Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/124

118 regard. Azizuddin received a grant of several villages, was appointed personal physician to the Mahárájá, and as Ranjít's territories increased the wealth and estates of Azizuddin grew also. It was his wise influence in 1808 which prevented Ranjít Singh from declaring war with the British, when they first curbed his power by confining his conquests to the north of the Sutlej. The Mahárájá was so convinced of the wisdom of Azizuddin's advice on this occasion that he never undertook any serious operations without consulting him. In all matters connected with Europeans and the English Government Azizuddin was specially employed, and to his enlightened and liberal counsels it may be attributed that throughout his long reign the Mahárájá maintained such close friendship with the English Government. Trusting implicitly to its good faith, he would set out with his whole army on distant expeditions, leaving only the Fakír with a few orderlies for the protection of Lahore. Azizuddin was occasionally employed on military service, and whenever it was necessary to send a special embassy, as to Lord William Bentinck in 1831 and to Amir Dost Muhammad in 1835, the Fakír was always selected and was always equal to the emergency. On the historical occasion of the Mahárájá's meeting with the Governor-General at Rúpar in 1831, which has been called the meeting of 'the field of cloth of gold,' and on the equally memorable and magnificent visit to Lord Auckland at Firozpur in 1838, the most onerous