o
the Sutlej.

"The Governor-General will leave it to the Affghans themselves to create
a government amidst the anarchy which is the consequence of their
crimes.

"To force a sovereign upon a reluctant people, would be as inconsistent
with the policy, as it is with the principles, of the British
Government, tending to place the arms and resources of that people at
the disposal of the first invader, and to impose the burden of
supporting a sovereign without the prospect of benefit from his
alliance.

"The Governor-General will willingly recognize any government approved
by the Affghans themselves, which shall appear desirous and capable of
maintaining friendly relations with neighbouring states.

"Content with the limits nature appears to have assigned to its empire,
the Government of India will devote all its efforts to the establishment
and maintenance of general peace, to the protection of the sovereigns
and chiefs its allies, and to the prosperity and happiness of its own
faithful subjects.

"The rivers of the Punjab and the Indus, and the mountainous passes and
the barbarous tribes of Affghanistan, will be placed between the British
army and an enemy from the west, if indeed such an enemy there can be,
and no longer between the army and its supplies.

"The enormous expenditure required for the support of a large force in a
false military position, at a distance from its own frontier and its
resources, will no longer arrest every measure for the improvement of
the country and of the people.

"The combined army of England and of India, superior in equipment, in
discipline, in valour, and in the officers by whom it is commanded, to
any force which can be opposed to it in Asia, will stand in unassailable
strength upon its own soil, and for ever, under the blessing of
Providence, preserve the glorious empire it has won, in security and in
honour.

"The Governor-General cannot fear the misconstruction of his motives in
thus frankly announcing to surrounding states the pacific and
conservative policy of his Government.

"Affghanistan and China have seen at once the forces at his disposal,
and the effect with which they can be applied.

"Sincerely attached to peace for the sake of the benefits it confers
upon the people, the Governor-General is resolved that peace shall be
observed, and will put forth the whole power of the British Government
to coerce the state by which it shall be infringed."

*