ment, Captain Nicol, Hants Militia, Captain
Buckle, RE; while three died from the effects of the climate,--
Lieutenant the Honourable A. Charteris, A.D.C., Captain Huyshe,
D.A.Q.M.G., Lieutenant E. Townshend, 16th Regiment; while seven others
were wounded.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE AFGHAN WAR--1878-1879.

For many years previous to the war, the relations between England and
Afghanistan had been unsatisfactory. Shere Ali, the ruler of the latter
country, received an annual subsidy from us, and had, besides, been
presented with large quantities of arms and other warlike weapons. The
events which led to the war have been debated with great acrimony, and
are viewed in opposite manners by persons of different political
opinions, and it is enough here to say that the approach of Russia to
the northern frontier of Afghanistan caused considerable uneasiness to
the Ameer, and that, unable to obtain from us any positive assurances of
support in case of attack from the north, he appears to have determined
that his best course would be to throw himself into the arms of Russia,
even at the risk of breaking with us.

For some time all communications with the Ameer had ceased, and it was
from a native news-writer that the intelligence that a Russian general
with a mission had arrived in Cabul, and had been honourably received,
came to the ears of our authorities.

Upon the news being made public, the Viceroy of India wrote to Shere
Ali, requesting him to receive also an English mission. The answer of
the Ameer was evasive, and Major Cavaignari, an officer of great
experience in Afghanistan, was sent up with an escort as a precursor of
a larger and more important mission to follow. Upon the 21st September
he arrived at Ali-Musjid, an Afghan fort in the Khyber Pass, and was
there stopped by an officer of the Ameer with a large force. A long
parley took place; but the officer refused to allow him to pass, and
Major Cavaignari, not having a sufficient number of men with him to
force his way up, retired, with an intimation that the Ameer would be
held responsible for the conduct of his officer.

As it was clearly impossible that the Indian Government could put up
with this insult, and that, moreover, England could not submit to see
Russian envoys received by a country upon her border which refused to
admit her own officers, preparations were at once made for war. It was
decided to invade Afghanistan in three columns, one sta