is place necessary to revert to the
siege of Herat and the conduct of the Persian nation. The siege of that
city had now been carried on by the Persian army for many months. The
attack upon it was a most unjustifiable and cruel aggression,
perpetrated and continued notwithstanding the solemn and repeated
remonstrances of the British Envoy at the Court of Persia, and after
every just and becoming offer of accommodation had been made and
rejected. The besieged have behaved with gallantry and fortitude worthy
of the justice of their cause, and the Govenor-General would yet
indulge the hope that their heroism may enable them to maintain a
successful defence until succours shall reach them from British India.
In the mean time the ulterior designs of Persia, affecting the interests
of the British Government, have been by a succession of events, more and
more openly manifested. The Governor-General has recently ascertained,
by an official despatch from Mr. M'Neil, Her Majesty's Envoy, that his
Excellency has been compelled, by the refusal of his just demands, and
by a systematic course of disrespect adopted towards him by the Persian
Government, to quit the court of the Schah, and to make a public
declaration of the cessation of all intercourse between the two
Governments. The necessity under which Great Britain is placed of
regarding the present advance of the Persian arms into Affghanistan as
an act of hostility towards herself, has also been officially
communicated to the Schah, under the express order of Her Majesty's
Government.

"The chiefs of Candahar (brothers of Dost Mahomed Khan, of Cabul) have
avowed their adherence to the Persian policy, with the same full
knowledge of its opposition to the rights and interests of the British
nation in India, and to have been openly assisting in the operations
against Herat.

"In the crisis of affairs consequent upon the retirement of our Envoy
from Cabul, the Governor-General felt the importance of taking immediate
measures for arresting the rapid progress of foreign intrigue and
aggression towards our own territories.

"His attention was naturally drawn, at this conjuncture, to the position
and claims of Schah Sooja-ool-Moolk, a monarch who, when in power, had
cordially acceded to the measures of united resistance to external
enmity which were, at that time judged necessary by the British
Government, and who, on his empire being usurped by its present rulers,
had found an hon