whose language is understood by the Turkoman, and who, known as brothers, are able to turn the whole Turkoman nation into the camp of the English, if sufficiently assisted. As to the frequently discussed diversion against the Caucasus, the English may, by such a move, interrupt the despatch of military succour, but I do not believe in the possibility of revolutionising that country against Russia. The Georgian and Armenian nationalists, of whom we used to read in the English press, are in a minority hardly worth considering, and the only revolutionary element which might have created trouble, I mean the Mohammedan Circassians, have been long since driven out of the country by the sagacious and cautious Russians. Two-thirds of these warlike mountaineers, thus expatriated, have perished in Turkey.

In concluding this chapter, treating of the means of defence left to England, I cannot leave unmentioned one point, to which, though seemingly out of place from a foreigner, I nevertheless must allude as to the fons et origo mali. I mean, party politics in England, which have, of late, so essentially injured the Imperial interests of that country, and which really have done so much harm to England's position in Asia, that the most strenuous efforts of very many years to come may scarcely be able to heal the

wounds and restore the respect and consideration for England, so wantonly destroyed by the selfishness of one party in its struggle against the other. The frivolity and short-sightedness exhibited by a certain. political party, of late years, culminating in the famous Egyptian ophthalmy, was really of such a nature as to make people despair of the results of constitutional life. In a superficial judgment one might have taken the statesmen, who have been deliberately deceived by Russia step by step in Asia, who have made all Europe an enemy to England, and who have shown cold indifference whilst the prestige of Great Britain was going to pieces all over the world, either as miscreants, or as men escaped from the lunatic asylum. Foreigners, indeed, entertain such an opinion; but my experience has taught me that English statesmen, no matter to what party they belonged, were honest and patriotic in their intentions, and that it is only the great misfortune of the country that their political views are biassed by party spirit, employed even in cases where the actual merits of the respective measures are very questionable, and when it becomes patent that it is not the welfare of the country, but that of the party, which is aimed at.

In order to put an end, once for all, to the occurrence of such injurious eventualities, it seems to me

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unavoidably necessary that, besides the two leading parties of the country, a third one, namely, a national and imperial party, should come forward -a party whose exclusive care should be bestowed upon the foreign relations of Great Britain, and who, alive to the importance of a great national policy befitting the vast dominions of the QueenEmpress, should not allow the honour of the country to drift at random through party strifes and rivalries. But, where one party undoes the work achieved by its predecessors in power, the progress, nay, even the maintenance of imperial strength and power will become utterly impossible; and the worst of all is that, according to the Latin saying, "inter duos litigantes tertius est gaudens," the tertius, namely, Russia, has really made the best out of these petty squabbles, and, whilst the English were quarrelling about the Why and How of the measures under consideration, the insidious bear was quietly trotting towards India.

CHAPTER X.

THE ONLY REASONABLE LINE OF DEFENCE.

Ir is just the consideration of the above-quoted vacillation of the politicians of Great Britain, which reminds us of the extraordinary fact, that in default of a constantly and uniformly ruling spirit, England has been unable to decide to this day the question whether the possession of India ought to be defended by the seemingly natural barrier in the mountains of the north-west, involving the immediate neighbourhood of Russia on the Indus; or whether it would be more judicious to erect outworks, to have a glacis of defence, and consequently not to allow the Cossack to approach either the Kheiber or the Bolan Passes. And strange to say, this highly serious and important question is even now left open for discussion in this country, called pre-eminently practical! Hannibal ante portas, and my English friends are continually quarrelling whether the Indus, the Hilmend, or the Heri-Rud ought to be made the line of defence! Certainly it is a most afflicting sight to see a man

who is attacked by a crafty enemy, pondering on the choice of arms at a moment when the hostile sword is at his throat.

It is not my intention to dwell here at any length on the views expressed by me with reference to this question, ten, fifteen, nay twenty years ago; for I suppose it is pretty well-known to the English reader, in general, that I always stood up in my writings for the erection of a bulwark for the defence of India which should be in due proportion to the object to be defended. I mean to say, I found it always evident-and I am glad to see myself sustained by the highest military authorities-that England absolutely needs outworks for a valid defence of her north-western frontier; that the idea of having Russia in the immediate neighbourhood of Hindostan must be definitely dropped, and nobody must dream any more of accepting the phrase an English statesman used to me twelve years ago :-"Just as I prefer having a well-dressed, educated and polite neighbour, instead of a dirty-looking savage barbarian, so we prefer having Russia close at our frontier, instead of the unruly, unmanageable, and wild Afghans." Nowadays everybody is convinced that India, under the present circumstances, is still to be compared to a powder-mill, into the vicinity of which no man of sound mind would admit an enemy, with burning