and must prefer to lose one portion of his dominions rather than to risk the whole, and to stake his crown. and the independence of his nation.

I am fully aware of the great aversion felt in England, particularly by a certain party in the country, to any policy which would involve fresh hostilities against Afghanistan, i.e., a third Afghan war. Well if there is any possibility of a reasonable reliance upon the good faith of Emir Abdurrahman, of course it would be better to avoid any coërcive measure causing war, and to convince that ruler that it is his own interest to have the railway extended from the Indus up to Kandahar, with a telegraph line as far as Herat. For the sake of not giving umbrage to the suspicious Afghans, I would agree with the military correspondent of The Times (May 26) to have the terminus of the railway outside Kandahar held eventually by a small picked garrison of 200 or 300 native troops. But, as to Herat, I believe that there cannot be any consideration for Afghan susceptibilities; as the fortifications of that place must be put in a proper state of defence at British cost and superintended by officers of the Royal Engineers. The escort of the resident should consist of a regiment of sepoys, of a company of pioneers, of a squadron of native cavalry, and of a battery of native artillery; and provisioned for six months, as the above

J

quoted military correspondent suggests it could be if lodged in the citadel, this would be the best safeguard against a Russian coup de main, which has become recently, since the occupation of Penjdeh, such an imminent danger.

Now, to such propositions people will naturally object by saying: We won't jeopardise the lives of our officers at the distant outposts, we will have no renewal of catastrophes like those of Burnes and Cavagnari in Kabul, and we abhor any transaction based upon the amity of the Afghans. My answer to such objections is simply this, that if the Emir is unwilling or incapable to afford sufficient protection to those who labour for the safety of his crown and national independence, then he is either not the de facto ruler of his country, or he harbours hostile feelings against England; and in either case, England must resort to force, and carry out the measures of defence of her own frontiers with every means at her disposal. This would, of course, mean a third Afghan war, a shocking eventuality for many English politicians but since Russia cannot and ought not to be permitted to occupy at random this important place, which would make her, practically, master of all Afghanistan, and ruin for ever British prestige in Asia, I believe that of the two evils, namely, a war with Russia or Afghanistan, the lesser one must

be chosen, for there can be no mistake about it that the immediate neighbourhood of Russia to India is far more dangerous, and may prove far more costly than any forcible seizure of Kandahar, or garrisoning of Herat. If the Liberals had not pursued the suicidal policy of evacuating Kandahar in 1880, a blunder which they themselves now regretfully acknowledge, as I myself had occasion to hear during my last stay in England from the lips of eminent Liberal statesmen, the eventuality of a third Afghan war would be entirely beyond the range of any possibility. But this national calamity cannot be now repaired, and if Emir Abdurrahman, who was invited, a poor beggar, to sit on the throne of his cousin, and would have been ready to concede at that time any condition offered, be likely now to oppose, and even to fight against the execution of these schemes, salutary to himself and to the interest of Great Britain, I beg leave to remark that even in that case England ought not to retreat from carrying out the unavoidable measures for the defence of her frontier.

As

matters stand to-day, the Emir will certainly consider twice of it before he enters into hostilities with England, and I am not in the least afraid of his making common cause with Russia and in casting his lot with the conqueror of the north. The disastrous fate which has befallen his uncle, Shir Ali Khan,

rises up before his vision like a dread spectre. A twelve years' intimate connection with Russian officers has fully imparted to him the knowledge of the faithlessness and unreliableness of the Muscovites; and really, if such had not been the case, he would have long ago been caught in the net of Russian intrigues, and beguiled by promises profusely sent from Tashkend, would not have come to Rawul Pindi, and would not have fought Alikhanoff on the Khushk. As to the people of Kandahar, there is not the slightest apprehension of their resistance, as we formerly stated. The west of Afghanistan is quite different from the east and north of that country. Here the Afghan element is not so compact, for it reaches only to the Hilmend, or, at the utmost, beyond Girishk, nor is it conspicuous for those military qualities generally applied to the whole

nation.

Sir Richard Temple, who speaks of the Afghans as a fighting race, and who gives full credit to their martial virtues, says, among other things: "This description is applicable fully to the country around Kabul, and to northern Afghanistan, but in a much less degree to the country round Kandahar, and to southern Afghanistan ; indeed, many believe that the city and district of Kandahar could, if necessary, be permanently held. There is a considerable difference

between the character of the northern tribes and that of the southern."

In summing up, therefore, all the means of defence available to England, we must come to the conclusion that the line of policy hitherto followed, with regard to Afghanistan, must undergo an entire and radical change. The time for experimenting is irrevocably gone; the idea of convincing the Emir of British friendship, and getting in exchange for it Afghan sympathies, must be dropped for ever, for should he prove obstinately blind to his own interests, then he cannot be used as an ally in the defence of India. To dally with the sympathies of Asiatics, and particularly of Mohammedan Asiatics, is a pastime which only Russia may permit herself, as she is quite superior to England in duly appreciating the doubtful value of such Eastern articles. She, above all, takes care to fetter tightly her Asiatic neighbours or allies; she even goes so far as to cripple them; and if these allies or neighbours, after having been rendered totally innocuous and powerless, will come forward with their sympathies, she then only allows them to make declarations of love, and only permits herself, occasionally, the luxury of responding with a fond simper. England, on the contrary, unable to understand the real value of Asiatic professions of amity, has been too frequently misled in her dealings with