Our letters from India inform us that the policy of
the Indian Government in Afghanistan is to be modified. The hill tribes will be subsidized, on condition that they keep the passes free for trade, and act as a kind of Highland police when required ; the military railway from Lahore to Peshawar is to be rapidly finished, and a system of fortresses is to be constructed, orie in a place which will iavolve a small annexation. A " moral pro- tectorate," moreover, is to be thrown over Afghanistan, and Shere Ali will probably get some caah,-10,000/. a mouth,--if he wants it very much. There is no particular objection to this policy, which will conciliate the Afghans without taxing us ; but we venture to predict that within three years we shall record the appointment of a Chief Commissioner of Candahar. The Indians will never be satisfied without that valley, which they think would make their military strength impregnable, and the key to Anglo- Indiais statesmanship is to remember that they reasou first of all as soldiers.
