'Russia, India and the Persian Gulf' [‎14v] (28/46)

2 4 The Western Frontiers of India.
behalf than our home educational systems. Indeed, pro
ficiency in Oriental studies and languages is not con
spicuously encouraged in our Eastern Empire.
Secondly, that Russia s methods, besides being such as
proceed from a fixed, unalterable, and continuous purpose,
are far more successful not only for these reasons, but
because she pays equal attention to commercial and political
expansion, if indeed it is possible in such regions to pursue
the one, without subserving the other, end.
Thirdly, that it does not follow from the above con
clusions that our Governments and Ministers have in the
past necessarily been in fault. Indeed it is probable that
to others than ourselves our diplomacy seems to have been
most subtle and successful, for we have acquired and held
all the stations necessary to a sea-power—that is to say,
all the best positions in the world except Madagascar with
its potentially very valuable port of Diego Suarez—with the
corresponding spheres of influence inland, without incurring
the expense of garrisoning large tracts of country, and if we
have chosen to pay as much for our army at home as others
pay for a vastly larger and more effective instrument, that
is a matter of domestic politics, for except India, no other
possession helps the Mother Country, in spite of the natural
ties of which we have heard so much, and the lately dis
covered and highly extolled aspirations towards Imperial
Federation. The cost of the army is the concern of the
War Office, and here, at any rate, the Foreign Office has
not been in fault.
Fourthly, that it is hopeless to expect that such measures
;as have sufficed in the past will prove equal to future
needs, while the European populations seeking an outlet
increase in numbers, naval States wax strong and prosper,
and alliances directed against our command of the sea are
made, with the result that our maritime supremacy is
seriously impaired.
Fifthly, that Persia rather than Afghanistan is the
danger-point at present, that measures taken now to show
clearly that the Southern and Eastern provinces are within