Note 327 — Chapter I · THE AFFGHANISTAN CAMPAIGNS.326

“At this moment, the united influence of Persia and Russia would seem to be established in all the Affghan dominions, with the single exception of Herat, and the existence of that influence in those countries, viewed in conjunction with the course which those powers have recently been pursuing, and the measures that have resulted from their joint diplomatic exertions, is so obviously incompatible with the tranquillity of India, and even with its security, that no measures can be more unequivocally measures of self-defence than those which the British government is called upon to adopt for the purpose of counteracting the evils with which India is threatened: Persia has no provocation to complain of. The course pursued by the British government towards this government has been one of uniform friendship and forbearance; and it appears to me that it would be a hazardous and costly line of policy to adopt, were the British government any longer to permit Persia, under shelter of her treaty with England, to open the way to India for another and far more formidable power.”—McNeill’s Despatch, 8th August, 1838.