Note 262 — Chapter IV

Lord Auckland, with characteristic kindliness, exerted himself to allay any feelings of mortification that may have welled up in Burnes’s mind; and the latter wisely revoked his determination to be aut Cæsar aut nullus. The extracts from Burnes’s letters, given in a preceding note, explain the motives that induced him to forego his original resolve; and the following passage, from another private letter, shows still more plainly the feelings with which he regarded the considerate conduct of the Governor-General, of whom he writes: “‘I mean, therefore,’ continued he (Lord Auckland), ‘to gazette you as a Political Commissioner to Kelat, and when the army crosses, to regard you as an independent political officer to co-operate with Macnaghten.’ Nothing could be more delicately kind, for I have permission, if I like, to send an assistant to Kelat. I start in a week, and drop down the Indus to Shikarpoor, where, with a brace of Commissaries, I prepare for the advance of the army and the disbursement of many lakhs of rupees. I care not for the responsibility; I am firm in the saddle, and have all confidence. I think you will hear the result of my negotiation to be, that the British flag flies at Bukkur.”—[Private Correspondence of Sir A. Burnes.]