Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 6.djvu/18

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SIND. aggression. There were separate treaties with separate Ameers, but all had the same tendency; and the lapse of time only strengthens the conclusion that, having no enemies to fear from without, and no possibility of having any, the protection of the English had been forced upon them, and never for a moment, desired.

The events of the Afghan war need not be followed here; they are the subject of the general history of the period written by many authors. The Ameers were helpless between the undisguised hostility and contempt of their own warlike subjects the Belochees, and the British power; moreover, they were disunited in family affairs, and the several treaties had become fertile sources of mistrust and jealousy; but the war in Afghanistan progressed, and Sind was at least tranquil, and useful as a means of communication and source of supplies. Finally came the catastrophe at Kabool.

If the Ameers had secretly intrigued before, it is very possible that they now looked to British reverses for regaining the independence they had lost: and they were reported as unfaithful, in some respects, to the Governor-General. By this time Lord Auckland had retired from office, and had been succeeded by Lord Ellenborough, a man of very different stamp, who wrote to the Ameers separately, declaring that if they proved faithful he would respect and support them, but if on the contrary, they were treacherous he would deprive them of their dominions. These letters were, however, withheld, whether wisely or not it is useless now to speculate; they might either have driven the Ameers at once to extremities, and caused a new war at a very critical period, or, they might have had the desired impression and saved them. Major (afterwards Sir James) Outram, the resident in Sind, thought them dangerous, and, on reflection. Lord Ellenborough agreed with him. On the other hand, Outram, resenting the apparently increasing deceit and perfidy of the Ameers in their treasonable correspondence, collected and submitted it to the Governor-General; and on these documents and the local transactions, he proposed a new treaty. Some portions of it were highly favourable to them; but some—the cession of Bukkur and Kurrachee, the one the northern river-gate of Sind, the other its seaport—the navigation of the Indus by steamers—the cutting of fuel in the royal woods—were highly offensive. This new treaty was not, however, immediately presented for acceptance; and meanwhile the disturbances in Sind, the defiant attitude of several of the Ameers in the assembly of their troops, and the treasonable intrigues and correspondence, if possible, increased.

In September, 1842, Sir Charles Napier reached Sind, bearing special powers and instructions from Lord Ellenborough. He succeeded Major Outram, whose service as political agent in chief were dispensed with, though he was subsequently re-employed. Sir Charles Napier's reports confirmed those of Outram, and his suggestions for a new treaty were substantially the same as those of his predecessor.