A horrible joke indeed:—for on February 5th news had come of the fall of Khartoum and the death of Gordon. On the 26th a vote of censure on the Government was carried in the House of Lords by 189 to 63; but a similar motion in the Commons was rejected by 302 to 288. The Government majority had fallen from 56 to 14.
On March 8th a special service was held in the Temple Church to commemorate the completion of the seventh century since its consecration. [Footnote: See ante, p. 322.] The Master preached the sermon on the text Psalm xc. 1—'Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.' [Footnote: The Times of March 9th gave a pretty full abstract of the sermon.] Reeve, who was present, considered it one of Dr. Vaughan's happiest efforts, and wrote to say how greatly he had been pleased by it. Vaughan's acknowledgement of the kindly feeling which dictated the letter has otherwise no particular interest.
From Sir Alfred Lyall [Footnote: At that time lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces.]
March 31st.—When we closed in 1881 the second act of the Affghan drama, I calculated on an interval of at least five years; and I thought that if we could get a joint commission to settle some boundary that Russia could provisionally agree to, the interval might be longer. But the Boundary Commission, which I first pressed for in 1881, has propelled, instead of delaying, the crisis. I suppose our Egyptian entanglement seemed to Russia to offer an irresistible opportunity; at any rate, the Russians have some reason for precipitating the issue between us, and at this moment we may be on the verge of a war. It is very curious to find ourselves so close to the collision that we have been so long trying to fend off, and to realise that a land invasion of India by a European Power, which has been the nightmare of Anglo-Indian statesmen since Bonaparte seized Egypt in 1798, is now no longer a matter of remote speculation. The Russian menace is, however, already producing one result that I had always anticipated; it is evoking among all substantial classes of Indians a strong desire to support the British Government in India. You may remember that in my paper of January 1884 I wrote that the natives would, in times of rumoured invasion, hold by any Power that could keep the gates of India against Central Asia; and this is now strongly showing itself. The adventurous classes are ready to enlist and follow our colours; the propertied classes look to us as the representatives of order and security; the educated classes depend wholly upon our system; if the Russians calculate on any serious rising against us in India, they will be mistaken. Of course a series of reverses would change the whole face of affairs…. We are very fortunate in having Lord Dufferin here at this time. Everyone likes him, and has confidence in him. He is clearly a Viceroy who listens to everyone, but makes up his own mind independently. And Lady Dufferin charms us all….
The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest India. The talk in some of the papers about the necessity of smashing him, in order to avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is futile and imaginative. The Indians think the English rather mad to go crusading against him in the Soudan, and they may soon get irritated at the waste of Indian lives at Suakin, when we want our best men on the N.W. frontier; but, for the rest, they do not concern themselves about remote Arab tribes. Of course everyone sees that the English Government has now an excellent pretext for getting partially out of a hopeless mess by transferring most of our English troops from the Red Sea to the Punjab.
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On April 9th news reached London that on March 30th the Russians, under General Komaroff, had attacked and carried the Affghan positions at Penjdeh, concerning which negotiations were going on. As our Government was pledged meanwhile to the support of the Amir, this action of Komaroff's was held to be a very aggravated insult to England. Explanations were demanded, but preparations for war were hurried on, and on April 27th, after an impassioned speech by Mr. Gladstone, a vote of credit for eleven millions was passed almost by acclamation. The negotiations, however, were continued; explanations were given: the Russians kept Penjdeh; the Affghans had lost their territory, their guns, and 500 men; and Mr. Gladstone expressed himself satisfied. Four days afterwards, May 8th, the Government was defeated on the budget, and resigned a few days later, the Marquis of Salisbury forming the new ministry.
From Sir Alfred Lyall
June 5th.—Probably you know more in England than we do in India of the course of negotiations with Russia, It seems just now more smooth than satisfactory. I fear we have lost credit in India over that unlucky Penjdeh business. One would fancy that our representatives on the spot might have been wary enough to discern that where the Russians and the Affghans were drawing close to each other, there lay the risk and the strain of the situation. I have a very moderate trust in our ally the Amir, though he is a very able, if unscrupulous, ruler. I hope fervently he has sense enough not to use those breech-loaders we are sending in such quantities, and that he won't repeat the Penjdeh blunder by provoking some collision with the Russians on his border….
India is very quiet. The Russian scare of the spring has turned rather to our advantage, as I always prophesied it would, by bringing home to the natives their dependence on England for protection from foreign invasion.