which has led me to think that the period of disturbance is nearer than I either wished or expected. ... The importance which is attached to the free navigation of the Indus, most justly I think, yet perhaps with some exaggeration, from its value not having been tried; the advance of the Persians towards Herát, and the links which may in consequence be formed between Indian and European politics, also lead me to fear that the wish which I had, to confine my administration to objects of commerce and finance, and improved institutions and domestic policy, will be far indeed from being accomplished. But, as you say, we must fulfil our destiny.'
A little later, on October 7, the Governor-General tells Sir John Hobhouse that he had written to Sir Charles Metcalfe that he would gladly avoid all interference in the politics of the West, but that the influence of European politics was already felt at Herát, that the elements of discord bad long been collecting in that quarter, that the time, whether we wished it, might or might not come when we should be obliged to exercise our influence; and that we were at least bound to maintain, if possible to strengthen our position. 'So stands the question. I think I am right, and shall be glad if I am thought so at home. But I shall be still more glad if, by the course of events, it shall be proved that it little signifies whether I am right or wrong.'
To understand these letters, we must look elsewhere than to the Húglí or the Sutlej. In Whitehall the growth of Russian influence at Teherán had become a subject of increasing anxiety. Canning had gone; and since November, 1830, Lord Palmerston,
