The Ameer of Afghanistan is very anxious to visit Lord
Ripon, and the Times contends strenuously that the visit should be allowed, and that the Ameer's requests should be heard in a. " sympathetic " spirit. The Ameer, it is alleged, wants " counten- ance and encouragement," in order to strengthen him to keep- Herat. It might be discourteous to refuse the proffered visit, and Abdurrahman Khan may be assumed to know his own business; but we, nevertheless, question if the project should be en- couraged. The Ameer is certain to ask something which cannot be granted, and to go away irritated by the refusal.. Moreover, the Times forgets one cardinal point in the situation, —the uneasy suspicion with which Afghans regard any " col- logueing " between their ruler and the powerful white Infidels to the south. They believe, just as Greeks would have done, that he is plotting to increase his ascendancy by the aid of the barbarians, and just so far as he is "countenanced and encouraged " by the Indian Viceroy he is distrusted by his own people. From the days of Runjeet Singh, interviews between an independent sovereign and a Viceroy have been followed by demands from Calcutta, and the Afghans are not likely to regard a renewal of the old fatal policy with approval. The sedomer the iron pot and the earthern pot touch in mid-stream, the safer for the weaker vessel.
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