which I would humbly ask permission to offer the congratulations of her devoted subject to our beloved and revered Queen-Empress. I hope, however, that descriptions of the event by pens less wearied, and more graphic, than my own will be written, and that proofs of its success, indirect but significant, will long continue to reach the throne of our Empress from all parts of her great empire.

'There is but one other piece of news which I wish to convey to your Majesty before closing this long (and I fear tedious) letter. The Amir of Kabul has, at last, agreed to my proposals for an alliance, and has already sent two of his ministers to Peshawur, there to negotiate the details of it with my Envoy..

'With heartfelt prayers for all that can prolong and increase the happiness of your Majesty's life and the glory and prosperity of your great reign,

I have the honour to be, Madam, your Majesty's devoted and faithful humble servant,

The new title was welcomed throughout India by the people as well as by the chiefs; its proclamation was received with every possible demonstration of loyalty. Throughout the whole of the British districts. food and clothing were gratuitously distributed to thousands of poor, whilst many of the wealthy zemindars and municipalities gave liberal grants towards works of public utility. The durbars held simultaneously at the capitals of the native chiefs and princes were equally characterised by unmistakable evidences of good feeling.

Letters from public bodies and private individuals written in divers languages and dialects, poured in upon

Letter to the
Delhi Assem-

Queen on

blage

Effect of
Proclamation

6

Government. One chief wrote: The event of to-day is a red-letter day in the annals of modern India, of which not only we ourselves but our children and children's children may well be proud.' 'This is the third time,' wrote another, that India is going to be ruled by an Empress. The first was the widow of the Hindu King Agniborna; the second was the Rizia Begum, the daughter of the Mohammedan Emperor Altamash; the third is the Queen Victoria, the English Sovereign. But something greater has been achieved. Such a powerful Sovereign of so vast a territory never ruled India. This proclamation may consequently be considered superior to all its kind.'

Another address exclaimed: 'O Mother, O Beloved, O residing in the Palace of London, the descendants of the great Emperor of Delhi are burnt in the fire of your might. Surely to-day angels will sing your Majesty's glory in the heavenly regions where Yadhish Ra, the Son of Justice, who performed the great Rajasuya festival of Pandaras 3,000 years ago at Delhi, now resides.'

The Empress Day' is still kept in India as one of the great days of the year. Shops are shut, dinners. are given, parades are held, salutes are fired.

Enormously exaggerated statements were made in the English papers as to the cost of the assemblage. In the Viceroy's opinion a great saving was accomplished through the policy of enlisting the hearty co-operation of the native princes, who all attended this great ceremony at their own expense. Most of the English troops came in the ordinary course of relief movements. The Viceroy entertained all the members of his own council at his personal expense, and the heads of local administrations similarly entertained their own guests.

In the opinion of the best judges in India, after some years' experience, the assumption by the Queen of the title of Empress has had political results of far-reaching importance. The supremacy of the British Government had of course been long admitted as a practical fact by all the native States of India, but in many cases their chiefs gave themselves, when opportunity offered and it seemed safe to do so, the airs of independent powers. Treaties, made perhaps nearly a hundred years before and still in force, might be quoted to show that the native prince, although not so strong, was equal in dignity and rightful position to the Viceroy. The Nizam, the Gaekwar, and the Viceroy had all the same salutes, than which to native imaginations there could be nothing more significant. The twenty-one guns ceased after the Delhi Assembly to be a sign of equality with the representative of the Sovereign. There can indeed be no doubt of the fact, now universally acknowledged in India, that the proclamation of the paramount superiority of the British Crown was an act of political wisdom and foresight which has not only strengthened our position throughout the vast territories of India proper, but has had no small effect also beyond the frontier of the Indian Empire.

Salisbury.

Sher Ali
agrees to
Peshawur
Conference,

CHAPTER V

PESHAWUR CONFERENCE AND FRONTIER NEGOTIATIONS

OF 1877

Letter to Lord THE news that Sher Ali had at last consented to enter into negotiations with the British Government by sending his Minister to meet our Envoy on the frontier reached the Viceroy on December 18, 1876. December 13 The members of the Amir's durbar, after lengthy and frequent consultation, had voted for the rejection of our proposals, but our agent had then urged the Amir to decide the matter himself. He agreed to do so, and after some hesitation intimated his intention of sending two of his principal ministers to discuss with our Envoy at Peshawur the conditions on which the permanent location of British officers. on his frontier would be accepted.

Beginning of
Peshawur
Conference,
Jan. 27

This appeared to be a virtual, though reluctant, acceptance of the Viceroy's proposals, but the Amir did not reply to the Viceroy's letters, and took no notice of the invitation which had been sent him to the Imperial assemblage at Delhi.

On January 27, 1877, the Kabul Envoy, Syud Noor Mahomed Shah, accompanied by the Mir Akhor Ahmed Khan, arrived at Peshawur, where Sir Lewis Pelly, to whom Dr. Bellew was attached as secretary, awaited him.

The first meeting between Sir Lewis Pelly and

Syud Noor Mahomed took place on January 30, the last interview was held on February 19. From the very beginning it was doubtful whether the envoy was authorised to accept the sine-quá-non condition that British officers should reside on the frontier of Afghanistan to watch outside events. Ultimately, after much fencing, he rejected it. Sir Lewis Pelly then broke off the conference on the ground that if the basis on which alone any discussions were to take place was not accepted, he had no authority to open negotiations. He consented, however, to refer to the Viceroy what the Envoy had said, and to await His Excellency's reply.

In the course of the conference three successive meetings had been occupied with a long statement of the Amir's grievances. This statement repeated and confirmed the information previously given by our native agent, Atta Mahomed Khan, to the Viceroy at Simla. The Amir was represented as having lost confidence in the British Government, and amongst the reasons assigned for his mistrust the Envoy referred to the interference of the Viceroy on behalf of the Amir's imprisoned son, Yakub Khan, and the complimentary gifts and messages sent to the Mir of Wakhar without previously asking the Amir's permission to deal thus directly with one of his responsible governors. Both these causes of complaint occurred during the Viceroyalty of Lord Northbrook. The Envoy represented the Amir as having, before that time, had 'perfect confidence' in the British Government; having, however, refused to comply with the request that he should release his son Yakub, and restore him to Herat, Sher Ali considered the friendship between the two Governments was no longer intact. Lord Lytton's reply to Sir Lewis Pelly, conveyed in