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

166

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. VI

1819-20. means of doing so within the British limits. The Maharaja
seemed satisfied that Lahore would be safe while he was
absent in the south or west, and he said no more.'
The travel- In the year 1819 the able and adventurous traveller,
ler Moorcroft in the Moorcroft, left the plains of India in the hope of reaching
Punjab, Yarkand and Bukhara. In the hills of the Punjab he
1820. experienced difficulties, and he was induced to repair to
Lahore to wait upon Ranjit Singh, He was honourably
received, and any lurking suspicions of his own designs, or
of the views of his Government, were soon dispelled. The
Maharaja conversed with frankness of the events of his life;
he showed the traveller his bands of horsemen and battalions
of infantry, and encouraged him to visit any part of the
capital without hesitation, and at his own leisure. Mr.
Moorcroft's medical skill and general knowledge, his candid
manner and personal activity, produced an impression
favourable to himself and advantageous to his countrymen;
but his proposition that British merchandise should be
admitted into the Punjab at a fixed scale of duties was
received with evasion. The Maharaja's revenues might be
affected, it was said, and his principal officers, whose advice
was necessary, were absent on distant expeditions. Every
facility was afforded to Mr. Moorcroft in prosecuting his
journey, and it was arranged that, if he could not reach
Yarkand from Tibet, he might proceed through Kashmir
to Kabul and Bukhara, the route which it was eventually
found necessary to pursue. Mr. Moorcroft reached LadSkh
in safety, antin 1821 he became possessed of a letter from
the Russian minister, Prince Nesselrode, recommending a
merchant to the good offices of Ranjit Singh, and assuring
him that the traders of the Punjab would be well received
in the Russian dominions-for the emperor was himself a
benign ruler, he earnestly desired the prosperity of other
countries,.and he was especially the well-wisher of that
1 The public correspondence generally of 1816-17 has here been
eferred to, and especially the letter of Government to Resident
at Delhi, dated 11th April 1817. In 1826 Bir Singh made another
attempt to recover his principality; but he was seized and imprisoned.
(Murray, Ranjft Singh, p. 145, and Capt. Murray to Resident at
Delhi, 25th Feb. 1827.) He was subsequently released, and was
alive, but unheeded, in 1844.