§ MR. EVELYN ASHLEYasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Copy of a Despatch sent in 1839 by Sir John Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control, to Lord Auckland, Governor General of India, warning him against any permanent occupation in Afghanistan as likely to cause a dangerous drain upon Indian resources?
§ MR. E. STANHOPEThe despatch to which the hon. Member refers appears to be one dated the 18th of July, 1839, and forms part of a series relating to the affairs of Afghanistan. To give this despatch by itself would be to convey a very incomplete impression of the policy then pursued. It relates to a state of things long past and gone, and was specially directed against the permanent occupation of Herat.