note 342: J. Morley, _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 184.]

Nevertheless the firmness of the Government resembled that of Bob
Acres: it soon oozed away. Ministers deferred to the Czar's angry
declaration that he would allow no inquiry into the action of General
Komaroff. This alone was a most mischievous precedent, as it tended to
inflate Russian officers with the belief that they could safely set at
defiance the rules of international law. Still worse were the signs of
favour showered on the violator of a truce by the sovereign who gained
the reputation of being the upholder of peace. From all that is known
semi-officially with respect to the acute crisis of the spring of 1885,
it would appear that peace was due solely to the tact of Sir Robert
Morier, our ambassador at St. Petersburg, and to the complaisance of the
Gladstone Cabinet.

Certainly this quality carried Ministers very far on the path of
concession. When negotiations were resumed, the British Government
belied its former promises of firmness in a matter that closely
concerned our ally, and surrendered Panjdeh to Russia, but on the
understanding that the Zulfikar Pass should be retained by the Afghans.
It should be stated, however, that Abdur Rahman had already assured Lord
Dufferin, during interviews which they had at Rawal Pindi early in
April, of his readiness to give up Panjdeh if he could retain that pass
and its approaches. The Russian Government conceded this point; but
their negotiators then set to work to secure possession of heights
dominating the pass. It seemed that Lord Granville was open to
conviction even on this point.

Such was the state of affairs when, on June 9, 1885, Mr. Gladstone's
Ministry resigned owing to a defeat on a budget question. The accession
of Lord Salisbury to power after a brief interval helped to clear up
these disputes. The crisis in Bulgaria of September 1885 (see Chapter
X.) also served to distract the Russian Government, the Czar's chief
pre-occupation now being to have his revenge on Prince Alexander of
Battenberg. Consequently the two Powers came to a compromise about the
Zulfikar Pass[343]. There still remained several questions outstanding,
and only after long and arduous surveys, not unmixed with disputes, was
the present boundary agreed on in a Protocol signed on July 22, 1887. We
may here refer to a prophecy made by one of Bismarck's _confidantes_,
Bucher, at the close of May 1885: "I believe the [Afghan] m