ventured to assail it. It would be the height of presumption to attempt any description of this action beyond the admirable official despatch of the General*; and it only remains to observe, that since Clive's glorious victory at Plassey there has been nothing achieved by native or European troops in India at all to compare to it.

Subsequent to the action, the leading Amirs of Khyrpúr and Hyderabad surrendered unconditionally as prisoners of war, and the fort of Hyderabad was taken possession of by the British troops. In it were found all the treasures in specie and jewels of the Amirs, said variously to amount to about a million sterling. The Amirs, Mir Mahomed and Mir Sobhdar, who were not in action, but whose followers were present, were afterwards included in the general treatment, and became prisoners of war, though they claimed protection as refusing to act personally.

The noble conduct of these chiefs individually towards the British representative, whom they had long known intimately, and appreciated as he deserved, merits particular mention: they saved his life at the expense of their own interests, and were never ceasing in their assurances, that happen what would, they personally were only the instruments in the hands of an infuriated people clamouring against what they considered a direct infringement of their sacred rights.

* See Appendix.

In other parts of the country attacks were made on small parties of our detached troops, but in every case were bravely repulsed. The unflinching courage of a small party of the 15th regiment, N. I., under a native officer, deserves to be noticed. Finding it impossible to sustain their position on the bank of the river against the large bodies of the enemy, the sepoys betook themselves to a boat, and thus for three days sustained the continued attacks of the enemy in a narrow channel, making their way as tide and wind permitted, until the whole reached camp in safety, without the loss of a man, but inflicting severe punishment on the Bilúchis. The native officer, for his noble conduct, was deservedly promoted. A European officer and a Parsi merchant were captured on the river, and murdered; but the perpetrators of the deed suffered the punishment due to their crime.

There can scarcely be a greater proof of the Amirs themselves not intending to proceed to extremities, and being driven by their Bilúchis to opposition, than the fact of their leaving all their property at Hyderabad, as also their families, which they would otherwise have certainly removed to their places of refuge, in the fastnesses of the Bilúchi mountains to the westward, had their faith in the desert strongholds been weakened by the destruction of Imamgur, and also surrendering themselves to the British General the moment their

War being now declared in Sindh, the British detachment which had achieved the overthrow of the Amirs' forces was yet too weak to hold the city and fort of Hyderabad, and also to sustain the whole force of the country, which would be directed against its position at the capital; a reinforcement was consequently called for from the troops stationed in the upper country at Sukkur; and on the 3d of March a regiment of native cavalry, one of native infantry, and a troop of European horse artillery, marched by the eastern bank of the river towards Hyderabad, which the force reached on the 22d of that month, after having checked an attack made by the enemy at a place called Mattari. A junction being thus formed with the General, he determined to pursue the the enemy, who were reported to be in great numbers in his neighbourhood, under the command of Shir Mahomed of Mirpúr, a branch of the Talpúr family previously noticed. Having at length fixed upon a formidable position at a village called Duppa, near the Falláli, Sir Charles Napier gave the reinforcing detachment one day's rest, and then informed his troops that the next day, the 24th of March, he should go in quest of the enemy, and attack him wherever he found him.* This was at the place above named, where 20,000 Bilúchis were in position behind two deep trenches, consisting of a larger and smaller watercourse, running at nearly right angles from the river (Falláli), *For further particulars, see Appendix.

which supported and defended the enemy's right, with eleven guns. The British force amounted to about 5000 men, of all arms; and, after a desperate engagement — the particulars of which are given in the General's despatch-the enemy was completely defeated, with great loss, and their leader, Shir Mahomed, fled to the desert.

The forts of

Omarkót and Mirpúr were afterwards taken possession of by our troops without resistance; and thus, in two decisive and fiercely-contested actions, wherein the Amirs of Sindh were supported by their greatest military strength, a complete victory crowned the British arms, though with considerable loss in men and officers. The behaviour of the General and his gallant bands on these occasions has excited the admiration of all; and a sterling proof has been elicited of the unflinching constancy

and gallantry of the native troops of India, if ably led and stimulated by example. Whilst paying this passing tribute to the bravery of our own forces, let us not omit the notice due to the devotion and gallantry of the "brave Bilúchis," as Sir Charles Napier generously and honourably calls them. The proofs can no longer be wanting that they fought as men fighting for interests dearer to them than life; those who fell sealing their devotion to their chiefs with their blood, and, what is to be feared as a consequence, the survivors losing all that, in the East as elsewhere, renders life worth having-station in society, their long-cherished prescriptive rights, and the means of supporting themselves and families.

General Napier being appointed governor as well as military commander in Sindh, nominated various officers to the duty of collecting the revenue on and after the date of the battle of Miani, up to which arrears were not to be demanded; and Sindh, after the last engagement, was declared a "conquered country," and annexed to the British India possessions as such.

The fallen Amirs of Sindh, consisting of Mirs Nasir Khan, and his nephews, Mirs Shadad Khan and Hussein Allí Khan, Mir Mahomed, and Sobhdar, of Hyderabad, and Mirs Rústum Khan, and his nephews, Nasir Khan, and Wulli Mahomed Khan of Khyrpúr, with others, arrived at Bombay in her Majesty's sloop of war Nimrod, on the 19th