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 Empire - from the Royal Proclamation of 1858 — the Magna Charta, as it has been called, of the Princes and people of India. The passage referred to runs as follows — We hereby announce to the Native Princes of India that all treaties and engagements made with them by or under the authority of the Honourable East India Company are by us accepted and will be scrupulously maintained ; and we look for the like observance on their part. We desire no extension of our present territorial possession ; and while we will permit no aggression upon our dominions or our rights to be attempted with impunity, we shall sanction no encroachment on those of others. We shall respect the rights, dignity and honour of Native Princes as our own ; and we desire that they, as well as our subjects, should enjoy that prosperity and that social advance- ment which can only be secured by in- ternal peace and good government.'

Her Majesty the Queen Empress' gracious Proclamation and the declarations