NOTICES OF MOTION. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Thursday, 5th December, 1878. AFGHANISTAN (EXPENSES OF MILI- MR. E. STANHOPE: I beg to give The House met at half after One of Notice that on Monday next I shall the clock. move the following Resolution : sioners; "That Her Majesty, having directed a MiliMessage to attend the Lords Commis-tary expedition of Her Forces charged upon Indian Revenues to be despatched against the Ameer of Afghanistan, this House consents that the Revenues of India shall be applied to defray the expenses of the Military operations which may be carried on beyond the external frontiers of Her Majesty's Indian possessions." The House went;-and having returned ; NEW WRITS ISSUED DURING THE MR. FAWCETT: I believe I am in Order in giving Notice of an Amendment. I beg to give Notice that I shall oppose the Resolution. QUESTION. AFGHANISTAN (MILITARY OPERA- TELEGRAM.-QUESTION. MR. RITCHIE asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether any information has been received at the India Office with reference to the report of the great victory of General Roberts? MR. E. STANHOPE: Sir, I am happy to be able to inform my hon. Friend and the House that we have received full confirmation from the Viceroy of India. With the permission of the House I will read the telegram from the Viceroy. It is dated the 5th of December, and is as follows:: "Roberts attacked Peiwar 2nd; turning movement during night of 1st successful; sarfrom that side found impossible. Rober 3, prised and turned enemy, but attack of Kotal therefore, continued turning movement, placing himself in enemy's rear, with flanking column, while General Cobbe engaged attention in front. Enemy, reinforced by four regiments from Khushi, made determined resistance, but were Ordered, That a Committee of Privi- driven from Kotal, which was occupied at 4 p.m., leges be appointed. OUTLAWRIES BILL. Bill" for the more effectual preventing Clandestine Outlawries," read the first time; to be read a second time. 2nd. Enemy completely defeated, leaving 15 guns and large amount of ammunition in our hands; other guns abandoned, and will be secured. Loss supposed to be very heavy. Our 23rd Pioneers, killed'; General Cobbe and Lieuloss-Captain Kelso, R.A., Major Anderson, tenant Munro, 72nd Highlanders, wounded; about 50 men killed and wounded. Troops had to undergo great exertions and exposure at altitude of 8,000 feet, but behaved admirably, and are in excellent spirits. Roberts continues parsuit towards Shutar-Gardan to-day; wounded sent into Kuram." THE QUEEN'S SPEECH. MR. SPEAKER reported Her Majesty's Speech, made by Her Chancellor, and read it to the House. ADDRESS IN ANSWER TO HER MA JESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH. VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH: Sir, I rise with the greatest diffidence to move that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, thanking Her Majesty for Her Most Gracious Speech. I have had the privilege of being a Member of this House but a short time, and I trust that in the few remarks I shall make I shall receive its indulgence, and that any shortcomings on my part may be attributed not to any want of confidence in the cause I advocate, but rather to the inexperience of one who is, for the first time, addressing it. Very recently, Sir, another question, which at one time promised to be of a very troublesome character, has been brought, I am thankful to say, to a successful and satisfactory issue. The United States have paid over the sum of money which was adjudged to this country in the Fisheries dispute. I am sure no one doubted for a moment that that money would be paid; and I do hope that this amicable conclusion, of what might have been a serious difficulty, will tend to draw in still closer connection the tie of friendship which I hope, and I am sure will always, exist between the two countries. Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech refers chiefly to the condition of affairs on the borders of our Indian Empire. With the permission of the House I shall touch but generally on that question, as no doubt it will be amongst many others brought under its notice; but I am happy to think that I can commence at a period on which all parties are agreed. No one can deny that the statesmanlike ability of Lord Mayo, his personal qualities and his natural courtesy, created between himself and the Ameer of Afghanistan, I may say I think, a feeling of good-will -nay, even more, a feeling of friendship. When, at last, we suffered a great loss by Lord Mayo's death, he bequeathed to his successor the same state of good feeling. In the meantime, Sir, a new element had been introduced. The advances of Russia were beginning, and the Ameer applied to Lord North At first sight it may appear to many hon. Members a matter of great inconvenience to have been summoned to attend a meeting of Parliament at this time; but on further consideration of the questions that are before the country, and the provisions of the law by which Indian Revenues cannot be expended without the sanction of Parliament, I think there is no hon. Member who will not agree with me that Her Majesty's Government had no course open to them but to summon Parlia-brook for assurances of protection against ment in this sudden and extraordinary manner. Since we last met many things have taken place which have caused serious apprehensions that the Treaty of Berlin, which secured peace to Europe, was in danger of being disturbed. I cannot but think that one advantage gained by the meeting of Parliament to-day will be to dispel any such illusion, for there is not the slightest fear that any Power concerned in that Treaty has any intention of not observing its conditions. I trust, Sir, that the House will permit me to say that I think the country owes much to the Commissioners in Turkey, who have done so much to bring about a solution of those problems which at present are in a state of uncertainty there. that advancing Power. What those assurances were it is unnecessary for me to say. At all events, Lord Northbrook was unable to comply in such a manner as to give complete satisfaction to the Ameer. The Russian advances still continued, and the Ameer became more and more estranged to England, and more willing to enter into negotiations with the advancing Power. Lord Salisbury, at last, thought that the time had come when he should be justified in giving further assurance of protection to the Ameer against foreign invasion, upon condition that our officers were allowed to be present at certain places in his territory, in order that they might thoroughly watch the movements on the Frontier. To this the Ameer declined to agree. The discussion was prolonged "That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, to convey the thanks of this House for Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech: "Humbly to thank Her Majesty for the gracious expression of Her regret that She has found it necessary to call for our attendance at an unusual, and, as Her Majesty is pleased to say, probably at an inconvenient time: "To express our regret that the hostility manifested towards Her Majesty's Indian Government by the Ameer of Afghanistan, and the manner in which he has repulsed Her Majesty's friendly Mission, has left Her Majesty no alternative but to make a peremptory demand for redress: indefinitely; and, in the meantime, the | shown to me, and I shall conclude by Ameer showed a still more unfriendly movingfeeling towards our country. Suddenly, in July of this year, we were startled by hearing that the Ameer had received a Russian Envoy at Cabul. Under these circumstances, the Indian Government felt that the time had come at which they should consider how they would act. They proposed a friendly Mission to Cabul on the part of this country; Of the circumstances which followed the House is well aware; and when, later on, they gave the Ameer-if I may so use the expression-another chance, the House is well acquainted with the manner in which that Ultimatum was treated. Under these circumstances, the Indian Government felt compelled to take those steps which are now to be brought under the consideration of Parliament. We are at the present moment engaged in a war which, I trust, will be short, successful, and decisive; and I can only express a hope, which I am sure you will all feel, that our European soldiers, as well as our Indian troops, will, as they have ever done, do their utmost to show that they are fully qualified to maintain the glory and the power of our Indian Empire. As regards domestic legislation, I may be excused for saying that it is impossible for me to form any opinion of the work of the coming Session; but I wish I could feel sanguine that anything can be done to alleviate the distress which unfortunately prevails through the greater part of this country. In view of the bad harvests and the depression of trade, I feel that the prospects of a return of prosperity are anything but good. At the same time, hon. Gentlemen will remember that these misfortunes are not confined to our country. They extend all over Europe and America; and as, therefore, there can be no question that they are not the consequence of political causes, I think we must not despair. On former occasions we have had a similar depression of trade; and as bad harvests have been previously met by the skill and energy for which Englishmen have always been renowned, so, I trust, England will again overcome those difficulties as in former days. I cannot conclude without expressing my most grateful thanks to the House for the kind indulgence which they have "Humbly to thank Her Majesty for informing us that, in consequence of this demand having been disregarded, Her Majesty has directed an Expedition to be sent into his Territory, and has taken the earliest opportunity of calling us together, and making to us the communication required by Law: "To thank Her Majesty for directing that Papers on the subject shall be laid before us: 66 Humbly to express the gratification with which we learn that Her Majesty receives from all Foreign Powers assurances of their friendly feelings, and that Her Majesty has every reason to believe that the arrangements for the pacification of Europe, made by the Treaty of Berlin, will be successfully carried into effect: "To thank Her Majesty for having directed the Estimates for the ensuing year to be laid before us in due course : "Humbly to assure Her Majesty that, after full deliberation upon the matters which have led Her Majesty to anticipate our usual time of meeting, we shall be prepared, at such dato as Her Majesty may determine, to give our careful consideration to such measures for the public mitted to us: benefit as Her Majesty may direct to be sub "Humbly to assure Her Majesty that our best care shall be devoted to the maintenance of the great interests of Her Empire; and that we unite with Her Majesty in praying that the blessing of the Almighty may attend our counsels." MR. HALL: In rising to second the Address, I shall not hesitate to allude to the great subject to which the remarks of my noble Friend the Member for Down (Viscount Castlereagh) have been mainly directed. It must be quite clear that when Parliament is summoned at this unusual and, as Her Majesty is pleased to say, somewhat inconvenient season, there must be some great topic for discussion and settlement by the House, which rightly and necessarily puts the ordinary Business of an ordinary Session entirely in the shade. Sir, that great topic is the question of our North-Western Frontier of India, and the relations of Her Majesty towards the Ameer of Afghanistan, and as being germane to that question. The House will have learned with satisfaction the assurance contained in Her Majesty's gracious Speech that Her Majesty is in friendly relations with all other foreign Powers. It is a matter, I venture to think, not only for satisfaction, but also for profound thankfulness, that those great subjects which the Berlin Congress was called together to discuss seem to be in a fair way of being brought to a final adjustment, without any break whatever in the friendly relations between the signatory Powers; because it cannot be denied that whether we look to our North-West Frontier in India, or look at home for that revival of trade prosperity, for which so many eyes are anxiously scanning the horizon, much depends on the peaceable and loyal carrying out of the Berlin Treaty. And, Sir, I cannot use the word "trade" without venturing to express the sympathy, which I am sure the House feels, with our fellow-countrymen in Scotland, who have suffered from so severe a financial calamity, and who have borne their suffering so bravely. Sir, the regret which has been expressed in the Speech from the Throne, that Parliament should have been called together to discuss the war in Afghanistan, is a regret which, so far as the war is concerned, will be shared by every hon. Member of the House, no matter what may be his political opinions. These Frontier Wars, so many of which have been entailed on this country by the necessities of our Indian Empire, are at all times undertakings which this country would fain avoid if she could fairly and reasonably do so and of Afghan Wars especially, it may be said that our reminiscences certainly are not of such a character as to induce responsible Indian statesmen to rush into them lightly or without a grave sense of responsibility. Therefore it is that we have always found that the chief and most cardinal point in the policy of our Indian statesmen has been the independence and friendship of Afghanistan. But, as has been well pointed out in one of our great centres of commerce and intelligence by the Leader of this House on a recent occasion, that independence and friendship must be real; because what we desire is, that Afghanistan should be for us in Asia that which our forefathers always desired Turkey should be for us in Europe -a buffer between ourselves and the possible aggrandizing propensities of other Powers. That has been a position as favourable for the Ruler of Afghanistan as for this country. It was a position which was always cordially and frankly accepted by Dost Mahomed, and up to 1872 apparently by his less reliable son Shere Ali, with more or less sincerity. I use the word "apparently," because it is very doubtful whether Shere Ali ever forgave this country for the recognition it gave to his rival brothers in 1867. Be that as it may, and without stopping to inquire whether the result of the famous Umballa Conference in 1869 did or did not carry out Shere Ali's wishes, I think we may fairly say that up to the year 1872 the relations of Shere Ali to this country were fairly friendly. Since that date, however, there has been a great change. His friendship has given way to ill-concealed enmity, and his estimate of the comparative power of Russia and England has undergone a complete change a change not in our favour. What the causes of the change may be, and the amount of responsibility that will have to be borne for it by previous Viceroys and the present Administration, must and will, of course, be discussed at a fitting moment. That moment is certainly not the present; but when that time comes, and strong opinions are expressed, on the one hand that a more resolute and less ambiguous policy in the past would have secured Shere Ali to our interests, and on the other hand opinions are as strongly expressed that a less resolute and a more ambiguous policy now, would have had a similar effect, I am inclined to believe that political circumstances farther North than Cabul, in the one case, had not so far matured as to render a more resolute policy ab- | to be making up his mind to side with the solutely necessary; and, in the other strongest Power, whether that should be case, had done so, in so marked a man- Russian or English; and I cannot help ner and with such great rapidity, that a thinking that however favourable a Treaty longer continuance in the rut of ambiguity might at that time have been concluded would have been not only unwise but between his country and ourselves, the absolutely impossible; and I, therefore, well-known character of the Ameer Chief venture to think that it would better be- would have rendered it not impossible come the Parliament of England frankly that the Treaty would have been frankly and fully to look this side of the question and fully accepted by him so long as, in the face with a view to our future ad- and no longer than, it tallied with his vantage, rather than by useless endea- own interests and squared with his own vours to prove opponents wrong and lose estimate of the relative power of Russia our capacity for forming a sound judg- and England. With regard to this I ment in a mist of political prejudice. may venture to quote the opinion given At the end of the year 1872 the Seistan by Lord Lawrence in 1869-that if an boundary arbitration was concluded, invasion of India were imminent, every and that seems to have left a rankling Afghan, from the Ameer on the Throne sense of wrong in the mind of the to the domestic slave in the houseAmeer, and it was but a few months after hold, would join it. In 1875 Lord that the continued advance of Russia in Northbrook expressed his belief that Central Asia seemed to impress the whenever the day came for Russian inAmeer with the possible difficulties of fluence to be supreme in the Turcoman his position in regard to that country, territory, it would be necessary that and he therefore sent an Envoy to Simla more specific assurances should be given to endeavour to induce Lord Northbrook to the Ameer that we should have a Brito enter into an alliance specifically tish Resident at Herat; and at the close against Russia. I venture to think that of that year Her Majesty's Government the wisdom or unwisdom of the course had come to the conclusion that the time then adopted depended upon the estimate had arrived. That opinion was not reasonably to be formed of the reality of shared in by Lord Northbrook; but the danger which Shere Ali apprehended. subsequent events went far to show that And we must not, in determining that, the real question was, not whether the forget, that only six months before an time for more specific assurances had agreement had been come to between arrived, but whether, in truth, it had not Russia and this country as to the boun- for ever passed away? For what do we daries of Afghanistan, and that so frank, find? That when, in obedience to Lord full, and unreserved were the assurances Salisbury's instructions, the Mission of of Russia in this respect, that the Eng- Sir Lewis Pelly was proposed to the lish Government seemed to have no Ameer, it was rejected by him, and difficulty in coming to the conclusion when, after considerable pressure, the that Shere Ali's reading of the political Envoy of the Ameer was sent to Peshabarometer had been entirely incorrect. wur, it was abundantly clear that The House will remember that when these the Treaty for which his master was assurances were given Lord Granville said to have been looking so long no had been told that Afghanistan did not longer had any charms for him, and his come within the political purview of whole ingenuity appeared to be directed Russia, that the Emperor considered an to the frustration of the objects of the extension of territory as a weakness; Conference. Old grievances were raked whilo as to Cabul, it was admitted that up; much time was wasted by intermiEnglish officers might fairly be found nable discussions as to the position of there, and that Russian officers ought the proposed British Residents, although not to be found there. But it would that point was well understood to have scem that Shere Ali was a better judge been previously agreed to; and, generally, of the immediate futuro than either the it appeared that no definite conclusions Russian or English Governments, for were desired by the Ameer. With rewithin six months of the agreement, Khiva gard to those British Residents, I may had fallen, and Shere Ali had seen the mention that the question had been Russian Frontier and his own drawing fully explained to the Ameer over ncare and nearer day by day. He seemed and over again, and thero is evidence |