under Brigadier Stevenson; a brigade of cavalry, composed of two squadrons of her Majesty's 4th Light Dragoons, and 1st Bombay Light Cavalry, under Brigadier Scott; and a body of infantry, consisting of her Majesty's 2nd and 17th, and of the 1st, 5th, 19th, and 23rd native regiments, under the command of Major-General Willshire. The Poonah auxiliary horse were to accompany this force, which also brought into the field an Engineer department, a detachment of Sappers and Miners, and a siege-train consisting of two 18-pounders and four 9-pounders.
The British force was in motion by the end of 1838; and, for various reasons, chiefly political, it marched, not through the Sikh territory, but by way of Sinde and Beloochistan. The troops from Bombay, under Sir John Keane, embarked on the 21st of November for the Indus, on the banks of which they were to be joined by Sir Henry Fane, with the force from Bengal. On the 3rd of December, the former disembarked at the branch of the river named Hujamree, and by difficult marches arrived on the 28th at Tatta, where negotiations were opened with the Ameers resident at Hyderabad. On the 13th of January, 1839, two officers were sent to these chiefs with an ultimatum which demanded the free navigation of the Indus, the admission of a British force to be stationed at Tatta and other points, together with the payment of 170,000 rupees, in part of arrears due to Shah Sujah.
On the 25th of January the mission returned, and reported the entire rejection of these terms, describing the city as filled with large bands of warlike Beloochees, and stating that active measures had been taken to strengthen the fortifications. They advised, therefore, to defer the attack till after the arrival of the Bengal force; but on the 3rd of February Sir John Keane took post on the opposite side of the river; while Admiral Maitland, with the Wellesley, seventy-four, moved upon Currachee, a large seaport, west of the Indus, and communicating with it by a navigable channel. The governor at first showed
