At the same time we must remember that the idea has long been a favourite one with the Russian bureaucracy; and the example of the years 1877-81 shows that that class is ready and eager to wipe out by a campaign in Central Asia the memory of a war barren of fame and booty.  But that again depends on more general questions, especially those of finance (now a very serious question for Russia, seeing that she has drained Paris and Berlin of all possible loans) and of alliance with some Great Power, or Powers, anxious to effect the overthrow of Great Britain.

If Great Britain be not enervated by luxury; if she be not led astray from the paths of true policy by windy talk about “splendid isolation”; if also she can retain the loyal support of the various peoples of India,—­she may face the contingency of such an invasion with firmness and equanimity.  That it will come is the opinion of very many authorities of high standing.  A native gentleman of high official rank, who brings forward new evidence on the subject, has recently declared it to be “inevitable[353].”  Such, too, is the belief of the greatest authority on Indian warfare.  Lord Roberts closes his Autobiography by affirming that an invasion is “inevitable in the end.  We have done much, and may do still more to delay it; but when that struggle comes, it will be incumbent upon us, both for political and military reasons, to make use of all the troops and war material that the Native States can place at our disposal.”

[Footnote 353:  See The Nineteenth Century and After for May 1905.]

POSTSCRIPT

On May 22, 1905, the Times published particulars concerning the Anglo-Afghan Treaty recently signed at Cabul.  It renewed the compact made with the late Ameer, whereby he agreed to have no relations with any foreign Power except Great Britain, the latter agreeing to defend him against foreign aggression.  The subsidy of L120,000 a year is to be continued, but the present Ameer, Habibulla, henceforth receives a title equivalent to “King” and is styled “His Majesty.”

CHAPTER XV

BRITAIN IN EGYPT

It will be well to begin the story of the expansion of the nations of Europe in Africa by a brief statement of the events which brought Britain to her present position in Egypt.  As we have seen, the French conquest of Tunis, occurring a year earlier, formed the first of the many expeditions which inaugurated “the partition of Africa”—­a topic which, as regards the west, centre, and south of that continent, will engage our attention subsequently.  In this chapter and the following it will be convenient to bring together the facts concerning the valley of the Nile, a district which up to a recent time has had only a slight connection with the other parts of that mighty continent.  In his quaint account of that mysterious land, Herodotus always spoke of it as distinct from Libya; and this aloofness has characterised Lower Egypt almost down to the present age, when the events which we are about to consider brought it into close touch with the equatorial regions.