spatch of British officers to act as political agents at
Cabul, Candahar, and Herat; and, secondly, the occupation of the
commanding position of Quetta, in Baluchistan, as an outpost commanding
the chief line of advance from Central Asia into India[296].

[Footnote 296: General Jacob had long before advocated the occupation of
this strong flanking position. It was supported by Sir C. Dilke in his
_Greater Britain_ (1867).]

This Note soon gained the ear of the Cabinet; and on January 22, 1875,
Lord Salisbury urged Lord Northbrook to take measures to procure the
assent of the Ameer to the establishment of British officers at Candahar
and Herat (not at Cabul)[297]. The request placed Lord Northbrook in an
embarrassing position, seeing that he knew full well the great
reluctance of the Ameer at all times to receive any British Mission. On
examining the evidence as to the Ameer's objection to receive British
Residents, the viceroy found it to be very strong, while there is ground
for thinking that Ministers and officials in London either ignored it or
sought to minimise its importance. The pressure which they brought to
bear on Lord Northbrook was one of the causes that led to his
resignation (February 1876). He believed that he was in honour bound by
the promise, given to the Ameer at the Umballa Conference, not to impose
a British Resident on him against his will.

[Footnote 297: Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), pp. 128-129.]

He was succeeded by a man of marked personality, Lord Lytton. The only
son of the celebrated novelist, he inherited decided literary gifts,
especially an unusual facility of expression both in speech and writing,
in prose and verse. Any tendency to redundance in speech is generally
counted unfavourable to advancement in diplomatic circles, where
Talleyrand's _mot_ as to language being a means of _concealing_ thought
still finds favour. Owing, however, to the influence of his uncle, then
British Ambassador at Washington, but far more to his own talents,
Lytton rose rapidly in the diplomatic service, holding office in the
chief embassies, until Disraeli discerned in the brilliant speaker and
writer the gifts that would grace the new imperial policy in the East.

In ordinary times the new Viceroy would probably have crowned the new
programme with success. His charm and vivacity of manner appealed to
orientals all the more by contrast with the cold and repellent behaviour
that too often char