Mss Eur F126/22, ff 147v-148

Note stating that the enclosed letter has been submitted to Government and should be used in reference to previous correspondence regarding Colonel Phayre.

Letter No.540 of 1870 from Colonel William Lockyer Merewether, The Commissioner in Sind, Kurrachee [Karāchi] to Colonel Robert Phayre, The Political Superintendent, Frontier Upper Sind 24 August 1870, regarding Colonel Phayre's letter No.1199 of 24 August, and informing him that nowhere in the Khelat political diary had he found any reference to Captain Robert Sandeman or his proceedings, and stating that he failed to see how the Colonel could have stated his belief that Captain Charles Henry Harrison had attempted to blame Captain Sandeman for the Khan's refusal to leave Khelat that winter. Merewether goes on to state that he views the Khan's offer to come to Cutchee [Kutch] to meet with British officials, and his reasons for wishing to stay at Khelat as natural and proper and that the Colonel should have abstained from refering to his assertions of the previous December that the Khan had been a virtual prisoner in his citadel since 1865.

The letter goes on to correct Colonel Phayre on the facts relating to the incident at Beyla [Bela] stating that there was no confrontation of troops, the members of the Jamote tribe that had gathered there had done so without their Chief and dispersed once the Khan's Governor of Beyla arrived and that it was such a trivial incident that the Governor had most likely considered there to be nothing worth reporting in it.

The letter then discusses the recent attack by the Murree tribe, correcting some of Colonel Phayre's 'suppositions' in relation to it and requesting a detailed account showing the section of the tribe that perpetrated it, the part of the Murree hills they came from, the route they took, the exact places plundered and the amounts of cattle taken, along with details of the tribes it was taken from.

The letter concludes by again requesting that Colonel Phayre consider whether the attitude he has been taking regarding Captain Charles Henry Harrison is either just or fair.