Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/79

Rh the next step which the Commander-in-Chief took to subjugate the Nepalese.

The two theatres of the war, on the Sutlej and near the Gandak river, were 400 miles apart, and the Nepalese province of Kumáun, lying between the two and bordering upon Rohilkhand, was untouched by the hostilities, and was almost unoccupied by the enemy. Lord Hastings perceived that an attack upon this province would not only divert the attention of the Gúrkhas from the flanks of their kingdom, but that, owing to its peculiar geographical formation, an expedition there, if successful, would also cut the country in two, and absolutely isolate Amar Singh; moreover, knowing that the people of Kumáun were disaffected towards their rulers, he determined to carry the war into that province. Being short of troops he raised levies among the Rohillás, and selected two officers to command them, Colonel Gardner and Major Hearsey, who, previous to 1802, had served in the Maráthá forces. These irregular bodies of troops advanced almost simultaneously early in February.

Gardner, aware that his Rohillas could not resist the Gúrkhas in open fight, pushed up the Kosi river, and evading a serious engagement, marched round the enemy's flank: after a series of brilliant manœuvres on their communications, he forced them (28th March) to retire to Almora, the capital of the province, where he followed them, and prepared for future operations. Hearsey proceeded up the river Kálí, and at first met with no resistance, but on