The Friend of India and Statesman Friday October 24th 1879

For instance the Pioneer of Wednesday last published an account of the entry into Cabul and a description of the Bala Hisser while even on Thursday the journals of the country had nothing on the subject from the Press Commissioner except the information (which of course was not obtainable by the Pioneer's special) that the Khan of Khelat fired a salute when he heard that Cabul had been enter [...] The massacre of the Embassy the rising of the tribes the coquest and partial destruction of Cabul the abdication of the Amir and a kingdomileft on our bands full to the brim of anarchy and hate—these issues were not we presume set down in Lord Lytton's plan of the future. [...] Nothing strikes one more in turning from the despatches between the English and Indian Governments from 1875 to 1879 to the official papers of the days of Lord Lawrence and Lord Mayo than the contrast which the simple English manliness and plain truthfulness of these noblemen present to the tortuosity ambiguity unreliability and often direct falsehood of the diplomatists of these " Imperial " [...] At the meeting held last Friday it wee resolved that the Government were to be moved " to pass a law to provide for compulsory vaccination in the town." Probably most of the Commissionere were not aware' when discussing this Resolution that the Government of India had already taken the initiative in the matter and that a Bill has been introduced into the Legislative Council to make the vaccina [...] " And the following is still more to the purpose :— " Amongst the Afghans the usual punishment for conjugal infidelity is immediate death generally to both parties ; where the injured husband has the power he takes the law into his own hands and his slaying the offenders is not only sanctioned by the law but is considered a meritorious act by the community in general." If the " sensitiveness