the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor Page Wood (afterwards Lord Hatherley), was appointed to... report upon the arrangements of the Inns of Court, and also those of the Inns of Chancery, for promoting the study of the Law and Jurisprudence, the revenues properly applicable to that purpose, and the means most likely to secure a systematic and sound education of students of law, and provide satisfactory tests of fitness for admission to the Bar.' In 1855 that Commission reported in favour of constituting a University, consisting of the Chancellor, Barristers-at-law, and Masters of law,' and governed by a Senate of thirty-two members to be elected by the Inns. Something has been done by the Inns since then for improving the education of their own students; but the instruction afforded does not appear even now to go beyond the limits of strictly professional requirements. If the Inns of Court are unwilling or unable to supply instruction in the general principles of Law as the science which regulates the social relations of human beings, the least they ought to do is to assist the universities to discharge that duty, to the advantage of the public, of the universities, and ultimately of the Inns themselves. Nowhere could that assistance be more appropriately rendered than in the University which will now be established in London.

In concluding their Report the Commissioners sagaciously observe that the Statutes and Regulations which they have framed will not do all that is required. They will not create a living organism. For the proper equipment and maintenance of the University of London large funds will be needed. Hitherto, by a provision of the Charter of 1863, the Treasury has made good any deficit and received any surplus which the annual accounts have disclosed. That arrangement will now cease, and henceforth the University must look for support to public and private munificence. Her Majesty's advisers have obtained the sanction of Parliament for a scheme providing the University, free of cost, with a home in South Kensington; and when a favourable opportunity arises they may possibly be induced to contribute an annual subsidy to its maintenance. There is, however, little prospect at present that such a subsidy will be large. No English Government is likely to imitate the prudent generosity of the various States in Germany, which amongst them provide 1,000,000l. every year for the support of their universities; although it is well to remember that, under certain Acts of Parliament, a sum estimated at nearly that amount is annually appropriated out of the resources of local authorities for the needs of various polytechnics and other schools of technical instruction in England and Wales. The

municipal authorities and the great livery companies of the City of London will now have an opportunity of devoting some of the funds at their command to the highest educational purposes under the direct encouragement of the best teachers. The Technical Education Board of the London County Council is generally understood to have made an excellent beginning in this respect, by proposing to allocate the sum of 12,000l. a year, partly for the general work of the University, and partly also for the promotion of technical instruction, the improvement of the training of teachers, and the assistance of the London School of Economics. But there will be abundant scope for a wise outlay of money on the part of private benefactors. Some University Chairs must be founded, to be held either in the University itself or in one of its Schools; and in order to attract the most distinguished men in this country, or from abroad, adequate salaries must be provided. The subjects in which the existing facilities for higher instruction ought to be supplemented are numerous. For instance, in the various branches of chemistry, pure and applied, opportunities of study ought to be given in London to at least as great an extent as they are given at Berlin, or even at Zürich, where for many years there have been seven separate professorships in that science. physics, too, especially as a subject of post-graduate study and research, there is urgent need for the equipment of a laboratory of the best type under the immediate control of the University itself, which will require such a laboratory for its own purposes, whatever provision may be made for other purposes elsewhere. Nor must the claims of literature, or of history and archæology, be forgotten. London offers unrivalled advantages for their study; but no adequate endowments exist for the founding of great Chairs in these departments of knowledge, or for properly rewarding the exertions of the best scholars. If the labours of Lord Davey's Commission are to produce their full effect, and the University of London is to hold its place amongst the famous universities of the world, the power of the purse must come to its aid.

ART. X.-NORTH-WEST FRONTIER POLICY.

1. Lumsden of the Guides. A Sketch of the Life of LieutenantGeneral Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden, K.C.S.I., C.B. By General Sir Peter Lumsden, G.C.B., C.S.I., and George R. Elsmie, C.S.I. London: John Murray, 1899.

2. The History of Lord Lytton's Indian Administration, 1876 to 1880: compiled from Letters and Official Papers. By Lady Betty Balfour. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899. 3. The Second Afghan War, 1878-79-80: its Causes, its Conduct, and its Consequences. By Colonel H. B. Hanna. Vol. I. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1899.

4. Eighteen Years in the Khyber, 1879-98. By Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. London: John Murray, 1900. 5. The Making of a Frontier. Five Years' Experience and Adventures in Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Chitral, and the Eastern Hindu-Kush. By Colonel Algernon Durand, C.B., C.I.E. London: John Murray, 1899.

6. Chitral: the Story of a Minor Siege. By Sir George S. Robertson, K.C.S.I. London: Methuen, 1898.

7. The Story of the Malakand Field Force: an Episode of Frontier War. By Winston Spencer Churchill. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899.

8. Parliamentary Papers (Afghanistan). 1878.

THER

HE crisis through which the British Empire is now passing makes it incumbent on us to consider, while we have yet time, whether we are prepared to meet other and yet more serious eventualities. South Africa and our supremacy there are not everything; there is a still more important Imperial factor to be considered, and that is the defence of the Indian Empire. Already a cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, has been seen on the horizon by the watchers in the East; it behoves us to enquire whether this presages a storm, and whether we are ready to meet it should it burst. For months past it has been known that the Russians were massing troops at Kushk, which is only seventy miles from Herat. The time therefore is opportune to review the policy pursued during the last thirty years by successive Governments with regard to Afghanistan and the tribes on our North-West frontier in India.

Several books have lately been published which throw considerable light on the questions we are about to discuss. The first on our list is the Life of Sir Harry Lumsden, who raised, and brought to that high state of perfection which it has ever Vol. 191.-No. 382.

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since retained, that celebrated corps the Queen's Own Guides. Lumsden was one of that gallant band whom Henry Lawrence gathered round him when it fell to his lot to rule the recently acquired Punjab. He possessed in the highest degree the instinct of dealing with the fighting races of the north of India; simpleminded, kind-hearted and just, bold and straight, he acquired and retained great influence with all those with whom he had to deal. The book gives a good account of his life on the frontier and of his mission to Kandahar, where he remained all through the Mutiny, exerting his influence in keeping the Afghan ruler true to his engagements with us. There are no very profound reflections as to frontier policy in the book; its value, to our mind, lies in the lesson it teaches, which is that influence with the frontier tribes can be gained by sympathetic treatment at the hands of upright and chivalrous Englishmen, and by that alone.

The History of Lord Lytton's Indian Administration,' by bis daughter, Lady Betty Balfour, was drawn up in compliance with instructions left by Lord Lytton. It is a work of the first importance, combining as it does the views and experience of Lord Lytton and his chief advisers and friends during his Viceroyalty. While giving an account of Lord Lytton's administration in general, its main interest lies in the fact that it is the first authoritative explanation given of Lord Lytton's Forward policy, and of his reasons for adopting it. Allowing that this policy has, as regards the frontier tribes, been followed by his successors, we cannot but think that the verdict of history will be that the means which he adopted to give it effect in Afghanistan were a failure, and that the war into which he entered with that country was a mistake. The secret of Lord Lytton's successes in administration, which were very great, and of his failures in policy, which have attracted greater attention than his successes, may be given in Lady Betty Balfour's own words: In mind Lord Lytton was essentially a poet, gifted with a romantic and creative imagination.' But the poet's mind-grand as its conceptions may be has its limitations. Lord Lytton was one of those whose friendship blinds their judgment. pinned his faith to the opinions of men like the venturesome and sanguine Cavagnari; his most trusted adviser seems to have been that brilliant but ill-fated soldier, Colley. Lady Betty Balfour has striven to give her book an impartial tone, 'in the earnest desire not to revive the virulent party bitterness which perverted so much of the criticism on Lord Lytton's policy eighteen years ago, and which to this day has prevented it from receiving any measure of fair play.' That

He

she has succeeded in this portion of her task no one who reads the book will deny. It is written with literary skill and in admirable taste; and we rise from its perusal feeling that it is an able, lucid, and statesman-like review of the Indian administration of the most brilliant and accomplished Viceroy who has guided the destinies of India since the Mutiny.

Colonel Hanna's History of the Second Afghan War,' only the first volume of which has appeared, covers the most momentous years of Lord Lytton's Viceroyalty, 1878 to 1880. It shows great care and labour; that portion relating to the Afghan war is exhaustive and instructive; but the part dealing with the diplomatic history which led up to the war is vitiated, to our mind, by its violence and partisan animus, and will consequently, we believe, fail, and justly fail, in influencing fair-minded readers. Nothing can excuse his assertion that Lord Lytton was in the habit of inventing or mis-stating the facts from which he desired to argue,' or the charge, which he brings against the Viceroy, 'of having knowingly resorted to falsehood on this and many other occasions.'

The late Sir Robert Warburton's autobiographical work, 'Eighteen Years in the Khyber,' covers the period from 1870, when he was posted to Peshawur, to 1898, when he died, brokenhearted at seeing his life's work thrown away. It is a simple narrative, with no pretence to literary style and encumbered with unnecessary detail, giving the life of a frontier officer on the Peshawur border. Warburton's title to fame is that for eighteen years he held the Afridis in the hollow of his hand, and that he made the dreaded Khyber Pass practically as safe as Piccadilly. His reward was constant repression on the part of his superiors. In the end his good work was fittingly recognised, but too late, for he was a dying man. Sad as the story is, the book is of great value, for it is an excellent exposition of the art of managing frontier tribes, given by a past master, himself an Afghan on the mother's side.

Colonel Durand had exceptional opportunities for examining frontier questions, as British Agent at Gilgit from 1889 to 1894, and for obtaining a general view of Indian army affairs, as Military Secretary to Lord Elgin from 1894 to 1899. He has written an entertaining and instructive account of the country in the neighbourhood of Gilgit and Chitral, and of the intricate relations of the tribes which inhabit those wild but beautiful valleys, interspersed with vivid sketches of the native potentates, with some of whom he lived on terms of intimacy. The story of his work and his adventures, told in a bright and easy style, throws a very useful light on the diffi