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122 when men such as Lawrence, Edwardes and Nicholson could feel such desperate alternatives to be within sight. Happily, the moment for adopting one or other of them never came. We can read Lord Canning's letter, giving the grounds of his own decision on the point, merely as a vivid picture of the situation and of the terrible perils which at the moment beset the British rule.

'My answer to your question about Pesháwar,' he wrote to Lawrence on July 15th, 'will be, Hold on to Pesháwar to the last. I should look with great alarm to the effect in Southern India of an abandonment of Pesháwar at the present time — or at any time until our condition in the south becomes either more desperate or more secure. Remember how fearfully weak we are in Central India, and everywhere to the south of it. It is true that in Central India itself things are already at their worst. Holkar himself, as well as his troops, has turned against us, and, although I do not know the same for certain of Sindbia, I have little doubt of it. But as yet the wave of rebellion has not reached the Narbadá. The Nizám and the Gáekwár are still staunch, and believe in our supremacy. Nágpur too is kept down. If we were now to abandon territory, no matter how distant, it would be impossible that faith in the permanency of our rule should not be shaken. The encouragement to join the league against us would be irresistible and immediate; its effect would be felt long before we should receive any material benefit from the force