1 228 SINDE.
2 Ameers, and to warn them that the disappointment of that hope ,
3 would render necessary the temporary occupation of Shikarpoor
4 and of as much of the adjacent country as might be required to
5 afford a secure basis to the contemplated military operations,
6 while, by neglecting to avail themselves of the proffered media-
7 tion in regard to the claim of Shoojah, they would become ex-
8 posed to the full effect of any measures which he might deem
9 proper for the enforcement of his claim, which, under such a
10 supposition, the Governor-General could not interfere to control.
11 The instructions advert to some other points, but the above are
12 the chief.
13 Colonel Pottinger, in the discharge of his duty, had to en-
14 counter a full share of the impediments usual in Oriental diplo-
15 macy, and the general conduct of the Ameers of Hyderabad was
16 such as to lead to an unqualified suspicion of their hostile feel-
17 ings; the British army, however, passed without molestation,
18 and the members of the British mission were compelled to take
19 their departure. Alexander Burnes’s was somewhat less difficult,
20 though here a great obstacle to the conclusion of terms existed in
21 the demand of the British Government for the surrender of the
22 fortress of Bukkur. The Ameers at length gave way, and signed
23 a general treaty of alliance, together with the most unpalatable
24 article conveying to his ally the right of occupying the strongest
25 hold in his dominions. The Hyderabad Ameers also finally gave
26 . way, and after various unsuccessful attempts at agreement, ratified
27 a treaty originally consisting of twenty-one articles, but which
28 had been cut down by the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, to
29 fourteen. Among the articles expunged were several prescribing
30 ‘the manner in which intercourse should be carried on with the
31 port of Kurrachee. Hostile possession of that place had pre-
32 viously been taken by a British force, and the Governor-General
33 regarded this fact as placing in the hands of the captors the
34 power of dictating the terms on which intercourse with the fort
35 should be carried on. The general effect of the treaty was to
36 place the territory of the Ameers of Hyderabad in a state of sub-
37 sidiary dependency on the British Government. A treaty,
38 nearly corresponding with that entered into with the Hyderabad
39 chiefs, was subsequently concluded with Mere Shere Mohamed
40 Khan, Ameer of Meerpoor.
41 These arrangements did not prevent the recurrence of disputes.