Page:Sikhim and Bhutan.djvu/361

 the value at which they were appraised by the Bhutanese, each year’s tribute fell short of the fixed amount, and a constantly accruing balance was shown against them. Our demands for the liquidation of these arrears were met by evasion, aggression, and the plunder and abduction of our subjects residing on the frontier. The long series of such outrages that ensued, commencing from the attack on Chetgaree, in Darrang, on October 22, 1828, down to 1864, are given in some detail in Eden’s report on his Mission. It will be sufficient to say that between 1828 and 1836 they involved five serious outrages in which British subjects were carried off and our outposts attacked, necessitating as many military expeditions by our frontier forces, the attachment of the Booree Goomah Duar from 1828 till 1834, when it was restored to the Deb Raja, the raising of the Assam Seebundy Corps (now the 2/8th Gurkha Rifles) in 1834 for the protection of the frontier, and the temporary attachment of the Banksa Duar in 1836.

The defeat of the Dewangiri Raja by Lieutenant Mathews, and the attachment of the Banksa Duar, to some extent brought the Bhutan Government to their senses. The Regent and the Tongsa Penlop addressed our Agent, declaring that none of the letters of remonstrance addressed to the Bhutan Government had ever been received, and requesting that all arrears of revenue might be taken from the Banksa Duar, and the Duar itself restored. Many of the offenders who had been engaged in outrages on our frontier were delivered up. Our Government promised to surrender the Duar on an engagement being entered into for its better management and the extradition of offenders against our Government. Unfortunately, this agreement was made with subordinate officials, as representatives of the Bhutan Government, who had, says Eden, no higher rank than that of common “chaprasis,” and was never ratified by the Deb Raja, though the Duar was surrendered in anticipation of his doing so. The belief, however, that all communications from our