INDIA'S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: EAST INDIA COMPANY GETS A ROYAL BOOT-2

Proclamation Continued

We hereby announce to the Native Princes of India that all Treaties and Engagements made with them by or under the authority of the Honourable East India Company are by Us accepted,and will be scrupulously maintained;and We look for the like observance on their part.

We desire no extension of Our present territorial Possessions;and while We will permit no aggression upon our Dominions or Our Rights,Dignity,and Honour of Native Princes as our own;and We desire that they,as well as Our own subjects,should enjoy that Prosperity and that social Advancement which can only be secured by internal Peace and good Government.

We hold Ourselves  bound to the Natives of our Indian Territories by the same obligations of Duty which bind Us to all Our Subjects;and those Obligations,by the Blessings of Almighty God,We shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfill.

Firmly relying Ourselves on the truth of Christianity,and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of Religion,We disclaim alike the Right and the Desire to impose Our Convictions upon any of Our Subjects.We declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure that none be in any wise favoured ,none molested or disquieted by reason of their Religious Faith or Observances;but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the Law:and We do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may be in authority under Us,that they abstain from all interference with the Religious Belief or Worship of any of Our Subjects,on pain of Our highest Displeasure.

( To be Continued)