British claim, and as evidence of an intention to turn Koweit into a British port. Other Powers are claiming as compensation ports for themselves, and Russia in particular wants Bunder Abas.

For many years past a strong religious revival has been in progress throughout the Mahomedan world: the Sultan has joined in it heartily, and it is his great desire to be recognised as the head of Islam, not indeed as its spiritual head, which would be contrary to the whole spirit of the religion, but as Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the Faithful. His claim

to suzerainty over Koweit is no doubt mainly due to this desire; but whatever may be his motive it is obvious that the claim can be utilised by the Powers who have influence over Turkey for the purpose of obtaining the concessions they desire.

BALUCHISTAN.

The most noteworthy fact connected with Baluchistan during the past year has been the opening up of the trade route between Quetta and Persia, via Nushki and Seistan. A railway from Quetta to Nushki, a distance of ninety miles, has been sanctioned, and the road has been completed in the rough in Seistan. Owing to the perseverance and energy of Captain Webb-Ware, the great desert which lies along most of the route has been overcome; fortified serais have been built for the shelter of travellers, and wells have been dug along the whole way. A considerable development of trade has already taken place, its value, which in 1898-9 was only 7 lakhs, rose in 1899-1900 to 13 lakhs, and the returns for last year show an increase of 45,000l. The shortsighted fiscal policy of the late Amir of Kabul, which choked our trade from Quetta to Meshed via Kandahar, has really worked for our good, for it has caused us to make a road through our own territory, as Baluchistan, including Nushki, may now be called, into Persia.

AFGHANISTAN.

The death of the Amir at Kabul in September, 1901, is an event of such importance that all minor matters connected with the history of Afghanistan during the year must pass unnoticed. According to his autobiography Abdul Rahman was born in 1844, but he was probably some four years older than he wished us to believe. In his early life, when a young man of eighteen, he filled several important posts with ability and distinction, and was the main prop of his uncle, Mohammed Azim Khan, against his rival Sher Ali. On the final defeat of Azim Khan Abdul Rahmán fled to Turkestan and lived there as a Russian pensioner until 1880, when he was brought forward by Sir Lepel Griffin and accepted as Amir by the British Government and placed on the throne of Kabul. His position was at first a precarious one, but he was a man of great ability, energy

and force of character, and he triumphed over all difficulties. His method of Government cannot be judged by a European standard; it was briefly one of crushing all opposition by terror and force, and sometimes by savage cruelty. But Abdul Rahmán was far from being a mere tyrant; he had constantly before him a distinct and a worthy object, that of not only firmly establishing his own power and dynasty, but also of rendering his country united, independent and prosperous. How far he succeeded in this policy can be seen not only from his autobiography, which no doubt gives us an exaggerated picture of his success, but also from the evidence of Europeans who have resided in or visited Kabul. During his reign of twenty years he effectually got rid of all possible rivals or persons likely to give trouble; he transformed his Army from a mere rabble into a well-armed and efficient force; religious fanaticism was brought under control, a regular system of judicial and general administration was created, and the industries of the country were greatly developed by the establishment of factories under European supervision at Kabul. As regards his foreign policy, he could hardly be expected to have any real love for England. His ideal would have been a really independent Mahomedan Kingdom, free from the control or influence alike of England and of Russia, and he was much disappointed at the failure of his efforts to be allowed direct representation at the Court of St. James. But, although there was occasional friction between the Amir and the Government of India, he fully recognised the value of the English alliance and was faithful to it.

His eldest son, Habibullah Khan, has succeeded to the Throne with an absence of disturbance or even excitement that was almost unexpected. He was born in 1872, and is, therefore, a man of between twenty-nine and thirty. He has been carefully trained by his father in all branches of the administration. Since 1897 he has had control of the State Treasury and Exchequer, and has been the Supreme Court of Appeal from all courts, ecclesiastical and secular. He acted as Regent for his father during his prolonged absence in Turkestan, and distinguished himself by the intelligence and sobriety of his administration. He is said to be popular with the people and with the Army; he knows English fairly well and is believed to entertain very friendly sentiments towards the British Government. Since his accession he has raised the pay of the Army, and he is said to be going to adopt a much more liberal trade policy than his father and to reduce the poll tax on Hindus. His reception of Mahomedan gentlemen sent by the Government of India in November last to condole with him on the death of his father and to congratulate him on his own accession was cordial in the extreme. He has also issued a proclamation inviting the return of exiles from India, and probably many of them will go back.

The new Amir may be said to have started well, and his

immediate prospects are decidedly favourable. The possible competitors for the Throne are few in number, and none of them are at present dangerous. Habibullah Khan's position was much strengthened by the marriages his father made for him with the families of the leading chiefs. Nasrullah Khan, the late Amir's next son, is his full brother, and is destitute of ability, ambition or influence. His half-brother, Mahomed Umar, whose mother is of high rank and of much ability and ambition, might give trouble, but he is only a boy of twelve, and his mother's great supporter, the Commander-in-Chief, Ghulam Haidar Khan, has lately died. The nearest collateral heir is Ishák Khan, the son of the drunken and cowardly Amir, Azim Khan, and consequently the first cousin once removed of the new Amir. Much was heard of him in his early days, he was notorious for his debauchery and cruelty, and he was hated in Kabul, where he was regarded as a maniac. The late Amir endeavoured to conciliate him, but he rebelled against him, and after showing conspicuous cowardice and incompetency fled to Russian territory. He is now a man of fifty; he is not likely to attempt, or to be allowed to attempt, any movement, and should he do so, he would hardly be dangerous. The two sons of the Amir Sher Ali Khan, Yakub Khan, born about 1849, who was allowed to succeed his father, but was deposed for not preventing Cavagnari's murder, and Ayub Khan, born 1857, who defeated us at Maiwand, are still political prisoners in India, and are not likely to be let loose.

On the North-West Frontier our only serious trouble during 1901 has been with the Mahsud Waziris. The tribe which occupies the hilly country to the west of the Dera Ismail Khan district, known as Waziristan, had been fined a lakh of rupees, or rather this sum had been fixed as a composition for accumulated offences; the tribesmen had paid about 70,000 rupees, but were unable or unwilling to pay the balance. They were therefore blockaded, that is, all commercial and other intercourse between them and British territory was stopped. In the latter part of the year, in consequence of fresh and serious outrages, the blockade was supplemented by short punitive expeditions; columns entered the country in various directions, destroyed villages and crops and then retired. It appears that an expedition on a large scale was contemplated by the military authorities, and that reserve brigades were ordered to assemble. however, stopped by a peremptory telegram from the Viceroy, who was then on his tour in Burmah, and at the close of the year matters were still in statu quo. Shortly before the Amir's death many of the Jajis of Khost (his subjects beyond our Durand line) sought an asylum in Kurram. Habibullah Khan has since his father's death been conciliating them, and it is to be hoped they will all go back.

This was,

II. BRITISH INDIA.

THE NEW FRONTIER PROVINCE.

The new North-West Frontier Province, as it is styled officially, finally came into existence on November 9 when Colonel Deane, the new Chief Commissioner, held a durbar at Peshawar. Its territorial limits include the districts of Hazára Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu (except Isa Khel and Mianwali), and Dera Ismail Khan (except Leia and Bhakkar) and the transborder territory up to the Durand line. The four tahsils taken from Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan are formed into a new Punjab district. The Administrative Staff of the new Province will consist of a Chief Commissioner, a Judicial and a Revenue Commissioner, two Divisional Judges, five Deputy Commissioners or District Officers with Assistants, an Inspector General of Police, a Head of the Public Works Department, and a Principal Medical Officer, who will also have charge of jails and sanitation. This staff has been drawn in the first instance almost entirely from the Punjab Commission, but in two years the connection with the Punjab will be cut and the officers of the new Province will be graded in, and recruited from, the general Political Department. The two Commissionerships of Peshawar and Derajat have been abolished, but a new Commissionership, that of Moultan, has been created in the Punjab, and the Commissionerships of Rawal Pindi and Lahore have consequently been rearranged.

How far the creation of the new province will effect a change in the internal administration of the districts composing it cannot now be stated, for the orders of Government on this subject have not yet been made known. The object of the creation was, however, not to improve internal administration, but to bring our external policy, that is, the management of the Border tribes, under the direct control of the Government of India. Lord Curzon made the discussion of the Budget in the Legislative Council on March 27 an occasion for the delivery of a speech in which he explained his policy in general, and his Frontier policy in particular. He said that it was a mistake to suppose that there were only two possible policies for the Frontier: the Lawrence policy and what was called the forward policy; the Lawrence policy was based on a state of things which had long since passed away, and it was absurd to call dead men from their graves and dogmatise as to how they would have acted under circumstances which they could never have foreseen. The forward policy was one of those elastic terms which might mean anything from statesman-like prevision of military and political danger on and beyond the frontier to a rash indulgence in military adventure. He strongly deprecated the use of "labels," and urged the adoption of a policy on which all might agree, and cared not by what name

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it was called, so long as it was based on 'up-to-date common sense. He claimed for his own policy that it was one of military concentration as against diffusion, and of tribal conciliation in place of exasperation; and it was to give effect to this policy that a new Frontier Province had been created.

The Blue Book published by the India Office early last March, which contains a long minute by Lord Curzon, severely criticising the past management of the frontier by the Punjab Government, and a note on this minute by Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick, shows that although it is no doubt due to Lord Curzon that a decision has at last been arrived at, the question of forming the frontier into a separate province has been under discussion for the last twenty years, and this discussion certainly originated in a conflict between the Lawrence and the forward policy. Lord Curzon deprecates the use of "labels," but they may be employed for the purpose of brief description, and need not necessarily be waved as emblems of faction. What is known as the Lawrence policy held that in the event of a Russian advance on India the best course was to await it in India itself, retiring if necessary behind the Indus; the forward policy, on the other hand, held that the advance should be prevented by the occupation of a line beyond our Frontier, say one extending from Peshawar and the Khaibar Pass through Kabul and Kandahar to the Bolan and Quetta, which would prevent an enemy from seizing the passes leading into India. The merits and demerits of these two policies cannot be discussed here, but it was a natural consequence of the Lawrence policy that the Frontier tribes should be left severely alone, and that no attempt should be made to penetrate the veil drawn by them between India and Afghanistan, whilst the forward policy made it necessary that the tribes should be brought under control, and the passes through their territory surveyed and secured. Accordingly, down to the time of the second Afghan war and the adoption of the forward policy of Lord Lytton, the action of the Punjab Government towards the tribes was confined to preventing, and from time to time punishing, raids by them into our territories. Since then our efforts have been directed to discovering the passes which lie between India and Afghanistan, and occupying strategic positions to secure them. The management of the frontier has nominally continued in the hands of the Punjab Government; the political agents and assistants in direct communication with the tribes have been its officers; it has received their reports and forwarded them to the Government of India with the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor, and it has communicated to the local officers their final orders. But throughout the directing and controlling hand has been that of the Government of India; it has prescribed the policy to be followed; the orders for carrying it out have been its orders; the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor has often been dis