thanks to you for the excellent manner in which the services entrusted to you have been performed.

Extract of Military Letter, from the Honourable the Court of Directors, to the Governor of Bengal, No. 44, dated 6th July, 1842.

Letter, dated 28th December, 1841. No. 164.

46. In consideration of the peculiar circumstances in which Lieutenant Thomas Smith was placed, and of the gallantry and zeal displayed by him on the field, we are disposed to authorise the grant to him of those staff, and other allowances to which he would have been entitled by the regulations of the service, if the appointment as extra aide-de-camp conferred upon him by Major-General Brooks, in General Orders, dated Mhow, 11th September, 1840-and in virtue of which, he

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47

proceeded to Scinde, had been confirmed by your go

Major-General, Adjutant-General of the Army.

The rules of the service did not permit of my continuing aide-de-camp to General Brooks. I therefore rejoined my regiment, and no opportunity presented itself to Government of giving me any appointment, as a sort of compensation for my "ride," until 1841, when I was appointed Assistant to the Resident, and to command the escort of the British

Resident at Nepaul. The latter duty was an exceedingly easy one; though it sometimes called into action all the firmness and energy I could muster, and as it was accompanied by the tenure of the assistantship to the silent,

I did not consider that I had been altogether

unrewarded.

It was during the leisure which I enjoyed at Khatmandoo that the previous occurrences narrated in the following pages transpired, and the idea suggested itself of collecting material for an account of the kingdom and people.

That the chapters devoted to history, zoology, statistics, &c., may not be interrupted by egotism, I may here be pardoned for inserting certain testimonials to the manner in which I performed my duties at the Nepaul Residency.

(No. 16 of 1842.)

FROM THE RESIDENT, NEPAUL.

To T. H. Maddock, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India, with the Governor-General.

Sir,

Nepaul Residency, June 11th, 1842.

I have the honour to report to you that pursuant to the intention already announced to you, my Assistant, Lieutenant Smith, set off yesterday afternoon, by Dak,

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49

for the Right Honourable the Governor-General's Camp, after having had, on the previous evening, in my company, a courteous audience of leave from the Muha Rajah and his Son.

2. On his way through the city again yesterday, the Muha Rajah threw himself into Captain Smith's path, for the purpose of saying that the recent exorbitancies had been the doing of the unruly heir apparent ; that his Highness would take care to prevent them in future; and that he would satisfactorily adjust with the Resident the pending matters of dispute.

3. It appears, therefore, that however gross the Rajah's hypocrisy, the restraining effect of this measure, which was announced to the Rajah merely as the result of a summons to myself that I could not from ill health obey, has been rightly calculated, and is already in operation. That the operation may continue, and be attended with some material degree of efficacy, is all we have at present to desire.

4. Captain Smith's prompt offer of his services on this occasion, the moment he thought they might be useful, is in entire harmony with prior similar acts of devotion, and deserves the highest commendation. With what intelligent industry he has shown since his arrival here, to make himself master of the state of affairs, the Right Honourable the Governor-General will soon have opportunity to judge, and on this point

VOL. I.

D

I will not presume to anticipate the approbation of his Lordship.

To Captain Smith's care I have committed some principal dispatches of the past three years, duly arranged, and which Captain Smith is prepared to give either a written or verbal summary of, for the information of the Right Honourable the Governor-General. I have the honour to be,

From Major Lawrence, Resident, to T. Currie, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India.

Nepaul, 27th December, 1843.

Sir,

I have the honour to enclose what appears to me to be a very complete return of the Nepaul Military Establishment; and trust that the Right Honourable the Governor-General will approve of the spirit that has induced Captain Smith to make the inquiries requisite