Yakoob Khan has now been fifteen days in the British
camp, and the Treaty is not made yet, and the official bulletin-makers abuse him as vacillating, unintelligent, and capricious. He is probably only a shrewd bargainer, fighting hard for his own terms. Lord Beaconsfield has, however, announced that the " bases " of a Treaty are agreed upon, and it is understood that these bases are the cession of the Pisheen Valley and the country roughly called " the Bolan route," the Kurum Valley up to the Peiwar, and the Khyber up to Lundi Kotel. The hillmen beyond our limits also are to be declared independent. The Ameer admits a Resident at Cabal, and probably at other points, and the whole foreign policy of Afghanistan is to be controlled by the British Government. This arrangement involves, as we have shown elsewhere, great immediate expense and large fresh responsibilities, as it is impossible to control the policy of Cabul without securing the dynasty against insurrection. Nothing can be effected, if the occupant of the Throne is to be frequently changed.
