Tempo:
146 1823-4.
Peshawar reduced,
but left as a dependency with
Yar Mu-
hammad Khan. Death of
Muhammad Azim Khan.
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
of footmen advantageously posted.
CHAP. VI
The Afghans then
exultingly advanced, and threw the drilled infantry of the Lahore ruler into confusion. They were checked by the fire of the rallying battalions, and by the play of the artillery drawn up on the opposite bank of the river, and at length Ranjit Singh's personal exertions with his cavalry converted the check into a victory. The brave and believing mountaineers reassembled after their rout, and next day they were willing to renew the fight under their 'Pirzada', Muhammad Akbar; but the Kabul Wazir had fled with percipitation, and they were without countenance or support. Peshawar was sacked, and the country plundered up to the Khaibar Pass; but the hostile spirit of the population rendered the province of difficult retention, and the prudent Maharaja gladly accepted Yar Muhammad's tender of submission. Muhammad Azim Khan died shortly afterwards, and with him expired all show of unanimity among the bands of brothers who possessed the three capitals of Peshawar, Kabul, and Kandahar; while Shah Mahmud and his son Kamran exercised a precarious authority in Herat, and Shan
Ayub, who had been proclaimed titular monarch of Afghanistan, remained a cipher in his chief city.^ Ran jit Singh Towards the end of the year 1823, Ranjit Singh feels his way towards marched to the south-west corner of his territories, to Sind. reduce refractory Muhammadan Jagirdars, and to 1823-4. create an impression of his power on the frontiers of 1823.
1 Cf. Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 137, &c.; Moorcroft, Travels, 333, 334; and Masson, Journeys, iii. 58-60. Ranjit Singh told Capt. Wade that, of his disciplined troops, his Gurkhas alone stood firm under the assault of the Muhammadans. (Capt. Wade to Resident at Delhi, 3rd April, 1839.) The fanatic, Phula Singh, already referred to in the preceding note, was a man of some notoriety. In 1809 he attacked Sir Charles Metcalfe's camp, and afterwards the party of a British officer employed in surveying the Cis-Sutlej states. In 1814-15 he fortified himself in Abohar (between Ferozepur and Bhatnair), since construed into a British possession (Capt. Murray to Agent, Delhi, 15th May, 1823); and in 1820 he told Mr. Moorcroft that he was dissatisfied with Ranjit Singh, that he was ready to join the English, and that, indeed, he would carry fire and sword wherever Mr. Moorcroft might desire. {Travels, i. 110.)
ii.
With regard to Dost Muhammad Khan it is well known, and Mr. Masson (Journeys, iii. 59, 60) and .Munshi Mohan Lai (Life of Dost Muhammad, i. 127, 128) both show the extent This circumto which he was an intriguer on this occasion. stance was subsequently lost sight of by the British negotiators and the British public, and Sikh and Afghan leaders were regarded as essentially antagonistic, instead of as ready to coalesce for their selfish ends under any of several probable contingencies.
Peshawar reduced,
but left as a dependency with
Yar Mu-
hammad Khan. Death of
Muhammad Azim Khan.
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
of footmen advantageously posted.
CHAP. VI
The Afghans then
exultingly advanced, and threw the drilled infantry of the Lahore ruler into confusion. They were checked by the fire of the rallying battalions, and by the play of the artillery drawn up on the opposite bank of the river, and at length Ranjit Singh's personal exertions with his cavalry converted the check into a victory. The brave and believing mountaineers reassembled after their rout, and next day they were willing to renew the fight under their 'Pirzada', Muhammad Akbar; but the Kabul Wazir had fled with percipitation, and they were without countenance or support. Peshawar was sacked, and the country plundered up to the Khaibar Pass; but the hostile spirit of the population rendered the province of difficult retention, and the prudent Maharaja gladly accepted Yar Muhammad's tender of submission. Muhammad Azim Khan died shortly afterwards, and with him expired all show of unanimity among the bands of brothers who possessed the three capitals of Peshawar, Kabul, and Kandahar; while Shah Mahmud and his son Kamran exercised a precarious authority in Herat, and Shan
Ayub, who had been proclaimed titular monarch of Afghanistan, remained a cipher in his chief city.^ Ran jit Singh Towards the end of the year 1823, Ranjit Singh feels his way towards marched to the south-west corner of his territories, to Sind. reduce refractory Muhammadan Jagirdars, and to 1823-4. create an impression of his power on the frontiers of 1823.
1 Cf. Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 137, &c.; Moorcroft, Travels, 333, 334; and Masson, Journeys, iii. 58-60. Ranjit Singh told Capt. Wade that, of his disciplined troops, his Gurkhas alone stood firm under the assault of the Muhammadans. (Capt. Wade to Resident at Delhi, 3rd April, 1839.) The fanatic, Phula Singh, already referred to in the preceding note, was a man of some notoriety. In 1809 he attacked Sir Charles Metcalfe's camp, and afterwards the party of a British officer employed in surveying the Cis-Sutlej states. In 1814-15 he fortified himself in Abohar (between Ferozepur and Bhatnair), since construed into a British possession (Capt. Murray to Agent, Delhi, 15th May, 1823); and in 1820 he told Mr. Moorcroft that he was dissatisfied with Ranjit Singh, that he was ready to join the English, and that, indeed, he would carry fire and sword wherever Mr. Moorcroft might desire. {Travels, i. 110.)
ii.
With regard to Dost Muhammad Khan it is well known, and Mr. Masson (Journeys, iii. 59, 60) and .Munshi Mohan Lai (Life of Dost Muhammad, i. 127, 128) both show the extent This circumto which he was an intriguer on this occasion. stance was subsequently lost sight of by the British negotiators and the British public, and Sikh and Afghan leaders were regarded as essentially antagonistic, instead of as ready to coalesce for their selfish ends under any of several probable contingencies.
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