RUSSIA AND PERSIA. 203
virtually secured his alliance while the siege of Herat was still in progress. The foothold Russia had by these means secured in Persia and Afghanistan was made more firm by a somewhat lavish expenditure of money, but this system perhaps defeated its own ends. It raised up expectations which the Russian agents were incapable of meeting, and thus bred disappointments among the prominent supporters of the Russian alliance which completely destroyed the fruits of the skilful diplomacy of Simonitch and his subordinate. The grand question was, however, to obtain possession of Herat, and when that siege failed Russian intrigues lost their sting, if they could not be cleared from the charge of malice. Count Nesselrode disowned Simonitch with as little compunction as generals have more recently been disowned in Central Asia, and Captain Yickovitch, smarting under a sense of the wrongs which he received from his Government, put an end to his existence. The grand scheme, which had been constructed with such care and some skill, went to pieces before the sturdy defence of Herat, and when the English army advanced on Candahar the Afghan princes were left to bear alone the brunt of our indignation. Yet the plot had nearly succeeded. Had Herat fallen, as it well might, during the first few weeks of the siege, the later events would have been widely different. The Persians, established in Herat with a considerable army, backed up by Russian gold and auxiliaries, would not easily have been driven out again. The very fact of Herat being in the hands of their ally would have given an impulse
