Opinion (Spotlight Weekly)

Bhakti Thapa And Troubled British Empire

By Mrs. Laxmi Thapa et al

In the 1790s, the struggle to unite the Himalayan region had been greatly intensified. Nepal spared no efforts and resources to accomplish this great historic mission. The process of unification had gone ahead at an exceptionally rapid pace. In 1789, to the west of then Nepal was the Bheri river. By 1791 the western border of the Great Nepal was about to hit the Sutlej river. Powerful kingdoms like Jumla, Doti, Kumaun and Garwal had come within the Great Nepal. The western border had thus shifted almost across a distance of about 400 kilometers within a short period of just two years. Nepal was able to rise to become a formidable Himalayan power within a very short time. Nepal had gathered enough strength to move forward to protect the peoples dwelling in the western part of the Himalayan region from growing anarchy and also from the danger of coming under European domination. However, the build up of Nepalese strength brought her on a collision course with the colonial power of that time. Colonial power Great Britain had good reason to fear that if the Nepalese build up continued for some time, the colonial rule over South Asia could soon come to an end much the same way as in the North America a short time before.

New Unification Campaign

After the amicable settlement of 1792 Sino-Nepal conflict, Nepal again became very busy preparing for the next round of the national unification campaign. At that time Kirkpatrick an emissary of the British Governor General in India had visited Kathmandu. Kirkpatrick had reported after the visit that Nepal was trying to reinvigorate the attack in the west. In 1794 Nepal started full scale mobilization of the whole region to the west of the Chepe-Marshyangdi to launch the new phase of the unification campaign. Nepal must have realized the fact that the task to extend the unification campaign farther to the west was not going to be easy. Bhakti Thapa who had been playing crucial role in later years of the unification campaign, was selected to head the unification campaign. He was appointed to hold the dual responsibility of army chief and administrator of the whole region to the west of the Chepe-Marshyangdi. Kumaun, selected as the headquarter of the Bhakti Thapa, virtually became Nepal's second capital. Surprisingly the 1794 appointment vesting in Bhakti Thapa the dwell responsibility of army chief as well as the administrator of the entire region to the west of the Chepe-Marshyangdi has striking similarity with the 1784 appointment of the Lord Cornwallis as the governor-general and commander-in-chief of British India. The British government in London had vested in the Cornwallis such dual responsibility perhaps to enable him to defend effectively the British interest against the growing opposition to colonial rule in India. It was a hard time for British Empire. Few years earlier the colonial rule of the Great Britain had abruptly ended in the North America and the USA had become an independent country.

Threat to British Rule

Nepal's continued expansion to the west must have greatly alarmed the rulers of British India. At that time they were busy consolidating in South India after several years of rapid expansion It was a hard time for British rule throughout the world. France was posing a serious threat to continuance of the British rule in South Asia. Government in England had given instruction to British rulers in India not to meddle in the internal affairs of the local rajas. British Government at the centre might have been hoping that such policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of the local rajas would deny French an opportunity to make their presence in North India.

British government in India, the mentor of the Nawab of Oudh, must have perceived the danger of direct conflict between Nepal and the Nawab of Oudh. They might have been convinced that in the event of war the army of the Nawab of Oudh could hardly be a match to Nepalese army which had already emerged as the most powerful fighting force in the whole Himalayan region. Nepal also must have realized the possibility of a showdown with the Nawab of Oudh because we were sharing with Oudh a very long common border which had not been properly demarcated. So the work to build fortifications all across the Kumaun to defend the territory of the Great Nepal was at the top in Bhakti Thapa's priority list. British fear that Nepal's move to launch a new campaign of unification could be a threat to their interest in South Asia is reflected in the history book written by L. Steeler while describing the visit of the Kirkpatrick to Kathmandu which was arranged in a very strange way. It has been described that the British governor general in India had agreed to send Kirkpatrick to mediate in the Nepal-China dispute. He did not even set out for Nepal until after the war had been successfully terminated by the Nepal-China agreement. The governor-general was requested not to send Kirkpatrick since the war had been amicably concluded. However, the governor-general was keen on sending a man to Nepal so Kirkpatrick visited Kathmandu for no specific purpose.

British government in India was seen to be strictly following the instructions from the London not to be involved in any type of internal disputes between the rajas. It implied that they would have been unable to help the Nawab if there would have been a war between Nepal and Oudh Just at that time the Nizam of Hydarabad was attacked by Marathas. The Nizam an ardent supporter of British rule had requested for help. But the British rulers had declined to provide help to Nizam . It would not have surprised any one to find the British rulers in India obliged to take a similar decision at that point in time had the Oudh also been attacked. Thus there is an ample justification to presume that the British rulers might have done everything possible covertly through various channels to abort Nepal's new unification campaign to extend the border of the Great Nepal farther to the west so that they would not have to face a very embarrassing situation..

Rivalry between France and Britain

The warfare between Britain and France that began in North America is called the Seven Years' War because the fighting lasted from 1756 to 1763. The war in North America was fought mostly throughout the Northern colonies, and in the end the Great Britain defeated France. The South Asia also came under the grip of this war. British troop defeated the French and took Pondicherry and Chandernagore, however, both these territories were returned back to the French at the end of the war in 1763. During the peace negotiations, Britain acquired French holdings in Canada and Florida from France's ally Spain.

In 1778 war again broke out between France and England soon after the beginning of the American War of Independence. The French provided loans, a few troops, and, most importantly, naval support for the Americans. The French alliance also turned the rebellion into a wider war in which the British had to contend not only with the colonials but also with a French navy in the Caribbean and on the American coast. In 1781 Lord Charles Cornwallis led an army through Virginia almost without opposition, then retreated to a peninsula at Yorktown. There he was besieged by George Washington's army and held in check by the French navy. Unable to escape or to get help, Cornwallis surrendered an entire British army. His defeat effectively ended the war In the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the British recognized the independence of the USA .It is said that had not France and Spain helped, the colonists might have lost the war.

There was again unrest all across the Europe in 1790s. The biggest event of this period was the French Revolution that shook the whole world. France declared war against the English in 1793. Napoleon Bonaparte was made commander of the French army in Italy. He was intending to invade England In 1798, to strike at British trade with the East, he led an expedition to Ottoman-ruled Egypt, which he conquered. His fleet, however, was destroyed by the British admiral Horatio Nelson, leaving him stranded. At the same time the destruction of the French fleet guaranteed the naval supremacy of the British throughout the Mediterranean yet it was only after the victory of Trafalgar in 1805 the combined fleet of the France and Spain was completely wiped out placing the French and the Spanish colonies at the mercy of the British fleet. Until 1798 the British rulers in India were trying to maintain low profile. After acheiving the naval supremacy in 1798 the Great Britain could be seen to have embarked on a new course to expand swiftly the British Empire in South Asia. The Marquis Wellesley, the next Governor General (1798-1805), significantly enlarged the territory under British rule in South Asia.

British Policy Before 1798 and Nizam

British rulers in South Asia started to follow more rigorously the policy of noninterference towards the middle of 1790s as soon as they realized that the French were posing a serious threat to continuance of the British rule in Indian Sub-continent. They might have had afresh in their mind the past memory how the prestige of England was depressed beyond all due reason by the capitulation of Yorktown because at that time the power of the adversary ( France ) was grossly under-estimated. In 1776 the prospects for American victory( in American War of Independence) seemed small. However, the French alliance helped the colonists to defeat Britain. The French navy had played the most significant role in forcing General Cornwallis to surrender which effectively ended the war. The policy of noninterference in the internal matters of rajas in South Asia was strictly adhered until the Horato Nelson established the naval supremacy of the British at the Battle of the Nile at Abu Quir Bay in Egypt in 1798. Before this naval victory British rulers had declined to help even when their own closest ally the Nizam of Hydarabad prayed for help. When the Marathas discovered that the English would not help the Nizam, they found some pretext to attack Hydarabad. The Nizam wrote to the Governor-General, but Sir John Shore, the Governor-General, replied that he could not help. All Marathas joined in a grand attack on the Nizam. There was a great battle at Kurdla in 1795, and the Nizam was defeated. He had to give up to the Marathas half of his country.

Nepal In a Great Hurry

Nepal is seen to be at that time in a great hurry to launch the next phase of the national unification campaign. A very careful analysis of the documents written to Bhakti Thapa by King Rana Bahadur Shah helps to explain it. Nepal must have noticed that it was the most appropriate time to carry out this type of operation because the British rulers in India were not in a position to offer any resistance against our campaign to expand the territory of Great Nepal unless they themselves were directly attacked. Nepal must have felt that such good opportunity would not be lasting very long. So the time provided for the manpower mobilization was quite short despite the fact that the scale of the mobilization was quite vast. People living in the whole region to the west of the Chepe-Marshyangdi were called up to join Bhakti Thapa in Kumaun. Kings of the protectorate were also placed under Bhakti Thapa and they were told to go to the place assigned by him apparently with immediate effect. Stringent measures were taken to generate financial resources required for carrying out the unification campaign. Even the government spendings on high ranking people were not spared. They were slashed across the board.

(Thapa writes on history)