I believe there is no chance at present of the Shah’s force occupying the cantonments, as I am now portioning off the ground for the general staff of Sir Willoughby Cotton. Your recommendation, however, has come too late, for I have laid the foundation of one-half.
I know little about what is convenient or not. I submitted a plan to Sir W. Macnaghten. Whether it went farther than his military councils, I cannot say; but as I heard no more about it, I took silence for consent, and worked away.
Now the most must be made of it; but the barracks of one regiment will be of no great extent as it is, and will form a rectangle of 350 and 500 feet.
But it is useless questioning the expediency or otherwise now of any plan.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed)————————J. Sturt.
“I was not much pleased with the contents of this letter, more especially from an officer who belonged to the force under my command; and as I had been, for many years, at the head of the building department in the upper provinces, and as the more I saw of the site and plan selected the more objectionable both appeared, I wrote to Captain Douglas, the Assistant Adjutant-General, whose reply was as follows:—
May 11th.
My dear Brigadier,
Sir Willoughby saw and approved the plan of the new cantonments; if, therefore, you have any objection to the progress of the work, you have only to state them to the Envoy,