Singh, who was then rusticating at Adínanagar, not far from Lahore. On the 31st the Mission were cordially welcomed by their Sikh host, who tottered along the whole length of the room to embrace Macnaghten. A series of conferences ensued in June. The hot winds were blowing fiercely, and in spite of all appliances for coolness, the thermometer in the mud huts erected for the use of the Mission never fell below 102°[1]. Macnaghten offered Ranjít the choice between independent action against the Amír and action in concert with the British Government. The Mahárájá promptly avowed his preference for the latter course. Macnaghten then proposed that the British Government should become a party to the treaty which Ranjít had made with Shujá in 1833, on the eve of Shujá's futile expedition to Kandahár. 'This,' said Ranjít, 'would be adding sugar to milk.' The Mission presently followed him to Lahore, where, after long haggling and sudden hesitations, the weary old monarch signed, on the 26th of June, a treaty of close alliance with Sháh Shujá and the British Government, for the purpose of driving the Bárakzái princes out of Kábul and Kandahár.
From Lahore Macnaghten hurried back to Ludhiána, where Sháh Shujá was soon persuaded to add his signature to a compact which, as explained and interpreted by the English Envoy, promised to replace him on the throne of his blind old brother and fellow-exile, the once-dreaded Zemán Sháh. Him, too, Macnaghten
- ↑ Miss Eden's Up the Country.
