left England Lord Auckland bad been told to give his early and best attention to them. Hence the 'hands off' to the Punjab Mahárájá.
The affairs of Kábul had not been among those with which Lord William Bentinck had been called upon to deal. But he had given much thought to the frontier, and had left for his successor a Minute which indicated his anxiety. After pointing out that the state of Afghánistán presented at that time no cause of alarm to India, he turned to the growing influence of Russia over Persia. 'From the days of Peter the Great to the present time the views of Russia have been turned to the obtaining possession of that part of Central Asia which is watered by the Oxus, and joins the eastern shore of the Caspian. The latest accounts from Kábul state that they are building a fort between the Caspian and Khiva. This is their best line of operation against India, but it can only be considered at present as a very distant speculation.' On the other hand, Lord William wrote, 'the line of operation of a Russo-Persian army to advance upon Herat is short and easy.' He finds the distance from Russian territory to be 1,189 miles, which he divides into four stages. He assumes that Russia could supply Persia with an auxiliary force of 30,000 men, and 'with a good understanding between the two Governments, with time for preparation, and with good management, there could be no difficulty in transporting this force to Herát.' From that point she might proclaim a crusade against British India,
