We arc told by correspondents—two at least of whom are
very angry—that the Government of India has recently done a very base act, having signified to the Ameer of Afghanistan that he is at liberty to conquer the fair-haired mountaineers of Kafiristan, who are supposed, chiefly on the evidence of their European features, to be the descendants of some of Alexander's soldiers. We presume, if there is any truth in the story at all, that the Indian Government has replied to some question on the subject, that the mountaineers are not its subjects or under its protection. We do not think, however, that the " Kaffirs' " friends need be under much apprehension. As we read their history, they possess one of the most difficult countries in the world; can live in their hills for six months at a time ; and in their hills are about as likely to be conquered by the Afghans as the Montenegrins are by the Turks, Abdurrahman Khan is not a gentle person ; but neither is he the man to waste his few trained troops in seizing a few valleys which he cannot hold in winter, and which neither in winter nor summer will pay him a rupee of revenue.
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