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100 Ranjít Singh's friendship Lord Auckland judged to be far more valuable than the goodwill of the Amír. The Sikh army was very powerful, and lay close to our borders. The friendship of Kábul, if Lahore was hostile, would be comparatively of little use, even if it could be counted on. Hence the Governor-General would put no pressure on Ranjít Singh nor filch from him the price of Dost Muhammad's alliance. On April 26, 1838, the English agent left Kábul; the Russian remained.

While Captain Burnes was retracing his steps, there passed over India one of those periodical waves of emotion with which all who are acquainted with the Peninsula are familiar. It stretched from the Sutlej to Mysore, from Bombay to the Nepál boundary. These movements resemble the tremor which passes from time to time throughout the range of the Himálayas, rarely resulting in upheaval or disturbance, but indicating the presence of forces never dormant. With a Persian army accompanied by a Russian minister at Herát, and a Russian emissary at Kábul, such a phenomenon was too significant to be disregarded. In the remotest Deccan natives began to bury jewels, money, and valuables in the ground. General Cubbon reported great uneasiness in Mysore, Major Sutherland in Gwalior, Colonel Skinner in Hansi. Emissaries from Nepál were making their way to Lahore and Kábul, breathing mischief. The public securities fell. Muhammadan news-sheets published appeals to the faithful against the rule of the