Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

sequels of the Eastern Question are detailed. A lucid analysis of the policy and operations of the United States Treasury and of the financial condition of the country is presented in FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES, by Assistant Secretary J. K. Upton. Biographical accounts of the prominent candidates for the Presidential nomination, of the members of the new British Cabinet, and of many other persons of note, have been prepared, and the obituary sketches of such as have achieved celebrity in America or abroad are given extensively. The scientific record is fuller than usual. The ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS of the year are described by Professor Daniel Kirkwood, of Indiana University. Recent advances in CHEMISTRY and in its industrial applications are explained in an extended article by Dr. W. J. Youmans, of New York. Darwin's discoveries of the laws of plant-movement are explained in CIRCUMNUTATION, and other new theories and discoveries in various special articles. The important subject of domestic sanitation and hygiene is ably discussed by John B. Hamilton, Surgeon-General United States Marine Hospital Service, in HOME HYGIENE. Another interesting illustrated article, containing an historical and descriptive account of the Government LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT, was written by A. B. Johnson, Chief Clerk of the Lighthouse Board. The approved system of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER IMPROVEMENT is described by a citizen of New Orleans. In CALIFORNIA the proposed plans for rescuing agricultural lands from destruction by mining débris are explained. The latest achievements in ENGINEERING, and the results of GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION are given with the customary detail.

The historical and statistical features of the "Annual Cyclopædia" have never received greater attention. The digest of the proceedings of CONGRESS, the annual review of the affairs of the individual States, of the ARMY and the NAVY, the reprints of diplomatic and other public documents, the review of the nation's COMMERCE, are as complete and as intrinsically important as ever before. The statistics of commerce, industry, and agriculture, in the different States, are being collected with greater fullness and by more thorough official methods every year. The political history and statistical account of all the different countries of the globe are as careful, complete, and well up to date as it has been possible to make them. Illustrations have been prepared wherever they were thought to be useful.

The "Annual Cyclopædia" chronicles the history of all nations and the annual stages of civilization, giving special prominence to the events and developments of the United States; it records progress in every field of research and endeavor, and with special amplitude that which has a bearing on practical life and social development. It aims to give all information which is needed by the student of current history and actual institutions, and much which is of practical importance to the active and enterprising in all walks of life.

Engraved portraits are given of President Garfield, of Czar Alexander III of Russia, and General Hancock.

THE LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY

OF TEXAS

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
LIBRARY.

THE

ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA.

new

A

ABDURRAHMAN * KHAN, the Ameer of Cabool, is a son of the Ameer Afzool Khan, who died in 1867, and a grandson of Dost Mohammed, or, as the Afghans still call him, the "Great Ameer," who died in 1863. Even before he was elevated to his present position, he was regarded as one of the most prominent among the numerous descendants of his distinguished grandfather. Of his early life little or nothing is known. He is said to have been born about 1830, and to have taken part in the second campaign in the Punjaub, when Akbar Khan crossed the Indus to aid the Sikhs. He did not come prominently forward, however, until a much later period. In 1863, the death of his grandfather, Dost Mohammed, was the signal for the commencement of disturbances, which in the following year declared themselves in a civil war. The first campaign between Shere Ali, whom Dost Mohammed had selected as his successor, and the elder brother, Afzool Khan, Abdurrahman's father, closed with the discomfiture of Afzool, who was nothing loath after his defeat to come to an understanding with his successful brother. An agreement was accordingly arranged between them at Balkh, and, while Afzool swore fealty to Shere Ali on the Koran, the latter took a similar oath to spare Afzool's life. The arrangement was of short duration, owing chiefly, it is believed, to Abdurrahman, who was utterly dissatisfied with the surrender of his father's pretensions. At all events, the tranquillity of the camp of Balkh was soon disturbed by the arrest of Afzool and the flight of Abdurrahman. While Shere Ali returned with his captive brother to Cabool to march against other rebels, Abdurrahman sought ref

A genealogical table of the family of Dost Mohammed, which shows the relation of Abdurrahman to the other members of the family who are mentioned in the former and the present volumes of the "Annual Cyclopædia," is given in the article AFGHANISTAN. When first mentioned in the history of the civil wars of his country, his name was frequently given as Rahman, or Rhaman Khan. (See Annual Cyclopædia for 1874, p. 8.) VOL. XX.-1 A

uge in Bokhara, where he was well received. He remained there until after Shere Ali had driven Azim Khan into English territory; but when he found that Shere Ali, instead of following up his successes, was sunk in a state of apathy at Candahar, he crossed the Oxus with an irregular force and easily established his authority in Balkh. Abdurrahman's success north of the Hindoo Koosh did not suffice to rouse Shere Ali to a sense of the dangers which surrounded him. With Cabool as well as Candahar in his possession, he remained apparently of opinion that the period for reestablishing his authority in the outlying portions of the state might be deferred until a more convenient season. Abdurrahman, who measured the situation more correctly, struck hard and quick. In February, 1866, he had been joined by his uncle Azim, and was in the close neighborhood of Cabool, held at that time by Ibrahim, Shere Ali's second son. On the 2d of March Cabool surrendered, and Azim was installed as temporary ruler. Soon after a decided victory over Shere Ali's forces was gained at Shekabad, of which the immediate consequences were the release of Afzool and the capture of Ghuznee. Afzool then became the recognized Ameer at Cabool, and his son was looked upon as the Hotspur of the confederacy. His right to this title was shown still more conclusively at the crowning victory at Khelat-i-Ghilzai in the early part of 1867. Afzool, after being proclaimed Ameer at BalaHissar, soon degenerated into a drunkard, and his death was precipitated, if not caused, by the excesses which he committed after his release from confinement. Azim also had become a petty tyrant, who in the distribution of the chief posts secured the most important for himself and his son Surwar. After Afzool's death there was a critical moment when it was doubtful whether Abdurrahman would recognize Azim as Ameer. He finally concluded, however, to take the oath of allegiance to his uncle, but he quitted Cabool in disgust, and

[ocr errors]

retired to Afghan Turkistan, with the admin- class of religious worshipers organized into istration of which he was intrusted. The churches and conferences, found in all the spreading discontent with Azim encouraged Northern States and California, excepting the Shere Ali to make another effort for the re- Rocky Mountain States, in several of the Southcovery of his rights with the aid of fresh ern States, and in the Canadas. They are more troops from Herat, and the then untried abili- numerous according to population in the New ties of his younger son Yakoob. Azim's son England States. Their ministry numbers more had to fly from Candahar, and it became neces- than four hundred regular preachers, and their sary to collect all troops within reach. Ac- congregations over six hundred, many of the cordingly, Abdurrahman was summoned from ministers preaching to more than one congregaBalkh, and a severe defeat was inflicted upon tion. They are congregational in their church him by Yakoob. In the winter campaign of polity, and their conferences exercise no eccle1868 Abdurrahman was once more crushingly siastical jurisdiction over the churches, but are defeated by Yakoob at Tinah Khan. The civil advisory to them. They meet for worship on war closed with that battle. Azim and Ab- the first day of the week, teach justification by durrahman escaped, and the latter traveled faith, conversion and regeneration through the through the steppe of the Tekke Turkomans to Holy Spirit, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and Urgentch (Khiva). From that place he went atonement by his blood alone. Their distincon to Bokhara, whence he wrote to General tive tenets are, the present entire mortality of Kaufmann, requesting permission to reside in mankind, the unconscious state of the dead, the Russian territory. The request was granted, resurrection of the body a necessity to a future but all his efforts to obtain aid for reopening life, the personal second advent of the Saviour the war were firmly refused. The Russian soon to be revealed, immortality to be given to Government, however, accorded to him a pen- the righteous only at that time, the utter desion of 25,000 rubles a year (1 ruble 78 struction of the ungodly in the judgment-day, cents), and Mr. Schuyler has told us that for and the renewed earth the final and only promthe last nine years he has been living upon ised inheritance of the saints. They make Chrisone fifth of his allowance. He must conse- tian character, and not denominational tenets, quently have saved during that period close the test of Christian fellowship, and practice upon 200,000 rubles, the significance of this baptism by immersion only. They teach no set fact consisting in the circumstance that in 1872 time as known by man for the second advent, he told General Kaufmann he could raise up though they have done so somewhat formerly an insurrection in Afghanistan if half that sum were given to him. Mr. Schuyler's description of Abdurrahman conveys a favorable impression of his force of character. In Afghanistan proper his reputation after his flight to Russia appeared to have paled before that of his cousin Yakoob, but it always remained considerable in Turkistan from Balkh to Badakshan. As governor, he is remembered as the best of the last generation. As soldier, the Uzbecks took a personal interest in his successes and sympathized with him on his defeats, for it was they who fought and bled under him. An additional motive was given for their affection by his marriage with the daughter of Jehandir Shah, ex-chief of Badakshan. (A full account of his movements in 1880 is given in the article AFGHANISTAN.) His twelve years' residence in Russian territory has made Abdurrahman quite different from all other Afghan princes. He has learned to write and dictate his own letters, and to act and to think for himself without the dangerous aid of a crafty confidant. Hermann Vambéry, who is generally regarded as the best living authority on the affairs of Central Asia, regards the installation of Abdurrahman ("Allgemeine Zeitung," June 3, 1880) as fraught with danger for the English interests in India.

ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH, commonly called Second Adventists. The name Advent Christian is the more common church designation. This denomination embraces a

PUBLISHING AND MISSION SOCIETIES.-The largest organization of the Second Adventists as a denomination is that called The Second Advent Christian Association, which holds its meetings annually and transacts business relat ing to gospel work by this people. This association is formed of delegates sent from the various conferences, each conference being entitled to one delegate, and to an additional delegate for every three hundred church-members within its limits. This association was organized A. D. 1860, has been somewhat modified since then to suit its increasing work, and held its last annual meeting in Chelsea, Mass., in the Advent Christian church, commencing Tuesday, August 17, 1880. Elder E. A. Stockman, of Chelsea, Mass., was elected President; Elder E. McCulloch, of Nevada, O., Vice-President; Elder Frank Burr, of Portland, Me., Secretary; and Ozias Goodrich, of Boston, Mass., Business Agent. Nine members at large were elected a Board of Directors, and these with the officers constitute a Board of Managers for the year,

The association also controls and elects officers for a society formed of its adherents, and called the Advent Christian Publishing Society, the object of which is to issue a weekly religious paper called "The World's Crisis," also to publish and keep for sale tracts and books on religious subjects. Officers for the present fiscal year, Elder S. G. Mathewson, of Westfield, Mass., President; Elder Frank Burr, Secretary; O. Goodrich, Treasurer and Business Agent. There is also an Editorial Committee of three,

The Afghans proper comprise, according to Keene, the following principal tribes:

PRINCIPAL
TRIBES.

[blocks in formation]

Durani or
Abdali.

[blocks in formation]

Ghilzai or

Ghilji.

[ocr errors]

Yusafzai....

Mohmandzni
or Mah-
mandzai..

and a Publishing Committee of five, who with
the officers form the society for the year. This
society also publishes a semi-monthly Sunday-
school paper, called "The Young Pilgrim," of
which Elder C. E. Barnes, of Salem, Mass., is
Editor. There is also a society called The
American Advent Mission Society, Elder Miles
Grant, President; and Elder A. W. Sibley, Sec- Khujiani....
retary. This society attends to mission-work
in sending tracts and books to various locali-
ties and furnishing funds for missionary work.
Tents are used by the missionaries in the warm
season, and thus many are induced to hear who
would not otherwise be reached. The Second
Advent Christians also hold camp-meetings in
various parts of the country, those at Springfield,
Mass., and Alton Bay, N. H., being the most
noted. The latter is said to be the largest camp-
meeting in the country, the attendance at one
time being reported as numbering 30,000 people.
There are other publication interests among
this people, under different forms of organiza-
tion, but pushed with commendable zeal and
interest. "The Bible Banner" is a religious
weekly under the control of a society of stock-
holders, called The Bible Banner Association.
It is mostly supported by Second Advent Chris-
tians, and reports many of their conference
doings, yet claiming to seek an undenomina-
tional standing. Its doctrines advocated are the
same as those herein noted as peculiar to the
Second Adventists.

A society of Second Adventists, called The Life and Advent Union, also publishes a weekly religious paper at Springfield, Mass., called "The Herald of Life." It gives prominence to the doctrine of the non-resurrection (so called) of the unconverted dead, a doctrine honestly held by a small portion of the Second Adventists, but not favored by the societies before mentioned. The number of Second Advent Christians in the United States and Canadas cooperating with these mentioned institutions is estimated to be upward of 30,000.

AFGHANISTAN, a Mohammedan country in Central Asia; area about 278,000 square miles, or 721,664 square kilometres; the population has hitherto been estimated at about 4,000,000. The territory of Afghanistan will be somewhat diminished by the execution of the Gundamuk treaty of May, 1879 (see "Annual Cyclopædia " for 1879, page 10), but to what extent, has not yet been officially calculated. Mr. A. H. Keene has published careful researches on the population of Afghanistan (in "Nature," January 22, 1880), according to which the total population is at least 6,145,000. He distinguishes according to the nationality. of the inhabitants:

Afghans and Pathans (Iranians).

Tajiks [Persians] (Iranians)...

Hindkis (Hindoos)..

Hazaras and Aimaks (Mongol-Tartars).

Kataghans [Uzbecks] (Turki)..

Badakshis (Galtshen)..

Belooches (Iranians)..

Kizil-Bash (Turki).

Kakars...

Khataks....

Utman Khel

Bangash....

Afreedees...

Turis.......
Shinwaris or
Shanwaris.

Povindahs..

Vaziris

Between the Cabool River in the
north, the Suleiman Mountains
in the east, the Gulkoh Moun-
tains in the west, Khelat-i-Ghil-
zai and Poti in the south..
Mountains north of Peshawer and
in the Yusafzai district of the
Peshawer country..
Mountains northwest of Peshaw-
er, between the rivers Cabool and
Swat: chief place, Lalpura....
Extreme southeastern corner of
Afghanistan proper....
Southeastern part of the Peshawer
country, south and east of Ko-
bat.

700,000

40,000

200,000

100,000

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

.........

Kohistanis and Siah Posh (Galtshen)..

[ocr errors]

most exposed frontier an established military line of defense, which he trusted it would never surrender, for its value had been severely tested and clearly recognized. The anxiety felt concerning the crisis which the British forces had recently passed through at Cabool was natural but not altogether reasonable. The Indian Government had been charged with want of foresight in not doubling the strength of Sir F. Roberts's force, but such an act would have been unwise; it would have quadrupled all the difficulties and delays in reaching Cabool, and would have left the troops there exposed to infinitely greater perils. In a memorandum written by the late Duke of Wellington on the conditions of Afghan warfare, which had been given him, supreme importance was attached by the writer to the fact that the numbers of a force operating in Afghanistan must always be strictly limited in exact relation to the carefully ascertained means and conditions of supply. Sir F. Roberts had succeeded in collecting supplies sufficient to place his entire force beyond the risk of danger. The General well knew wherein his real strength lay, and neither he nor his garrison ever felt the slightest anxiety. The new year, the Viceroy added, opened under happier auspices and with more hopeful auguries than the old had done; but the work of the soldiers in Afghanistan was not yet over, nor could it be relinquished or relaxed till its object was fully attained.

The situation at Cabool was complicated during December, 1879, by the appearance of large bodies of hostile tribes who speedily possessed themselves of advantageous points, cut off communications, and held the British forces for a few days in a critical position. General Roberts collected his forces within the Shirpoor cantonment. The enemy attacked him there at daylight on the 23d of December, but the British were ready for them. The engagement continued through the greater part of the day, and ended in the complete dispersion of the Afghans and the final deliverance of the city from the danger which had threatened it. At the beginning of January, 1880, General Roberts had made good his position in Cabool, and was engaged in strengthening the Shirpoor cantoninents and constructing blockhouses on the hills to command the city and the Candabar and Peshawer roads. Order was restored in and around Cabool, the population began to return, and an amnesty was published, from the benefits of which the leaders in the resistance that had been offered to the British forces were excepted. Other chiefs went out to plot against the British and excite the tribes to a renewal of hostilities against them. Among them was Mohammed Jan, who, when driven from beneath the walls of the Shirpoor cantonments in the battles of December, 1879, had taken with him, it was believed, a large quantity of ammunition and treasure. Leaving the young Ameer Moosa Khan, son of Yakoob Khan, in safe keeping at Ghuznee,

he went into the northern parts of the country, while his colleague, the mollah MooshkiAlim, departed in another direction. The office of military governor of Cabool was discontinued, and the Wali Mohammed Khan was appointed civil governor. Mohammed Hassan Khan, former Afghan governor of Jelalabad, joined Mohammed Jan at Ghuznee, and afterward went into the Logar Valley for the purpose of arousing the local chiefs and preventing their submitting to General Roberts. Mohammed Jan caused to be circulated among the Kohistani chiefs a forged letter purporting to have come from Ayoob Khan at Herat, saying that he had captured Candahar and driven the English to defend themselves behind breastworks. The Kohistanis declared that they were prepared to fight if the English invaded their country, but would not at present renew the attack upon Shirpoor. General Roberts, previous to his intended advance in March, sent Mustaufi Habiboollah, who had been Minister of Finance under Shere Ali, and Yakoob Khan as a messenger to Mohammed Jan and other malcontent leaders with letters to the effect that the British Government was disposed to accept as ruler for Cabool any sirdar (with certain exceptions) whom the assembled representatives of the nation might choose. In February nearly all the representatives of the dominant and reigning branch of the Barakzai tribe were at Cabool with General Roberts. Among them were five of the seven surviving sons of Dost Mohammed, with their families, and most of the numerous nephews, grandsons, and grand-nephews of that chief. Of his sons, Nek Mohammed was the only one against the English; only three of his grandsons were absent; and the only able counselor of Shere Ali and Yakoob Khan, Mustaufi Habiboollah, was working heartily in the interest of the British. The attempt of the English to come to an understanding with Mohammed Jan was, however, unsuccessful. The British Governor was driven from Kohistan in February, unable to resist the insurgents, who had occupied a number of villages. Peace, however, still prevailed at Candahar, where the administration of General Stewart was attended with almost continuous tranquillity from the beginning.

The British constantly endeavored to conciliate the people, and to satisfy them that their designs respecting the country were moderate. The sirdars were told at an interview held with them by a British agent, Mr. Lepel Griffin, and again on the 13th of April, at a durbar which was attended by the principal chiefs who had cooperated with Mohammed Jan at Ghuznee, and who had come up to Cabool from Maidan for the purpose, that no permanent annexation of the country was intended unless of parts that were necessary for the defense of the frontier; that Yakoob Khan would not be allowed to return; that the Government was ready to ap point any chief whom they might select to be Ameer at Cabool, provided he was friendly to

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »