A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

150

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. VI

1810-12. wanted the siege train of the English, but he may likewise
have wished 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.1
Shah Shah Shuja proceeded towards Attock after his interview
Shu r with Ranjit Singh, and having procured some aid from the
andMultan rebellious brother of the Governor of Kashmir, he crossed
campaign, the Indus, and, in March 1810, made himself master of
and subsequentim- Peshawar. He retained possession of the place for about
prisonment six months, when he was compelled to retreat southward by
inKashmir,
1810-12. the Wazir's brother, Muhammad Azim Khan. He made an
attempt to gain 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 distant.
He again moved northward, and, as the enemies of Mahmfid
were numerous, he succeeded in mastering Peshawar a
second time, after two actions, one a reverse and the other
a victory. But those who had aided him became suspicious
that he was in secret league with Fateh Khan the Wazir,
or, like Ranjit Singh, they wished to possess his person;
and, in the course of 1812, he was seized in Peshawar by
Jahan Dad Khan, Governor of Attock. and removed, first
to that fort, and afterwards to Kashmir, where he remained
as a prisoner for more than twelve months.2
After the failure before Multan, Ranjit Singh and his
minister, Mohkam Chand, were employed in bringing more
fully under subjection various Sikh and Muhammadan
chiefs in the plains, and also the hill Rajas of Bhimbar,
1 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. 80, 81.)
2 Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 10th Jan. and 26th Feb.,
1810, and 27th April, 1812. Shah Shuja's 'Autobiography', chaps.
xxiii-xxv, in the Calcutta Monthly Journal for 1839, and Murray,
Ranjzt Singh, pp. 79, 87, 92.
Shah Shujd's second appearance before Multin in 1810-11 is
given mainly on Capt. Murray's authority, and the attempt is not
mentioned in the Shah's memoirs, although it is admitted that he
went into the Derajat of the Indus, i.e. to Dera Ismail Khan, &c.