The strong arm of the British
Government is interposed between them and all surrounding countries;
and there is no safety-valve for their unquiet spirits in foreign
conquests. They can no longer do as Ram did two thousand seven
hundred years ago--lead an army from Ajodheea to Ceylone. They must
either give up fighting, or fight among themselves, as they appear to
have been doing ever since Ram's time; and there are at present no
signs of a disposition to send out another "Sakya Guntama" from
Lucknow, or Kapila vastee to preach peace and good-will to "all the
nations of the earth." They would much rather send out fifty thousand
more brave soldiers to fight "all the nations of the east," under the
banners of the Honourable East India Company.
An English statesman may further ask how it is that so much disorder
can prevail in a small territory like Oude without the gangs, to
which it must give rise, passing over the border to depredate upon
the bordering districts of its neighbours. The conterminous districts
on three sides belong to the British Government, and that on the
fourth or north belongs to Nepaul. The leaders of these gangs know,
that if the British Government chose to interpose and aid the Oude
Government with its troops, it could crush them in a few days; and
that it would do so if they ventured to rob and murder within its
territory. They know, also, that it would do the same if they
ventured to cross the northern border, and rob and murder within the
Nepaul territory.
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