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 [‎140r] (31/34)

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61. Colonel Phayre fails entirely to under
stand the important bearing of this question, or
to appreciate my remarks. 11 is own report
states " a day or two ago in Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , when dis-
" cussing a matter affecting a Chief of the
" Eoogtee tribe, in which the latter, according
" to the custom of a century, deprecated the
" Khan's interference with the internal econo-
tc my and management of his tribe, and soli
cited to address a petition to His Highness
" on the subject.' The impertinence of the
Belooch was daring to question the right of
the Khan, his Sovereign, before Colonel Phayre,
and asking the latter's permission to address his
own Khan. This was most disrespectful to the
Khan, and ought to have met with immediate
rebuke. Its not being so, would be regarded
by the Belooch, as marking that his view of the
case was the correct one, and that he could put
the British Officer before the Khan, which I
hold lie did, when he asked permission of the
former to address the latter. This is what was
regarded as ignoring the Khan, and it is not
explained to have been otherwise.
!9 )
my Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). in your letter No. 522, dated 23rd
ultimo, and the strong censure you pass upon
me in connection therewith.
61. In reply to this, I beg to state that
neither did the man make an impertinent re
quest, nor did he ignore the Khan as his Sove
reign, for it was as his Sovereign that he ad
dressed him.
G2. This is an instance of the very unsatis
factory An East India Company trading post. , and I may say reckless, way in which
Colonel 1 hay re quotes particular sentences from
records, when he finds they suit particular points
he is desirous of urging, without stating whe
ther such sentences are correct data to go upon,
or whether they are not modified, if not entirely
altered by others that follow. This quotation is
taken from a very valuable sketch of States and
Six dais connected with the Frontier of Upper
Sind, drawn up by General Jacob in September
1854, and is to be found in the printed records
of the Sind Horse, 2nd volume, page 195. In
the opening part, it is generally Stated that
putting aside the Bhawulpoor State, « the others
(meaning tribes) may be naturally arranged
c ' under three heads.
ec
" 1st.—The tribes residing beyond British
teiiitoi\, and dc Jcicto independent of any
" other State.
G2. You are aware that General Jacob
classifies the Barokzyes of Seebee, and the
Murree and Boogtee clans, with certain others
on the Punjab border, as " independent tribes
" residing beyond British territory, and de
" facto independent of any other State."