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116 On August 13 was sent to the Court the long Despatch, since published, which contains Lord Auckland's vindication of his policy. He had been deeply sensible, he wrote in his despatch, of the responsibility which his decision placed upon him:

'But I have felt, after the most anxious deliberation, that I could not otherwise rightly acquit myself of my trust; and a reference to the despatches of your Honourable Committee of June 25, 1836, and May 10 last, have led me to look with confidence for your general approbation and support to the plans on which, in the exercise of the discretion confided to me, I have resolved.'

Reference in these terms and at such a crisis of affairs, to the despatch of June 25, is sufficient proof of the sense in which Lord Auckland interpreted the discretion left to him by the Board of Control, and of the alternative which he conceived it to indicate.

The despatch of May io, 1838^0 which Lord Auckland made reference conjointly with that of June 25, 1836, was received by him on July 16. A few days later, he decided to send a British force into Kábul. Although he regarded this later despatch as furnishing evidence that his action was in accordance with the policy of the Cabinet, its language is less uncompromising than that of June. Its terms are as follows: —

'We have received a letter from the Governor-General, addressed to us in the Secret Department, dated February 8, last, with its 127 enclosures.

'We entirely concur with you in thinking that the arrival of a Russian envoy at Kábul, bearing a letter from the