THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
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The key of the position, Peshawur, standing in front of the month of the 
celebrated Kyber Pass, and commanding the main road from Cabul, is 
however held by a considerable force of the regular army, under a general 
officer who reports to the Commander-in-Chief. 
I have said that the military arrangements are peculiar, and I venture to 
think you will agree with me in considering them in some respects defective 
—that is to say, our long line is guarded by troops under two different 
generals independent of each other, and there are no reserves of any 
importance at hand; consequently if war threatens at any point, it becomes 
necessary to weaken others, at a critical moment. 
To hold a long, exposed frontier by alien troops raised on the spot, and to 
the almost total exclusion of English soldiers, is a bold and possibly a 
dangerous policy; but to increase the risk by a complex division of military 
authority is a violation of all commonly received maxims of war. I have 
not adverted to the lower part of the frontier in Scinde; but here again is a 
third general guarding the Eolam, and other local levies, and they are under 
the Government of Bombay. 
Prom what I have said, you will observe that we hold a long, narrow strip 
of country Trans-Indus. We stand at the foot of aline of mountains full of 
fierce hostile tribes, and with a great river at our backs. We are perpetually 
at war at various parts of the line, and during the last twenty years as many 
expeditions have entered the Afghan country, to punish the border tribes 
for outrages on our territory. One of the chief campaigns was in 1863, 
against the Sitana fanatics to the north of Attock. 
I am desirous that you should understand the nature of our military 
position to the north-west, because it has an important bearing on our 
external policy. 
The chief countries of Central Asia, of which I propose to say a few words 
before entering on the advance of Kussia, are:— 
1. Cashmere and Ladak to the south-east. 
2. Chinese Turkestan to the north-east. 
3. Afghanistan to the south-west. 
4. The three khanates or principalities of Khiva, Bokhara, and Kokan 
in the north-west. 
Cashmere and Ladak—provinces composed almost entirely of great chains 
of mountains, sheltering deep and beautiful valleys—though partially under 
our protection and included within our border, are in reality governed by 
the ruler of Cashmere, who maintains his own troops, and carries on his 
own little wars without our help. He has of late been engaged in warfare 
with the tribes to the north, in the valley of Gilgit, a very difficult and little- 
known country lying under the southern slopes of the Hindoo Koosh. 
There is said to be a road up this valley and over the Pamir Steppe to 
Kokan, but it must be a mere mountain track and of little use for commerce. 
I may mention that the Pamir Steppe is supposed to be the highest table 
land in the world, and it is sometimes called “ the roof of the world.” It 
is said to be 15,000 feet above the sea, and to be studded with lakes; 
but it is not yet thoroughly known. I believe that an English gentleman 
