In war this is sound,
practical policy. But the hillmen adopt it rather from a natural
propensity, than from military knowledge. Their tactics are the outcome
of their natures. All their actions, moral, political, strategic, are
guided by the same principle. The powerful tribes, who had watched the
passage of the troops in sullen fear, only waited for a sign of weakness
to rise behind them. As long as the brigades dominated the country, and
appeared confident and successful, their communications would be
respected, and the risings localised; but a check, a reverse, a retreat
would raise tremendous combinations on every side.
If the reader will bear this in mind, it will enable him to appreciate
the position with which this chapter deals, and may explain many other
matters which are beyond the scope of these pages. For it might be well
also to remember, that the great drama of frontier war is played before
a vast, silent but attentive audience, who fill a theatre, that reaches
from Peshawar to Colombo, and from Kurrachee to Rangoon.
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