to notice is that after each of these provocations Russia sought her
revenge on that flank of the British Empire to which she was guided by
her own sure instincts and by the shrieks of insular Cassandras. By
moving a few sotnias of Cossacks towards Herat she compelled her rival
to spend a hundredfold as much in military preparations in India.

It is undeniable that Russia's persistent breach of her promises in
Asiatic affairs exasperated public opinion, and brought the two Empires
to the verge of war. Conduct of that description baffles the resources
of diplomacy, which are designed to arrange disputes. Unfortunately,
British foreign affairs were in the hands of Lord Granville, whose
gentle reproaches only awakened contempt at St. Petersburg. The recent
withdrawal of Lord Dufferin from St. Petersburg to Constantinople, on
the plea of ill-health, was also a misfortune; but his appointment to
the Viceroyalty of India (September 1884) placed at Calcutta a
Governor-General superior to Lord Ripon in diplomatic experience.

There was every need for the exercise of ability and firmness both at
Westminster and Calcutta. The climax in Russia's policy of lance-pricks
was reached in the following year; and it has been assumed, apparently
on good authority, that the understanding arrived at by the three
Emperors in their meeting at Skiernewice (September 1884) implied a
tacit encouragement of Russia's designs in Central Asia, however much
they were curbed in the Balkan Peninsula. This was certainly the aim of
Bismarck, and that he knew a good deal about Russian movements is clear
from his words to Busch on November 24, 1884: "Just keep a sharp
look-out on the news from Afghanistan. Something will happen there
soon[340]."

[Footnote 340: _Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History_, vol. iii.
pp. 124, 133 (Eng. ed.).]

This was clearly more than a surmise. At that time an Anglo-Russian
Boundary Commission was appointed to settle the many vexed questions
concerning the delimitation of the Russo-Afghan boundary. General Sir
Peter Lumsden proceeded to Sarrakhs, expecting there to meet the Russian
Commissioners by appointment in the middle of October 1884. On various
pretexts the work of the Commission was postponed in accordance with
advices sent from St. Petersburg. The aim of this dilatory policy soon
became evident. That was the time when (as will appear in Chapter XVI.)
the British expedition was slowly working its way towards