'Disasters unparalleled in their extent, unless by the errors in which they originated, and by the treachery by which they were completed,' had been avenged in one short campaign, and repeated victories had proved the invincibility of our arms. The policy of forcing a sovereign upon a reluctant people was expressly disavowed, as 'tending to place the arms and resources of that people at the disposal of the first invader;' and the Afgháns were left free to create a government for themselves 'amidst the anarchy which is the consequence of their crimes.' Thenceforth the enormous expense of maintaining a large army 'in a false position, at a distance from its own frontier and resources,' would no longer arrest the progress of internal improvement; the great Indian army 'will stand in unassailable strength upon its own soil;' and the Indian Government 'will devote all its efforts to the establishment and maintenance of general peace,' to the protection of the Native Princes, and the well-being of its own subjects.
A second proclamation, dated five days later, announced to all the princes, chiefs, and people of India the early restoration of the Gates of Somnáth to the country whence they had been carried off. 'The insult of eight hundred years is at last avenged. The gates of the temple of Somnáth, so long the memorial of your humiliation, are become the proudest record of your national glory.' To the princes and chiefs of Sirhind, of Rájwára, of Málwa, and of Gujarát, 'this glorious trophy of successful war' was to be
