Sir Lepel Griffin, in the October number of the Asiatic
Quarterly, makes some remarks which, his position being con- sidered, may be of importance. He gives a list of the questions "which may well form the subject of negotiation" between the Ameer of Afghanistan and the Mission shortly going to Cabul. The questions are :—The extension of the Quetta Railway to Candahar ; the permanent appointment of British officers at Herat ; the connection of Peshawar with Cabul by telegraph ; the relinquishment by the Ameer of his claim to rule in Swat and some other valleys on the North-West Frontier; the deter- mination of the Afghan succession, and of the guarantee India might be disposed to give to it ; and" the conclusion of the long- desired treaty of offensive and defensive alliance" with the Ameer. That is a most serious list, involving far-reaching consequences. We doubt if the Afghans will ever endure a railway to Can dahar, and shall be deeply sorry to hear that we have agreed to an offensive and defensive affiance which will always place our relations with Russia at the mercy of a barbarian. Abdur- rahman may not mind, as his reign is expressly excluded from the prediction ; but other Afghans will be made deeply sus- picious by Sir L. Griffin's hint that the end of it all will probably be the division of Afghanistan between Russia and England. Then, indeed, our peace will be at the mercy of the Czars.
