| Show T THE PHE im FEATURE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION ON the letb 11 th lost official dispatches were received in london from calcutta stating that there had been fighting between british forces and the tribesmen in the neighborhood of near the frontier th the e locality where the hostilities occurred is also clow close to the boundary line lately claimed by russia the tribesmen with whom the british troops are face to fate face in arms are stated elated to be under russian protection we have made occasional comment upon the russian movements and held that they were a direct menace to british india to the border of which the pami m region is closely contiguous the new york world of the dinst contains an interesting and elaborate statement of the developments louding ln some details of the fighting concerning which h there were only bare allusions in the regular dispatches according to the woold wold there is at a british agency which Is garri k by kashmira Kash indian Goor khas and a battery of ax artillery tillery the tribesmen of bunza and two towns on the river biver indus almost opposite to each other have for some time been threatening the cwt cat fort held by a detachment of kashmira Kash this caused col durand the british agent at gil git to make an advance upon the ahalt fort forthe purpose of relieving the garri garrison sone this advance was made early during the present month for on november colonel durand wi wired red the commander in nc n C ahle blet that he should move upon the enemy on december 2nd and unless hp was previously attacked by the tribesmen he also telegraphed that he be feared that a serious erious conflict was inevitable later information announced that fort ahalt was actually captured on December od and that seven were twenty six wounded we here present presen tan an extract exhibiting some unusually interesting features of the fighting colonel durandy durand captain aylmer and lieutenant babcock were serio seriously usi I 1 wounded several other officers including I 1 lieutenant gorton and others were slightly wounded captain aylmer and lieutenants Lieutenan tR Bois ragon and babcock displayed extraordinary gallantry captain aylmer led a storming party carrying a gun boiton petar petard and in the face of a shower of bullets le dashed up to the ironbound gide gate of the fort affixed the petard to it ir lit the fuse retreated a shon distance and then bad the pleasure of hearing a deafening report the petard had blown the gate to pieces captain Captai ii aylmer and lieutenants Bois ragon and babcock followed by a handful of then made dash adash a into the fort and after some des deaper perVe tte fighting captured a field gun which had been used effectively against the attacking party parly tv the british officers and sol liters diers also succeeded in capturing nine prisoners the ithe remainder of the tribesmen fled bed leaving a number of dead in the interior of the fort as well as it a good many on the outside out the arrival of the the news of the conflict having taken place on the frontier caused much excitement in the london clubs many old indian officers regarded regard pd it as the most serious news that had come from india for a long time young officers were greatly elated and expressed the hope that the long anticipated war with russia was about to begin it is claimed that one officer of high rank recently returned from india said there could be no doubt that affairs on the frontier frontier fron tiei of district had bad reached a most deli cate cale and and dangerous stage the claims made by russia P he be said must be greatly modified before even a basis for negotiations can be established between the three nations concerned russia china and great britain IP the importance of this affair of out posts poow grows out of the fact of its being recognized as an open m move ve among many secret ones in the irest great game that thai is beine being played between russia england and china with eastern supremacy at stake f f in order to fully understand the nature of the conflict described above it is necessary to be familiar with circumstances cum stances preceding it they are revived by the world in connection with the account given by that journal odthe capture of fort ahalt the notorious character of the intrigues of russia in tibe region was so pronounced some time back that f col 01 ol durand whose forces have just had the encounter with the tribesmen near was summoned to simla for a conference with the viceroy of india this conference took place in october and as a result durand received orders based upon probable events which authorized zed him xo to extend the military rood from to ahalt this work was begun as soon as the colonel returned to his bis command commend it is considered possible by military men man that the present hostilities originated in some chance encounter between the tribes meland the forces which were at work building the road reinforcements have been pushed forward to ever slice the viceroy became con vinced in iii his conference with durand that an outbreak could not long be averted their advance however has been hampered by the prevalence of snow storms of unusual severity the commencement of the difficulty was in wh what at will perhaps be remembered as the incident which is thus described lite late last summer a party of russians numbering eight officers sixty horsemen and forty infantry fantry iii soldiers sol diera made an exploring I 1 elpe expedition towards afghan storing hl itron and the chinese boundaries which all approach each other on the capt it 9 british officer and probably a british agent was then on a journett jour neto Chi chiaese turkestan Turk Tork estan and d hearing of the presence pre of the russian sla n detachment in question be started out to meet it at bozal umbai he met a aj russian advance post and sent word of I 1 its ita presence to the british eilish fort fori the russian party met by capt consisted consi of ton ten cossack infantry soldiers in charge of supplies five russian officers a surveyor and an escort of thirty mounted Co cossacks macks he learned had gone forward in the direction of chittal this last party soon after returned to bozai gumbaz gumba and treated capt very well 1 the of floer in command however informed the british officer that russi russia claimed the whole country up to thie bhore bahat pass this party under col then went on to join a russian advance party of sixty men and who were on the great on alie th e following day a number of russian horsemen rode kap p to ca captain tain camp surrounded his tent aud their commander colonel informed int ormed him that orders had been received that morr morning ting from the russian governor generall general that captain and another british Bri officer with him lieutenant Dav davisen Davis loon cn were to be deported deporte 1 to chinese territory colonel hov however rever informed captain ehrat if oe be would undertake to proceed thither without reentering the newly by certain passes which h lae nailed nali aed the captain would be permitted permit tad tp to 8 go alone otherwise he would be escorted by a detachment of cossacks under protest C taip agreed to do as suggested d and retired to kamii where he took precautions to see that the russians did not move forward on bunza or send seed arms to the without hi hie being aware of it it 1 would appear however that arna arkrog hav ve reached bunza for it is from that locally that the present trouble commenced when captain started for bose gumbay he abut lieutenant Ll davison who is said to 0 o hawe have been traveling in eastern turkestan Turk estan estam during his leave bf absence to the ai chur to report to him the state j of affairs there at the alicher pass lieutenant davison was found by colonel and nd his cossacks and in spite of the protests pretests of chang the chief chinese there the lieutenant was taken prisoner prison 1 hy by the russians carried to osh 0 sh and thence to Margh margolian lian at the latter place he was liberated at the request of 0 mr elliottr Ellio secretary of th british abas at st petersburg who happened to b be traveling with the russian governor jeneral Ce Oe aleut ut leavison tf avison eventually event u ally reached Pass where he be rejoined captain they both reached digit on october and re ported the whole affair to ool durand the latter had ad in the ivean meantime i time been active and and vigilant t he ee de e 11 two officers 1 n I ten men each to communicate with the afghans Afghan it for the purpose of indu tle the latter to block the passes into both of these expeditions however failed to accomplish the object of their abr missions I 1 we have presented the fa forego re going details of an important international difficulty with considerable feltie VAA not only on account of the inter interesting epting character of the immediate features of the subject but also because of the possible gigantic eventualities liable to grow out of it in combination with other developments |
