The interest of the British public had been centred on the internal problems of the Indian Empire and chiefly those connected with the Hindu portion of the population. As a result of the alarming wave of sedition that swept over Bengal accompanied by Brahmanical revivals in the two Presidencies the affairs of the North-West Frontier together with the problems connected with the Mahommedan subjects of the king emperor had gradually been relegated to a hazardous obscurity. The crisis on the frontier in the autumn of 1910 as a result of the suppression of the arms traffic in the Persian Gulf had the effect of switching the limelight once again to this quarter. They were beginning to realize that if the arming of the Pathans continued a frontier rising in the future could be dangerous. It was with this objective namely emphasizing the connection between the operations of the blocking squadron and the preservation of peace on the Pathan border that the author ventured on the publication of this book. About the Author Arnold Keppel (1858-1942) was a British soldier courtier and politician.
