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Letter No.596 of 1870 from Colonel Sir William Lockyer Merewether, The Commissioner in Sind, Commissioner's Office, Kurrachee [Karāchi] to His Excellency the Right Honorable Sir William Robert Seymour Vesey Fitzgerald, Governor and President in Council, Bombay [‎135v] (22/34)

The record is made up of 17 folios. It was created in 15 Sep 1870. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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( 20 )
41, This para, also shows a very improper
and disrespectful view of the relative positions
of the Political Superintendent on the Frontier,
and the Commissioner as the head of the Pro
vince. Fair representation, of what he thought
was the correct course to be followed towards the
Khelat Government, was never denied to Colo
nel Phayre; what was objected to by me was his
persistently adhering to, and allowing his atti
tude towards that Government to be guided
by views, which I, as head of the Province, had
pointed out to him repeatedly were wrong, and
did not meet with my approval. In words he
professed " to give effect to whatever orders
may be issued in his letter No. 1725, of 5th
December 18G9, para 4, but in recent corres
pondence especially, he has shown that he was
disposed to work directly contrary to those or
ders. Whatever his views may be, I maintain
that he is bound to act in accordance with
the instructions which I, as the person respon
sible for the proper administration of the
whole Province under Government, conceive
it necessary, and expedient to give. The terms
•used in this para, show a very wrong sense
of the nature of due subordination to superior
authority, and I trust that I may be fa
vored with an early exposition of the wishes of
your Excellency, in respect to the mode in
which Political matters on the Frontier are to
be conducted, so that I may be saved having to
comment again on such a very improper line of
conduct as Colonel Phayre has ventured on
adopting in this letter.
41. In reply to this, I beg to acquaint
you that my letter No. 1725 of 18G9, and the
narrative that accompanied it, speak for them
selves. As Political Superintendent on this
Frontier, and Executive Officer of the whole
Frontier administration, I, by virtue of the pow
ers entrusted to me by Government, exercise
full freedom of represention on all matters con
nected with my duty, the only limit to those
powers being that I address all my reports, &c.
to you as Commissioner of the Province, but
to be obliged to mould and subordinate all my
reports upon the detailed working of my sphere
of administration, in all its branches, so as to
correspond with your ideas, would be indeed
an abdication of my proper functions; which I
am bound in honor to exercise to the best of
my ability, with the independence of mind that
befits my position. After my reports leave my
office they are open to fair criticism, and are
accepted or rejected as may appear right to my
superiors ; thus, though I brought out that nar
rative 44 in spite of my knowing that you dis-
" sented from the opinions expressed therein"
as you are pleased to express it, yet, I have to
learn, that the Government was displeased at
my bringing such a mass of distinguished evi
dence to light, as that narrative contains ; indeed,
it is the more valuable now, that I have been
casually enabled to endorse it by the confirming
evidence of General Jacobs letters.
42. In your 10th para, you state as fol
lows— a now, however, that in addition to enun-
ciating wrong views and principles of action,
" you have further ventured to act upon them,
" treating the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Khelat unjust-
" ly, and censuring him when he was carefully
" and studiously carrying out the orders I had
" issued, I must interfere and desire that you
" will abstain from acting on the opinion you
" have chosen to form, and simply follow, both
" in your own conduct and in correspondence
ct with the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. Khelat, the instruc-
" tions quoted above. These you are well aware
" were aproved of by the Government of India
iu Mr. Seton Karr's letter No. 961, of the 13th

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Letter enclosing a letter from Colonel Robert Phayre which Merewether feels is exceedingly improper and disrespectful in its tone and that he has felt it necessary to add remarks to the letter to demonstrate the Colonel's continued misunderstanding of the situation and the different documents he has quoted from.

Enclosed with the letter is No.1260 of 1870 from Colonel Phayre, to Colonel Merewether, 3 September 1870, in which the Colonel defends his position and his attitudes towards Khelat [Kalāt] and Captain Charles Henry Harrison (The Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Khelat) including giving his understanding of the history of Khelat and how that applied to the present situation. Alongside each paragraph is a counter-explanation from Colonel Merewether, most of which either give fuller explanations of the correspondence cited or highlight areas where the Colonel has made assumptions and suppositions without having any evidence to support them.

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17 folios
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English in Latin script
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Letter No.596 of 1870 from Colonel Sir William Lockyer Merewether, The Commissioner in Sind, Commissioner's Office, Kurrachee [Karāchi] to His Excellency the Right Honorable Sir William Robert Seymour Vesey Fitzgerald, Governor and President in Council, Bombay [‎135v] (22/34), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F126/22, ff 125-141, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100024195160.0x000045> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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