All the measures which I have been
employed to carry out have tended to display the benevolent
solicitude of the Government of India for the welfare of the people
committed to its charge; the object of all has been the greater
security of life and property throughout the country, the greater
confidence of the people in the wisdom and efficiency of our rule,
and their greater feeling of interest in this stability. These
measures, as far as they have been confided to my care, have all
succeeded; but, as I have stated (p. 79) in a printed report, a copy
of which will be sent to you, they have neither flattered the
vainglory of any particular nation, nor enlisted on their side the
self-love of any influential class or powerful individual, and they
have, in consequence, been attended with little _eclat_. They have,
however, tended to secure to the Government the gratitude and
affection of the people of India, and are measures of which that
Government may justly feel proud. The stability of our Government in
India must depend less upon our military victories than upon the
confidence and affection with which our civil and political
administration may inspire the great mass of the people. The general
belief is, that our object is their substantial good, and that we are
instruments in the hands of Divine Providence to effect that object.
In our military glory they can feel no sympathy, and in our
territorial acquisitions little interest; but they can and do
appreciate every measure which tends to improve the security of life,
property, and industry through the land--to restore the bond of good
feeling between the Government and governed, where it has for a time
been severed or impaired by accident--to provide the people with
works tending to improve their comfort and convenience--to mitigate
sufferings from calamities of season, and to encourage all to exert
themselves honestly in their proper sphere.
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