Tempo:
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HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
196
—
1837.
chap, vii
the British people required that peace and industry should at once be introduced among the half-barbarous tribes of Sind, Khorasan, and the Punjab; and it was vainly sought to give fixed limits to newly-founded feudal governments, and to impress moderation of It was desire upon grasping military sovereigns. wished that Ran jit Singh should be content with his past achievements; that the Amirs of Sindh, and the chiefs of Herat, Kandahar, and Kabul should feel themselves secure in what they held, but incapable of obtaining more; and that the restless Shah Shuja should quietly abandon all hope of regaining the crown of his daily dreams.^ These were the views which the English viceroy required his agents to impress on Talpurs, Barakzais, and Sikhs; and their impracticability might have quietly and harmlessly become apparent, had not Russia founci reason and opportunity to push her intrigues, through Persia and Turkestan, to the banks of the Indus.^ The desire of effecting a reconciliation between Ranjit Singh and Dost Muhammad induced the the British Government to offer its mediation; predilections of its frank and enterprising envoy led him to seize upon the admission that the Amir could scarcely be expected to resign all pretensions to Peshawar.'* The crafty chief made use of this partiality, ''
Alex Burnes at
Sir
Kabul, 1837-8.
1 Cf. Government to Capt. Wade, 13th Nov. 1837, and to Capt. Burnes and Capt. Wade, both of the 20th January 1838. With regard to Sind, also, the views of Ranjit Singh were not held to be pleasing, and the terms of his communication with the Amirs were thought equivocal, or denotative of a reservation, or of the expression of a right he did not possess. (Government to Capt. Wade, 25th Sept. and 13th Nov. 1837.)
~
Without reference to the settled policy of Russia, or to
what she may always have thought of the virtual support which England gives to Persia and Turkey against her power, the presence of inquiring agents in Khorasan and Turkestan, and the progressive extension of the British Indian dominion, must have put her on the alert, if they did not fill her with reasonable suspicions. 31st July 1837. These predilections of Sir Alex. Burnes, and the hopes founded on them by Dost Muhammad, were sufficiently notorious to those in personal communication with that valuable pioneer of the English; and his strong wish to recover Peshawar, at least for Sultan Muhammad Khan, is distinctly stated in his own words, in Masson, Journeys, either iii. 423. The idea of taking the district from the Sikhs, for Dost Muhammad or his brothers, is- moreover apparent from Sir Alex. Burnes's published letters of 5th Oct. 1837, and 26th Jan. and 13th March 1838 (Parliamentary Papers, 1839), from the Government replies of remark and caution, dated 20th Jan., and especially of 27th April 1838, and from Mr. Masson's statement (Journeys, iii. 423, 448). Mr. Masson 3 4
Government to Capt. Wade,
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
196
—
1837.
chap, vii
the British people required that peace and industry should at once be introduced among the half-barbarous tribes of Sind, Khorasan, and the Punjab; and it was vainly sought to give fixed limits to newly-founded feudal governments, and to impress moderation of It was desire upon grasping military sovereigns. wished that Ran jit Singh should be content with his past achievements; that the Amirs of Sindh, and the chiefs of Herat, Kandahar, and Kabul should feel themselves secure in what they held, but incapable of obtaining more; and that the restless Shah Shuja should quietly abandon all hope of regaining the crown of his daily dreams.^ These were the views which the English viceroy required his agents to impress on Talpurs, Barakzais, and Sikhs; and their impracticability might have quietly and harmlessly become apparent, had not Russia founci reason and opportunity to push her intrigues, through Persia and Turkestan, to the banks of the Indus.^ The desire of effecting a reconciliation between Ranjit Singh and Dost Muhammad induced the the British Government to offer its mediation; predilections of its frank and enterprising envoy led him to seize upon the admission that the Amir could scarcely be expected to resign all pretensions to Peshawar.'* The crafty chief made use of this partiality, ''
Alex Burnes at
Sir
Kabul, 1837-8.
1 Cf. Government to Capt. Wade, 13th Nov. 1837, and to Capt. Burnes and Capt. Wade, both of the 20th January 1838. With regard to Sind, also, the views of Ranjit Singh were not held to be pleasing, and the terms of his communication with the Amirs were thought equivocal, or denotative of a reservation, or of the expression of a right he did not possess. (Government to Capt. Wade, 25th Sept. and 13th Nov. 1837.)
~
Without reference to the settled policy of Russia, or to
what she may always have thought of the virtual support which England gives to Persia and Turkey against her power, the presence of inquiring agents in Khorasan and Turkestan, and the progressive extension of the British Indian dominion, must have put her on the alert, if they did not fill her with reasonable suspicions. 31st July 1837. These predilections of Sir Alex. Burnes, and the hopes founded on them by Dost Muhammad, were sufficiently notorious to those in personal communication with that valuable pioneer of the English; and his strong wish to recover Peshawar, at least for Sultan Muhammad Khan, is distinctly stated in his own words, in Masson, Journeys, either iii. 423. The idea of taking the district from the Sikhs, for Dost Muhammad or his brothers, is- moreover apparent from Sir Alex. Burnes's published letters of 5th Oct. 1837, and 26th Jan. and 13th March 1838 (Parliamentary Papers, 1839), from the Government replies of remark and caution, dated 20th Jan., and especially of 27th April 1838, and from Mr. Masson's statement (Journeys, iii. 423, 448). Mr. Masson 3 4
Government to Capt. Wade,
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