Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c30.t2.190

v2.c30.t2.190

But setting the political question aside, and considering our possession of the [274] valley of Sind only in a military point of view, our occupation of it would be prejudicial to us. We should have a long line to defend, and rivers are no barriers in modern warfare. Whilst an impassable desert is between us, and we have the power, by means of our allies, of assailing an enemy at several points, though we are liable to attack but from one, an invader could not maintain himself a single season. On this ground, the maintenance of friendship with this remote nook of Rajput civilization is defensible, and we have the additional incitement of rescuing the most industrious and wealthy commercial communities in India from the fangs of a harpy; to whom, and the enormities of his government, we return.