Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/227

Rh Dalhousie on the 13th Sept., 1854. 'But if European troops shall now be withdrawn from India to Europe; if countenance shall thus be given to the belief, already prevalent, that we have grappled with an antagonist' [in the Crimea] 'whose strength will prove equal to overpower us; if by consenting to withdrawal we shall weaken that essential element of our military strength' [the British troops in India], 'which has already been declared to be no more than adequate for ordinary times; and, if, further, we should be called on to despatch an army to the Persian Gulf, an event which, unlooked for now, may any day be brought about by the thraldom in which Persia is held, and by the feeble and fickle character of the Shah; then, indeed, I shall no longer feel and can no longer express the same confidence as before, that the security and stability of our position in the East will remain unassailed.

'I confidently submit to the candour of Her Majesty's Ministers that, placed as it is amid distances so vast, amidst multitudes so innumerable, amidst people and sects, various in many things, but all alike in this, that they are lately conquered subjects of our race, alien to them in religion, language, in colour, in habits, in all feelings and interests, the Government of India has had solid grounds for the declaration, more than once made of late years, that the European force