BLOWING UP OF CZAR'S TRAIN 1879 the "Cochrane" and "Blanco" sent boats, and, boarding the "Huascar," found the engineer engaged in opening the main injection valve. He was stopped at the point of a pistol. It was found that the "Huascar" had been hit by heavy projectiles nearly thirty times. Her killed and wounded numbered 64. Some 140 prisoners were taken, 35 of whom were English. The "Huascar," after her capture, was patched up and taken to Valparaiso, where she was repaired and refitted with a new armament. On November 15 she went to sea under the Chilean flag. A little later she succeeded in capturing the Peruvian gunboat "Pilcomayo." The transfer of this vessel to the Chilean fleet destroyed Peru's chances upon the sea. Henceforth Peru and Bolivia fought at a disadvantage. Late in the year, as the result of the naval disasters inflicted by Chile, insurrection broke out in Peru. President Prado was forced to resign the government and flee the country. Pierola was proclaimed Dictator. In the beginning of December the Emperor of Russia had a narrow escape from assassination. He was returning from Livadia to St. Petersburg, stopping over at Moscow. By accident or design the train conveying the imperial luggage was following instead of preceding the Czar's train. On entering the outskirts of Moscow a mine was exploded under the second train. Most of the cars were thrown off the track, but no lives were lost. It was found that the mine which was laid in a carefully built tunnel under the railway had been set off by electricity from a house in the vicinity. It was during the same week, some two months after General Roberts's arrival at Kabul, that the Afghans at the behest of their most fanatic leaders rose against the English in their country. One hundred thousand men took to arms. Roberts tried to prevent a coalition of the various bodies of tribesmen by sending one brigade under McPherson westward, and another under Baker toward Maidan. This left 1879 BATTLES ABOUT SHERPUR the British military post at Sherpur in a dangerously weak state. On December 11 McPherson's cavalry attempted to cut off a force of about 10,000 Afghans. The British lancers were repulsed and routed. Roberts now hastened up with his Highlanders, barely in time to secure McPherson's line of retreat. Baker's brigade was hastily summoned. On the following morning Colonel Money, with a part of McPherson's force, tried to dislodge the Afghans from the crest of the Takt-i-Shah. All day long the British fought without making material gains. On the next day the rest of McPherson's brigade and Baker's column, which had just arrived, threw themselves into the fight. The Afghans, dislodged from one position, held themselves in others. Their reenforcements were on the Asmei Heights. Colonel Jenkins of the Guides succeeded in storming these heights, but was soon after dislodged from the crest, losing two guns. It was at this time that Captain Voustan led a dashing charge of twelve Punjab horsemen up a steep conical hill, and himself killed five Afghans. For this he received the Victoria Cross. General Roberts was compelled to abandon the Asmei Heights and the Bala-Hissar. He fell back on his defences at Sherpur. The British were hard beset at Sherpur. On December 23 the Afghans attacked in force. The fighting lasted all day, the Afghans bringing scaling ladders to enter the works only to be repulsed with great slaughter. At nightfall a heavy snowstorm set in and the Afghans gave up their assault. The British casualties were sixty-five killed and wounded, among whom was BrigadierGeneral Hugh Gough. On Christmas Eve British reenforcements arrived under General Charles Gough and Colonel Hudson, and the Bala-Hissar was reoccupied. With the death of James Clerk-Maxwell, the famous Scottish physicist, a thinker was lost to England who contributed much to the advancement of electrical science. EVENTS OF 1880 Unsuccessful Attempt to Kill Czar Made at Winter Palace-Death of Flaubert-Afghans Pen in British at Charasia-Stewart Fights His Way from Kandahar to Kabul-Ayub Khan Routs Burrowes at Maiwand and Pens British in Kandahar-Roberts Marches from Sherpur to Kandahar-He Routs the Besieging Afghans and Ends WarKurds Massacre Armenians-Turkey Fails to Comply with Berlin Treaty-Powers Make Naval Demonstration on Albanian CoastThey Annex Dulcigno to Montenegro-Freycinet Ministry in France Expels Jesuits and Secularizes Education-De Lesseps Organizes Panama Canal Company-Garfield is Elected President of United States -Apaches are Driven into Mexico-Eberth Discovers Typhus Germ -Deaths of George Eliot, English Novelist, and Ole Bull, Norwegian Violinist-Cossacks Beat Turkomans at Geok Tepe-Boers Repudiate British Annexation of Transvaal They Beat British at Potchefstroom and Heidelburg Road. N Russia another attempt was made to assassinate the I the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, on February 17, the dining-room was blown up. Ten men of the Finland guard were killed, while fifty-three were wounded. After this affair Count Melikov was put at the head of a supreme executive committee with extraordinary powers. He consented to relax the severe restrictions on the students of the universities and higher technical schools. Count Alexei Tolstoy, the originator of these laws, resigned. Early in summer the Czarina died. Two months later the Emperor married again. The campaign against the Turkomans was resumed about the same time. For some time no appreciable gains were made on either side. Gustave Flaubert, the most refined writer and stylist of the French school of realism, died in May in his sixtieth year. Originally an ardent admirer of Victor Hugo and Byron, he suddenly changed from his extreme romanticism to that of realism. The result of this change was his famous work "Madame Bovary," the forerunner of the naturalistic productions of Goncourt and Zola. His "Salammbo," a powerful romance of ancient Carthage, is probably the most 1880 BATTLE OF MAIWAND erudite novel ever written. Flaubert read and annotated 1,500 books before beginning its composition. In Afghanistan the situation of the British grew more perilous. Early in the spring General Roberts at Sherpur despatched a force under General Ross to Shekabad. On April 25 a sharp action was fought on the old battlefield of Charasia. A British force under Colonel Jenkins was penned in and had to be reenforced by a brigade under McPherson. Before this General Bonell Stewart had left Kandahar with a strong column to open communications with Kabul. A British division under Primrose was left at Kandahar. On April 19 Stewart's column, while approaching Ghuznee, encountered the Afghan swordsmen at Ahmed Khel. The onslaught of the Afghans was so impetuous that the British line of battle was thrown back some 200 yards, and the left was enveloped by the Afghan horsemen. The British rearguard coming up turned the scale of the battle. Altogether, 135 British soldiers were put out of action. General Stewart fought another engagement beyond Ghuznee on April 23, and drove off the enemy with a loss of 400 men. On May 2 he arrived at Sherpur. Stewart's march from Kandahar, though not so conspicuous for results as Roberts's famous return march, was a brilliant achievement. Late in June Ayub Khan, younger brother to Yakoob Khan, held a prisoner by the British, set out from Herat with 6,000 men, resolved to seize Kandahar. General Burrowes, at Kandahar, marched out with a British brigade and joined forces with the Afghan governor. Within a fortnight the native Afghan troops mutinied and deserted to Ayub Khan. On July 27 the two armies came within sight at Maiwand. The British, instead of resorting to their usual offensive tactics, formed in compact masses, and lying down received the various onslaughts of the Afghans. Once or twice the British cavalry attempted to charge, but lost heavily ROBERTS'S MARCH TO KANDAHAR 1880 in horses under the hot fire of the Ghazi sharpshooters. After several hours of such fighting, the Afghans stormed a part of the British position and captured a battery of horse artil-· lery. The native troops of the British centre were thrown into disorder and fell back upon the British soldiery. As a last resort a cavalry charge was ordered. Only a few officers and men responded. A remnant of the British infantry succeeded in joining the guns and cavalry in the rear of the baggage train. Thence the flight went on to Kandahar, over forty miles distant. From every village and hamlet the natives fired on the fleeing soldiers. Fortunately for them they were met by a British relief column under General Brooke, which cleared the way back to Kandahar. In the bloody fight at Maiwand, the British lost more than 1,500 men. As soon as Ayub Khan and his Afghans appeared before Kandahar, the British garrison made a sortie. This, too, proved disastrous. Brigadier-General Brooke and a large number of his officers and men lost their lives in the affair. After this the British remained penned up in Kandahar. It was on July 29 that the report of the disasters before Kandahar reached the British at Kabul. Roberts immediately offered to lead an expedition to Kandahar to relieve the garrison there. The offer was accepted by Sir Donald Stewart. On August 9 Roberts set out on his famous march from Sherpur with 18,500 men. The guns had to be carried on mules. The expedition marched at a rate of more than sixteen miles a day. Instead of a frontal attack on the Afghan besiegers, Roberts turned their position. On September 1 the Highlanders stormed the villages of Gundi Mulla and Pir Painal. The Afghans fled, after a loss of more than 1,000 men. The march to Kandahar was pronounced by British military critics as one of the most remarkable achievements of its kind. Roberts forthwith became an idol of the British army. Much to Roberts's disgust XIXth Century-Vol. III-9 |