elonged to that party in the State which has clung
passionately, vainly, and often unwisely to a policy of peace and
retrenchment. He was supported in his reluctance to embark on warlike
enterprises by the whole force of the economic situation. No moment
could have been less fitting: no man more disinclined. That Lord Elgin's
Viceroyalty and the Famine year should have been marked by the greatest
Frontier War in the history of the British Empire in India, vividly
displays how little an individual, however earnest his motives, however
great his authority, can really control the course of public affairs.

The Council were called upon to decide on matters, which at once raised
the widest and most intricate questions of frontier policy; which might
involve great expense; which might well influence the development and
progress of the great populations committed to their charge. It would
be desirable to consider such matters from the most lofty and commanding
standpoints; to reduce detail to its just proportions; to examine the
past, and to peer into the future. And yet, those who sought to look
thus on the whole situation, were immediately confronted with the
picture of the rock of Chakdara, fringed and dotted with the white smoke
of musketry, encircled by thousands of fierce assailants, its garrison
fighting for their lives, but confident they would not be deserted. It
was impossible to see further than this. All Governments, all Rulers,
meet the same difficulties. Wide considerations of principle, of policy,
of consequences or of economics are brushed aside by an impetuous
emergency. They have to decide off-hand. The statesman has to deal with
events. The historian, who has merely to record them, may amuse his
leisure by constructing policies, to explain instances of successful
opportunism.

On the 30th of July the following order was officially published: "The
Governor-General in Council sanctions the despatch of a force, to
be styled the Malakand Field Force, for the purpose of holding
the Malakand, and the adjacent posts, and of operating against the
neighbouring tribes as may be required."

The force was composed as follows:--

1st Brigade.
Commanding--Colonel W.H. Meiklejohn, C.B., C.M.G., with the local
rank of Brigadier-General.
1st Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment.
24th Punjaub Infantry.
31st Punjaub Infantry.
45th (Rattray's) Sik