hat British agents should reside at Herat and elsewhere on the
frontier.

That a mixed commission of British and Afghan officers should
determine and demarcate the Amir's frontier.

That arrangements should be made, by allowances or otherwise, for
free circulation of trade on the principal trade routes.

That similar arrangements should be made for a line of telegraph,
the direction of which was to be subsequently determined.

That Afghanistan should be freely opened to Englishmen, official
and non-official, and arrangements made by the Amir, as far as
practicable, for their safety, though His Highness would not be
absolutely held responsible for isolated accidents.

The Viceroy concluded by suggesting that, if the Amir agreed to these
proposals, a treaty might be arranged between the agents of the
respective Governments, and ratified either at Peshawar, by the Amir
meeting Lord Lytton there, or at Delhi if the Amir accepted His
Excellency's invitation to be present at the Imperial Assemblage.

The Amir at the time vouchsafed no reply whatever to these proposals
or to the invitation to come to Delhi.

In the autumn of 1876 preparations were commenced for the 'Imperial
Assemblage,' which it was announced by the Viceroy would be held
at Delhi on the first day of January, 1877, for the purpose of
proclaiming to the Queen's subjects throughout India the assumption
by Her Majesty of the title of 'Empress of India.' To this Assemblage
Lord Lytton further announced that he proposed 'to invite the
Governors, Lieutenant-Governors, and Heads of Administration from all
parts of the Queen's Indian dominions, as well as the Princes, Chiefs,
and Nobles in whose persons the antiquity of the past is associated
with the prosperity of the present, and who so worthily contribute to
the splendour and stability of this great Empire.'

Delhi was selected as the place where the meeting between the Queen's
representative and the great nobles of India could most appropriately
be held, and a committee was appointed to make the necessary
arrangements. As a member of the committee I was deputed to proceed to
Delhi, settle about the sites for the camps, and carry out all details
in communication with the local authorities. The Viceroy impressed
upon me that the Assemblage was intended to emphasize the Proclamation
Lord Canning issued eighteen years before, by which the Queen assumed
the direct