NEWS OF THE WEEK
rElatest intelligence from Afghanistan shows that the Indian Government has decided on a serious invasion, and is collect- ing 35,000 men upon the frontiers, so placed that the three Passes may be entered simultaneously. The date seems not to be decided, but if, as reported, Gholam Hussein Ali, the Viceroy's native Envoy—an Afghan of Shere Ali's house, but entirely trusted— has returned with an unfavourable answer from the Ameer, all obscurity will be speedily cleared away. Sir Frederick Haines, the Commander-in-Chief, has himself taken the general command, but Lord Lytton adheres to his dangerous policy of over-weighting his columns with Sepoys. There can be no doubt that he has some native regiments in splendid order, quite superior to any we have yet had, but still all experience shows that in such a region as Afghanistan we require a heavier proportion of Europeans than one in eight. The Sepoys are trustworthy enough, but most of them never saw a mountain or snow. We hear of no machines for obtaining water, though they ought to be sent out from England, and have no intelligence that the reinforcements for Quetta have arrived. On the other hand, all rumours indicate that Shere Ali is forwarding his regulars to defend the Passes, and that the defence will be most desperate.
