Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/90

82 embarrassments during the contest, and had advanced two crores of rupees for the maintenance of the war, the Tarái which skirted that prince's territory was retained and was given to him, in payment of half the debt so incurred.

The treaty of Segauli, as modified by the arrangements just mentioned, defines British relations with Nepal ever, since that time, and the peaceable attitude maintained by that nation towards the Indian Government furnishes the best proof of the moderation and the wisdom which formulated its provisions. These provisions, having already been stated, need not be further alluded to here; it is sufficient to say that they gradually effected the purpose for which they were intended. As a result of the war, all danger for the northern frontier has been happily removed for ever; irritating questions with a neighbour, powerful for evil in moments of adversity, have been definitely settled; and the best fighting material that India affords has been enlisted, and has proved its valour, in the defence of British supremacy in that continent.

It may be interesting to observe here, that the Chinese interposed in the arrangements made with Nepál. The Celestial Empire exercised a sort of suzerainty over the country, and when everything was well over, wanted to know (end of 1816) what the struggle was all about. A correspondence took place between Calcutta and Pekin on the subject, when the Chinese authorities declared themselves