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CHAPTER XV
RECONSTRUCTION
It is not by his military genius and his crowning achievement in saving his country from the iron grip of the cruel and relentless tyrant or by his innumerable national services in the past alone that we should estimate the greatness of this august per- [همایون] sonality. As later events have shown, this sovereign of the Afghans deserves our esteem and commands our admiration from another point of view also, viz. as a brilliant administrator and a highly talented organizer. To appreciate to the fullest extent the wonderful achievements of His Majesty, it is necessary to compare the state of affairs on the day when he was obliged to assume the responsibilities of Government with the situation to-day. At the age of 45, he embarked on a task that might have daunted the bravest and wisest of diplomats. In the history of no other nation do we find a sovereign so financially handicapped at the start. It was probably the first case
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Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.