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. They consist of more than 500 folio pages well filled with print; and the amount of time for studying them before the debates in Parliament was therefore extremely scanty. The result is that the mass of matter has hitherto been very insufficiently elucidated; and indeed the debates in Parliament turned to an undue extent on the party issues raised by Lord Cranbrook's despatch. A great deal yet remains to be said before the people at large can understand what has been done and is being done. This must be the work of many pamphlets, articles, and speeches. And the Committee conceive that an arrangement of the material parts of the papers in order, coupled with such statements as will suffice to connect and elucidate them, with comments on the salient points, and with proper references to the originals as published, will be the best way of lightening the labours of those who wish either to expound the subject to others or to understand it themselves. We have also given from a separate Blue-book an account of the occupation of Quetta, which is connected with the consideration of Afghan affairs. It may be asked, as the Times and other Ministerial papers are constantly asking, What is the use of going back to the origin of the troubles now that we are actually at war? To this we answer, first, by asking other questions: Are we or are we not a self-governed nation in the affairs of foreign policy and of our dependencies? If we are, when and how are we to discuss such affairs? If we have been prevented from guiding them, is it not important to pass judgment on them? Secondly, we say, that though the war has begun it has not ended, and the sober part of the nation may yet be able to save us from embarking on the rash and ruinous course, indicated by the Prime Minister, of forcible annexations of territory in search of that unattainable thing, an impregnable frontier. We believe that this war is unjust; and injustice is certain, sooner or later, to bring disaster in its train. We believe that, even if just, it is inexpedient; that the policy which brought it about is unwise, and will imperil our rule in India. We assert that the policy is a new one, begun, in the year 1875, with suddenness and secrecy, and without proper advice. We think that the more these papers are intelligently studied, the more clearly will the above conclusions be brought out. And we conceive it to be the duty of every lover of his country to do what in him lies to save it from the consequences of injustice and rashness, and to insist upon it that we shall not follow the foolish example of ruinous territorial aggrandisement which the Russians have set us. NOTE.-In the First Part of this book the following abbreviations are used:: A. means the principal Blue-book on Afghanistan, principal Blue-book on Central Asia (No. 1, 1878). a |