JJ^arbnrton : Eighteen Years iii tJic Khybcr 571 a different post and trained in a different school. Colonel Warburton, the warden of the Khaibar Pass, had if possible a more exciting career than did Mr. Bruce. His mother was an Afghan lady, a niece of Dost Muhammad, Amir of Afghanistan, and his rare insight and ready sym- pathy in native affairs may be counted as among his greatest gifts. His period of service was marked by great changes ; it was his honor to hold the famous Khaibar pass open to trade and travel " without a single Eu- ropean soldier or Sepoy being stationed in it beyond Jamrud." He left Peshawar before the outbreak in 1897, but believed that he could have checked the tribesmen and kept the pass open in spite of Mullali fanati- cism if he had remained on the ground ; and his chapter on the subject is entitled "the Khyber debacle." As regards the cause of this fron- tier war Colonel Warburton is not explicit, for he says that within three months of the outbreak there was no disturbing factor, and though he tells the story of the Turkish agent at Cabul, he does not give it much credence. Religious bigotry and personal ambition seem to have been the most important causes, though both he and Mr. Bruce object to the theory of a premeditated united attack all along the border. The liter- ary style of both writers is that of the man who lives in the open. Mr. Bruce disarms criticism by frankly acknowledging his faults and Colonel Warburton did not live to revise his proofs. Repetition is common, and in the case of Mr. Bruce the reader grows weary at the minute record of the multitudinous " thanks of the Government of India." The happy day of uniform and reasonable spelling seems to be far off if we are to judge by the divergent methods here shown ; and, since Sir William Hunter has given us a system which is at least workable, it is to be re- gretted that Indian officials should be unwilling to take pity on the reader, and should refuse to be orthodox in their spelling of Indian names. In the matter of general policy Colonel Warburton is as emphatic as Mr. Bruce in declaring the old Punjab method to be a failure ; they de- fend the character of the tribesmen and claim that by having the right men in charge the entire frontier can be peaceably handled ; they deplore the use of the native Arbab or middleman in dealing with trans-frontier tribes, pleading for a single-headed frontier commission which shall do away with inconsistency and vacillation. The plan in vogue in the Pun- jab to-day appears to regard the punitive expedition with its rewards for the military leaders as a natural result of the Forward Policy ; in the meantime the " political " who maintains the peace along his section of the border is passed by. From another point of view the present policy is prima facie totally inadequate ; and it is much more expensive than that advocated by Colonel Warburton, whether it really be the Sandeman system supported by Mr. Bruce, or some modification of it. Civilization and frontier defense as well as the Indian budget would then be well served. Alfred L. P. Dennis.
