and the settlement of the country under British
suzerainty appeared to have been assured. Yet the seeds of fresh trouble
were already working, and his successor was to prove himself a second
Wellesley, and add new territories of great extent to British India.

Lord Moira, better known by his later title as Marquis of Hastings,
displayed qualities as governor-general of which his previous career had
given no indication. He had already proved himself a good soldier, but
he was a court favourite as well as a somewhat impracticable politician,
and owed his appointment to other influences than his own merit. His
arrival in India nearly coincided with the charter of 1813, which threw
open the India trade, and virtually ushered in a new social era. He was
at once confronted with an empty treasury, on the one hand, and, on the
other, with alarming reports both from the northern frontier and from
the central provinces, still under independent princes of doubtful
fidelity. The earlier part of his nine years' residence in India was
engrossed by most harassing operations against the Nepalis and the
Pindaris, but these operations resulted in perfect success, and Hastings
was able to show before he left India that he was eminent alike in civil
and in military administration.

The mountainous region of Nepal, lying on the slopes of the Himalayas
north of Bengal and Oudh, had been occupied by the warlike nation, still
known as the Gurkhas, whose capital was at Khatmandu. Like the Marathas,
they had been in the habit of pillaging British territory as well as
Oudh, and when part of Oudh was annexed by Wellesley, frontier disputes
were added to former grounds of hostility. Minto remonstrated with them
sharply but in vain, and Moira lost no time in declaring war against
them. The first campaign of 1814, which followed, though skilfully
conceived by Moira, who held the office of commander-in-chief, was
carried out with little generalship, and was marked by disasters highly
damaging to British prestige. Three out of four armies launched against
the hill-tribes met with serious reverses, chiefly due to a contempt for
the enemy, and a persistence in making frontal assaults on strong
positions without practicable breaches, which have proved so fatal in
many a later conflict between British troops and undisciplined foes.
During the cold season, however, on the extreme north-west, the cautious
but irresistible advance of General Ochterlony penet