The Afghan War of 1879-80: Being a Complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the Brilliant March to Candahar, and the Defeat of Ayub Khan, with the Operations on the Helmund, and the Settlement with Abdur Rahman KhanHensman, Howard
History
The Afghan War of 1879-80: Being a Complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the Brilliant March to Candahar, and the Defeat of Ayub Khan, with the Operations on the Helmund, and the Settlement with Abdur Rahman Khan
allowed to move freely among us for weeks, their fortitude may not be
equal to the emergency, and they may seek to purchase their own safety
by voluntary disclosures. For these we must wait.
In the mean time the smaller fry are being dealt with by the Military
Commission, under whose orders eleven prisoners have been hanged. The
order of procedure is that the case against men under arrest is fully
gone into by Colonel Macgregor, aided by Hyat Khan; and when the
evidence and witnesses are ready, the prisoners are “committed,” so to
say, to the Commission, just as in ordinary criminal inquiries they
would be passed from the Police Magistrate to the Assize Judge. There is
no unseemly hurry or vindictive haste displayed in the inquiry. All goes
on systematically and deliberately; and before the Commission the men
under arrest are allowed to hear all that has been stated against them
and to give such explanation as they desire. If there then appears new
matter for inquiry, they are remanded from day to day; and no effort is
spared, in common fairness to them, to test the truth of their
statements. If found guilty, they are condemned to death; but even then
the sentence is not carried out without reference to a third source of
authority—that of Sir Frederick Roberts himself. If he approves the
finding, he signs the order for execution, and the Provost-Marshal has
then to fulfil the duty of his office without delay. But if there seem
doubtful points strong enough to be yet a third time considered, the
sentence of death is held in suspense; and even now we have in our
quarter-guards men in this stage, with the halter dangling before their
eyes. It will be seen that nothing can be fairer than the course taken
by Sir Frederick Roberts to punish such as deserve death for their past
actions in the early weeks of September; and in the face of it there is
none of that reckless blood-spilling which we may get the credit for. In
our Assize the old line—
“And wretches hang that jurymen may dine—”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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