storm.

Then the light cannon, which the elephants had carried, were brought into play; and so deadly did the rain of conical bullets and steel shells become, that the Abyssinian army--if we may dignify the crowd of black men by using such a word-scattered in flight. Thus, upon the very first opportunity of conflict, victory crowned the British arms.

10. Two of the European prisoners, bearing a flag of truce, then entered the British camp, sent thither by King Theodore in order to negotiate with Sir Robert Napier. He gladly met them; but he sent them back with a message to the effect that he would listen to no 'proposals unless all the European captives were at once sent to his camp. This was

complied with; but it was thought necessary to teach a stern lesson to the wanton tyrant whose 'obstinacy and cruelty had put Great Britain to so great cost and trouble.

11. Accordingly, on the following day—April 12, 1868 a force of five thousand men was sent to storm the rock-built citadel of Magdala; and after a feeble resistance the Abyssinians were forced to yield. It was found, when the stockade at the north gate was forced, that King Theodore, having seen his men defeated and his defences to be useless, had shot himself with a pistol. The army then retraced its steps to the shore of the Red Sea. Sir Robert Napier, in recognition of his services in this war, was raised to the Peerage with the title of Lord Napier of Magdala.

civil-ized, cultured.

com-plied' with, agreed to. [ment. con-sul, representative of the Govern

|ne-go-ti-ate, make terms; treat.
ob-sti-na-cy, stubbornness.
pro-pōs-als, offers; terms.

rec-og-ni-tion, acknowledgment.

re-nown', fame.

stock-ade', fence; barrier.

suc-ces-sion, series.

toil-some, laborious.
tor-rid, very hot.

trib-u-ta-ries, feeders.
tri-umphed, succeeded.

69. THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR.

[The First Afghan War took place in 1839-1842.]

1. On a bright September morning, in 1878, a 'cavalcade might have been seen riding up the Khy

ber Pass-the deep and narrow gorge which forms the most direct road from Northern India to Afghan

istan. The company was an English embassy, headed by Sir Neville Chamberlain, on its way to Cabul, the Afghan capital.

2. When the horsemen reached Ali Musjid-a

1878

A. D.

fortress near the head of the pass-they were told that they would not be allowed to proceed further. Shere Ali, the Ameer or Emperor of Afghanistan, had refused to receive the 'embassy, and had given orders that it was to be turned back.

3. Sir Neville was prepared for this rebuff, and received it quietly. He knew that it meant war. Some months previously, the Ameer had received a Russian mission with great pomp at his capital. The English Government of India was highly displeased on hearing of this. Its members were jealous of the influence Russia had acquired in Central Asia, believing that she was preparing the way for an attack on India.

4. The Viceroy (Lord Lytton) therefore asked the Ameer to show his good-will to England by receiving an English mission at Cabul. This he refused to do, and after some formal and fruitless 'negotiations, war was declared. Its objects were said to be, to avenge the insult offered to England, to destroy Russian influence at Cabul and establish that of England, and to secure for India a "scientific frontier" as a defence against Russia.

5. In November, the English forces entered Afghanistan in three columns. Their success in two or three engagements showed the Ameer how hopeless was his cause. Having no trust in his own

people, he took to flight. By arrangement with England, the Russian mission was withdrawn from Cabul in December. Shere Ali either accompanied it or followed it; and overcome by grief and despair, he died of a broken heart about six weeks later.

May 26,

1879

A.D.

6. His son and successor, Yakoob Khan, submitted to the English, and made with them the Treaty of Gandamak. Its most important terms were, that the Ameer agreed to be guided in his foreign policy by the advice of England, and with that view to receive at his capital an English Resident with a suitable escort. 7. In due course, Sir Louis Cavagnari, who was selected for the post of Resident, arrived at Cabul. He was accompanied by several English officers, and by an escort of eighty men,chiefly native Indians. Quarters were assigned them in the Bala Hissar, which had once been the citadel of the town, but the defences of which had almost entirely disappeared.

July 24.

8. For several weeks all went well; but early in September there was a sudden and fearful outbreak of hostility to the English. A body of Afghan soldiers went to the Ameer's palace and demanded the arrears of their pay. When this was refused them, they rushed to the English Residency, and attacked the soldiers on guard there, at first with stones, and afterwards with rifle bullets.

9. The Afghan soldiers were speedily joined by the mob of the city, which was evidently filled with 'intense hatred of the strangers. In a short time the

English found themselves besieged in their houses by an overwhelming force of furious fanatics.

10. The English made a most determined defence; but from the first they saw how hopeless their position was. A message was sent to the Ameer, asking him for help; but he was either powerless, or he was a party to the plot. The garrison made charge after charge on the enemy; but at every sally their numbers were diminished.

11. At last their houses were set on fire by the besiegers. The little remnant of the garrison, seeing that all was lost, rushed out on the enemy sword and pistol in hand. Though they sold their lives dearly, every man of them was killed, except a single sepoy who escaped to the English camp, to tell what he had seen of the terrible tragedy.

12. General Roberts immediately marched on Cabul, and inflicted swift and sharp punishment on the mutineers. He defeated them in the field on several occasions; and when he entered Cabul he ordered the ringleaders in the massacre to be hanged. Yakoob Khan, whose fidelity was doubted, prudently resigned the ameership, and was sent as a prisoner to India.

A. D.

13. Roberts spent the winter at Sherpur, a fortified camp near Cabul, which the Afghans had 'abandoned. In the spring, he intimated that 1830 the English would withdraw as soon as the sirdars, or chiefs, had agreed on a ruler. July, Abdurrahman Khan was selected as Ameer, and in August the English army returned to India by the Khyber Pass.

In