sly been treated.

Burnes remained at Kabul until the spring of 1838, and then returned
to India to report that Dost Mahomed had thrown himself heart and soul
into the Russo-Persian alliance.

Under pressure from the English Ministry the Governor-General of India
determined to take the extreme measure of deposing an Amir who had
shown himself so hostilely inclined, and of placing on the throne
of Kabul a Ruler who, it was hoped, would feel that it was to his
interest to keep on good terms with us. It was for this object that
the first Afghan war[1] was undertaken, which ended in the murder of
our nominee, Shah Shuja, and the triumphant return of Dost Mahomed.
The disastrous failure of our action in this matter taught the British
Government that our frontier on the Sutlej was too far removed for us
to think of exercising any real influence in Afghanistan, and that the
time had not arrived to warrant our interfering in Afghan affairs.

After this came our war with the Sikhs, resulting in our conquest
of the Punjab, and our frontier becoming conterminous with that of
Afghanistan on the banks of the Indus.

There was a lull in the movements of Russia in Central Asia until
after the Crimean War of 1854-56, which, while temporarily checking
the designs of Russia in Europe, seems to have stimulated her progress
in the East. After the passage of the great desert, Russia found
herself in the midst of fertile and settled countries, whose provinces
fell under her control as rapidly as those of India had fallen under
ours, until in 1864 Chimkent was occupied, the point beyond which
Prince Gortchakoff stated that there was no intention on the part of
Russia to make further advances.

Notwithstanding these assurances, Tashkent was captured on the
29th June of the following year. In 1866 Khojent was successfully
assaulted. Tisakh fell on the 30th October; and in the spring of
1867 the fort of Yani-Kargan in the Nurata mountains was seized and
occupied.

Bokhara alone remained unconquered, but the Ruler of that State, after
vainly endeavouring to gain assistance from Afghanistan and to enlist
the sympathies of the Indian Government, was compelled to sue for
peace.

Important as these acquisitions were, they attracted but little
attention in England, owing partly to the policy of non-interference
which had been adopted as regards Central Asian affairs, and partly to
the British public being absorbed in European politics, until