were duly settled. The retiring
Viceroy, however, declared that in his judgment the whole Province of
Candahar must be severed from the Cabul Power, whether Abdur Rahman
assented to it or not[328]. Obviously this implied the subjection of
Candahar to British rule in some form. General Roberts himself argued
stoutly for the retention of that city and district; and so did most of
the military men. Lord Wolseley, on the other hand, urged that it would
place an undesirable strain upon the resources of India, and that the
city could readily be occupied from the Quetta position, if ever the
Russians advanced to Herat. The Cabinet strongly held this opinion. The
exponents of Whig ideas, Lord Hartington and the Duke of Argyll, herein
agreeing with the exponents of a peaceful un-Imperial commercialism, Mr.
Bright and Mr. Chamberlain. Consequently the last of the British troops
were withdrawn from Candahar on April 15, 1881.

[Footnote 328: Lady B. Balfour, _op. cit._ pp. 430, 445. On June 8 Lord
Ripon arrived at Simla and took over the Viceroyalty from Lord Lytton;
the latter was raised to an earldom.]

The retirement was more serious in appearance than in reality. The war
had brought some substantial gains. The new frontier acquired by the
Treaty of Gandamak--and the terms of that compact were practically void
until Roberts' victory at Candahar gave them body and life--provided
ample means for sending troops easily to the neighbourhood of Cabul,
Ghazni, and Candahar; and experience showed that troops kept in the hill
stations on the frontier preserved their mettle far better than those
cantoned in or near the unhealthy cities just named. The Afghans had
also learnt a sharp lesson of the danger and futility of leaning on
Russia; and to this fact must be attributed the steady adherence of the
new Ameer to the British side.

Moreover, the success of his rule depended largely on our evacuation of
his land. Experience has shown that a practically independent and united
Afghanistan forms a better barrier to a Russian advance than an
Afghanistan rent by the fanatical feuds that spring up during a foreign
occupation. Finally, the great need of India after the long famine was
economy. A prosperous and contented India might be trusted to beat off
any army that Russia could send; a bankrupt India would be the
breeding-ground of strife and mutiny; and on these fell powers Skobeleff
counted as his most formidable allies[329].

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