The accounts of the rising in Afghanistan are, we suspect,
-exaggerated, as the Government of India has full means of knowing what passes there. That the Ghilzais have risen against the Ameer is likely enough, as also that they charge him with English proclivities ; but that is not tantamount to upsetting the State. The Ameer is an able tyrant backed by the Donranees, the strongest clan in the country, by the troops he has himself levied and paid, by his command of ready money received from India, and by the feeling, now tradi- tional, that the throne belongs of right to the ablest de- scendant of Dost Mahommed. He may be assassinated, but while he lives Abdurrahman Khan will hold his country. If he does not, it is no particular business of ours. Afghanistan in order, or Afghanistan in anarchy, will not tolerate either Russians or English ; and we have only to pro- tect our own frontier, see that Khelat is quiet—for the sake of .communications—and wait till the next man is accepted as Ameer. He will wish to be friendly, for the sake of the subsidy, and will in no case admit either Russians or English. To make s third expedition into Afghanistan, even so far as Candahar, would be a supreme folly. We could not go without a candi- date, and our candidate would have his throat cut within a month of our departure. We have no party in the country, and never shall have one ; and neither will Russia, nor any other Christian Power.
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