the northern part of Central India being nearly settled, new dispositions were made, and Ochterlony was left in Rájputána.
On 20 March 1818 Lord Hastings invested Ochterlony with the insignia of the G.C.B., at a durbar in camp at Terwah, observing that he had obliterated a distinction painful for the officers of the East India Company, and had opened the door for his brethren in arms to a reward which their recent display of exalted spirit and invincible intrepidity proved could not be more deservedly extended to the officers of any army on earth.
By June 1818 the Maráthá powers were overthrown, and the reconstruction of government in Central India and the south-west commenced. In the work of pacification Lord Hastings had the good fortune to be assisted by some of the most distinguished Anglo-Indian administrators that had ruled in India. Among these Ochterlony was prominent. The pacification of Rájputána was at first entrusted to Charles Theophilus Metcalfe [q. v.], and when he was nominated for the post of political secretary to the government, Ochterlony was appointed resident in Rájputána, with command of the troops. He made protective treaties with the rajas of Kotah, Jodhpur, Udapur, Búndi, Jaipur, and many others, and he adjusted the disputes which some of these princes had with their thákurs or vassals. In Jaipur, however, affairs were not easily settled, and Ochterlony had to undertake the reduction of two forts before the more turbulent feudatories submitted. In December, Ochterlony was appointed resident at Delhi with Jaipur annexed, and was given the command of the third division of the army. The same month the raja of Jaipur, Jagat Singh, died, and, although a contest for the succession was avoided by the birth of a posthumous child, it was not until 1823 that peace was established. In 1822 Ochterlony was appointed resident in Málwá and Rájputána, thus having the entire superintendence of the affairs of Central India.
In 1824 the raja of Bhartpur, brother of Ranjít Singh, was in feeble health, and at his request, and by order of the governor-general in council, his son, a child of six years of age, was recognised as his successor. On 26 Feb. 1825 the old raja died, and the boy, Balwant Singh, succeeded under the guardianship of his maternal uncle; but before a month had elapsed his cousin, Dúrjan Sál, an ambitious youth, corrupted the troops, put the guardian to death, and placed his cousin in confinement. Ochterlony, acting on his own responsibility and with his usual energy and promptitude, issued a proclamation to the Játs to rally round their lawful sovereign, and ordered a force of sixteen thousand men and one hundred guns into the field to support the right of the young raja and vindicate the authority of the British government. Lord Amherst, the governor-general, disapproved of Ochterlony's proceedings, denied that the government were bound to uphold their nominee by force of arms, considered it imprudent, during the war with Burma then going on, to embark in hostilities during the hot weather in the north-west, and directed Ochterlony to countermand the march of the troops and recall his proclamation. Ochterlony complied, issuing a further proclamation intimating that before taking action the government had determined, in the first instance, to investigate the merits of the question of the succession. At the same time he tendered his resignation to the governor-general in council, warmly defended his action in letters dated 25 April and 11 May, and expressed his conviction of the correctness of his judgment. He was deeply hurt at the action of the governor-general, and pointed out that after forty-eight years' experience he might have expected a certain confidence in his discretion on the part of the government. Pending the acceptance of his resignation, he went to his usual place of residence near Delhi. The feeling that he had been disgraced after nearly fifty years' active and distinguished service preyed upon his mind, and caused his death on 15 July 1825 at Mirat, whither he had gone for change of air.
A general order was issued by the governor-general in council, eulogising both the military and civil services of Ochterlony, and concluding with a direction that, as an especial testimony of the high respect in which his character and services were held, and as a public demonstration of sorrow, minute guns to the number of sixty-eight, corresponding with his age, should be fired the same evening at sunset from the ramparts of Fort William. The diplomatic qualifications of Ochterlony were no less conspicuous than his soldiership; with a vigorous intellect and consummate address he united an intimate knowledge of the native character, language, and manners.
It remains to add that when Metcalfe, who was sent to Bhartpur, took precisely the same view as Ochterlony had done, Lord Amherst gave way. But in order to effect what Ochterlony might have accomplished unaided in a fortnight had he not been interfered with, it was found necessary at a later date to employ the commander-in-chief, Lord Combermere, with an army of
