مراسلات وأوراق عن بلاد فارس [ظ‎‎٢‎١] (١٠٧/٤٣)

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„*, ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية * i. Noitlicn' Beliichiswn M« b »"
had on that hitherto wild and turbulent country.
The Bolan Pass is now as safe as many a London thoroughfare and
caravans now pass with safety through that portion of the once d.ea. ed am
inaccessible Khyber Pass which has been brought under BnUsh mfluence.
I would ask you to remember that when Southern Afghanistan was in
vaded by a British force in 1878-79, a line of telegraph was erected to an-
dahar, and through the greater part of the latter year .t was guarded from
injury by the Afghans themselves.
What we did then, when we were at war with the ruler of the country,
could, 1 maintain, be done again, and done more readily and easily when m
tlif» r*mintrv as friends and allies of the Amu.
The cost of up-keep of such a line would not be great. I heie is plenty
of room for it without interfering to any great extent with the Eastern 1 de-
graph Company’s Red Sea Cables, and 1 am of opinion that it the Indian
Government could work such a hue at the rate of two annas per woid to
Herat, it should be possible to come to an agreement with Persia and the
European Powers to carry messages onwards for six annas a word or less. 1 his
would mean an eight (S) anna or a shilling a word rate at the current
rate of exchange, from India to England. The value of such a line as an
alternative route would be enormous and the gain to the press and the mer
cantile community equally great.
In fact so great would be the advantages and so small the difficulties
of construction and maintenance, that I cannot but think if the case were
properly put before the Chambers of Commerce at Home, the money for the
undertaking would speedily be forthcoming. Among the objections that
have been raised tosucha line are, difficulty of construction and maintenance,
liability to interruption in case of war, and the impossibility of the Afghans
ever tolerating Europeans (who differing from them in religion, are looked
upon as Kafiis or infidels, whom it is meritorious to killj. 1 he first objection
I think I have already disposed of; of the second I say that if this idea is
to be accepted as a reason for not putting adjacent countries into railway and
telegraphic communication with one another, why then, in order to be con
sistent, france and Germany, Germany and Russia, Russia and Turkey,
Italy and France should henceforth sever the lines of railway and telegraph
now connecting them.
1 admit that in time of war the railways and telegraphs between bel-
Ugerent nations are certain to be interrupted but only for a time, and when
once peace has been restored these communications are restored also.
the ioh \TT Eur °P eilIlsin Af ^nista„ being distaste*,
inhabitants ot the country, I admit it was so once to a prohibitive exte