of the plain is no longer possible, for to the lamb also we have given fangs and his bloody claws. If we hold only the first tier of hill-lands, we shall be able to destroy any incoming foe, or even to advance, meeting him. For are we not as intelligent, as quick as he? Are we not able, with a tithe of the money spent in conquest and occupation, to buy for ourselves information and interested loyalty -- loyalty of the only sort upon which we can count in playing our rôle of Foreign Tyranny? "
But these arguments have not prevailed. Rejoinder has been made that in general it is best to hold the highest passes rather than to await the enemy somewhat lower down ; that his presence in the border lands, uncontrolled, might result in stirring up of revolt among the plainsmen, this being a possible program as full of danger as one of open war; that the valleys have, since time was, been conquered from the northern hills, until British ships and gunpowder opened a new way from the coast. Yet, now the northern danger may recur. There has been added to these arguments the prod of restless military spirit in the army of occupation. Very important is this ambition in making the character of a soldiery ; very dangerous also to the world's peace. For quarrel-making there has been the time-honoured question of boundary lines in rough country. Even with most pacific intent on both sides, there must be frequent misunderstandings as to frontiers in the wild, almost unknown regions of towering peak and winding ravine where is played. the game of Himalayan politics. When on one side is the delicate pride of a conquering
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