YOU write, “that it is not advisable, until the reduction of Nergûnd, “that the Sipahdâr, Mahommed Ali, should be relieved, as you propose “that his Kushoon should continue to occupy its present post in the “trenches.” It is known

As the aforesaid Sipahdâr is an officer of no experience, and as his Kushoon consists of ignorant and new raised troops, we directed that you should send for, and keep with you, Shaikh Unser and his Kushoon, and station Mahommed Ali and his Kushoon with Bûrhânûddeen; by which means you would have the services of old soldiers, while the others would be more in the way of acquiring instruction. The fact is, that the instruction of the aforesaid Sipahdâr, and the improvement of the men composing his Risâla, is our object [in this arrangement], and not his exchange or supercession: you will, therefore, after speak­ing in an encouraging manner to him, send him to join Bûrhânûddeen.

What you say respecting the Risâla of Mahommed Nâsir (part of which you have incorporated into Mahommed Ali’s Kushoon, and made over the remainder to Bûrhânûddeen) is understood. The men belonging to the aforesaid Risâla are to be considered by you in the light of a loan or deposit,* and are neither to be made over to Bûrhânûddeen, nor to be incorporated into Mahommed Ali’s Kushoon; but are to be dispatched to the Presence, whenever our orders, for that purpose, shall be issued.

With regard to your sending away the stable horses, &c.* on account of the scarcity of grain and forage, it is to be observed; that the war you are just now carrying on is against a fort; and that field operations being [for the present] out of the question, there can, of course, be no call for cavalry. You will, therefore, dispatch all the stable horses, &c. to Kuppood-ghur, where there is abundance of forage and good pasturage. This, indeed, was formerly signified to you; and it is a matter of extreme astonishment to us, that you should perpetually write and apply for orders in such plain and easy cases as this.

The foregoing letter clearly shows, that if the Sultan did not place unlimited confidence in the military talents or experience of Bûrhânûddeen, he at least considered the camp of that commander as a better school for the young and inexperienced soldier than that of Kumrûddeen. There is reason to believe, however, that the professional merits of Bûrhânûddeen were duly appreciated by his master; since we shall hereafter see him entrusted with the important charge of a wing of the united army of Mysore, in a general action with the Mahrattahs, near Shahnoor.