Tempo:
CHAP. VI
RAN JIT SINGH AND GURKHAS
cess dawned upon the Shah, and distrust Ranjit Singh's sincerity. ^
135
he felt reason to 1809-1C.
The conferences b^t no arwere broken off; but the Maharaja hastened, while rangement there was yet an appearance of union, to demand the come to. surrender of Multan for himself in the name of the ^^^°king. The great gun called 'Zamzam',- or the 'Bhangi Ranjit singh Top', was brought from La'hore to batter the walls of attempts the citadel; but all his efforts were in vain, and he fal'/s^Feb'"* retired, foiled, in the month of April, with no more April, isio" than 180,000 rupees to soothe his mortified vanity. The Governor, Muzaffar Khan, was by this time in correspondence with the British viceroy in Calcutta, and Ranjit Singh feared that a tender of allegiance might not only be made but accepted.^ He therefore proposed and proto Sir David Ochterlony that the two "allied powers" poses to the should march against Multan and divide the conquest ^"g^^sh a ^^^^' It was surmised that he wanted the siege ^°^"q^ equally."* train of the English, but he may likewise have wished against it. to know whether the Sutlej was to be as good a boundary in the south as in the north. He was told reprovingly that the English committed aggressions upon no one, but otherwise the tenor of the correspondence was such as to lead him to believe that he would not be interfered with in his designs upon Multan.^
Shah Shuja proceeded towards Attock after his shah with Ranjit Singh, and having procured shuja's some aid from the rebellious brother of the Governor and^^Mu^tan" of Kashmir, he crossed the Indus, and, in March 1810, campaign. interview
made himself master of Peshawar. He retained posses- and subsesion of the place for about six months, when he was quent im-
compelled to retreat southward by the Wazir's brother, Drisonmeat
Muhammad Azim Khan. He made an attempt to gain i8i^.72^"^* over the Governor of Multan, but he was refused admittance within its walls, and was barely treated with courtesy, even when he encamped a few miles
1 Shah Shuja's 'Autobiography', chap, xxii, published in the Calcutta Monthly Journal for 1839.The original was undoubtedly, revised, if not really written, by the Shah. - [Known to all the world as 'Kim's' gun, it now reposes in its last resting-place outside the Central Museum in Lahore.
—Ed.] 3 Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 29th March and 23rd May, 1810. In the latter it is stated that 250,000 rupees were paid, and the sum of 180,000 is given on Capt. Murray's autho-
rity.
(Life of Ranjit Singh, p. 81.)
D. Ochterlony to Government, 23rd July and 13th Aug., 1810. ^Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 29th March and 17th Sept., 1810, and Government to Sir D. Ochterlony, 25th Sept., 1840. (Cf. Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. «0, 81.) * Sir
RAN JIT SINGH AND GURKHAS
cess dawned upon the Shah, and distrust Ranjit Singh's sincerity. ^
135
he felt reason to 1809-1C.
The conferences b^t no arwere broken off; but the Maharaja hastened, while rangement there was yet an appearance of union, to demand the come to. surrender of Multan for himself in the name of the ^^^°king. The great gun called 'Zamzam',- or the 'Bhangi Ranjit singh Top', was brought from La'hore to batter the walls of attempts the citadel; but all his efforts were in vain, and he fal'/s^Feb'"* retired, foiled, in the month of April, with no more April, isio" than 180,000 rupees to soothe his mortified vanity. The Governor, Muzaffar Khan, was by this time in correspondence with the British viceroy in Calcutta, and Ranjit Singh feared that a tender of allegiance might not only be made but accepted.^ He therefore proposed and proto Sir David Ochterlony that the two "allied powers" poses to the should march against Multan and divide the conquest ^"g^^sh a ^^^^' It was surmised that he wanted the siege ^°^"q^ equally."* train of the English, but he may likewise have wished against it. to know whether the Sutlej was to be as good a boundary in the south as in the north. He was told reprovingly that the English committed aggressions upon no one, but otherwise the tenor of the correspondence was such as to lead him to believe that he would not be interfered with in his designs upon Multan.^
Shah Shuja proceeded towards Attock after his shah with Ranjit Singh, and having procured shuja's some aid from the rebellious brother of the Governor and^^Mu^tan" of Kashmir, he crossed the Indus, and, in March 1810, campaign. interview
made himself master of Peshawar. He retained posses- and subsesion of the place for about six months, when he was quent im-
compelled to retreat southward by the Wazir's brother, Drisonmeat
Muhammad Azim Khan. He made an attempt to gain i8i^.72^"^* over the Governor of Multan, but he was refused admittance within its walls, and was barely treated with courtesy, even when he encamped a few miles
1 Shah Shuja's 'Autobiography', chap, xxii, published in the Calcutta Monthly Journal for 1839.The original was undoubtedly, revised, if not really written, by the Shah. - [Known to all the world as 'Kim's' gun, it now reposes in its last resting-place outside the Central Museum in Lahore.
—Ed.] 3 Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 29th March and 23rd May, 1810. In the latter it is stated that 250,000 rupees were paid, and the sum of 180,000 is given on Capt. Murray's autho-
rity.
(Life of Ranjit Singh, p. 81.)
D. Ochterlony to Government, 23rd July and 13th Aug., 1810. ^Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 29th March and 17th Sept., 1810, and Government to Sir D. Ochterlony, 25th Sept., 1840. (Cf. Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. «0, 81.) * Sir
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