From among the
Sirdars who had regarded it as their interest to cast in their lot with
the British, he selected four to represent him in the capacity of
governors of provinces which his bayonets were not long enough to reach.
The experiment made it disagreeably plain that the people of the
provinces to which he had deputed governors were utterly indisposed to
have anything to do either with them or with him. The governors went in
no state, they had no great sums to disburse, they were protected by no
armed escorts, and they were regarded by the natives much as the Southern
states of the American Union after the Civil War regarded the 'carpet
bag' governors whom the North imposed upon them. The Logur Governor was
treated with utter contempt. The Kohistanees despitefully used Shahbaz
Khan, and when a brother of Yakoub Khan was sent to use his influence in
favour of the worried and threatened governor, he was reviled as a
'Kafir' and a 'Feringhee,' and ordered peremptorily back to Sherpur if he
had any regard for his life. Sirdar Wali Mahomed, the governor-nominate
to the remote Turkestan, found pretext after pretext for delaying to
proceed to take up his functions, and had never quitted the British camp.
When Baker returned from Maidan he reported that he had left the district
peaceful in charge of the governor whom he had installed, the venerable
and amiable Hassan Khan.
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