MEER ALI MOORAD. 175 



cultivating the very lands which they had before 

 harried in their predatory inroads. His High- 

 ness Meer Ali Moorad rendered good service 

 Vi^ith his troops on the above occasion, having 

 with General Beatson threaded a defile and 

 moved along tracts covered with sharp stones 

 for nearly 60 miles without a halt; and Sir 

 Charles Napier thus expresses his opinion of the 

 Meer, which on the whole I believe to be a just 

 one, though I give him credit for a larger share 

 of ability than Sir Cliarles did. ''Ali Moorad 

 has behaved well. His presence was a bore 

 because he would not obey orders, and his 

 camp was full of traitors ; but he was infinitely 

 less mischievous than I expected, and true him- 

 self. I have now the correct measure of his 

 character: good-natured, well-meaning, full of 

 vanity, energetic to do what he likes, not clever, 

 and easily guided. He is wild to go to London, 

 and they won't let him ; why, I know not." 



It is no more than justice here to insert the 

 translation of a letter from the Governor-Ge- 

 neral, the late Lord Hardinge, to Meer Ali 

 Moorad, acknowledging His Highness' most im- 

 portant services in the Truckee campaign : — '' I 

 have learnt from the report of the Government 



