Letter No.1120 of 1870 from Colonel Robert Phayre, Political Superintendent, Frontier Upper Sind, Jacobabad to William Lockyer Merewether, The Commissioner in Sind, Kurrachee [Karāchi] [‎99r] (5/6)

to use a weapon of that sort, against a high officer of the British Government; and I am
sure, that the Government will never allow Khelat correspondence to he carried on in that
spirit.
23. This attempt to mix up other matters with the intercepted correspondence ques
tion, has brought matters to a climax, and it only remains fur Government to decide, whether
the Deyra Ghazee Khan, and Sind bor ler tribes shall henceforth be governed from Khelat as a
centre or, as at present, from British territory. The present effort of the Khan, means nothing-
more or less than that, in order that he may once more enjoy the subsidy of Rs. 50,000,
(or whatever may be granted) for nominally keeping the Murrees and Boogtees in order.
If granted, the result will assuredly be the same as in 1862, when the Government of India
declined to pay any longer for work that was not done. The fact is that the Khan, as the
Ruler of Khelat, and the constant inmate ( I had almost said prisoner) of that citadel, situ
ated about 150 miles off, across a high and rugged range of mountains, never had, and ne
ver can have, any real power over the Murrees and Boogtees. Under us, those tribes will
become in time admirable border police, exercising, as they now do, so far as we have
had means to employ them, a formidable and wholesome check upon border crime ; and in
time of war, they will augment our force of Iwrder auxiliaries. Thus—in peace and war
alike, they will be attached to us by the indissoluble ties of Military service, and frequent
intercourse regarding their fields and other means of livelihood, precisely as all the other
Belooch tribes within our border now are. Reverse all this, by placing them under Khelat,
and what will be the result.? Simply, that they will become, as great a source of trouble and
annoyance, as they were before 18G8, owing to the incessant intrigues and tricks of the
Khelat officials, who would be appointed to manage them. In time of peace, instead of be
ing our police, they would be Khelat police, and what is still worse, in time of war, Khelat
auxiliaries instead of ours. We paying for their subsidy the whole time—and lastlv, the
Khelat Treasury would be recruited, and the means of developing Khelat policy, and of
consolidating its mercenary power to a still more objectionable extent than at present, bo
obtained.
24. The stake is a high one, and the Khan has done his best to win it; but I sub
mit that he has gone too far in making the original cause of grievance, which is to a cer
tain extent a legitimate one; the pretext for cavalierly throwing over the Political Super
intendent, manoeuvering in Khelat fashion against Captain Sandeman, and finally endeavour
ing to renew his grasp on the means of subsidizing the Murrees and Boogtees. These mav
be perfectly orthodox principles of Khelat Government, but I submit respectfully that they
hardly accord with English procedure in the matter of treaty alliances, of the nature of ours
with Khelat.
25. What makes this eccentric line of conduct on the part of the Khan the more
markea, is the fact that he never used to raise these difficulties. Captain Harrison knows
perfectly well, that it was Sir Henry Green, who first allowed Captain Sandeman to treat
direct with the Murrees, because he (Sir Henry Green) declared his inability to protect the
Punjaub border from their attacks ■ and the Khan never dreamt of objecting to the arrange-
1. Political Superintendent's let- ; neI,t - Cilptain Harris0n alsa knows, that this poUcy
t3r to Commissioner in Sine), No. 1838, has received the highest sanction in India and at Home,
of 30th December 1869. , t ^ j . +K,, 1^4.+^ t i • xi • it
2. Political Superintendent's let- } et tlie icUen, quoted m the margin, and the present
ter to Captain Harrison, No. 1110, da- correspondence show, that he has failed to support it
ted 21st July 1870, paras 7 to 18. ^ ^ ought
2G. A\ hen a Political Officer at a Xative Court, fails to co-operate in supporting a
policy resolved on by Government, he may, I submit, be fairly said to throw unnecessary
obstacles in the way of such policy; I therefore respectfully solicit the decision of my own
superiors in the matter, inviting attention to the gist of my 23rd para: above, viz. that