upon which she wishes to
state her opinion.

The first is old Prince Gholam Mohammed, and his son Prince Feroz
Shah. The Queen understands (though she is not sure of the fact) that
the old man is here in order to try to obtain his pension continued
to his son. This is very natural, and it strikes the Queen to be an
arrangement difficult to be justified, in a moral point of view, to
give these poor people--who after _all_ were once so mighty--_no_
security beyond their lives. Whilst we remain permanently in
possession of their vast Empire, they receive a pension, which is not
_even_ continued to their descendants. Would it not be much the
best to allow them, instead of a pension, to hold, perhaps under the
Government, a property, which would enable them and their descendants
to live respectably, maintaining a certain rank and position? The
Queen believes that Lord Dalhousie himself suggested this principle in
the case of the Ameers of Scinde.

Nothing is more painful for _any_ one than the thought that their
children and grandchildren have no future, and may become absolutely
beggars. How much more _dreadful_ must this be to proud people, who,
like Prince Gholam, are the sons and grandsons of great Princes like
Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sahib! Besides it strikes the Queen that the more
kindly we treat Indian Princes, whom _we_ have _conquered_, and the
more consideration we show for their birth and former grandeur, the
more we shall attach Indian Princes and Governments to us, and the
more ready will they be to come under our rule.

The second instance is that of the young Maharajah Dhuleep Singh (and
the Queen must here observe that the favourable opinion she expressed
of him, in her last letter to Lord Dalhousie, has only been confirmed
and strengthened by closer acquaintance). This young Prince has the
_strongest_ claims upon our generosity and sympathy; deposed, for _no_
fault of his, when a little boy of ten years old, he is as innocent
as any private individual of the misdeeds which compelled us to depose
him, and take possession of his territories. He has besides since
become a Christian, whereby he is for ever cut off from his own
people. His case therefore appears to the Queen still stronger than
the _former_ one, as he was not even a conquered enemy, but merely
powerless in the hands of the Sikh soldiery.

There is something too painful in the idea of a young deposed
Sovereign, once so powerful, receiving a pe