive of that tender passion which , among them alone of all Oriental nations , is worthy of the name of love . Hospitable and generous , they entertain the stranger without stintand even his deadliest enemy was safe

    , beneath the Afghan ' s roof . There was a simple courtesv in their manner , which contrasted favourably with the polished insincerity of the Persians on one side , and the arrogant ferocity of the Rohillas on the other . Judged by the strict standard of a Christian people , they were not truthful in wo rd or honest m deed ; but , side by side with other Asiatic nations , their truthfulness and honesty were conspicuous . Kindly and considerate to their immediate dependants , the higher classes were followed with loyal zeal and served with devoted fidelity by the low er ; and , perhaps , in no eastern country was lesa of tyranny exercised over cither the slaves of the household or

    the inmates of the zenana . Unlettered were they , but not incurious ; and although their niore polished brethren of Persia looked upon them as the Boeotians of Central Asia , their Spartan simplicity and manliness more than compensated for the absence ot tno Attic wit and eloquence of their western neighbours . " Soldiers , husbandmen , and shep herds , they were described as the very antithesis of a nation or shopkeepers . The vocation of the tradesman they uxspiaed . To Taujiks , HindooH , and other aliens , was the business of selling entruBted , except upon tint large settle which entitled tho dealer to bo regarded 0 him 1 ic

    , . 1 n _ . ..., 4 .. ; i / wl linim him tlie as a merchant , and generally entailed upon necessities of a wandering and adventurous lite . a » o principal commerce of the country was with tli « . « sian mid Russian states . In tho bazaars ot Jlciat , C . indalmr , and Caubul tho manufactures oi ¦ Ispj " - Yezd , and Caslum , the apices of India , and the bri cloths of Russia , brought by Astrakan andI 1 > klior , found a ready market . Occasionally , w hen u * settled Htate of the country gave cnooursg ^ ^ commercial enterprise , an ad venturous u ux wmC would make his way , through Dcxa from 1 Jon J with a caiilii of JJritish goods , for tho scarl t clot s witn a < : aiua 01 miLisn guuim , .. " - 1 .-k tho demand to

    ,,, of Mngland were in especial ^\™ i _ persona of tin ? body servants of the Jun k ; , . ¦ genous product * of tho country were lew but , portant ; for the rich shawl * of C . h 1 ^ ftI , _ gaudy chintzes of Mooltan , « xpoit < jd 11 j 1 « rfc t . ties ; were in good repute all »™ J ^ $% Md world . At Herat Borne velvets and J " ? ' "" , "' , ^ ,,,. quality wore manufactured but o » ly ' j ^ " th |) sumption ; vrhitaL tho asBuCtula o that luc « . madder of Candahar , ami tho indigo of the . J * « j found a market in the I Wan cities , a X J / l ncighfruits of tho country were m request m all h

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13121851/page/16/