Tempo:
CHAP. VII
RAN JIT SINGH THWARTED
183
main difficulty was with his British allies; and, to prove i»35-6. to them the reasonableness of his discontent, he would instance the secret aid which the Mazari freebooters received from the Amirs; ^ he would again insist that Shikarpur was a dependency of the chiefs of Khorassan,- and he would hint that the river below Mithankot was not the Indus but the Sutlej, the river of the treaty, the stream which had so long given freshness and beauty to the emblematic garden of their friendship, and which continued its fertilizing way to the ocean, separating, yet uniting, the realms of the two brotherly powers of the East! ^ But the English had formed a treaty of navigation gf^^gh^s with Sind, and the designs of Ranjit Singh were dis- ambition pleasing to them. They said they could not view with- displeasing out regret and disapprobation the prosecution of plans to the of unprovoked hostility against states to which they ^^e^^sh. were bound by ties of interest and goodwill.^ They therefore wished to dissuade Ranjit Singh against any attempt on Shikarpur; but they felt that this must be done discreetly, for their object was to remain on terms of friendship with every one, and to make their
—
influence available for the preservation of the general peace/' Such were the sentiments of the English; but, in the meantime, the border disputes between the Sikhs and Sindians were fast tending to produce a rupture. In 1833 the predatory tribe of Mazaris, lying along the right bank of the Indus, below Mithankot, had been chastised by the Governor of Multan, who proposed to put a garrison in their stronghold of Rojhan, but was restrained by the Maharaja from so doing.6 Iyi 1835 the Amirs of Khairpur were believed to be instigating the Mazaris in their attacks on the Sikh posts; and as the tribe was regarded by the English as dependent on Sind, although possessed of such a degree of separate existence as to warrant its mention in the commercial arrangements as being entitled to a fixed portion of the whole toll, the Amirs were informof Ahmad Shah still dwelt in the mind of the first paramount of the Sikhs, but partly also with the view of sounding his European allies as to their real intentions.
Capt. Wade to Government, 5th Oct. 1836. Wade to Government, 15th Jan. 1837. 3 Capt. Wade to Government, 5th Oct. 1836.
1
2 Capt.
—
* Government to Capt. Wade, 22nd Aug. 1836. This plea will recall to mind the usual argument of the Romans for interference, viz. that their friends were not to be molested by strangers. Government to Capt. Wade, 22nd Aug. 1836. 6 Capt. Wade to Government, 27th May 1835. "'
RAN JIT SINGH THWARTED
183
main difficulty was with his British allies; and, to prove i»35-6. to them the reasonableness of his discontent, he would instance the secret aid which the Mazari freebooters received from the Amirs; ^ he would again insist that Shikarpur was a dependency of the chiefs of Khorassan,- and he would hint that the river below Mithankot was not the Indus but the Sutlej, the river of the treaty, the stream which had so long given freshness and beauty to the emblematic garden of their friendship, and which continued its fertilizing way to the ocean, separating, yet uniting, the realms of the two brotherly powers of the East! ^ But the English had formed a treaty of navigation gf^^gh^s with Sind, and the designs of Ranjit Singh were dis- ambition pleasing to them. They said they could not view with- displeasing out regret and disapprobation the prosecution of plans to the of unprovoked hostility against states to which they ^^e^^sh. were bound by ties of interest and goodwill.^ They therefore wished to dissuade Ranjit Singh against any attempt on Shikarpur; but they felt that this must be done discreetly, for their object was to remain on terms of friendship with every one, and to make their
—
influence available for the preservation of the general peace/' Such were the sentiments of the English; but, in the meantime, the border disputes between the Sikhs and Sindians were fast tending to produce a rupture. In 1833 the predatory tribe of Mazaris, lying along the right bank of the Indus, below Mithankot, had been chastised by the Governor of Multan, who proposed to put a garrison in their stronghold of Rojhan, but was restrained by the Maharaja from so doing.6 Iyi 1835 the Amirs of Khairpur were believed to be instigating the Mazaris in their attacks on the Sikh posts; and as the tribe was regarded by the English as dependent on Sind, although possessed of such a degree of separate existence as to warrant its mention in the commercial arrangements as being entitled to a fixed portion of the whole toll, the Amirs were informof Ahmad Shah still dwelt in the mind of the first paramount of the Sikhs, but partly also with the view of sounding his European allies as to their real intentions.
Capt. Wade to Government, 5th Oct. 1836. Wade to Government, 15th Jan. 1837. 3 Capt. Wade to Government, 5th Oct. 1836.
1
2 Capt.
—
* Government to Capt. Wade, 22nd Aug. 1836. This plea will recall to mind the usual argument of the Romans for interference, viz. that their friends were not to be molested by strangers. Government to Capt. Wade, 22nd Aug. 1836. 6 Capt. Wade to Government, 27th May 1835. "'
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