CHAPTER V

AN ENGLISH HOME IN THE WILDS—THE EAST GOES WESTERN
—NEW IDEALS AND NEW AMBITIONS—THE RESTIVE
MULLAHS

PirtHOUGH the change seems a slight one, some
importance can be attached to Amanullah's
sudden adaptation of his new title. It showed
that his mind was ever being trained outside his country.
The title of Amir was good enough for Afghanistan,
where it indicated the supreme power, mightier than
many a king, indeed. But it was not good enough for
foreigners, thought Amanullah.

Further, he was attracted by the idea of being the
first King in Afghan history. He would go down in the
annals of the country. The change would indicate more
sharply the division between the old and the new. It
was pure vanity, but it was vanity with a reason.

To the mullahs, however, it meant changes more
ominous than exercised the mind of the ruler. " Amir''
had been to some extent a religious title. u King " was
secular. Thus, they thought, Amanullah was robbing
the old Court of a large portion of its religious atmosphere
at one stroke. Such things had nevej: been. The
mullahs grew more gloomy and more afraid.

They were right in some degree. Amaniillah was
thinking of the foreigners. Never very religious, as has
been shown, he now devoted almost his whole attention
to commercial possibilities and secular details. The
voice of the Imam from the Kabul mosque, sonorous and
compelling as a bell, was not heard in the confines of the

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