merely nominal, control over the funds they are bound to administer. Both the information and the meeting of Parliament came after the die was cast. On November 21 there was published in the newspapers a despatch, dated the 18th, from Lord Cranbrook, the Secretary of State for India, to the Government of India, which purported to contain our case for going to war. This despatch said nothing about alteration of frontier, but assigned as the cause of war the refusal of the Ameer of Afghanistan to receive a British Envoy; and, as the objects of the war, first an apology by the Ameer; secondly, an agreement by him to receive a permanent British Mission within his territories; and, thirdly, some temporary arrangements respecting certain border tribes. This despatch, however, was very unsatisfactory. On the very face of it, it was at variance with the statement of the Prime Minister; and was composed as much with an eye to the party politics of the time, as with the view of giving to the nation a frank and full explanation of the mode in which their affairs were being conducted; while to those who had personal knowledge of the events dealt with, it seemed not only imperfect but essentially one-sided and misleading. It was however published without the documents by which it could be tested; and by the great mass of the British public, who did not then know how they had been put off the right scent by Ministers in Parliament, it was naturally taken as containing a complete statement of our case against the Afghans. Parliament was convened for December 5. The papers were published by instalments-the first and largest on November 28, the second and next largest soon afterwards, and other smaller ones subsequently. |