'Russia, India and the Persian Gulf' [‎9r] (17/46)

The Western Frontiers of India. 13
thought it better to face the objections to it than to
adopt the half-hearted alternative suggested. Opinions in
favour of some such scheme as that of Lord Curzon had
been expressed by Sir B. Frere, Sir H. Durand, Sir J.
Browne, Sir R. Sandeman, Sir W. Lockhart, Sir C. Aitchi-
son, Sir G. Chesney, Lord Lytton, Lord Lansdowne,
and Lord Roberts. The present Commander-in-Chief
was actually designated head of such a new province as
was then contemplated, and has now been made, when
the outbreak of the Afghan War led to the abandonment
of Lord Lytton s scheme, on the appointment of his suc
cessor, Lord Ripon. Lord Elgin is the latest authority,
who with characteristic conscientiousness recorded for
himself alone, and without committing his Government, the
contrary opinion, just before he left India in 1898. He
greatly, no one can say unduly, valued the opinion of the
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Mackworth Young, but equal
importance at least attaches to the contrary view of Sir
Dennis Fitzpatrick, who agreed altogether in Lord
Curzon’s conclusions. Sir Dennis showed that the Punjab
Government had been pushed on by the forward party in
the Government of India, which held that after the delimita
tion of the Durand line, we were bound not only to establish
such control over the tribes as was needed for our own
protection and to check raids into Afghanistan, but such
control as would enable us to settle the quarrels of the
tribesmen among themselves ; that the Punjab Government,
being nearer the frontier, saw the difficulties and objections
to such a policy, which indeed the Secretary of State had
vetoed, knew that the so-called “ Sandeman ” system was
wholly inapplicable to tribes entirely different in character,
constitution, and geographical position from those with
which Sandeman so successfully dealt, and held that in
certain districts, such as the Khyber, the best plan was not
to interfere with fighting among the tribesmen so long as
their dissensions did not endanger the peace of the road, or
any of our own interests. This policy would seem admirably