other end of the tent: 'the game is
in our hands, if we have energy. There is a combination which would
entirely change the whole 'face of the world, and bring back empire to
the East. Though you are not the brother of the Queen of the English,
you are nevertheless a great English prince, and the Queen will listen
to what you say; especially if you talk to her as you talk to me, and
say such fine things in such a beautiful voice. Nobody ever opened my
mind like you. You will magnetise the Queen as you have magnetised me.
Go back to England and arrange this. You see, gloze it over as they may,
one thing is clear, it is finished with England. There are three things
which alone must destroy it. Primo, O'Connell appropriating to himself
the revenues of half of Her Majesty's dominions. Secondo, the cottons;
the world begins to get a little disgusted with those cottons; naturally
everybody prefers silk; I am sure that the Lebanon in time could supply
the whole world with silk, if it were properly administered. Thirdly,
steam; with this steam your great ships have become a respectable Noah's
ark. The game is up; Louis Philippe can take Windsor Castle whenever he
pleases, as you took Acre, with the wind in his teeth. It is all over,
then. Now, see a _coup d'etat_ that saves all. You must perform the
Portuguese scheme on a great scale; quit a petty and exhausted position
for a vast and prolific empire. Let the Queen of the English collect a
great fleet, let her stow away all her treasure, bullion, gold plate,
and precious arms; be accompanied by all her court and chief people,
and transfer the seat of her empire from London to Delhi. There she
will find an immense empire ready made, a firstrate army, and a large
revenue. In the meantime I will arrange with Mehemet Ali.

He shall have Bagdad and Mesopotamia, and pour the Bedouin cavalry into
Persia. I will take care of Syria and Asia Minor. The only way to manage
the Afghans is by Persia and by the Arabs. We will acknowledge the
Empress of India as our suzerain, and secure for her the Levantine
coast. If she like, she shall have Alexandria as she now has Malta: it
could be arranged. Your Queen is young; she has an _avenir_. Aberdeen
and Sir Peel will never give her this advice; their habits are formed.
They are too old, too _ruses_. But, you see! the greatest empire that
ever existed; besides which she gets rid of the embarrassment of her
Chambers! And quite practicable; for the