1 126 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 for the plunder of India, join them at every stage.
3 " But however this may be," — so runs the minute — ■
4 " it will be sufficient to assume the possibility that
5 a Russian force of 20,000 men well equipped,
6 accompanied with a body of 100,000 horse, may
7 reach the shores of the Indus ; that Ranjit Singh has
8 no means to resist their advance ; and that the
9 invaders, having crossed the Indus into the Punjab,
10 would find themselves in possession of the parts of
11 India, the most fertile of resources in every kind,
12 and secure on every side from being harassed and
13 attacked even if they had not on their side a body
14 of irregular cavalry much more numerous and
15 efficient than any we have to oppose them." It is
16 easy for later generations to laugh at such forebod-
17 ings ; but at the time they appeared, and, indeed,
18 were, reasonable enough. If Russia was not actually
19 contemplating a march on Herat, Persia undoubtedly
20 was ; and what was Persia but the bayonet at the
21 end of the Russian rifle ? Russia was, in fact,
22 steadily advancing into central Asia, pushing Persia
23 along in front of her. Dost Muhammad was believed
24 to be in correspondence with both Teheran and
25 St. Petersburg, and a triple alliance between the
26 European and the two Asiatic powers was well
27 within the bounds of possibility. This was not a
28 state of affairs which Indian statesmen could afford
29 to treat with indifference, and the question how best
30 to deal with it was no easy one to answer. There
31 were two alternatives : either to avoid all political
32 connection with countries west of the Indus, and to
33 trust to the kingdom of Lahore as a sufficient barrier