, Rustum Khan, Nusseer Khan, Ali Moorad
Khan, and Chakur Khan; at Meerpore, Shere Mahomed Khan. All of these
were Talpoor chiefs, and several of them had sons who were associated
with them in the government. They ruled over Scinde with a rod of iron,
living entirely for themselves, and wallowing in wealth, while their
people were living in the most wretched condition. In 1832, a treaty,
bearing date the 20th of April, was executed between the British
government in India and Meermoorad Ali, who at that time was the
principal Ameer of Scinde, in which a bond of friendship was entered
into, and mutual commerce was agreed upon. Another treaty was concluded
in 1834, by which the British obtained a reduction of tolls upon vessels
navigating the Indus; and it was agreed that a native British agent
should be allowed to reside at the mouth of the river. In 1838, in
consequence of the incursions of Runjeet Sing, the ruler of the Punjaub,
in the Scinde territory, which were checked by British mediation, it was
further conceded that an accredited British minister should reside at
Hyderabad, attended by such an escort as might be deemed suitable by his
government. Captain Pottinger was appointed to this service. It was soon
found, however, that the Ameers of Scinde were not in heart friends of
the British. When, in the autumn of 1838, the great military expedition
into Affghanistan was undertaken, a large body of Bengal troops marched
through a portion of Upper Scinde towards the Bolan Pass. The Bombay
troops, also, under the command of Sir John Keane, took their route into
Cabul by the way of the Indus; in doing which they encountered great
difficulty in prosecuting their onward progress, from the jealousy and
disaffection of the Ameers. Their conduct, in fact, became so hostile,
that a force was sent from Bombay to be stationed as a reserve in
Scinde, to keep the Ameers in check. This force was established at
Kurrachee; and before the army of the Indus left Hyderabad in February,
1839, another treaty was concluded with the Ameers, by which it was
stipulated that a British force should be stationed to the westward of
the Indus: that three of the Ameers--Noor Mahomed, Nusseer Khan, and
Meer Mahomed--should pay one lac of rupees (L10,000) each annually,
to defray part of the expenses of this force; that all tolls on boats
navigating the Indus within the Scinde territories should be abolished;
and that the Ameers should rule absolutely