27 APRIL 1872, Page 2

TheAmeer of Afghanistan, a man of real though semi-lunatic genius,

has addressed a letter of regret for Lord Mayo's death to the acting Viceroy, Lord Napier, which contains a remarkable ex- pression of the great sub-thought of Asia, the permanent hostility' of Fate to man. Fate is resistless but malicious. After stating that he had an intention of going to England with Lord Mayo, he says, "Before the eternally predestined decrees, however, men must bow in silence. A crooked and perverse fate always interferes to prevent the successful attainment by any human being of his most cherished desires." The Hindoo even has got beyond that, for he believes that by continuous exertion of the will in subjugation of the flesh man can coerce Fate—the theory embodied in the whole system of the faquirs.