PRAYERS FOR THE ARMY

Prayer I.

7

O Lord of Hosts, to whom belong the shields of the earth, and whose it is to give and to withhold the victory in battle, we pray Thee of Thy gracious goodness, if it be Thy will, to go with our armies, and to be with them at all times, in the march, the camp, and the field; give them unity of plan and concert of action.

Be pleased to direct by Thy wisdom the counsels of our statesmen and generals, and of all charged with the conduct of the struggle on which our nation and empire are embarked. We pray Thee to guide the course of it to such issues as may tend most to Thy glory, to the growth of the kingdom of Thy Son, and to the securing and consolidating of such an honourable and lasting peace as may be fruitful in blessing both to the victors and vanquished.

'We ask it not for any goodness or righteousness of ours, for we are fain to confess that we have often been wanting in faithful and loyal acknowledgement of Thee, in bringing Thee the glory due to Thy Name, and rendering Thee again for the benefits Thou hast richly bestowed upon us; but for Thine own mercy's sake, and Thy kindness' sake to the unthankful and evil, do Thou yet for all this pardon, accept, prosper, and bless us. We ask it through

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'

Prayer II.

'Set bounds, we beseech thee, O God, to the scourge and havoc of war; may its term be shortened in Thy good Providence, and the overflowings of wrath be restrained. Rebuke the spoiler and devourer. Curb the spirit of hastiness, and bitterness, and bloodthirstiness, and revenge. If success be given us, save us from presumption and self-sufficiency; if reverses befall us, may they tend rather to humble and chasten than to unnerve and dispirit us. Suffer us not to provoke Thy displeasure by any evil thing or root of bitterness secretly cherished, lest being weighed in Thy balances of truth we be found wanting.

'[Assuage the sufferings of the wounded, relieve the pain, weariness, and faintness of the sick and diseased in hospital. Be with those walking through the valley of the shadow, and let Thy rod and staff comfort them. Inspire heroism, fortitude, and courage, and a spirit of patient endurance into our forces'.]

May the lives of our officers and of our men of all ranks and of both races be precious in Thy sight, and, even as Thou hast taught us to pray for and bless our enemies, keep us clear, we beseech Thee, from the guilt of overbearing and unrelenting treatment of them even in the redress of wrong.

1 The words in brackets are written in the bishop's own handwriting on the printed form that has come to me.-Ed.

'Finally, be pleased, Heavenly Father, so to increase in us the spirit of Christ and His kingdom, that we may be found more ready to sheathe the sword than to unbare it, and that not even the laurels of war may be so dear to us as the olive-branch of peace.

'We humbly ask these mercies in the name of Thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.'

The addition of three valleys to his province still further emphasized the need for more chaplains; and in September he arranged to meet the metropolitan at Mussoorie and, each accompanied by his archdeacon, to discuss diocesan arrangements. The meeting was most friendly, and ended in the transfer of two chaplains to the Lahore ecclesiastical staff. It was while they were here thus engaged that the news of the Cabul disaster fell on them like a thunderclap. The Afghans, in their sacred month of Ramazan, had risen in revolt, and Sir L. Cavagnari and his mission had all been massacred (September 3) after a gallant fight. The news came on a Sunday, when Bishop French and his archdeacon were preaching for the Lahore Cathedral Fund at Landour and Mussoorie. French wrote::

Mussoorie, September 8.

I meant to have preached the sermon 'The glory that Thou gavest me,' &c., but had left it by mistake in Lahore, and was thrown back on the one the -s borrowed in Oxford-'Is not this great Babylon?'—and, strange to say, one hour before the service came the news of that dreadful tragedy at Cabul. The coincidence of the sermon was so singular that the bishop said it much affected the people, and certainly they were both attentive and generous. He thought it was most well timed and appropriate. Surely there is a providence in these things. Another Cabul war is imminent. Sir F. Roberts is already sent back to the Kurrum to march the British troops to Cabul, so I am told; however, I do not like making these statements, as all is confusion at the moment. It affects me much to think of the little conversation at the train in Lahore I had some ten weeks ago with Sir L. Cavagnari on God's goodness to him in giving him such great success. I tried to lead him to God as the true author of his good fortune. I hope it may have led him more up to God.

For a while our military operations seemed to prosper. The massacre of Cavagnari was in some measure avenged by the defeat of the Ghilzais at Charasiab, near Cabul, by General Roberts on October 6. On the 12th the city was

AFFAIRS AT CABUL, 1879

9

publicly reoccupied by British forces; but the whole. country was reported to be seething.' On the day of the reoccupation Yakub expressed his wish to abdicate, declaring that he would sooner be a grass-cutter in the British camp than ruler of Afghanistan. General Roberts announced that the English would for a while take over the administration. The tribes rose up on all sides, and a jihad or religious war was proclaimed against us.

In December, after a great explosion in the city, General Roberts felt it prudent to withdraw his whole force within the cantonments at Sherpur, where for ten days he was beleaguered by at least 100,000 tribesmen. At the end of that time their assaults upon his works completely failed, and he was able to inflict a severe defeat upon them. The hostile combination melted as rapidly as it had formed, and Cabul was again reoccupied. Meantime we had not lost our grip on Candahar; and in January, 1880, Bishop French determined to visit the British camps in that direction, accompanied by Mr. Gordon, who had returned meanwhile to his Belooch mission work.

his

From Jacobabad on January 25, 1880, the bishop wrote to young daughter Edith at Belstead:

MY DEAREST EDITH,

I have started on what may be a long and anxious journey, and have only time to send a few lines of fatherly love and remembrance, begging your prayers that, if it be God's will my plan should be carried out of reaching Quettah or some of our garrisons beyond in these perilous and warlike times, I may have an open door prepared for me to the poor English soldiers, and even to the poor Afghans, to gain entrance and speak a message in His name, and to His glory, and to the further spread of His kingdom. I feel greatly how unworthy I am of being an instrument in so great a work, and sometimes am ready to think that surely I shall soon be laid aside and another put in my place; but He knows best His own work, and chooseth His own servants, and one must not decline His service till He gives the dismissal. I cannot say I have many 'tokens for good' as yet; but I must not say that I have none. This is a place in which there has been a military force, called the Sindh Horse, for many years, first formed by a Colonel Jacob. He would have no religion or worship of God here, yet he tried to keep up what he thought a high standard of morality without God and

Christ, not believing, perhaps, what St. John says, 'He that doeth good is of God.' He succeeded, people say, while he lived pretty well in keeping up outward decency and good behaviour; but as it had no root, except one man's character and example, and there was no graffing of men's souls into Christ, all withered away, and things have degenerated even in outward appearance and show of morality. As my text had it this morning, 'He shall be as the light when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds.' Only Christ is a cloudless morning, other mornings have their clouds. He is all truth, all goodness, all love, all joy; and what is His is abiding. This is a curious place; the houses are spread through a great thick wood, which General Jacob had planted in the midst of a waste. His force was to keep out an Afghan tribe, the Murrees, who are still a little formidable in restless times like these. England and the English power is being searched and tried with God's candles, and the dishonour done to God being shown up to us. I hope He will graciously forgive us, and not recall the charge yet put in our hands, but bring many to say, 'Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn,' &c. (Hos. vi.). We have had rather a nice congregation this afternoon of officers and others. There is no organ or harmonium, but I set two tunes-' Hark! my soul,' and 'Sun of my soul'-and it went off very fairly; then I followed up the morning text with the verse that follows, 'He hath made with me an everlasting covenant.' This you can feel, dear child, I am happy to know, in connexion with your confirmation so lately passed, and the light of that everlasting covenant will shine ever, I pray, brighter and brighter on your path, and fill your heart with joy and hope.

I am hoping to be able to purchase a pony to-morrow, besides the one I brought out with me from home, as the marches to Quettah will be long and weary, and too much for one pony. About seventy-five miles further I can go by a rail, which they have been hastily constructing about one mile and a half each day; ather quick work, is it not? Now they have to rest awhile from pushing it further, as thick, massive rocks will have to be blasted and cut through for the further advance of the line. Mr. Gordon will join me to-morrow, I hope, to proceed with me on this journey, which he has traversed before, being so great a traveller.

The few lines of fatherly love and remembrance' ran on for three more pages, but these need not be given here, and the remaining notices of this campaigning march are mainly from his letters to Mrs. French :

'Jacobabad, Jan. 27. I preached for some time in the bazaar yesterday afternoon. I first bought a stool for four annas, and used it to preach from. There seemed plenty of people who

EN ROUTE FOR CANDAHAR

II

understood Hindustani. It is strange to find the change the railway has made here in nine or ten months. It was the quietest spot, and now bustle and movement are visible everywhere.'

Dadur, at foot of Bolan, Jan. 30. We reached Sibi day before yesterday, i. e. myself, Mr. Bell (railway inspector), and Colonel Medley. Mr. Gordon, being rather slow in his movements, and wanting various articles at Jacobabad, stayed behind for the second train, whose engine broke down, so he had twelve hours at a lone station in the wilderness; however, as his bed was with him, he had a good night's rest in the guard's box, and came on early this morning to Sibi, and about twelve we started for Dadur, having borrowed a couple of Belooch horses and sent on our ponies halfway. The march was about twenty miles, and would have been hot but for some clouds, which were to us as the "pillar of cloud." We reached Dadur about four, and put up at a tent which General Phayre kindly placed at our disposal. One of the wagons broke, so the general and officers lent us their spare blankets and coats, and I have had a capital night. I scarcely know whether we shall be able to get camels till the evening. The air is very fine here; I wish you could enjoy it too. They say that up the pass it is terribly cold, but that you would not mind. The mountains of the Bolan tower above us, but there is no snow upon them. The presence of British troops induces the people to sow very much more wheat in the underlying plains than when left to their own tyrannical rulers. The rest of brain from letters is very refreshing, though I have to talk a good deal.'

'Kirtta, Bolan Pass, Feb. 1 (Sunday). I have just had a service with two officers and two sergeants, who came in on their way to Candahar. It was only on Friday evening that we got our camels, and that with difficulty, and began to lade them at four next morning, and sent them off, starting ourselves at eight. I had a pony lent me by Captain d'Aguilar, which is a great convenience, as I can now do twenty miles a day or over without wearing my pony out. We rode all day through the Bolan rocks, which are not very lofty here, not more so than the Westmoreland hills, not nearly so grand and beetling as the Khyber; but the higher Bolan is still before us. We crossed and re-crossed the Bolan stream, which at this season is nowhere more than two feet deep, except in pools here and there, which are deep and beautifully green in colour. One well-known and extremely deep pool underlies and pierces a cavern, which reaches far into the heart of the rocks, and is an interesting object; it lies about the halfway of our yesterday's march.

'A dak bungalow has been built here in the last twelve months of a rough and unfinished kind, but highly welcome to the traveller. Mr. Gordon has also his little tent put up. Here and there at every six or seven miles through the pass is a small detachment of native