On Wednesday, Captain F. E. Yonnghuaband (late political agent at
Chitral) delivered a lecture on the recent Chitral expedition before the United Service Institute. The lecturer declared that the gallant defence of the fort, and the advance of the relief expedition, had made a profound impression on the Chitralis. Lord Roberts, who closed the discussion, after mentioning that Captain Younghusband took only eighteen days to get from London to Dir, argued strongly in favour of retaining Chitral, chiefly on the ground that it was necessary for us to get the tribesmen to cast in their lot with ns, and to make them look upon us as the winning side. This could only be done through retention. " If we now leave them alone they will certainly put our action down to fear and to our inability to hold what we have won." We confess to remaining unconvinced. Lord Roberts is no doubt right when he says that our rule in India rests mainly on the belief in our invincibility. It does not, however, follow from this that it is wise to be always frittering away money and energy in making small exhibitions of our power. The real problem is this,—Is the moral effect of keeping Chitral worth what it will cost us to keep it ? Of course it is worth something, but not that. Lord Roberts seems to us to forget that almost every act of Government rests on a balance of evils. He keeps his eyes too steadily fixed on the military scale.
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