THE BELUCHISTAN FRONTIER.
The Forward Policy and its Results. By Richard Isaac
C.I.E. (Longmans and Co. 15s.)—In these Memoirs which Mr. Bruce has published of his thirty-five years' work among the tribes of the North-West Frontier of India there is more than a record of border warfare. The author was a friend and a devoted admirer of the maker of Beluchistan, Sir Robert Sandeman, and the book is as much a defence of the system which he inaugurated as a narrative of events. The old condition of affairs on the frontier was that British territory came to an end at a certain line, beyond which lay an unknown land where no European's life was safe, inhabited by tribes who robbed and raided, and occasionally, when their doings became outrageous, suffered the slight punishment of a British punitive expedition. The theory used to defend this state of matters was Lawrence's doctrine of the "close frontier" defended by a line of stations. If we once interfered, it was maintained, in tribal affairs, we should land ourselves in unending difficulties. The Forward policy, which Sandeman pursued, and of which Lord Roberts's speech in the House of Lords in 1899 contains the beat statement, was to strengthen and consolidate our frontier up to the boundary of Afghanistan, not by destroying tribal government, but by supervising and protecting the chiefs who attempted to replace anarchy by an orderly government. Events have com- pelled us to this change of taetic S. And this great protected belt of territory is not only to be a defence, but it is to form a recruit- ing ground for our Indian Army. The old picturesque idea of the simple hillmen, happy in their freedom, is out-of-date, and its place has been taken by a better picture of loyal and pro- tected tribes, and justice where there was once rapine. This is what Sandeman sought, and some of his dreams, such as the occupation of Quetta, have been fulfilled. He wished to see all the border tribes treated like the Pathans of Zhob and the Waziris of the Gomel, and he hoped to see Kurrachi, Quetta, and Seistan connected by a railway,—projects still in the far future. The essentials of the Forward policy have been in the main accepted, but its progress at any particular moment depends entirely on the state of the Indian Exchequer. The most pro- gressive Viceroy has to curb his ambitions when famine and pestilence call his attention further south. The policy is an expensive one, and for all its value there may be other matters of more pressing importance. But on the whole, the work of Sandeman has borne fruit, for the old frontier parochialism has almost disappeared. Mr. Bruce has given us a vivid picture of the making of the Beluchistan frontier, where he was for a time ,political agent. As a civilian himself, he desires to see the frontier Civil Service strengthened, and more power and responsi- bility given to the civil officers in cases of emergency. The book contains many vivid pictures of border warfare, and no one can lay it down without a new respect for the many heroic men who have given their lives to this thankless and difficult task. The devotion to the Sandman tradition which appears on every page is a fitting tribute to a great man; tut Mr. Bruce has a very honourable story to tell of himself, which he does with both modesty and spirit.
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