“Captain Wade, since his appointment at Lodiana, has ever been solicitous to omit nothing which was calculated to augment and strengthen the feeling of unanimity between the two powers.
“The Right Honourable Lord William Bentinck, the present Governor-general, having arrived some time since at Simla, I took the opportunity of deputing respectable and confidential officers, in company with Captain Wade, on a complimentary mission to his Lordship, with a letter enquiring after his health. These officers, after having had the honour of an interview, were dismissed by his Lordship with marks of great distinction and honour. On their return, they related to me the particulars of the gracious reception they had met with, the excellent qualities of his Lordship, and also the sentiments of friendship and regard which he had expressed towards this state. These circumstances were very gratifying to my feelings. Through the favour of the Almighty, the present Governor-general is, in every respect, disposed, like the Earl of Amherst, to elevate and maintain the standard of harmony and concord subsisting between the two Governments; nay, from his excellent qualities, I am disposed to cherish the hope that he will be even more attentive to this subject than his predecessor. Mr. Burnes and Mr. John Leckie, before mentioned as the bearers of the presents from his Majesty, have extremely gratified me with their friendly and agreeable conversation. The mark of kindness and attention on the part of the British Government, evinced by the deputation of these officers, has increased my friendship and regard for it a hundredfold; a circumstance which, having become known throughout the country, has occasioned great satisfaction and pleasure to the friends and wellwishers of both states, and a proportionate regret in the hearts of their enemies. All these particulars I hope you will bring to the notice of his gracious Majesty.
“I am confident, that, through the favour of God, our friendship and attachment, which are evident as the noonday sun, will always continue firm, and be daily increased under the auspices of his Majesty.
“I have dismissed Mr. Burnes and Mr. John Leckie with this friendly letter in reply to your Excellency’s, and hope that these officers will, after their safe arrival at their destination, fully communicate to you the sentiments of regard and esteem which I entertain for your Excellency. In conclusion, I trust that, knowing me always to be anxious to receive the happy intelligence of the health and prosperity of his Majesty, and also of your own, your Excellency will continue to gratify me by the transmission of letters, both from the King and from yourself.”
(True translation.)
(Signed) E. Ravenshaw,
Depy. Pol. Secretary.
Departure from Lahore.
On presenting this letter his Highness embraced me; and begged I would convey his high sentiments of regard to the Governor-general of India, I then took leave of Maharaja Runjeet Sing, and quitted his capital of Lahore the same evening in prosecution of my journey to Simla, on the Himalaya Mountains, where I had been summoned to give an account of my mission to Lord William Bentinck, then residing in that part of India.
Umritsir; its temple.
We reached Umritsir, the holy city of the Seiks, on the following morning,—a distance of thirty miles. The intervening country, called Manja, is richly cultivated. The great canal, or “nuhr,” which was cut from the Ravee by one of the Emperors of Hindostan, and brings the water for a distance of eighty miles, passes by Umritsir, and runs parallel with the Lahore road. It is very shallow, and sometimes does not exceed a width of eight feet: small boats still navigate it. We halted a day at Umritsir, to view the rites of Seik holiness; and our curiosity was amply gratified. In the evening we were conducted by the chief men of the city to the national temple. It stands in the centre of a lake, and is a handsome building covered with burnished gold. After making the circuit of it, we entered, and made an offering to the “Grinth Sahib,” or holy book, which lay open before a priest, who fanned it with the tail of a Tibet cow, to keep away impurity, and to add to its consequence. When we were seated, a Seik arose and addressed the assembled multitude; he invoked Gooroo Govind Sing, and every one joined hands;—he went on to say, that all which the Seiks enjoyed on earth was from the Gooroo’s bounty; and that the strangers now present had come from a great distance, and brought presents from the King of England, to cement friendship, and now appeared in this temple with an offering of 250 rupees. The money was then placed on the Grinth, and a universal shout of “Wagroojee ka futtih!” closed the oration. We were then clad in Cashmere shawls; and, before departing, I begged the orator to declare our desire for a continuance of friendship with the Seik nation, which brought a second shout of “Wagroojee ka futtih!” “Khalsajee ka futtih!” May the Seik religion prosper! From the great temple, we were taken to the Acali boonga, or house of the Immortals, and made a similar offering. We were not allowed to enter this spot, for the Acalis or Nihungs are a wrong-headed set of fanatics, not to be trusted. In reply to the offering, the priest sent us some sugar. The Acalis are clothed in turbans of blue cloth, which run into a peak: on this they carry several round pieces of iron, weapons of defence, which are used like the quoit. These bigots are constantly molesting the community by abuse and insult, or even violence; a week does not pass in the Punjab without a life being lost: but Runjeet suppresses their excesses with a firm and determined hand, though they form a portion of the establishment in a religion of which he himself is a strict observer. He has attached some of the greatest offenders to his battalions, and banished others. Our conductor, Desa Sing Majeetia, father of our Mihmandar, a Seik of the confederacy, and a kind old man, was very solicitous about our safety, and led us by the hand, which he grasped firmly, through the assembled crowd. From the temple we made the tour of Umritsir, which is a larger city than Lahore. This place is the great emporium of commerce between India and Cabool. The traders are chiefly Hindoos, before whose door one wonders at the utility of large blocks of red rock salt being placed, till informed that they are for the use of the sacred city cows, who lick and relish them. In our way home we visited the Rambagh, the favourite residence of the Maharaja when at Umritsir. His passion for military works also shows itself here, and he has surrounded a pleasure garden by a massy mound of mud, which he is now strengthening by a ditch.