Discusses his own illness; a shortage of suitable native recruits: 'the root of the evil is the position of the sepoy has not kept pace with the relative advantages to be obtained in other employments ... on the other hand the duties expected of the sepoy have considerably increased of late years'; Afghan affairs: 'My hope however still is that terms may be come to without the troops having to go to Cabool - and I believe that our interests, present and future, will be best complimented by reducing to a minimum our demand for territory'; Russia should be excluded from all influence in Afghanistan; criticism of the chief commissioner in Burma.