Ayoub Khan has, of course, occupied Candahar,—entering it on July
30th,—but there, for the time, he seems to be delaying, and it is possible that he will relapse into his idle mood. Abdur Rahman holds Khelat-i-Ghilzai, with one infantry and two cavalry regiments, just sent from Cabal. Lord Hartington gives the House no prospect that the British Government will afford farther aid to Abdur Rahman in his contest with Ayoub, and it would commit an act of supreme folly if it did. If Ayoub wins, it will be because he is, on the whole, the more capable General, and because he is regarded as a more thorough Afghan by the Afghans ; and this is just what would best suit the British interest in Afghanistan. Ayoub is even more likely to be jealous of Russian influence than Abdnr Rahman, who is supposed to have contraoted Russian leanings ; and if Ayolib is also more jealous of English influence, that, too, will admirably serve our purpose. We want no further meddling in Afghani- stan, but to see the most national dynasty there which the country can establish. It is hardly credible that even the stupid party should think it a blow to English interests, that the most ostentatiously Afghan of the Afghans should get the better of a prince who has received succour in succession from Russia and from England.
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