The intelligence of the week from Afghanistan is, on the
whole, satisfactory. The Ameer has followed the advice of the British Government, and has ceased from threatening the tribes which he has been informed are under British protec- tion. He does not refuse, either, to meet Lord Roberts, but only evades fixing a date,—conduct which does not necessarily indicate either hostility or suspicion. He cannot ask Lord Roberts to Cabul, because of popular feeling; and he may be afraid, for reasons he does not care to mention, to leave his capital just now. Determined as he is, he knows that his tyranny has created enemies who would very well like a chance of announcing that the English had kidnapped him, and that the throne was vacant. He has no Regent to leave behind him who would at once be certainly loyal and certainly obeyed.
