Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
i:^2
1809-11.
and Ranjit Singh equally doubtful
on
his part:
but distrust gradually vanishes on either side.
Ran jit Singh acquires
Kangra, and confines the
Gurkhas to the left of the Sutlej, 1809.
CHAP. VI
and Sir David Ochterlony even thought it prudent to lay in supplies and to throw up defensive lines at Ludhiana.^ Ranjit Singh had likewise his suspicions, but they were necessarily expressed in ambiguous terms, and were rather to be deduced from his acts and correspondence, and from a consideration of his position, than to be looked for in overt statements or remonstrances. By degrees the apprehensions of the two governments mutually vanished, and, while Ranjit Singh felt he could freely exercise his ambition beyond the Sutlej, the English were persuaded he would not embroil himself with its restless allies in the south, so long as he had occupation elsewhere. In 1811 presents were exchanged between the Governor-General and the Maharaja,- and during the following year Sir David Ochterlony became his guest at the marriage of his son, Kharak Singh,'^ and from that period until within a year of the late war, the rumours of a Sikh invasion served to amuse the idle and to alarm the credulous, without causing uneasiness to the British viceroy. On the departure of Mr. Metcalfe, the first care of Ranjit Singh was to strengthen both his frontier post of Phillaur opposite Ludhiana, and Gobindgarh the citadel of Amritsar, which he had begun to build as soon as he got possession of the religious capital of his people.^ He was invited, almost at the same time, by Sansar Chand of Katotch, to aid in resisting the Gurkhas, who were still pressing their long-continued siege of Kangra, and who had effectually dispelled the Rajput prince's dreams of a supremacy reaching from the Jumna to the Jhelum. The stronghold was offered to the Sikh ruler as the price of his assistance, bui Sansar Chand hoped, in the meantime, to gain admittance himself, by showing to the Gurkhas the futility of resisting Ranjit Singh, and by promising to surrender the fort to the Nepal commander, if allowed to withdraw his family. The Maharaja saw through the schemes of Sansar Chand, and he made the son of his ally a prisoner, while he dexterously cajoled the Khatmandu general, Amar Singh Thappa. who proposed a joint warfare against the Rajput mountaineers, and to take, or receive, in the meantime, the fort of Kangra Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 31st Dec, 1809 and 7th Sept., 1810. - A carriage was at this time sent to Lahore. See, further, Resident of Delhi to Sir D. Ochterlony, 25th Feb., 1811, and Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 15th Nov., 1811. 'Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 18th July, 1811 and 1
23rd Jan., 1812. •»
Cf.
Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 76.
i:^2
1809-11.
and Ranjit Singh equally doubtful
on
his part:
but distrust gradually vanishes on either side.
Ran jit Singh acquires
Kangra, and confines the
Gurkhas to the left of the Sutlej, 1809.
CHAP. VI
and Sir David Ochterlony even thought it prudent to lay in supplies and to throw up defensive lines at Ludhiana.^ Ranjit Singh had likewise his suspicions, but they were necessarily expressed in ambiguous terms, and were rather to be deduced from his acts and correspondence, and from a consideration of his position, than to be looked for in overt statements or remonstrances. By degrees the apprehensions of the two governments mutually vanished, and, while Ranjit Singh felt he could freely exercise his ambition beyond the Sutlej, the English were persuaded he would not embroil himself with its restless allies in the south, so long as he had occupation elsewhere. In 1811 presents were exchanged between the Governor-General and the Maharaja,- and during the following year Sir David Ochterlony became his guest at the marriage of his son, Kharak Singh,'^ and from that period until within a year of the late war, the rumours of a Sikh invasion served to amuse the idle and to alarm the credulous, without causing uneasiness to the British viceroy. On the departure of Mr. Metcalfe, the first care of Ranjit Singh was to strengthen both his frontier post of Phillaur opposite Ludhiana, and Gobindgarh the citadel of Amritsar, which he had begun to build as soon as he got possession of the religious capital of his people.^ He was invited, almost at the same time, by Sansar Chand of Katotch, to aid in resisting the Gurkhas, who were still pressing their long-continued siege of Kangra, and who had effectually dispelled the Rajput prince's dreams of a supremacy reaching from the Jumna to the Jhelum. The stronghold was offered to the Sikh ruler as the price of his assistance, bui Sansar Chand hoped, in the meantime, to gain admittance himself, by showing to the Gurkhas the futility of resisting Ranjit Singh, and by promising to surrender the fort to the Nepal commander, if allowed to withdraw his family. The Maharaja saw through the schemes of Sansar Chand, and he made the son of his ally a prisoner, while he dexterously cajoled the Khatmandu general, Amar Singh Thappa. who proposed a joint warfare against the Rajput mountaineers, and to take, or receive, in the meantime, the fort of Kangra Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 31st Dec, 1809 and 7th Sept., 1810. - A carriage was at this time sent to Lahore. See, further, Resident of Delhi to Sir D. Ochterlony, 25th Feb., 1811, and Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 15th Nov., 1811. 'Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 18th July, 1811 and 1
23rd Jan., 1812. •»
Cf.
Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 76.
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