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48 and more strongly against Burnes's arguments on behalf of the Afghán Amír. Instead of praise for his success in detaching the Kandahár princes from the Persian alliance — the best thing that he could have done — Burnes was seriously censured for exceeding his powers, and required to 'set himself right with the chiefs' in the matter of the proffered subsidy. In a separate letter to Dost Muhammad, the Governor-General counselled him to give up all thought of recovering Pesháwar, to trust in the good offices of the Indian Government, and to make no engagements with other powers without the Governor-General's sanction, on pain of losing the countenance of a Government which had stood between him and Ranjít Singh.

These letters were written in January, 1838, from the Governor-General's camp at Bareilly in Rohilkhand. After eighteen months of hard work in Lower Bengal, Lord Auckland, in October, 1837, had left Calcutta and his Council on a tour through the Upper Provinces. The journey was made by water as far as Benares, in a 'flat' or long barge towed by a steamer. From Benares he and his Staff, with his two sisters and a numerous retinue of servants, troops, and camp-followers, marched up the country towards the Himálayas. At Cawnpur, where the famine was already raging, Macnaghten advised him to return to Calcutta, lest the march of so many thousands should aggravate the general distress. Had his advice