A.D. 1814. reinforcement sent from the battery was obliged to share their flight, and a large proportion of the whole party had fallen before a strong detachment from the Repulse at camp arrived, and effectually checked their pursuers. This affair, magnified by the enemy into a victory, tended to counteract the moral effect of the advantages which the division had previously gained.

Ramghur.

inforcements.

General Ochterlony, though aware how much the difficulties with which he had to contend could now be increased, was preparing to carry out his plan for turning the Ghoorka lines, when he received intelligence of the second serious repulse at Kalunga. Afraid that a general rising of the whole country might ensue, he deemed it prudent to abandon the offensive till new reinforcements should enable him to resume it with more certainty of success. This period of inaction was not unprofitably spent. The country as far as practicable was explored, roads practicable both for troops and artillery were formed, and some degree of discipline was given to the irregular troops of some petty rajahs, whom the presence of a British force had emboldened to throw off the Ghoorka Arrival of re- yoke. On the 26th of December, after nearly a month had been devoted to these useful labours, the expected reinforcements arrived. They consisted of the 2d battalion of the 7th native infantry and a levy of Sikhs. General Ochterlony, feeling again strong enough, immediately resumed the offensive by sending off a detachment to spread along the enemy's rear and threaten his communications with Arkee and Bilaspoor, by occupying a low range of hills on the north-east of Ramghur. Amar Sing, alarmed at this movement, endeavoured to frustrate it by a daring attack on the detachment. The offensive, however, proved as adverse to him as it had done to the British in their encounters, and he sustained a repulse which obliged him to return to his position at Ramghur. The British general, still following out his plan, left Colonel Arnold with a division to watch the enemy's movements, and proceeded with the main body towards a mountain ridge, the occupation of which would place him between the Sutlej and the Ghoorka fort of Malaun. At the same time he sent forward about 2000 troops belonging to the petty Rajah of Hindoor, who had early joined him and rendered valuable service. These troops, under the command of Captain Ross, took possession of the heights above Bilaspoor, between whose rajah and that of Hindoor a deadly feud had long existed. The success of these combined movements soon appeared. Amar Sing, convinced that his position was no longer tenable, left a garrison in the fort of Ramghur, and hastened with his whole remaining force to the ridge on which Malaun stands. Colonel Arnold, thus left at liberty, moved round the opposite extremity of the ridge to co-operate with General Ochterlony, and during the march received the submission of the Rajah of Bilaspoor, as well as gained possession of the fort of Ratangerh, situated opposite to Malaun, and only separated from it by a wide and deep ravine. A detachment under Colonel Cooper shortly after gained possession of Ramghur, and dispossessed the

Capture of
Ramghur.

of Malaun.

Ghoorkas of all their other posts in the south. Thus, by a series of skilful A.D. 1815. movements, General Ochterlony, without a direct encounter with the enemy, had obliged them to retire before him till only one place of strength within Investment the district remained in their possession. Even this was held by a very precarious tenure, for on the 1st of April, 1815, Malaun was completely invested. An account of the subsequent operations in this quarter must in the meantime be postponed, in order to attend to the proceedings of the other two divisions of the British army.

Wood's

The division under General Wood was not able to take the field before the General middle of December. Leaving Goruck poor, he began his march northwards in operations. the direction of Palpa, situated about 100 miles W.N.W. of Khatmandoo. In order to reach it by the most direct route, it was necessary to traverse a difficult mountain-pass, which was reported to be strongly stockaded, and therefore General Wood, understanding that it might be turned by following a different route, proceeded on the 3d of January, 1815, to attack the stockade of Jetpoor, at the foot of the Majkote Hills, about a mile west of Bhotwal, as in consequence of the new route which he meant to follow, it would be necessary to carry it. He accordingly advanced with twenty-one companies to attack the stockade in front, while Major Comyn was detached with seven companies to turn it on the left. As his information had been imperfect or erroneous, he encountered a determined resistance at points where he had not anticipated, and became so disheartened, that he despaired of success before there was any reasonable ground to doubt of it. He therefore not only ordered a retreat, but, His retreat. assuming that his forces were inadequate to the task assigned him, abandoned all idea of offensive operations, and resolved to confine himself to the humbler task of preventing the Ghoorkas from making incursions across the frontier. Even in this he was not successful. The Ghoorkas found little difficulty in penetrating at many points and committing great devastation. Under these circumstances the best thing which occurred to him was to retaliate, and he was repeatedly seen vieing with the Ghoorkas as to the amount of injury which they could mutually inflict on the unoffending inhabitants whose misfortune it was to dwell on either side of the boundary between British India and Nepaul. After persisting for a time in this petty and ignominious warfare, the insalubrity of the climate began to tell seriously on the health of the troops, and they were finally withdrawn into cantonments at Goruckpoor.

The division under General Marley, as it was the strongest of all the four, General Marley's was also the one from which the most decisive results were expected. It was operations. directed immediately against the capital, and it was therefore presumed that if it succeeded, the Ghoorka rajah would have no alternative but to sue for peace. It assembled at Dinapore, and on the 23d of November commenced its march in the direction of Bettia To clear the way for its advance, Major Bradshaw had been previously detached against the Ghoorka posts in the

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199

General

A.D. 1815. frontier forests. While thus occupied, he succeeded, on the 24th of November, in completely surprising Parsuram Thapa, the governor of the district, who was encamped on the banks of the Bhagmate with 400 men. The governor himself operations. was among the slain, and the whole force was so completely dispersed, that the other posts of the district fell without opposition; and the low swampy and unhealthy tract lying at the southern outskirts of the Himalaya, and known by the name of the Tirai, was formally annexed to the British dominions.

Marley's

Their injudi

This first success, had it been properly followed up, would have been the cious nature. prelude to others of still greater importance, but General Marley, though his instructions ordered him to leave his guns in the rear, till he had gained a position considerably in advance, chose to wait for them, and waste his time in other preliminary arrangements, till the advantage which might have been taken of the alarm caused by Parsuram Thapa's discomfiture was completely lost. The Ghoorkas were not long in penetrating the character of the commander to whom this division of the British troops had been intrusted, and were in consequence emboldened to undertake an enterprise which had the effect at the very outset of hampering all the future operations of the British. To secure the Tirai against any attempt that might be made to recover it before the arrival of the main body, Major Bradshaw stationed three small bodies of troops about the distance of twenty miles apart from each other; the central one at Baragerhi, another at Samanpoor on the right, and the third at Parsa on the left. General Marley encamped at Lautan, only two miles west of Baragerhi, but no precaution was taken for the safety of the outposts of Samanpoor and Parsa. The result which might have been anticipated was soon realized. Both posts were suddenly attacked on the 1st of January, 1815. The attack on Samanpoor was a complete surprise, and all the troops at the station were killed or dispersed. At Parsa an attack had been expected, and reinforcements which had been applied for were actually on the way, but they only arrived in time not to frustrate the attack, but merely to cover the retreat of the fugitives.

General

Marley's retreat.

These losses, sufficiently great in themselves, were rendered disastrous by the course which they induced the commander to adopt. Alarmed at the number of desertions, and even doubtful of the fidelity of those who remained, while the terror of a Ghoorka attack, which he would be unable to resist, continually haunted him, he saw no safety but in a retrograde movement, in order to save the depôt of Bettia from capture, and give protection to the Sarum frontier. His terrors preceded him, and nothing was talked of at Goruckpoor and Tirhoot but the approaching invasion of an overwhelming Ghoorka force. Nothing but the weakness of the enemy prevented the catastrophe which cowardice thus predicted. The effect however was to enable the Ghoorkas to recover nearly the whole of the Tirai, and to carry their incursions once more into the British territories. General Marley's mode of conducting the war had

been severely condemned by the governor-general, and he had in consequence A.D. 1815. been deprived of the command. He was therefore only waiting for the arrival

appearance

of his successor, General Wood, when he volunteered a stronger proof of Sudden disimbecility than any he had yet furnished by suddenly disappearing from the of General camp before daylight, without giving the troops any notification of his intention, Marley. or even making any provision for the ordinary routine of command. The absence of such an officer could not cause any permanent inconvenience, and as the division had received reinforcements which raised it to the number of 13,000, it was now better prepared than ever for offensive operations. While the temporary command was held by Colonel Dick, an affair took place which threw the enemy into great alarm and inflicted on him considerable loss. Lieutenant Pickersgill, while engaged with a small escort in surveying, fell in with a party of 400 Ghoorkas, who in the eagerness of pursuit left the cover of the forest, and followed him in the direction of the British camp. Colonel Dick, on hearing the firing, sent forward a troop of 100 irregular horse, and followed in person with all the pickets. The Ghoorkas, totally unconscious of the snare into which they were running, no sooner saw how they had entangled themselves, than they were seized with panic, and made an ineffectual effort to escape. More than a hundred, including the commander, were killed, many in attempting to cross a stream were drowned, and the remainder were either taken prisoners or dispersed. The affair, though in itself comparatively insignificant, spread so much alarm among the Ghoorkas, that they hastily retired from their advanced posts, and allowed the Tirai to be again occupied by the British.

on Khat

Considering the pusillanimous course which General Wood had followed at the head of his own division, one is at a loss to account for the infatuation which selected him for this new and more important command. When he arrived in the end of February, 1815, the unhealthy season was still a month distant, and there was therefore room for much active service. He thought otherwise, and after marching and countermarching as if for the mere purpose of assuring himself that the Ghoorkas had really abandoned the lowlands, and had no intention of disputing the possession of them, he returned to the frontier, and placed the army in cantonments. The advance on Khatmandoo, the great The advance object of the campaign, was thus abandoned without having been once seriously mandoo attempted. In other quarters greater activity was displayed, and better results abandoned. were obtained. Captain (now Major) Latter, who, with his small detachment, was stationed on the banks of the Coosy, not only accomplished the defensive object primarily contemplated, but drove the Ghoorkas from all their positions, gained possession of the province of Moorang, and formed an important alliance with the Rajah of Sikhim. In the province of Kumaon, forming the very centre of the Ghoorka conquests, successes of still greater consequence were accomplished. The Rajah Chautra Bam Sak, who had been compelled to yield to the Ghoorka yoke, was with his people groaning under it, and ready to embrace any opportunity

in Kumaon.

A.D. 1815. which promised the means of deliverance. The inhabitants of the adjoining province of Ghurwal were similarly affected. Dislike to the rule of the Rajah of Operations Serinagur had induced them to countenance a Ghoorka invasion, but having soon found that in changing masters they had not improved their condition, they were again ready for a new revolution. It was resolved to turn these circumstances to account, and Colonel Gardner, after raising an irregular force of about 3000 men, began on the 15th of February, 1815, to ascend the hills in the direction of Almora. He was shortly after followed by another body of irregulars under Captain Hearsay. As Colonel Gardner advanced, the Ghoorkas were driven successively from all their posts, and obliged at last to concentrate on the ridge on which Almora stands. Captain Hearsay, after commencing with similar promise of success, and capturing Chumpawut, the capital of the district, was suddenly attacked while engaged in the siege of a hill-fort, defeated, and taken prisoner.

Subjugation of Kumaon

wal.

The importance of the operations in Kumaon having now been practically and Ghur tested, Colonel Nicolls was sent thither with a body of about 2000 regular troops, and a proportion of field artillery. Having arrived on the 8th of April, and assumed the command, he detached Major Paton against Hastee Dal Chautra, the officer who had defeated Captain Hearsay, and who, after lodging his prisoner in Almora, had proceeded to the north-west to occupy a mountain pass. An encounter took place, and after a spirited struggle, in which the Ghoorkas lost their commander, they were put to flight. Before they were permitted to recover from the effects of their discomfiture, the stockades in front of Almora were attacked, and gallantly carried. Not a moment was lost in preparing to attack the fort, and the very next morning the mortars opened upon it with destructive effect. Bam Sak, who defended it, had not hitherto shown any symptoms of the disaffection which he was supposed to entertain. He had even indignantly rejected the advantageous offers made to tempt his fidelity. The bombardment was more effectual. Shortly after it commenced, crowds of deserters began to flock into the British camp, and a flag of truce announced the readiness of the garrison to capitulate. The terms were that the Ghoorkas should be permitted to retire across the Kalee with their arms and personal effects, and that not only the fort of Almora, but the entire provinces of Kumaon and Ghurwal should be ceded to the British. This was unquestionably the most triumphant result which the Nepaulese war had yet yielded.

Ochterlony's

successes.

Still farther west, though General Martindale in the Dehra Doon still remained before Jytak, and had abandoned all hope of reducing it except by famine, General Ochterlony was continuing his more brilliant career. After seizing all the enemy's posts and confining them to the heights of Malaun, he determined to break through the line of their defences. These stretched along the summit of the mountain between Malaun on the right, and the fort of