May 22, 1876 reply and other places in Turkestan that the daughter of the Emperor of Russia, who was married to an English Prince, had been offended, and had gone to her father to complain, and that this had caused a rupture between the two Powers. After a long silence the Amir said that an English escort had passed with a kafila unmolested through the Bolan Pass, and that a complaint that the Khyber was not kept similarly safe for trade would next be made. He was bewildered, he said, what to do. To this the Prime Minister, Syud Noor Mahomed Shah, replied that so long as intercourse with the English was prevented, the interests of the Amir and of the Afghans would flourish and the friendship of the Amir would be eagerly sought by the Russians on the side of the Oxus and by the English on the side of India. The lessons,' he said, 'which had been learned by his frequent missions to the English Government in India would never efface this impression from his heart.' There can be no question that this declaration summed up very accurately the views of the Afghan Minister. He, it will be remembered, had been the Envoy whose fruitless mission to Lord Northbrook in 1873 is well known. He had returned to Kabul with feelings anything but friendly to our Government, and with the conviction that more was to be feared from Russia than from ourselves. He was a man of no little ability, his influence was great, and his constant hostility to the English produced, without any doubt, a most serious impression on the suspicious mind of the Amir. On May 22 the Amir gave to the Ressaldar his answer to the Commissioner's letter, and it reached Peshawur on June 1. It was written in the usual style of oriental verbosity, and was full of the ordinary commonplaces of politeness, but in substance it was vague and ambiguous and hardly courteous. It was virtually a refusal to receive the proposed mission. It was to the effect that all questions affecting the two States had been sufficiently discussed with the Amir's agent in 1873, and in the correspondence between the Viceroy and Amir that followed the Simla conferences, and that further discussion was unnecessary. If, however, there were any fresh subjects which the British Government wished to bring forward, the Amir preferred to make himself acquainted with them by sending to the Viceroy a confidential agent of his own.1 On the same day on which the Amir's letter was despatched, the British agent at Kabul sent to the 1 It is not easy to give either a translation or a summary of the obscure verbiage of the Amir's Persian letter. The following is the official literal version of the only portions of it which have any importance : 'In the particular of the coming of the Sahibs for the purpose of certain matters of the two Governments is this, that the Agent of his friend formally personally held political parleys at the station of Simla; those subjects, full of advisability for the exaltation and permanence of friendly and political relations, having been considered sufficient and efficient, were entered in two letters, dated Thursday, the 21st of the month of Ramzan the Sacred, in the year 1290 of the Flight of the Prophet, and dated Friday, the 22nd of the month of Safar the Victorious, in the year 1291 of the Flight of the Prophet, and need not be repeated now. Please God the Most High, the friendship and the union of the God-given state of Afghanistan in relation to the state of lofty authority, the Majestic Government of England will remain strong and firm as usual. At this time, if there be any new parleys for the purpose of freshening and benefitting the God-given state of Afghanistan entertained in the thoughts, then let it be hinted, so that a confidential Agent of this friend, arriving in that place and being presented with the things concealed in the generous heart of the English Government, should reveal to the suppliant at the Divine Throne, in order that the matters weighed by a minute and exact investigation may be committed to the pen of affectionate writing.'-Narrative of Events in Afghanistan. Commissioner of Peshawur an interesting account of the consultations that had taken place between the Amir and his advisers and of his reason for refusing to receive the mission. This account was especially valuable, because it was undoubtedly written with the knowledge and approval of the Amir. Three reasons were given. The first was that the Amir could not guarantee the safety of the British officers of the mission. The second reason was that if the British Envoy should put forth any such weighty matter of State that its entertainment by His Highness, in view of the demands of the time, should prove difficult, and he should verbally reject it, there would occur a breach of the friendship of the two Governments. And then, for the sake of removing that breach, it will be necessary for both Governments to endure troubles. It was by reason of these very considerations, at the time of making the first treaty between the English Government and the State of Kabul, that His Highness the late Amir objected to the coming of an English Envoy of European race. Moreover, from that time to this, whenever occasions have presented themselves for the coming of Sahibs, the Kabul Government has always objected to them from farsightedness. Now, too, the coming of Sahibs, in view of the state of affairs, is not desirable.' The third reason for refusing the mission was the most significant of all, and it was undoubtedly that which had the greatest influence on the decision of the Amir. It is here quoted in extenso from the official translation of the agent's report: To us especially the point of chief regard is this -that if simply, for the sake of seeking the goodwill of the English Government, we consent to the coming of a European agent, and for his safety, let us suppose, perfect arrangements are made, then this great difficulty arises, that the coming and going of the Sahibs cannot be concealed anyhow from the Russian Government, which on my northern border is conterminous with the frontier of the English Government. The people of the Russian Government are extremely fearless. If any man of theirs, by way of Envoy, or in the name of speaking about some other matter of State, should suddenly enter the territory of Afghanistan, then it would be impossible by any means to stop him. In other words, their way too would be opened; and in the opening of that road there is good neither to the State of Kabul nor to the English Government. Consequently in this matter it is better that the coming and going of the Sahibs should, according to the former custom, remain closed; and first that some confidential agent of ours going to the English Government, and there becoming acquainted with the State requirements, should inform us of what is in the mind of the English Government; and the Kabul Government, considering the subject in its own place, give answer to the English Government regarding those objects, whether written or verbal. And if our man, in conversation there, agree to or refuse any point, then by all pretexts the Amir can arrange for its settlement. But if in his presence it devolves on His Highness to summarily accept or reject some State demand, this becomes a very hard matter, and its ultimate issue will not turn out well.' ceives com These communications from Kabul reached the Viceroy reViceroy on June 5. They appeared to him entirely munications to confirm the opinions which he and Her Majesty's June 5 Government had formed, and to show very plainly from Kabul To Lord the convictions and intentions of Sher Ali. He summed up his conclusions as follows in a private letter to Lord Salisbury: First, the Amir is satisfied that there is nothing more to be got out of us; second, that there is not much to be feared from us. He is also under an impression that if we are not positively pledged to passivity by some understanding with Russia, we are at least mortally afraid of coming into collision with her by more actively supporting him. He consequently looks upon his northern neighbours as the more formidable of the two. He argues that if we are obliged to propitiate Russia, a fortiori he must do so, and that his only safe policy for the present is to treat us both as Penelope treated the suitors. But, as he believes us to be the most scrupulous and least offensive of his two awkward customers, it is England that he is least afraid of offending. The Government of a great empire which, in a matter closely concerning its own interests, suffers itself to be with impunity addressed by a weak barbarian chief who is under accumulated obligations to its protection and forbearance in terms of contemptuous disregard, cannot be surprised if its self-respect and powers of self-assertion are under-rated by such a correspondent. The practical difficulty of the present situation is that I have no means of verbal communication with the Amir. The native agent is not to be trusted. Many things which it is absolutely necessary to make Sher Ali understand and duly appreciate, and which could be very effectively said to His Highness by an intelligent agent, one hesitates to put into writing when It is probable that the letter will be transmitted to Russian headquarters.' When the Amir's letter was received, it was |