The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

RECORD: Darwin, C. R. et al. 1878. [Memorial to Disraeli against war in Afgahnistan]. Manchester Guardian, (19 November): 8.

This memorial to the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), asked that Parliament be convened to discuss the ultimatum addressed to the Amir of Afghanistan, Sher Ali Khan (c. 1825-1879), by the Viceroy of India, E. R. Bulwer-Lytton (1831-1891). The memorial first appeared in print under the title "Afghanistan" in The Times, 15 November, p. 8 and the Manchester Guardian, 15 November, p. 5). Thereafter it was very widely reprinted in other newspapers. By 18 November (e.g. Homeward Mail from India, China and the East, pp. 22-23) the memorial was printed followed by the names of prominent signatories. Darwin's name first seems to have been printed on 19 November. In all versions Disraeli was referred to by his title as Lord Beaconsfield. Some printings include a final line "We have the honour, &c." See the annotated transcription of the memorial in Correspondence vol. 26, p. 436 which notes: "The memorial was drawn up by a committee formed by John Lawrence, former viceroy of India, on 15 November, and by 18 November had been signed by 'a large number of influential persons', most November 1878 437 prominently Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, duke of Westminster (Manchester Guardian, 18 November 1878, p. 5. See also letter to R. A. T. Gascoyne-Cecil, [18 May 1878]). Lawrence's successor as viceroy, Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, had sent an ultimatum to Sher Ali Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, on 31 October demanding that he accept a permanent British military presence in Kabul (Robson 1986, p. 52). Sher Ali's failure to respond in time triggered the start of the second Afghan war in November 1878. For more on the causes of the war, see Robson 1986, especially pp. 48–52 and 99–101."

[page] 8

THE AFGHAN COMMITTEE.

A letter has been sent to the Treasury from Lord Lawrence on behalf of this Committee, asking Lord Beaconsfield to receive a deputation on or before Wednesday the 20th inst. The object of the deputation will be to endeavour to induce the Government at once to telegraph to Lord Lytton instructing him not to commence hostilities until the reply of the Ameer to the ultimatum has been made public in England, and until the promised papers on the Central Asian and Afghan questions have been produced. If Lord Beaconsfield consents to receive the deputation it will be introduced by Lord Lawrence.

In addition to the names announced yesterday, the following have signed the memorial to Lord Beaconsfield:—

[…]

Mr. Charles Darwin, F.R.S.

[…]

Your memorialists have heard with alarm that a message has been sent to the Ameer of Afghanistan to which a favourable reply is demanded at an early date—the 20th inst.—on pain of an immediate declaration of war. The statements made in explanation of this action have been confused and contradictory, and, with one exception, unofficial. Much excitement, for example, was at first occasioned by a statement, apparently made on authority, that a mission from the Viceroy to the Ameer was turned back by his orders with the utmost discourtesy and with a threat to shoot Major Cavagnari, who had been sent in advance. This report has subsequently appeared to be wholly untrue. It has also been said that the Ameer's reply to a letter from the Viceroy is characterised by unexampled insolence; but there is evidence impugning the accuracy of this statement, and the reply itself has never been published. More recently the one official declaration to which we have referred has been made by the Prime Minister, that the policy of Her Majesty's Government is to rectify the north-west frontier of India in a scientific manner. Any advance of the present frontier has been condemned by a great majority of the highest civil and military authorities of Indian experience, and appears to be inconsistent with the ordinary principles of justice. The Government promised on the 19th of August last that papers explanatory of the Central Asian and Afghan questions should be produced in a few days. These papers have not been published up to the present time. Great expense has already been and is now being incurred, and much greater expense must be incurred if the policy of the Government is further prosecuted. This expenditure, if borne by the United Kingdom, has been and is being made without the consent of Parliament, and if by India without the consent of the Council of the Secretary of State. We protest against any further steps being taken in a course of action that appears at once impolitic and unjust until the fullest information has been given to the nation, and its consent obtained through its representatives, and we therefore ask that Parliament should be summoned without delay.

Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)