We scarcely know whether it is a symptom or an
accident, but the Times is hedging again. After regularly supporting the Government policy in Afghanistan, and declaring that the scientific frontier turned India into an island, it on Thursday solemnly warns the Administration that "there is a vague fooling of uneasiness in the country as to what the Government may do next." There "is a certain nervousness in the public mind." "Men are seeking to be assured that Government has no new surprise in store for them." "Nothing could be more disastrous" for the Ministry "than a belief that there is to be no quiet anywhere, as long as they remain in office." The Government "has now a chalice of displaying a firmness which it is scarcely credited with possessing," that is, of compelling its subordinates who are talking of annexing Afghanistan or dividing Afghanistan to retire from that country altogether. They can do so now with honour and safety, while by-and-by "treaty obliga- tions or practical engagements may be found standing in the way." If they do not retire, "the destinies of a great Empire will be held to be in unsafe keeping, in the hands of men who have given a fresh proof of their half-suspected untrustworthiness." An article of this kind in the Times, is the modern way in which the Vox Dei writes upon the wall, " Mene, mene, tokel, upharsin;" and our Belshazzar, being of the nineteenth century, may pos- sibly listen. It is more probable, however, that he will conceal his danger from himself and his courtiers by some new project, and some new scene glittering with coloured lights, and so await in ignorance the fall of his kingdom.
