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It would be might without right. Therefore, although I do not say that the 
time may not come when it may be necessary, in alliance with the Afghans, 
to push forward troops even to Herat, that period has certainly not arrived 
yet, and we should only rouse enmities and prejudice our position, by such 
high-handed precipitate military tactics. 
The third and last course, namely that of conciliation, I must confess is 
the one that from every point of view seems to me the most advisable. All 
that I have already said will I think prove that Afghanistan, with its rugged 
mountains and its brave people, will ere long alone remain between us and 
the dominions of Russia, and that any advance on India in force is only 
feasible through Afghanistan. 
I have attempted to prove that neutrality is impossible, and that conquest on 
our part would in a military sense be a blunder, and in a political one a crime. 
The greater part of Afghanistan lies among the southerly spurs of the 
great Hindoo Koosh, and therefore the very geographical position of its 
provinces points out that its people are indeed our natural allies—'that is, 
they are in possession of our natural frontier of mountains. 
It therefore becomes essential to us that Russia should not gain posses¬ 
sion of the very gates of our empire. Indeed I do not see that we could 
possibly stand idle, if Herat and Candahar were to be threatened. We 
must surely advance and anticipate any such attempt. 
Surely then, if instead of conquest we turn to conciliation, whilst there is 
yet time, may we not hope that, not only shall we succeed in gaining our 
true boundary, but shall induce the brave and warlike Afghans to be our 
very frontier defenders. This appears to me to be the true key to our 
frontier policy. But then to carry it out successfully we must not hold 
our neighbours at arm's length as we have done for years; we must not 
treat this brave but jealous people in a high-handed domineering manner as 
we did in 1889 and have often done since. We must try and learn to look 
at the question from an Afghan point of view; we must remember that in 
conquering India we have invaded a great country which for centuries past 
they have looked on as their natural field for enterprise; that our flag now 
flies at the very foot of their native mountains; and poor, hungry, and ignorant 
Asiatics as they are, it is hardly to be wondered at that they should receive 
our overtures with suspicion, and view our presence with dislike. That 
arbitrary red frontier line not only cuts them off from the fertile plains, but 
interferes with landed claims and tenures which, though ill defined, still 
deserve consideration. As we are strong then, so must we be forbearing. 
It is very possible that in the frontier disturbances of the last twenty years, 
they have often been in the wrong, but the hereditary instincts of centuries 
are not to be obliterated in a day, and their ideas of property and of right 
and wrong are probably more elastic than our own. We must not, there¬ 
fore, judge these Afghans by too rigid an English standard. With all their 
faults they are brave, hospitable, and courteous, and are possessed of a 
great love for their religion, their women, and their country, and they thus 
possess many of those virtues which we esteem so highly among ourselves. 
I really hope, and I almost feel, that you will agree with me to a great 
extent in my views of conciliation. Surely humanity and kindness are good 
starting points in agreements with our neighbours ! 
