Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/450

 398 COMPLETION OF DOMINION had been evicted in the eighteenth century by a minis- terial dynasty, the Peshwas; and in the nineteenth century a precisely similar revolution took place in Nepal. The cardinal point of the whole Asiatic question was now becoming fixed in Afghanistan. From its situation, its natural strength, and its high strategic value, this country has been always a position of the greatest importance to the rulers of India, and the claims of Persia brought it prominently into the polit- ical foreground. The British government at home laid down the principle, big with momentous consequence, that the independence and integrity of Afghanistan were essential to the security of India; and missions from India had already explored the Indus and been received by the Amir Dost Mohammad at Kabul. When, therefore, the Shah of Persia in person, attended by some Russian officers, led an army against Herat in 1837, and when the Afghan Amir, disappointed in his hopes of an English alliance, was negotiating with a Russian agent, it will be easily understood that all the elements of alarm and mistrust drew speedily to a head. An English expedition to the Persian Gulf occupied the island of Kharak and made a demon- stration against Southern Persia that was quite suffi- cient to provide the Shah with a good excuse for retir- ing from Herat, where his assault on the town had failed and where his supplies were scanty. But the withdrawal from Herat by no means fulfilled views, now prevalent both in England and India, with