turned to account by the sovereign of Nepaul remains to be seen.

Nepaul certainly had got herself into bad odour with the government of India by her unfriendly intrigues with the governments of Lahore and Gwalior, during the period of our hostilities with those states-intrigues frustrated by Lord Ellenborough's vigilance and determination-and the Rajah might have supposed that a complimentary mission, laden with valuable presents would have smoothed the angry brow of Great Britain. Or it is possible that Jung Bahadoor contemplated using the embassy as a means of impressing her Chinese neighbour, upon whose territory she casts wistful eyes, with a belief in her influence at the court of England -and mayhap of France-and of holding that influence in terrorem over the heads of the celestials.

Peace has now subsisted between the Nepaulese and the British for about thirtysix years, and we see no chance of its being interrupted. The occupation of a mountainous

region with no more than forty inhabitants to the square mile, would be no temptation to its conquest; and its military occupation would be simply the planting of an expensive garrison in it, which would not merely add to our strength, but absolutely weaken it by dispersing our force. Neither do we think the independence of the Nepaulese in any danger from the Chinese, who would by occupying the country only bring themselves into juxta-position with a power that they now understand but too well, and who, they must be well aware, would not brook the habitual insolence with which they treat weak neighbours,

The Nepaulese, however, situated as they are between two nations, both far too formidable to be resisted, may feel their position awkward and embarrassing; and the late mission may have originated in a desire to ascertain the power, resources, and Indian policy of the most formidable of them. When Hyder Ali was urged by his captains to invade and conquer the possessions of the English in the Carnatic, he

used to say the power in sight was not much, and he had no fear of it, but that he dreaded the mysterious one out of sight, and of which he had no knowledge. The Nepaulese court, then, may be acting on the principle of desiring to ascertain the nature of the mysterious power that is out of sight in Hindustan, and which bewildered the ablest and most formidable of our Indian enemies.

But, as we have said above, all speculation upon the matter is vain and premature. Time alone can disclose the true purposes of the mission, and be they "wicked or charitable," England has the consolation of knowing that she is armed at all points, and has proved herself, in all her relations with Nepaul, an hospitable neighbour, an honest negociator, and a formidable enemy.

CHAPTER V.

SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY,

ALTHOUGH the military life, so far as Nepaul is concerned, of Sir D. Ochterlony, is narrated in the foregoing pages, it would be a species of treason to the Indian army-for which I must always cherish a lively affection-were I not, in this place, to offer a memoir of one who was generally regarded by the sepoys as their father and friend. A history of Nepaul, without a special biography of Ochterlony, would be like "Hamlet," without the Prince of Denmark. I shall endeavour, therefore, to sketch the biography of "Lony Ochter," as the sepoys by

an inexplicable transposition called him; omitting all such matters as have already been detailed.

David Ochterlony, the son of an emigrant merchant, was born at Boston, in North America. His father was a cadet of the family of Pitforthy, formerly styled of Ochterlony, which had possessed lands in the counties of Forfar and Aberdeen for upwards of two

centuries.

The mother of the future General was an American lady of the name of Tyler. After the death of her first husband, which, occurring suddenly, caused derangement in his affairs, she married Sir Isaac Heard, the late Garter King-at-Arms. Young Ochterlony, left nearly destitute when about ten years of age, found an affectionate reception from his uncle, the Laird of Pitforthy, who put him to school in Scotland, where, along with the early part of his education, he imbibed the national feelings of a Scotsman, and continued to cherish them through life. This filial attachment to