Colonel Sir Robert Sandeman: His Life and Work on Our Indian Frontier. A Memoir, with Selections from His Correspondence and Official Writings |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
administration Afghán Afghanistán Agent Amír Amír's Apozai arrangements Assigned Districts Balúch Balúch tribes Balúchistán Bolán Pass Bombay border Brahúi chiefs British Government British territory Búgti camp Captain Sandeman Chotiáli clans Colonel command Commissioner Déra Gházi Khan despatch durbár duty escort favour force friendly frontier tribes Ghazni Gichki Government of India Gúmal Pass Halmand Harnái headmen Herát highland hills important Indus influence istán Jacobábád Jám Kábul Kachi Kákar Kandahár Karáchi Khan of Khelát Khan's Khárán Khelát affairs Khetráns Khojak Pass Lady Sandeman letter Lord Lytton Lus Beyla Major Sandeman Makrán Marrí ment miles military mission mountain native Nushki occupied Panjgúr Patán peace Persian Phayre Pishín plain plateau position present proceeded protection Punjab frontier Punjab Government Quetta railway received regard route Russia settled Sheránis Sibi Sikhs Sir Robert Sandeman Sirdárs tract treaty tribal chiefs tribesmen troops Viceroy Wazíris Zhob Zhob valley
Popular passages
Page 14 - Each tribe has a debtor and creditor account with its neighbours — life for life. Reckless of the lives of others, they are not sparing of their own ; they consider retaliation and revenge to be the strongest of all obligations. They possess gallantry and courage themselves, and admire such qualities in others. Men of the same party will stand by one another in danger. To their minds hospitality is the first of virtues. Any person who can make his way into their dwellings will not only be safe,...
Page 325 - To be successful on this frontier a man has to deal with the hearts and minds of the people, and not only with their fears.
Page 2 - ... of Jesus Christ, without a deed or thought, on the part of man, is sufficient to present the chief of sinners spotless before God.
Page 25 - Bannfi coloured harvests look as if Ceres had stumbled against the Great Salt Range, and spilt half her cornucopia in this favoured vale.
Page 14 - They are perpetually at war with each other. Every tribe and section of a tribe has its internecine wars, every family its hereditary blood-feuds, and every individual his personal foes. There is hardly a man whose hands are unstained. Every person counts up his murders. Each tribe has a debtor and creditor account with its neighbours, life for life.
Page 329 - I believe, the right one under the political circumstances which now confront us, and it is less likely, in the long run, to involve us in trouble and expense than the old policy of punitive expeditions, followed by a precipitate and complete withdrawal, a policy which Lord Lytton very aptly described, in a speech delivered in Council, as one of ' alternate vengeance and inaction.
Page 181 - ... mental faculties unimpaired. Bowed by age, he is unable to mount a horse without assistance, but once in the saddle his endurance is greater than that of many a younger man. Possessed of unflinching resolution, impatient of wrong, generous to reward, stern and relentless in punishment, Sirdai Azdd Khan has above all things enjoyed a reputation for unswerving honesty.
Page 360 - the pacification of border tribes by persevering in the exercise of humanizing influences is more likely to be permanent than their subjection by military force, and I always shall therefore receive with satisfaction such proposals as that now before me, recommended by your officers on the spot, which afford a reasonable prospect of rendering the people on the frontier line between our territories and Afghanistan peaceful and friendly neighbours.
Page 85 - ... within as well as without our frontier, and to the evidence that has reached us of foreign intrigue in Khelat itself (intrigue at present innocuous, but sure to become active in proportion to the anarchy or weakness of that State and its alienation from British influence), we can no longer avoid the conclusion that the relations between the British Government and this neighbouring Khanate must henceforth be regulated with a view to more important objects than the temporary prevention of plunder...
Page 13 - Now these tribes are savages, noble savages perhaps, and not without some tincture of virtue and generosity, but still absolutely barbarians nevertheless.