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

182

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. VII

1826. Ahluwalia was constrained by his old brother in arms to
Fateh leave a masonry citadel unfinished, and was further induced
Singh the by his own fears to fly to the south of the Sutlej. He was
Ahluwalia assured of English protection in his ancestral estates in
the Sirhind province, but Ranjit Singh, remembering
perhaps the joint treaty with Lord Lake, earnestly endeavoured to allay the fears of the fugitive, and to recall a chief
so dangerous in the hands of his allies. Fateh Singh returned to Lahore in 1827; he was received with marked
honour, and he was confirmed in nearly all his possessions.'
Ranjit Towards the end of 1826, Ranjit Singh was attacked with
Singh falls sickness, and he sought the aid of European skill. Dr.
sick, and is
attended Murray, a surgeon in the British-Indian army, was sent to
by an attend him, and he remained at Lahore for some time,
English
surgeon, although the Maharatj was more disposed to trust to time
1826. and abstinence, or to the empirical remedies of his own
physicians, than to the prescribers of unknown drugs and
the practisers of new ways. Ranjit Singh, nevertheless,
liked to have his foreign medical adviser near him, as one
from whom information could be gained, and whom it
Anecdotes. might be advantageous to please. He seemed anxious about
the proposed visit of Lord Amherst, the Governor-General,
to the northern provinces; he asked about the qualities of
the Burmese troops,2 and the amount of money demanded
by the English victors at the end of the war with that people;
he was inquisitive about the mutiny of a regiment of Sepoys
1 Resident at Delhi to Capt. Murray, 13th Jan. 1826, and Capt.
Murray, Ranjft Singh, p. 144. The old chief had, as early as 1811,
desired to be regarded as separately connected with the English, so
fearful had he become of his 'turban-brother'. (Government to
Sir D. Ochterlony, 4th Oct. 1811.)
The Cis-Sutlej Muhammadan Chief of Mamdot, formerly of Kasur,
fled and returned about the same time as Fateh Singh, for similar
reasons, and after making similar endeavours to be recognized as an
English dependant. (Government to Resident at Delhi, 28th April
1827, with correspondence to which it relates, and cf. Murray, Ranjit
Singh, p. 145.)
2 [The Burmese War broke out on 24th Feb. 1824 as the result of
disturbed relations going back as far as 1818. It lasted till 24th Feb.
1826, when, by the Treaty of Yandabu, the Burmese Government
ceded the provinces of Tenasserim, Aracan, and Assam, and paid an
indemnity of one million sterling.-ED.]