FROM MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS WILLSHIRE, K.C.B., TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA.
Camp, near Kelat, Nov. 14th. 1839.
MY LORD,—In obedience to the joint instructions furnished to me by his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Indus, and the Envoy and Minister to his Majesty Shah Shooja, under date Cabool, the 17th of September, 1839, deputing to me the duty of deposing Mehrab Khan of Kelat, in consequence of the avowed hostility of that chief to the British nation during the present campaign, I have the honour to report, that on my arrival at Quettah, on the 31st ultimo, I communicated with Captain Bean, the political agent in Shawl, and arranged with him the best means of giving effect to the orders I had received.
In consequence of the want of public carriage, and the limited quantity of commissariat supplies at Quettah, as well as the reported want of forage on the route to Kelat, I was obliged to despatch to Cutch Gundava the whole of the cavalry and the greater portion of the artillery, taking with me only the troops noted in the margin,[[B]] and leaving Quettah on the 3rd instant.
During the march, the communications received from Mehrab Khan were, so far from acceding to the terms offered, that he threatened resistance if the troops approached his capital. I therefore proceeded, and arrived at the village of Giranee, within eight miles of Kelat, on the 12th instant.
Marching thence the following morning, a body of horse were perceived on the right of the road, which commenced firing on the advanced guard, commanded by Major Pennycuick, her Majesty's 17th regiment, as the column advanced, and the skirmishing between them continued until we came in sight of Kelat, rather less than a mile distant.
I now discovered that three heights on the north-west face of the fort, and parallel to the north, were covered with infantry, with five guns in position, protected by small parapet walls.