Sir Robert Sandeman. By A. L. P. Tucker. (S.P.C.K. Is.
6d. not.)—This admirable little biography of a great man— the peaceful conqueror of Baluchistan, as the title-page calls him—deservedly forms part of a series of " Empire Builders." Sandeman, who was born in India in 1835 and died a victim to over-work in his own province in 1892, was one of those able and devoted administrators who have made the British Empire a synonym for peace and prosperity. When he was appointed to the border district of Dera Ghazi Khan in 1866, Baluchistan was a chaos of warring tribes, who were a constant menace to each other and to India. His good sense, his courage, and his firmness transformed the situation. By moral suasion alone he persuaded the Khan of Kalat and the hostile chiefs to make peace in 1876, and that peace has ever since been maintained. Baluchistan is now quiet, orderly, and far more prosperous than it had been for ages. It was unaffected by the Afghan campaigns of 1878-80, or by the enemy intrigues set on foot during the late war. Mr. Tucker, who was Commissioner in Baluchistan twenty years after Sandeman's death, testifies to the permanence of the impression which the peacemaker had left on the tribesmen. The methods of such men as Sandeman should be studied and imitated. Boys would profit by reading this human story.
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