[37] Khelat (more properly Khelat-i-Nussear Khan, "the citadel
of Nussear Khan," by whom it was strongly fortified in 1750,)
is the principal city and fortress of the Brahooes or Eastern
Baloochee, and the residence of their chief. It had never been
taken by any of the Affghan kings, and had even opposed a
successful resistance to the arms of Ahmed Shah;--but on
November 13, 1839, it was stormed by an Anglo-Indian force
under General Wiltshire, and the Khan Mihrab was slain sword in
hand, gallantly fighting to the last at the entrance of his
zenana. The place, however, was soon after surprised and
recaptured by the son of the fallen chief, Nussear Khan, who,
though again expelled, continued to maintain himself with a few
followers in the mountains, and at last effected an
accommodation with the British, and was replaced on the musnud.
He has since fulfilled his engagements to us with exemplary
fidelity; and as his fears of compulsory vassalage to the
nominally restored Affghan monarchy are now at an end, he
appears likely to afford a solitary instance of a trans-Indian
chief converted into a firm friend and ally.
Before we finally dismiss the subject of the Affghan war and its
consequences, we cannot overlook one feature in the termination of the
contest, which is of the highest importance, as indicating a return to a
better system than that miserable course of reduction and parsimony,
which, for some years past, has slowly but surely been alienating the
attachment, and breaking down the military spirit, of our native army.
We refer to the distribution, by order of Lord Ellenborough, of badges
of honorary distinction, as well as of more substantial rewards, in the
form of augmented allowances,[38] &c., to the sepoy corps which have
borne the brunt of the late severe campaign. Right well have these
honours and gratuities been merited; nor could any measure have been
better timed to strengthen in the hearts of the sepoys the bonds of the
_Feringhi salt_, to which they have so long proved faithful. The policy,
as well as the justice, of holding out every inducement which may rivet
the attachment of the native troops to our service, obvious as it must
appear, has in truth been of late too much neglected;[39] and it has
become at this juncture doubly imperative, both from the severe and
unpopular duty in which a considerable portion of the troops have
recently been engaged, and from the widely-spread disaffection which has
lately manifested itself in various quarters among the native
population. We predicted in July, as the probable consequence of our
reverses in Affghanistan, some open manifestation of the spirit of
revolt constantly smouldering among the various races of our subjects in
India, but the prophecy had already been anticipated by the event. The
first overt resistance to authority appeared in Bhundelkund, a wild and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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