gain or a breach of faith. The
tribes took no notice of the proclamation. They did not understand it.
They did not believe it. Where there is no faith there can be no
breach of faith. The border peoples resisted the advance. That position
annulled the proclamation, and proved that it was not credited by the
tribesmen. They do not think they have been tricked. They do not regard
the road as a "breach of faith." What they do regard it as, is a menace
to their independence, and a prelude to annexation. Nor are they wrong.
Looking at the road, as I have seen it, and have tried to describe it,
running broad and white across the valley; at the soldiers moving
along it; at the political officers extending their influence in all
directions; at the bridge and fort of Chakdara; and at the growing
cantonment on the Malakand Pass, it needs no education to appreciate its
significance. Nor can any sophistry obscure it.

CHAPTER III: THE OUTBREAK

Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

LUCRETIUS.

The historian of great events is always oppressed by the difficulty of
tracing the silent, subtle influences, which in all communities precede
and prepare the way for violent outbursts and uprisings. He may discover
many causes and record them duly, but he will always be sensible that
others have escaped him. The changing tides of public opinion, the
undercurrents of interest, partisanship and caprice, the whirlpools of
illogical sentiment or ignorant prejudice, exert forces so complex and
numerous, that to observe and appreciate them all, and to estimate the
effect of each in raising the storm, is a task beyond the intellect and
industry of man. The chronicler of small things lies under even greater
disabilities. He has fewer facts to guide his judgment, nor is it as
easy to read small print as capital letters.

In an attempt to state the causes of the great tribal upheaval of 1897,
these difficulties are increased by the fact that no European can gauge
the motives or assume the points of view of Asiatics. It is, however,
impossible to pass the question by, and ignoring the detail, I shall
endeavour to indicate some at least of the most important and apparent
forces, which have led to the formidable combination with which the
British power in India has been confronted.

The most marked incident in the "Forward Policy" has been the retention
of Chitral. The garrisons, the road, the tr