were held in high esteem by the Ameer. 20. This proposal was approved by Her Majesty's Government. It was evident that a potentate who willingly admitted to his capital, at a critical period, Envoys of a Power which at the moment might be regarded as making its advances with objects not friendly to the British Government, could not reasonably refuse to receive a Mission from a Power with which he had continuously been in alliance. Your Excellency in Council did not anticipate any such refusal, and Her Majesty's Government saw no reason to question the soundness of your opinion on this point, based, as it must have been, on the best information at your command. 21. The anticipations both of your Excellency and of Her Majesty's Government were, however, disappointed by the event. In a friendly letter, carried to Cabul by the Nawab Gholam Hussein Khan, you informed the Ameer of the date on which Sir Neville Chamberlain was to leave Peshawur, and you gave his Highness adequate time in which to issue orders to his local officials for the reception of the Mission. You caused it, moreover, to be intimated to his Highness and his officials that a refusal of free passage to the Mission would be regarded by you as an act of hostility. The orders sent to the Afghan officers at Ali Musjid were, nevertheless, the reverse of what you had a right to expect, and Major Cavagnari, who went in advance of your Envoy, was distinctly informed that any attempt to enter Afghan territory would be resisted by force, of which an ostentatious display was at once made. 22. This conduct on the part of the Ameer was wholly without justification. He was aware from various communications addressed to him by your Excellency's predecessors that the Russian Government had given assurances to the Government of Her Majesty to regard his territories as completely beyond its sphere of action; he was equally aware that the whole policy of the British Government since his accession to the throne had been to strengthen his power and authority, and to protect him from foreign aggression, although the methods adopted for doing so may not have at all times accorded with his Highness's own views; he had received from the British Government evidence of goodwill, manifested by large gifts of money and arms, as well as by its successful efforts in obtaining from the Czar's Government its formal recognition of a fixed boundary, agreeable to himself, between his kingdom and the neighbouring khanates; his subjects had been allowed to pass freely throughout India, to the great benefit of the trade and commerce of his country; and in no single instance has the Ameer himself, or any of his people, been treated unjustly or inhospitably within British jurisdiction. By every bond of international courtesy, as well as by the treaty engagement of 1855 existing between the two countries, binding them to be the friend of our friends and the enemy of our enemies, the Ameer was bound to a line of conduct the reverse of that which he adopted. 23. In reporting to Her Majesty's Government the forcible rejection of your friendly mission your Excellency expressed the conviction of the Government of India that this act deprived the Ameer of all further claim upon the forbearance of the British Government and necessitated instant action. Her Majesty's Government were, however, unwilling to accept the evasive letter brought from Cabul by the Nawab Gholam Hussein Khan as Shere Ali's final answer to your Government, and determined to give him a short time for reconsideration. While, therefore, Her Majesty's Government acknowledged fully as binding on them the pledges given by Sir N. Chamberlain to the friendly chiefs and people who undertook the safe conduct of his Mission, they decided to make an effort to avert the calamities of war, and with this object instructed your Excellency to address to his Highness a demand, in temperate language, requiring a full and suitable apology within a given time for the affront which he has offered to the British Government, the reception of a permanent British Mission within his territories, and reparation for any injury inflicted by him on the tribes who attended Sir N. Chamberlain and Major Cavagnari, as well as an undertaking not to molest them hereafter. These instructions were promptly carried into effect by your Excellency's Government, and the Ameer has been informed that unless a clear and satisfactory reply be received from him by the 20th of November, you will be compelled to consider his intentions as hostile and to treat him as a declared enemy. 24. It only remains for me to assure your Excellency of the cordial support of Her Majesty's Government in the onerous circumstances in which you are placed, and to state that I have received the commands of Her Majesty to publish this despatch for the general information of the public, in anticipation of the papers connected with the important question with which it deals. Those papers are in course of prepara tion, but, as they cover a period of not less than fifteen years, they must necessarily be voluminous. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your lordship's most obedient humble servant, CRANBROOK VIII. PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE. The following are the receipts into and payments out of the Exchequer between April 1, 1877, and March 31, 1878: Money raised for Localization of the Military Forces, &c. Repayments on account of Advances for the purchase 800,000 0 0 13,164,900 00 1,535,785 19 4 143,494 7 15,644,180 69 R 2 Amounts issued out of Sums raised, per contra, for Advances for the Purchase of Bullion and for Local Advances for Greenwich Hospital Excess of Total Expenditure over Income, in year ended March 31, 1878 Balance on March 31, 1878: Bank of England Bank of Ireland Totals 100,900 0 0 1,000,000 0 5,344,000 0 800,000 0 0 5,360,850 1 11 143,494 7 5 2,640,197 1 1 5,462,797 4 2 780,591 13 11 21,632,830 8 6 261 PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS. Jan. 5. A supplement to the London Gazette of January 4 contained the following interesting notification : INDIA OFFICE, Jan. 1. The Queen has been graciously pleased, by an instrument under Her Royal Sign Manual, of which the following is a copy, to institute and create an Order of Distinction, to be styled and designated "The Imperial Order of the Crown of India," and to make certain rules and regulations as therein set forth. VICTORIA, R. & I. Victoria, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India. To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting :-Whereas we have resolved to commemorate the assumption of our Imperial title of Empress of India by the institution of an Order of Distinction to be enjoyed by the Princesses of our Royal House and the wives or other female relatives of Indian Princes and others to be by us selected, upon whom we shall from time to time think fit to confer the same, agreeably to the rules and regulations hereinafter declared: Now, know ye, that for the purpose of carrying this, our resolution, into effect, we have instituted, constituted, and created, and by these presents for us, our heirs, and successors do institute, constitute, and create an Order of Distinction to be known and have for ever hereafter the name, style, and designation of "The Imperial Order of the Crown of India," and we are graciously pleased to make, ordain, and establish the following rules and ordinances for the government of the same, and which shall from henceforth be inviolably observed and kept : Firstly. That the Order of Distinction shall be styled and designated "The Imperial Order of the Crown of India," and that the first day of January in every year shall henceforth be taken and deemed to be the anniversary of the institution of the said Order. Secondly. That we, our heirs and successors, Kings and Queens Regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperors and Empresses of India, shall be Sovereigns of this Order. Thirdly. That it shall be competent for the Sovereign of this Order to confer the decoration thereof upon such Princesses of our Royal and Imperial House, being of more than eighteen years of age, as we, our heirs and successors, shall think fit. Fourthly. That it shall be competent for the Sovereign of this Order to confer the decoration thereof upon the wives or other female relatives of such Princes in our Indian Empire, and upon such other Indian ladies, as we, our heirs and successors, shall from time to time think fit. Fifthly. That it shall be competent for the Sovereign of this Order to confer the decoration thereof upon the wives or other female relatives of any of the persons who have held, now hold, or may hereafter hold the high offices of Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Governors of Madras or Bombay, or of Principal Secretary of State for India. Sixthly. (Description and represen. tation of Insignia.) Seventhly. That the said Order may be conferred by personal investiture with the insignia, upon such Princesses and other members as we, our heirs and successors, may be pleased to admit thereto; but it shall be lawful for us, our heirs and successors, to direct the transmission of the decoration of the Order to any member with notification of her appointment under the Sign Manual of the Sovereign. Eighthly. That the names of those upon whom we, our heirs and successors, may be pleased to confer this Order shall be entered upon a register to be kept under the direction of our Principal Secretary of State for India, in which the names of the Royal Princesses and other members admitted into the Order shall be enrolled, with the dates of their respective admissions, and a duplicate thereof shall also be kept in the Foreign Department of our Viceroy and Governor-General of India. Lastly. We reserve to ourselves, our heirs and successors, full power of annulling, altering, abrogating, augmenting, interpreting, or dispensing with these regulations, or any portion thereof, by a notification under the Sign Manual of the Sovereign of the Order. Given at our Court of Osborne, under our Sign Manual, this 31st day of December, in the 41st year of our reign, and in the year of our Lord 1877. By Her Majesty's Command, SALISBURY. The Queen has also been graciously pleased to confer the decoration of the said Imperial Order of the Crown of India upon Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess of Germany (Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland). Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Hesse (Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland). Her Royal Highness Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (Princess Helena of Great Britain and Ireland). Her Royal Highness Princess Louise (Marchioness of Lorne). Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice. Her Royal and Imperial Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh (Grand Duchess of Russia). Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Princess Augusta of Cambridge). Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Teck (Princess Mary of Cambridge). Her Highness the Maharanee Dhuleep Singh. Her Highness Nawab Shahjihan Begum of Bhopal, G.S.C.I. Her Highness Maharanee Seta Velass Dawajee Ammanee Anaro, of My sore. Her Highness Maharanee Jumna Bai Saheb Gaekwar, of Baroda. Her Highness Dilawar un-Nissar Begum Saheba, of Hyderabad. Her Highness Nawab Kudsia Begum of Bhopal. Her Highness Vijaya Mohenu Mukta Boyi Ammanee Rajah Saheb, of Tanjore. Maharanee Hai Nomoyee, of Cossim bazar. Elizabeth Georgiana, Duchess of Argyll. Georgina Caroline, Marchioness of Salisbury. Henrietta Anne Theodosia, Marchioness of Ripon. Lady Mary Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville. Mary Louisa, Countess Dowager of Elgin and Kincardine. Blanche Julia, Countess of Mayo. Anne Jane Charlotte, Baroness Na pier. Edith, Baroness Lytton. Harriette Katherine, Baroness Law rence. Cecilia Frances, Lady Northcote. [The Royal signature now appears, we believe, for the first time publicly, not simply as "Victoria R." but as "Victoria R. and I."-i.e., "Regina et Imperatrix," though we are given to understand that it has been in use for a year in the signing of military and other commissions which relate to, or may have to run in, India.] The Right Hon. Sir Henry George Elliot, G.C.B., now Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Sublime Ottoman Porte, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Austria; and the Right Hon. Austen Henry Layard, now Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Spain, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and |