The Ameer has therefore sent word to the English agent at Kabul that the
tribes are full of repentance and alarm, and have begged him to tell the
British Government for them how truly sorry they are for their
misconduct, and to ask on what terms they can be pardoned.

The Ameer writes on his own account that he is trying to arrest the
Haddah Mullah, the mad priest who stirred up all the trouble, and he
promises that if he can only succeed in finding him, he will exile him
from Afghanistan.

It is not certain that the British are at liberty to make terms with the
Afridis.

With savage and semi-savage people it is always necessary to keep
strictly to your word, else they lose respect, and are apt to think that
their adversaries are not powerful enough to do what they have
threatened to do. The quality of mercy enters very little into their
calculations. To threaten to do a thing, and then not to do it when it
comes to the point, does not mean to them that their adversary is kind
and good, but that he is weak and foolish.

The situation is this:

When Sir William Lockhart took command of the force which was sent out
to punish the Afridis, he issued a proclamation ordering the tribesmen
to submit immediately, stating that he would severely punish any attempt
to oppose the advance of his army.

Now the Afridis have opposed his advance, and opposed it very severely,