Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/89

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THE GÚRKHA WAR, 1814-16
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Gúrkhas was now affixed in haste to the treaty of Segauli, and dispatched at once to the English camp, with a humble petition that it might be accepted and the past forgotten. General Ochterlony, aware that the unhealthy season was approaching in which it would not be easy to maintain an army in the seat of war, and being fully empowered to do so, received the Nepalese envoy and concluded the treaty; not however before the Gúrkhas had made ample submission and had ceded all territory up to the Rapti, which was now constituted as the new frontier.

Thus at last was peace made, after many incidents, disappointments, and successes, and the crushed Nepalese evinced much alacrity to perform its conditions. Lord Hastings, seeing that they were duly humbled and knowing that victory placed him above the suspicion of weakness, could now afford to be generous; he therefore gave effect to the conciliatory policy which he conceived would produce a lasting friendship between Calcutta and Khátmándu. These final arrangements were made later, and a frontier was traced out and marked by pillars of masonry; the English, in lieu of the annual subsidy of two lakhs of rupees, gave back to Nepál the Tarái, and only retained such parts as were necessary to rectify the border line; but a small strip of these plains was also handed over to the Rájá of Sikkim — with whom a protective treaty was signed February, 1817; moreover, as the Nawáb Wazír of Oudh had relieved the Governor-General from serious financial